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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Good evening, UNF Covenant Church
00:21 and all of our viewers around the world.
00:24 Thank you for joining us for our midweek Bible study.
00:29 And you know, these Bible studies have been so significant.
00:33 They've been adding so much value to me as an individual
00:36 in studying and working them out.
00:39 And I know to those that view,
00:41 not just in Harare or Zimbabwe,
00:43 but literally people who are viewing around the world.
00:46 And every now and then I get comments from people,
00:49 New Zealand and the States in particular,
00:53 or occasionally from the UK.
00:56 But again, thank you for being part of these Bible studies.
00:59 The last session we did was on judgments
01:04 and we ended with the judgments of the throne of David.
01:09 And as a very good eyeopening teaching for most of us,
01:15 well, 'cause we went a little bit in depth
01:19 in the judgments of the throne of David.
01:23 And so today, this evening, we wanna start with judgments,
01:27 which is gonna be the teaching
01:29 is the judgment seat of Christ,
01:32 the judgment seat of Christ.
01:34 And so our scriptures for today
01:39 are starting from Psalm 119, verse 66.
01:44 King David here in his phenomenal Psalm 119,
01:52 it says, "Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
01:57 "for I have believed your commandments."
02:01 The interesting thing for me about Psalm 119
02:05 is it's so long as just under 170 verses
02:10 or just over 170 verses.
02:14 And then there are other Psalms that are like two verses.
02:17 So the dynamics of this Psalm is very interesting.
02:22 In essence, the Psalm, Psalm 119,
02:25 is the whole Bible in a Psalm.
02:28 And so in the Psalm, Psalm 119, verse 66,
02:35 this would be round about the entire Bible
02:46 because our Bible is 66 books,
02:49 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New.
02:55 And so this verse, where it's placed in the dynamics
02:59 of the Bible and theology,
03:04 it's not surprising that this verse
03:08 would sum up the entire Bible.
03:10 "Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
03:14 "for I have believed your commandments."
03:17 That's the whole Bible.
03:19 And then Psalm 106, verse 6,
03:24 "Blessed are they that keep judgment,
03:29 "and he that does righteousness at all times."
03:35 So in the law of judgment, you have to keep judgment.
03:43 And that's on the levels that we talked about
03:45 in the previous weeks.
03:47 Verse 30 of Psalm 106,
03:50 he then goes to say, "Then stood up Phinehas,"
03:55 or Phinehas stood up, "and executed judgment
03:59 "so that the plague stayed."
04:02 And so Phinehas was a young man in the camp of Israel.
04:11 What had happened was the king of the Midianites
04:16 had employed Balaam and said to Balaam,
04:22 "Come and curse these people."
04:25 And Balaam of Peor, who was the prophet of the Lord
04:29 in the earth, came and was about to curse Israel.
04:34 And he couldn't because he was just blessed
04:42 and was coming out of his mouth.
04:43 And so the Lord spoke to him, he said,
04:44 "You cannot curse that which has been blessed."
04:47 And so Balaam was saying,
04:49 "But these guys are gonna give me a massive offering."
04:52 And all the time he tried to curse,
04:56 just prophetic words were coming out of his mouth.
04:59 So what Balaam did was he then said to the king,
05:02 "You can't curse these people
05:05 "because within them is the shout of a king."
05:09 In other words, the messianic authority
05:13 is speaking so loud out of them, it cannot be cursed.
05:17 But he said, "The way these people can curse themselves
05:22 "is take your women, let the women walk naked
05:26 "in their camp, and the men of Israel
05:29 "will be filled with lust.
05:30 "They will commit sins with these women.
05:33 "And then God, who is demanding righteousness,
05:37 "will allow a curse to come on them."
05:40 And the sexual sin, the fornication,
05:45 the adultery was on such a level
05:48 that a plague came into the camp.
05:51 And so Phinehas found a Hebrew man
05:56 in sexual intercourse with a strange woman
05:59 that was not Israelite.
06:01 And in the act of sexual intercourse,
06:04 he took a javelin and killed them both in their tent.
06:09 And so the Bible says it was there
06:12 that the judgment that was issued
06:15 into the camp of Israel for their wrongdoing,
06:18 Phinehas then issued judgment by his actions.
06:22 He was abhorred by that heinous practice.
06:26 And when he took that javelin and killed those two there,
06:30 God said, "Judgment has been satisfied.
06:33 "I will now stop the plague."
06:35 And so when Phinehas executed judgment,
06:39 and the Bible is very clear in Psalm 149,
06:42 that we have to execute the judgment written.
