Episode 64: The Best Gifts Of Christmas: Eternal Gifts

Jacob Paul: Welcome to the truth and love podcast with your hosts Kimberly Faith and John Mack. The truth and love podcast seeks to present God’s timeless truth through the lens of his remarkable love.

Kimberly Faith: It’s hard to believe it’s December.

John McLarty: That is amazing.

Kimberly Faith: At 2025.

John McLarty: It has flown by. Yeah. We’re almost in 2026.

Kimberly Faith: We’re a quarter of the century into the we’re a quarter of the century into this century.

John McLarty: 2025 has been a great year. It really has. And Lennonite’s fiftieth anniversary. Yeah. And the church’s fiftieth anniversary.

Kimberly Faith: I mean, it’s

John McLarty: And, yeah, the the whole quarter century thing.

Kimberly Faith: I mean, think about when we were at Y2K. We were all freaking out about That’s

John McLarty: hard to even think back.

Kimberly Faith: What are the computers gonna do?

John McLarty: We had no earthly idea that we would make it to 2025 without the rapture. Gloriously intervening. Well, in

Kimberly Faith: November, the Lord started inspiring me to write devotionals about the greatest gifts of Christmas. Right. And, you know, we this this podcast, this particular podcast, we’re gonna talk about the best gifts of Christmas. Well, the whole December series is gonna be the about the best gifts of Christmas, but we had to narrow it down to for four podcasts, basically.

John McLarty: Exciting subject.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, earlier, we’re talking with mom about prayer and and how our prayer life is so focused on kind of the the the the the here and now, you know

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: Sickness and finances and those sorts of things, but we’re in a spiritual battle. And I think for for me, God is is shifting my prayer life into the spiritual realm and less about, you know, paying the bills and, you know, making sure that I don’t have cancer and all those things, which are important things. But by the same token, I think what the Lord did with me with shifting my focus into the spiritual realm and the spiritual warfare is to shift me to the spiritual gifts for celebrating Christmas. Yeah.

John McLarty: Well, me just chase the little rabbit there because I want to go there to discipline in our prayer life. But I read this actually years ago and it was something like the Maker’s Diet or the Hallelujah Diet. This guy’s entire premise is that the American diet and just our general lack of good health, we’re sick all the time. And so one of his points was notice how in any church prayer bulletin, how much is about sickness and health rather than, as you’re saying, souls and the spiritual warfare. So that’s really something it’s not putting down church prayer lists and even thinking about our own, because those are important needs.

They shouldn’t be to They shouldn’t dominate. Yeah, the majority, because it’s all about souls and spiritual warfare. So that’s an excellent point. Even our own prayer life should be focused on the spiritual warfare rather than just all the myriad of health needs that are real and out there.

Kimberly Faith: They’re real, but our health needs become, I think, secondary to glorifying God, which is our purpose. And we recognize, I think, the more that we’re focused on spiritual the spiritual part of our walk that includes warfare, the more that that it’s kinda like when if, you know, in the battle of the bulge, you know, those guys, yeah, they got hungry and they have cuts and bruises and were banged up, but they weren’t as concerned about those things when the enemy was firing at them.

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: You know?

John McLarty: And think about this in our previous podcast with body, soul, and spirit. We talked about, well, the podcast on the mind, battle of the mind.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Last week’s podcast.

John McLarty: You’ve got the carnal Right. Versus the spiritual. Right. And the carnal, the flesh is just screaming at us.

Kimberly Faith: All the time.

John McLarty: And so, oh, my toe hurts and all this and all I need to I’ve been to the doctor. And then even the the world we live in, you know, other people and their their physical problems. Yes. But it’s really a mindset to shift that back

Kimberly Faith: to It’s a discipline for sure.

John McLarty: Yeah. Intentional.

Kimberly Faith: Absolutely. And it’s hourly.

John McLarty: Prayer. Yeah.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. So I think what the Lord was doing with me in, you know, November was saying, hey. Yeah. You’re you’re getting more focused on the spiritual warfare, but I wanna talk about the spiritual gifts. Mhmm.

Because I think, you know, Christmas is the time when we give gifts, we celebrate Christ’s birth, and I think it’s good that we look at some of these gifts we’re going to receive and that we’re receiving right now that are eternal gifts. Things that we’re going to remember. You’re not going to remember the rudimentary coffee I gave you for Christmas in five years, but there’s things that we’re doing together that are part of a gift that’s going to go on through eternity that are going to be remembered a million years from now.

John McLarty: And it’s good to focus on the greatest gift of all. Absolutely. Jesus Christ.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. Of course, the that’s the basis of all the gifts we’re gonna talk about, in the December podcast. But let’s start with kinda have this little outline just because, you know, you and I will chase squirrels till, you know, the the all the nuts are gone.

John McLarty: Get to discipline ourselves. Right, Kim?

Kimberly Faith: I think that should be a song. Don’t chase the don’t be a squirrel, don’t chase it until all the nuts are gone.

John McLarty: I’ll let you write that one. Yeah. I know.

Kimberly Faith: And so we’re talking about the eternal gifts, as part of this introduction to the, gifts of Christmas. All the of course, all the gifts we’re gonna talk about are gonna be eternal gifts, but I think the the what we’re gonna talk about today anyway is kind of starts with First Corinthians chapter three, verses 12 through 15. You want to read that, dad?

John McLarty: Sure. Sometimes it’s referred to, it’s alluding to, and it is definitely alluding to the judgment seat of Christ. Mhmm. But it says, now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, of course, that foundation is Christ.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Our salvation.

John McLarty: Each one Yep. Each one’s work will become clear for the 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 is built on endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so is through fire.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. So we did a whole podcast on the difference between the judgment seat of Christ and the great white throne judgment.

