I learned this truth in church last night. One day the reward for every faithful believer is coming! Eventually there will be crowns! The Bible teaches there are FIVE different crown which the believer can receive in Heaven...
THE INCORRUPTIBLE CROWN - for those who “run a good race” in the Christian life. 1st Corinthians 9:25, “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.”
THE SOUL-WINNER'S CROWN - to people who labored to save souls from the fires of Hell. 1st Thessalonians 2:19, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?”
THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS - for those who look for and love Christ's return. 2nd Timothy 4:8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
THE CROWN OF LIFE - for people who endure suffering, knowing there is a better life in the world to come. James 1:12, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”THE CROWN OF GLORY - for those who faithfully teach and preach God's Word. 1st Peter 5:4, “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
Of them all, the crown that I think of the most is the crown of life,
because of my permanent health afflictions (stenosis and radiculopathy which
cause chronic pain in my neck). This crown will be given to every believer
who endures adversities and those with permanent afflictions. God will
reward every individual believer according to their own labors in Christ.
1st Corinthians 3:8, “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and
every man shall receive his own reward according to his
own labour.” Revelation 22:12, “And, behold, I come quickly; and
my reward is with me, to give every man according as his
work shall be.” That means even the most untalented,
seemingly insignificant, small and weak believer can receive a big reward
from God, if they labor diligently for Christ, especially to get souls
saved. And that certainly includes “labouring fervently for you in
prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”
(Colossians 4:12b). Nothing is more dearer to the heart of God than soul-winning. God
desires for all men to repent unto the knowledge of the truth of the Gospel
(2nd Peter 3:9).
The Holy Bible Teaches How Pride Destroyed King Uzziah
In the Old Testament, we read about king Uzziah, who started off pleasing to the Lord...
2nd Chronicles 26:1-5, “Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.”
I want you to carefully notice that last sentence... “AND AS LONG AS HE SOUGHT THE LORD, GOD MADE HIM TO PROSPER”!!! Amen!
Unfortunately, when God blessed Uzziah and he grew in power, popularity and prestige, he became PROUD, which was his undoing. In 2nd Chronicles 26:16-19 we read that Uzziah went into the temple to burn incense before the Lord, which only the priests who were consecrated were permitted to do. Eighty priests followed Uzziah into the temple, to warn him that he had sinned against the Lord, but instead of repenting Uzziah became angry, and God struck him immediately with leprosy.
This teaches us not to meddle with things that are holy. The Word of God is holy. Today's shallow, careless and carnal pastors who go along with the Devil's Bible-corrupting movement are meddling with that which is holy. It is not a trifle thing to tamper with the Word of God!!! Everybody and their dog is publishing a new and improved Bible these days it seems. Case in point, the same folks who gave us the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) in 2003, updated it again in 2010, and have now come out in March of 2017 with another PERversion of God's Word called the Christian Standard Bible (CSB). The Devil's Bible versions just keep coming. THEY JUST KEEP COMING!!! Where does it end my friend? WHERE DOES IT END??? I'll tell you, not until the Devil and all his Bible versions go straight into perdition in the Lake of Fire!!!
Thank God for the precious inspired King James Bible!!! I was looking at Bible College websites this week. I looked at Moody Bible Institute (MBI). I looked at Bob Jones University (BJU). I look at Hyles-Anderson College (HAC). I looked at Crown Christian College (CCC). I looked at Ambassador Baptist College (ABC). NONE OF THEM believes that the King James Bible is inspired!!! Their statements of faith all read that only the original autographs were inspired. THERE ARE NO ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS AVAILABLE TODAY!!! So where does that leave us today as Christians? What good is a preserved Bible that is not inspired? Evangelist Sam Gibb teaches this heresy, that is, that only the originals were inspired. No Sir, we have God's inspired words today, in the precious KING JAMES BIBLE!!!
King Uzziah prospered as long as he sought the Lord, but when he stopped seeking the Lord, he became proud and it destroyed him. All these pastors and evangelists today, who use a dozen different Bible versions, aren't seeking the Lord. I said THEY AREN'T SEEKING THE LORD!!! How can they prosper in the Lord. The size and stability of a ministry is not a true indicator of whether or not they are actually prospering in the Lord. In Revelation 3:17, the church at Laodicea were rich and needed nothing, but God said they were wretched, poor, naked and miserable!!! That describes Bob Jones University today and their graduates!!!
Sad to say, many godly pastors send off their youth people to colleges like Bob Jones University, so they can be brainwashed to believe in “thought inspiration” instead of the “verbal inspiration” of the Holy Bible. I believe in the word-for-word inspiration of God's Word. Thought-for-thought inspiration means that publishers can say anything they want and call it God's Word, but a word-for-word translation cannot be changed!!! That's why the 47 translators of the King James Bible used italics to show where they added some words to maintain clarity. A more expensive King James Bible will have the italicized words, which are invaluable to the diligent Bible student. None of the corrupt modern Bible versions have italics, because there's no genuine scholarship behind them.
God is going to reward those who fear Him,
those who care about the purity of His words. True preachers who seek the
Lord, also seek THE TRUTH and care about accuracy. A man who doesn't care
about the integrity of truth does not genuinely seek God. I wonder how any
preacher can even think that he walks with God, who searches through
multiple Bible versions to prepare his sermons. Jesus plainly stated to the
Samaritan woman in John 4:24 that God the Father can only be worshipped IN
TRUTH!!!