06:46 And as righteous people, we have to at all times know
06:51 that not only do we judge a thing
06:53 or we are supposed to judge a thing,
06:55 but we are supposed to execute judgment.
06:58 And there's many things I could say about that right now.
07:03 Psalm 149, the Bible says that
07:08 when we are in praise and worship,
07:11 which the Psalm is all about,
07:12 it says the purpose for praise and worship
07:15 is to execute the judgment written,
07:18 to bind their nobles and their kings with chains
07:21 and fed as a vine.
07:23 And so praise and worship then becomes an exercise
07:26 spiritually to execute judgment written.
07:30 Because as we praise and worship, we then
07:33 cause angelic energy, angelic presence to be active.
07:39 They then begin to work spiritually
07:43 to bring the judgment that is written for us
07:48 and reverse judgment that is against us.
07:52 And you will see some of that in the writings of Daniel
07:57 with different angels.
08:00 And so I want to read a quote from Derek Gray.
08:05 His name is Derek Gray, D-E-R-E-K Gray, G-R-A-Y.
08:11 This is what Derek Gray says about judgment.
08:16 "Most people think that once they are awarded
08:21 "a cash judgment, that it is guaranteed
08:26 "they'll get paid for it.
08:29 "Unfortunately, that is far from the truth.
08:33 "They need a judgment enforcer to make sure
08:39 "that whatever judgment has been given
08:43 "to award an individual that judgment,
08:48 "the enforcer then will go with legal and other means
08:53 "to ensure that the person who refuses to pay
08:59 "regardless of the fact that they have been judged to pay,
09:04 "if they refuse to pay,
09:07 "they must then move this person to pay."
09:11 And so the point that he's making here,
09:14 Derek Gray is saying that there are judgments
09:17 that have been written on our behalf
09:20 where we are supposed to get all the benefits.
09:23 Bless the Lord, oh my soul,
09:26 and all that is in Him, bless His holy name.
09:29 Blessed are all my soul,
09:30 and forget not all of His benefits.
09:33 And so there are so many benefits,
09:35 things that Jesus paid for on the cross
09:37 that we as believers should be getting,
09:41 but we forget the benefits.
09:44 We have rife demonic activity to blind us from our benefits.
09:49 He uses the spirit and the entity of ignorance
09:55 where we don't know what our benefits are.
09:58 A story that I'd like to invoke right here
10:01 is the superintendent of a church
10:04 that I preach for in the UK took his wife to Belgium.
10:08 And so when they were in Belgium,
10:13 they were doing tours in Brussels and so on,
10:16 and they were there from Monday night,
10:18 and they were going to leave Saturday morning
10:20 to go back to London.
10:22 And so Saturday morning,
10:25 every day they weren't eating in the hotel,
10:27 they were coming back, eating out,
10:29 and he loves his breakfast and so on.
10:32 So Saturday morning he said to his wife,
10:33 "It doesn't matter what the cost is,
10:37 "let's just pay for breakfast
10:38 "so that we're not hungry when we get to London."
10:41 So when they got to breakfast,
10:42 they then said to the person there that was hosting,
10:45 they said, "How much is your breakfast?"
10:47 So the person said, "No, breakfast is included in the room."
10:50 So from Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
10:54 all those four days,
10:55 there was breakfast that was included in the room,
10:59 but they didn't know there was a benefit.
11:01 And he was so angry,
11:03 he filled up his plate four or five times
11:06 to make up for the benefits that were lost.
11:08 And there are so many benefits that God has given us.
11:12 And so when we're dealing with judgments,
11:15 the things that Jesus did for us on the cross
11:18 are so amazing.
11:19 Everything is paid for,
11:21 from healing in our physical bodies,
11:24 healing in our emotions,
11:26 that's why he was pierced in his heart,
11:29 healing from any mental challenges or sicknesses we have,
11:33 that's why he wore a crown of thorns,
11:36 healing in the path we walk,
11:38 that's why he was nailed in his feet,
11:40 where you can walk in any dimension, in any path,
11:43 unimpeded, uninhibited.
11:45 Nailed in his hands,
11:48 which means that your hands can build, can do.
11:51 The work of your hands will be blessed
11:53 because he was blessed in that manner.
11:57 His beard was plucked,
11:59 and that means, the beard means maturity and leadership.
12:04 A boy can't grow a beard.
12:06 So a beard means the mature things of life will come to you.
12:11 You will grow out of your headship a significant beard.
