WHAT IS LIFE ALL ABOUT?

I don't know about you; but, I know I can't live this life without knowing something about where I am going after I give up this earthly body! I don't know about you; but, I know I can't live this life without knowing something about where I am going after I give up this earthly body!

2 Corinthians 5:1-10, ¹"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. ² Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, ³ because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. ⁶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

Paul gives us his insight into what life is all about:

(1) It will be a day of joy when he is done with this human body.

• Paul says it is only a tent, a temporary dwelling place...in which we journey in until it is dissolved. Then we enter into the real place for our soul and spirit.
  
  
• Paul was not looking for Nirvana...a place where there is no care, no responsibilities, everything done for you (only a dream man has "dreamed up."
  
  
• Paul was looking and waiting for the day when God will give him a new body, a spiritual body, in which he will be able, even in the heavenly places, to serve and to adore God.
  
  
• Paul saw eternity not as release into permanent inaction, but as the entry into a body in which service could be complete.

(2) Even though we yearn for the life to come, we should never despise this life.
Why?

• Because even here and now we possess the Holy Spirit of God, which is the first installment of the life to come.

  Paul states that we can enjoy the "foretaste of glory divine....for we are an "heir of salvation...purchased of God; born of His Spirit, washed in His blood." Wow!! Paul knew it ... and so did Fanny Crosby. She was blind, but boy could she see!

• We are a citizen of two worlds:

  The result is...that we should never despise this world, but look for the reflection, as in a mirror, of the greater glory to come.

(3) We are on our way to glory...but understand...that when we get there, we will be judged!

We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ!
          Greek word for judgment seat... "Bema"
Christians will be judged for our works...in which we will or will not receive crowns.
The non-Christian will appear before the Great White Throne Judgment.
Judged for sin that had not been forgiven....atoned for, yes, but a decision by each person to say, "I love my sin more than what I desire to ask forgiveness. I don't want to accept something that I know I love too much to quit."
          Actually, these are people that in their hearts they prayed,
          "I pray that the Bible is not true and the preacher and the
          sermons are just a way of manipulating people to stop
          what I enjoy doing."

2 Corinthians 5:11-19, ¹¹ "Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. ¹² We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are "out of our mind," as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. ¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."

Because of our knowledge of knowing we will be judged, we fear God only because He is the one who knows us through and through:

Yes...God loves us. Yes....God cares for us. Yes....God is always looking out for His children. Yes....He protects us. But....He cannot tolerate sin. He will not tolerate sin. And when we decide to do our own thing and not stay under the umbrella of protection, we will not be beneficiaries of the gifts. It is not a "string attached"...it is an arm waiting for you to run into.

There is a fear of the Lord that is:

• Wisdom (Job 28:28)
• Knowledge (Proverbs 1:7: 9:10)
• Avoiding Evil (Proverbs 16:6)
• Cleansing (Psalms 19:9)

And...the definition of Fearing God is Proverbs 8:13           "To Fear God is to hate evil." Do you hate evil? Hate what evil is doing to your loved ones...hate evil enough to run from it....or take authority over it...and say, "I will have nothing to do with you....I hate you, Satan. I hate evil!

What is evil?
          Name "evil" as it appears to you; ....shun it...hate it!

Fearing God.... is not something that the Christian is dreading...or a trembling fear of a dreaded enemy.

• It is that which keeps a thoughtless man from desecrating a holy place.
• It is that which keeps a man from doing things which would break the heart of someone whom he loves.

Behind all Paul's conduct and actions there has been one motive only-to serve God and help the Corinthians understand the love that God had and has for them by offering them Jesus.
Many thought Paul as being crazy (out of his mind)...so they did with Jesus.
Paul ends the chapter or paragraph by declaring that Christ Jesus died for all.
Paul says...that if we believe that Christ died for all (us) we are new creatures. Our old habits, our old ways of life are gone.
Christ has reconciled us to God...through the blood that cleanses, washes, and makes us new to stand until the day when we shall be like him.
Paul said that at one time he judged by the standards of the world...but now, he has acquired a new set of standards. He judges by Christ's standards.
          Are you washed in the blood?
          Are you a new creature created by God to be reconciled to Him?
          Does your DNA match His?

Churches	Promises to Those That Overcome
Ephesus	Right to Eat from the Tree of Life Which Is In the Midst of the Paradise of God.
Smyrna	The Crown of Life; Will Not Be Hurt by the 2nd Death.
Pergamum	Some of the Hidden Manna; A White Stone With a New Name On It... Known Only to Him Who Receives it.
Thyatira	Authority over the Nations; the Morning Star.
Sardis	Will Be Dressed in White; Never Be Blotted Out of the Book of Life.
Philadelphia	Be Made a Pillar in the Temple Of God; Written On Him the Name of My God and My New Name.
Laodicea	The Right to Sit With Jesus On the Throne.