Lay Up For Yourselves Treasures in Heaven, Not Upon the Earth
Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Our text Verse from Proverbs 13:13 says that the believer who fears God's commandments, thus obeying them, shall be rewarded. Those who despise God's Word will be destroyed. Serving God is a matter of faith. I built my websites BY FAITH. I try to live a holy life BY FAITH. Noah, being warned by God, moved with fear and built the ark BY FAITH. I treat other people the way I want to be treated BY FAITH. I pray BY FAITH. I do everything that I do for God BY FAITH. And when I have sinned and messed up in my life, which we all have, it was only because I chose to walk in THE FLESH instead of the SPIRIT. We always have a choice as believers, to either walk in the flesh or walk in the Holy Spirit Who indwells us. Galatians 5:25, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” If you are born-again, you live in the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit lives in you (1st Corinthians 3:16-17). Whether you walk in that Spirit is a moment-by-moment choice (Romans 7:14-25).
We live in perilous times today (2nd Timothy 3:1-7), when many people despise the Word of God. Late Night television makes fun of the things of God, mocking that which is holy. The Bible warns us in Proverb 14:9 that “Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.” It was our sins for which Christ was nailed to the cross. How dare we or anyone else make a mock at the very sin which crucified our dear Savior. No one ought ever joke about sin, or take it lightly when people break God's commandments. Hollywood jokes about sin, sporting in breaking God's Ten Commandments. Fools who mock at sin, bragging about their horrible and sinful behavior, don't care about laying up treasures in Heaven. College students across the nation have been brainwashed by Godless leftwing, liberals, homosexuals, adulterers and atheists, America's youth have been robbed of their faith in God and the Holy Bible. Honestly, the best thing that could ever happen to our nation would be to close the doors of every college today, secular and religious alike, and go back to simple rural living out in the country. Urbanization (big cities) has destroyed America! Big cities are breeding grounds for drug trafficking, homelessness, indifference, gang crime and pollution.
The Scriptures tell us to LAY UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES IN HEAVEN. Hollywood are laying up earthly treasures, and their end will be in the Lake of Fire. Death robs a man of everything he has in this world. That's why Jesus commanded us to LAY UP TREASURES IN HEAVEN. There are no thieves in Heaven. No one ever breaks into someone else's home in Heaven. You'll be able to leave your doors open in Heaven. You won't need locks or alarm systems to protect what's yours. There are no security guards in Heaven. There will be no jails or courtrooms. We will all have our resurrected bodies in Heaven, incapable of sin. We will be perfect like Jesus, our blessed Redeemer. Every day I increasingly look forward to going to Heaven. Proverbs 4:18, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”
Living for earthly treasures is a fool's game...
Proverbs 13:7, “There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.”
The crooked banks on Wall Street, who think they are getting away with stealing billions of dollars from the public, are poorer than the poorest soul, whose damnation slumbereth not. Their day of reckoning is coming!!! Well Fargo and other big banks are behind the unjust incarceration of Americans for minor non-violent offenses, locking people away for years, profiting from it. They destroy marriages and families, robbing people of their lives for the love of money. God is the avenger of every soul. The banks make themselves rich, but have NOTHING! Yet, there are missionaries all around the world, who have given up everything, selling their homes and forfeiting the pleasantries of the American lifestyle, so they can go into all the world with the Gospel of grace.
Let the heathen world live for money. I'm interested in building men and women, strengthening marriages, influencing Christians to become soul-winners, living holy, teaching others to love and forgive everyone, and to have an excellent spirit in the Lord. There is no joy any greater than that of living the Christian life, as a genuine born-again believer!!! One of the great joys of the Christian life is contending for the faith. I rejoice in standing for the King James Bible, because I know as sure as I'm saved, that I am right. All these Alexandrian Bible versions are of the Devil. Only the King James Bible leaves the Word of God alone. All of the modern Bible revisions have an agenda, the primary one being the obscuring of the deity of Jesus. That's why they remove the word “begotten” from John 3:16. That's why they all remove the “Son of God” from Acts 8:37. That's why the Easy-To-Read Version (ERV) removes the “virgin” [birth] from Isaiah 7:14.
That's why they all remove the word “godhead” from Romans 1:20 and replace it with “the divine nature” (which is new age terminology). I could go on and on, showing how the Alexandrian Bible versions contaminate the Holy Scriptures!!! They pervert what it means to “repent.” In Romans 10:9, they add confessing “Jesus is Lord” to the Gospel to be saved. In Psalm 12:7, they all remove God's solemn promise to preserve His pure words unto every generation. Part of my laying up treasures in Heaven is to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). These new Bible versions are of the Devil. Anyone can remain silent, going along to get along, refusing to suffer reproach for the name of Christ. Silence isn't golden, it's yellow, as in being a yellowbellied coward.
Oh my friend, do you have any comprehension of how great everything is in Christ right now, and how great it is going to be when the Lord returns? If you have submitted to God's righteousness by faith alone in Jesus Christ, you are saved. If you are saved, you presently have eternal life. You have it now! We won't inherit eternal life someday, we already have it, if you believe the Gospel!!! I rejoice that my name is written in Heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life. If you are saved, that is, born-again by the Holy Spirit of God, then your name is recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life. What a beautiful truth to ponder day-by-day! That is my happy thought!!!
When I feel sad, I think about the fact that I am a citizen of Heaven. That's what the Bible teaches in Philippians 3:20, “For our conversation [community, citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Do you care about what's going on in Heaven? They care about what's going on down here! Luke 15:10, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