12:16 The Bible says in the book of Psalm 133,
12:18 I believe it is,
12:19 that it's good and it's powerful
12:20 for people to grow out together in unity.
12:23 It's like oil poured on the head that ran down the beard.
12:27 And so whenever you see a beard, it speaks to maturity.
12:32 And so the reason Jesus' beard was plucked
12:34 is because everything that you do,
12:36 whether it's ministry, whether it's secular,
12:40 whether it's employment,
12:42 at some point you'll grow to a place of leadership
12:46 and the devil will not be able to pluck your beard
12:49 or disassemble or destroy the leadership structure
12:52 you have put in place.
12:55 And so that is a benefit.
12:57 And so for those of us that lead churches
12:59 and many that lead companies,
13:01 you always have people poaching from your church
13:04 or poaching from your company.
13:06 You spend the time, you train people,
13:08 you put money into people, you send them on courses.
13:11 Sometimes even you pay for their degrees.
13:14 And once they have qualified,
13:16 a different church or a different company
13:18 will come and poach people
13:20 and will not have spent any money,
13:22 will not have invested in the leaders you have grown,
13:26 which simply means that they're plucking your beard,
13:29 pulling people out of the time,
13:31 the investment that you've made in leaders.
13:34 But the benefit of Christ Jesus
13:37 is that they will not pluck people from your beard.
13:41 And from time to time, the beard must be trimmed.
13:44 It mustn't just grow wild.
13:46 The beard must be trimmed,
13:48 which simply means that when you trim leadership,
13:50 which needs to be trimmed based on performance
13:53 or lack of performance,
13:55 or based on transplanting or transferring leaders
13:58 into another expression, be church,
14:01 be it an NGO entity or business marketplace,
14:05 ministry, et cetera,
14:08 leadership then can be planted and transplanted
14:12 into another place to transform.
14:14 And so it is essential for us to understand
14:19 that our goal is to grow mature leadership.
14:23 And so we're not so sure at what age
14:28 Jesus began to grow a beard
14:30 or his beard began to show and manifest.
14:34 For me, my beard began,
14:36 I started shaving round about when I was 18 or 19.
14:41 I can't remember shaving when I was in form six.
14:45 I can't remember that.
14:47 But I can remember after my 20th birthday
14:49 for various reasons that I began shaving.
14:54 And so the beard comes out very small at first,
15:03 and sometimes it takes a while to grow a full grown beard.
15:07 And so that simply means that leadership continues to grow.
15:12 Leadership continues to grow.
15:14 And this is a fact that after a person passes away,
15:19 there's two things that continue to grow
15:21 even though a person has died.
15:23 It's the nails on your fingers,
15:25 the nails on your toes,
15:26 and the hair on your face,
15:28 and the hair on your head.
15:30 That hair continues to grow up until three or four days
15:34 after you've passed away,
15:35 which means that after you're dead and gone,
15:38 leadership will continue to grow.
15:40 The nails are to protect the things
15:43 that you do with your hands,
15:45 and to protect the feet in the places you go with your feet.
15:49 And that's a good Bible study and a teaching there.
15:52 And so when we're dealing with judgments,
15:55 we're gonna now introduce the subject
15:57 for this next series,
16:00 which is called the judgment seat of Christ.
16:05 The judgment seat of Christ.
16:08 And not too many people are familiar
16:09 with the judgment seat of Christ.
16:11 The judgment seat of Christ basically
16:14 is once the church has been taken out of the earth,
16:19 those that are blood washed,
16:21 who have made Jesus Christ Lord and Savior,
16:24 they've submitted their lives,
16:27 their entire being to the Lordship,
16:30 kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ,
16:33 submitted their gifts, their talents,
16:35 everything to the Lord Jesus Christ.
16:37 When he comes back,
16:40 and for those who die in Christ,
16:44 when we are taken out of this earth
16:47 to forever be with the Lord,
16:49 first Thessalonians chapter number four,
16:51 verse six, 14, 15, 16, 17 in there,
16:56 first Corinthians 15, starting from verse 51, 52,
17:01 where in the moment of the twinkling of an eye,
17:04 we are translated and we go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.
17:08 When we get to his heaven,
17:10 when we get to his resting place,
17:14 one of the things that will happen in heaven,
17:17 there's going to be what Paul calls
17:21 the judgment seat of Christ.
17:22 First Corinthians chapter number three,
17:25 starting from verse 11.
17:27 Basically the judgment seat of Christ
17:29 is where individuals in the body of Christ
17:34 will be given rewards
17:36 for what they have done for Christ in the earth.
17:40 And the rewards are going to be based on your works
17:45 that you've done for Jesus Christ in the earth.
17:48 So let's read the scripture then,
17:50 first Corinthians chapter number three, verse 11.
17:55 "For other foundation can no man lay,
18:00 "then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
18:04 So Jesus then is built on the foundation
18:08 of the apostles of the law and the prophets.
18:13 So Jesus built his life and his ministry
18:15 on the foundation of the Old Testament,
18:18 the law and the prophets.
18:20 That's why in Matthew 17,
18:22 on the Mount of Transfiguration,
18:24 when Jesus went up,
18:27 he met with Moses the law, the father of the law,
18:30 and he met with Elijah, the father of the prophets.
18:35 And so the fathers of the law and the prophets
18:38 handed to Jesus, the son of grace,
18:42 who is almighty God, the son of grace.
18:45 So the fathers empowered the son in the earth,
18:48 Jesus the Christ, to go ahead with God's mandate,
18:53 which was, you must lay your life down,
18:56 you must shed your blood,
18:58 and there'll be a guarantee you'll be raised from the dead.
19:02 Because Moses, the Bible says God buried him
19:07 and God took him.
19:09 Elijah never tasted death,
19:12 a chariot pulled him and took him into the heavens.
19:15 Both those fathers spoke to the son
19:18 and authorized his sacrifice and his resurrection
19:22 for the church to be built.
19:24 It's always advisable for any person
19:27 in anything they're doing, especially ministry,
19:30 to get authorization and endorsement
19:34 from a father or fathers.
19:36 Jesus got an endorsement from his cousin, John the Baptist,
19:43 where John baptized Jesus.
19:46 And Jesus said, "We have to do this
19:47 "to fulfill all righteousness."
19:49 So John then authorized Jesus to go into the ministry
19:53 and the priesthood.
19:54 But as Jesus' ministry progressed,
19:58 he needed a heavenly endorsement for what was yet to come.
20:02 And so we as the church,
20:06 we are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ,
20:10 his teachings, his sacrifice, his death,
20:13 his burial, his resurrection.
20:16 That's the foundation we are built on.
20:18 His death, the courtyard in the tabernacle,
20:21 his burial, the holy place in the tabernacle,
20:24 his resurrection, the holiest of holies in the tabernacle.
20:28 That's the foundation we are built on.
20:30 We are built on that foundation.
20:32 And then verse 12,
20:33 if any man builds upon this foundation,
20:36 this is the foundation of Jesus Christ,
20:38 which is gold, silver, precious stones,
20:43 wood, hay, stubble,
20:46 every man's work shall be made manifest.
20:51 For that day shall declare it
20:56 because it shall be revealed by fire.
21:00 For the fire shall try every man's work
21:04 to see what work it is.
21:06 And if any man's work abides,
21:09 which he has built there on,
21:12 that individual will receive a reward.
21:15 Verse 15, if any man's work shall be burned,
21:19 he will not suffer loss,
21:21 but that individual will be saved.
21:24 But his work will be tested by fire.
21:28 So let's go through the judgment seat of Christ
21:34 where our works are basically going to be
21:39 determining our reward in eternity.
21:43 In the book of Revelation,
21:43 it talks about everybody that has been given a crown
21:47 will cast their crowns before him
21:50 because he is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
21:54 And that also was to be interwoven
21:56 into the reward system within the body of Christ.
22:01 And so the reward system that's going to be used
22:04 in the heavens is gold, silver, precious stones.
22:08 These entities, when they are subjected to high heat
22:13 and high fire, gold only gets better.
22:17 The Bible talks about the refiners fire,
22:20 which purifies the silver.
22:22 I mean, the higher the heat,
22:24 the more impurities are burnt out
22:27 and the metal becomes purer.
22:29 And with precious stones, which is carbon-based,
22:33 which are carbon-based,
22:34 the more pressure and the greater the heat,
22:38 the more precious the stone becomes.
22:41 And so they are basically 12 stones
22:43 that you'll see on the high priest garment,
22:47 12 stones that you'll see in Ezekiel 28,
22:51 the garden of Eden, which is the garden of stones,
22:56 and then various stones that you'll see
22:58 that are in the foundation of the new Jerusalem,
23:02 Revelation chapter number 21.
23:04 Very, very precious and semi-precious stones.
23:07 So these precious stones then are the lower tier
23:12 of the reward system, gold, silver, precious stones.
23:17 And then the bottom tier is wood, hay, stubble.
23:22 Wood, hay, stubble.
23:25 So every man's work will be judged and tested.
23:30 So let me give a couple of examples
23:33 as we get to our close for this session.
23:37 What works that last could mean.
23:42 And so remember the apostle Paul is writing here to people
23:46 that are in the middle of horrendous persecution.
23:49 The Roman emperors and the Roman government,
23:51 the Roman systems were so cruel,
23:54 they were killing Christians, killing Jews, mostly Christians
23:58 because Christians had said they have another king,
24:02 that's King Jesus.
24:03 Whereas in the Roman system, Caesar was the only king
24:08 and he was made a god and a deity.
24:12 And so they wanted to make an example of a people
24:16 so that in the rest of the empire,
24:20 people could then say if they're doing this to this group,
24:23 we're next.
24:24 And so they then, Paul was encouraging them
24:28 and saying, guys, you know,
24:30 there's a reward system that's coming.
24:33 If you die, it's not the end.
24:35 Not only will you be saved, but there's a reward system.
24:39 And so if a person is a martyr
24:42 who gives their life for the gospel sake,
24:45 in my view, that's a work of gold
24:48 'cause you're laying down your life,
24:49 you're giving your literal life,
24:51 shedding your blood or allowing your blood to be shed.
24:55 It's a work of gold.
24:56 So today in the world, in this 2023,
25:02 there are people, Christians in the world
25:04 who are being persecuted and killed
25:07 simply because of their Christian faith.
25:09 That's a work of gold.
25:11 And the other things that are works of gold,
25:13 things that last in eternity,
25:15 people that give of their gift,
25:20 their soul to ensuring that the church of Jesus Christ
25:26 is never expunged or extinguished or broken down.
25:30 It's a work of gold.
25:32 And similarly with the work of silver,
25:34 which is silver is the metal of atonement.
25:38 So every way a person shares that Jesus saves people
25:42 are cleansed by the application of blood of Jesus
25:45 and we get soul saved, that's a work of silver.
25:49 And then a work of precious stones
25:51 is where we improve people's lives for Christ's sake,
25:55 where we empower people in the earth for Christ's sake.
25:59 In other words, when I was hungry, you fed me.
26:01 When I was thirsty, you gave me water.
26:03 When I was naked, you clothed me.
26:05 When I was in prison, you visited me.
26:07 Those are the works of Christ.
26:09 Those are precious stone works
26:12 that rewards will be given for those.
26:15 And then there are other works that we do for Christ.
26:18 For example, you could be sweeping this building.
26:21 It's a work for Christ,
26:23 but it's not in the category of the three royal gifts
26:28 of gold, silver, precious stone.
26:30 Yes, this building must be swept.
26:32 Yes, chairs must be erased.
26:34 Yes, the generator must be refueled.
26:36 Yes, the lights must be turned off and turned on, et cetera.
26:41 But those things would not be considered as royal works.
26:46 And so you might have a person
26:48 whose ministry is to clean toilets.
26:50 It might not be a work of gold, silver, precious stones,
26:56 but yes, the toilets must be cleaned.
26:58 And God, Jesus will judge whatever he puts in the category.
27:02 But this is just an example.
27:05 And so there are many things that need to be done
27:08 for a church, this one in particular,
27:10 for a church corporately, individually.
27:12 We need people to drive buses.
27:14 We need people to cook.
27:15 We need people to clean.
27:17 We need people to sweep.
27:18 We need people on the sound desk.
27:20 We need all of that.
27:22 But you have to ask yourself,
27:24 can my job be done by a person who is not a Christian?
27:29 If your job can be done by a person that is not a Christian,
27:33 it might mean that you are building
27:35 on wood, hay, and stubble.
27:37 If your job can be performed by a person
27:41 that's not a Christian, driving a bus, cleaning windows,
27:45 it might mean that your work might be wood, hay, and stubble.
27:49 And so to encourage every person here
27:54 to attain, attain to gold, silver, and precious stones,
27:59 attain to that level for the rewards
28:04 that you'll get in eternity.
28:06 For great is your reward, the Bible says,
28:10 when you get into eternity.
28:11 Guys, thank you for being with us this evening.
28:14 This is an introduction to the judgment seat of Christ.
28:18 Father, we pray for your blessing on everyone
28:21 of our viewers, everyone that's watched this message.
28:25 Let them attain to gold, silver, and precious stone.
28:28 Thank you, guys.
28:29 We'll see you next week.
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28:49 you