John McLarty: We did.

Kimberly Faith: And this, of course, is talking about the judgment seat of Christ and what’s going to be left that is the reflection of a life that we live, the life that we are given here on earth. And, you know, and and and I don’t know if you thought about this. I think what I think about a lot is what is my motivation? Why am I why am I doing the things that the bible says to do and not doing the things the bible says not to do?

John McLarty: Right. You know? And just to summarize that that thought in that that podcast is the judgment seat of Christ, our salvation isn’t on the line. Right. Because even though we’ll suffer loss in that judgment seat of Christ, but he himself will be saved.

Mhmm. But it is it does throw out this intriguing idea of reward of rewards for our works that endure. So there’s kind of the question, what makes a work endure? And that kind of goes to, as you’re saying, the motivation. And then kind of this, what are the rewards?

Kimberly Faith: Right. And that’s what we’re talking about. Yeah. So just for everyone that’s listening, today’s podcast we’re going talk about is kind of five of the eternal rewards. Then next week’s podcast, we’re going to talk and I never knew this, so I started studying it.

But the the five five crowns mentioned in the bible that believers can attain while they’re on earth.

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: And and and so we’re gonna talk about that next week. But, what strikes me about this, these verses in first Corinthians is that it it kind of is, do we work is our motivation for doing God’s work here on earth so that we can get recognition and applause now, or are we doing it motivated by our love for God, which will bring us rewards later? The cool thing about, in my mind, in my experience about working with the motivation because of loving Christ is that I actually am rewarded now by these gifts that we’re going to talk about as well as in the future, whereas working for men’s recognition or applause or self gratification or whatever is very fleeting.

John McLarty: Yeah. That’s kind of interesting. It’s a little bit of a paradox. If we work in order to get the rewards, we won’t get them. Right.

But if we’re working just because we love the Lord Yes. And we want to follow in his footsteps and serve others, then we’ll get them. Absolutely. Whatever they are. Yeah.

But you don’t if the motivation is to get them, you will not get them.

Kimberly Faith: Because it’s selfish. Right. Yeah. And and going back to having the mind of Christ. That’s what keeps us from having a selfish mind is by having the mind of Christ.

So let’s talk about reward one, it’s out of Matthew, twenty five twenty one. And, you wanna you wanna read that?

John McLarty: Yeah. I’d love to read that. So Matthew twenty five twenty one, his Lord said to him oh, and these are great words. Well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful over a few things.

I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of the Lord.

Kimberly Faith: So the reward is entering the joy of the Lord. What do you think that means?

John McLarty: To me, it it kind of goes back to the first line of that. The Lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant.

Kimberly Faith: And

John McLarty: that brings us when we feel that appreciation from the Lord, that brings us joy that closest to him. And I just have to mention, did a podcast on the Cherokee Christians, and one of them was Jesse Bushyhead, if This you was on his tombstone. Really? This praise, well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful over a few things.

I will make you ruler over many things, but enter into the joy of the Lord. So to me, that’s the presence of the Lord.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. I think that’s the presence of the Lord too. I think I I don’t know about you. Oh, I do know. You probably could say the same thing, but I know what my life is like here and now when I’m living in the presence of the Lord and when I’m not.

And it’s it’s, there’s no comparison. There’s just no comparison. When I am walking with the Lord, I’m walking in peace and in joy. Joy is satisfaction. Joy is a sense of your life has accomplished something meaningful.

It’s a meaningfulness. It’s a it’s something that you don’t feel hungry. You don’t feel desperate. You don’t feel lost. You don’t feel confused.

It’s kind of an all encompassing word that kind of just means fully satisfied.

John McLarty: No. Go ahead.

Kimberly Faith: No. Go ahead. I I No.

John McLarty: I I just have a story that’s come into mind. It’s an experience. Early in my early days of being a Christian, we would go this is in a day where you could still just go on outreach and literally knock on doors. That’s kind of harder to do now. Right.

People aren’t as receptive, but we could just go take a neighborhood. So a friend of mine and I, Don Neal, we were knocking on doors just in a trailer park. Well, we came across a family. It was Rick and Don Freeman, and they were so excited. We just had a great visit with them, shared the gospel.

They ended up coming to church later, but we just knew that visit was of the Lord. And on that ride home, Don and I just had this joy. We were just almost giddy. And it was just this we didn’t do it for this reason, but we both had this feeling that the Lord had come to us and say, Well done, good and faithful servants. You were serving me tonight.

Is this this unexplainable joy? And we both had it and we started talking about it, how we were feeling. Right. It’s just this overwhelming presence of the Lord, but in that he had that we’d done something. We’d been where he wanted us doing what he wanted us to do, kind of the right time, the right place, the right family.

And we had no idea that this family would come join the church. Right. But we just knew that the the meeting was of the Lord. Yeah. You And it was a joy.

Kimberly Faith: You knew in that moment you were at the right time at the right place doing the right thing and that and something that meant something that was always gonna be it was gonna establish a ripple throughout eternity. Mhmm. And you knew that. And it you know, I I think about when I used to play, more competitive volleyball, and we we were we had a team called the Expendables because we were the old people. And we went and played I don’t know.

It it was some ridiculous amount of games, matches on on a Saturday, and none of us were under 40. And the teams we were playing were all under 30. Okay? And we took out this team in the last, the last set of the match and won the championship. We’re laying on the floor, and we’re just, like, rejoicing that we got to do we were went down the right way.

You know? And that’s a really small, you know, piece of a of a picture of how that how long did that last? Maybe a day. Mhmm. You know?

And we worked super hard. We sweated. We I mean, we were working hard because we were the underdogs. You know? But that doesn’t even hold a candle to what you’re talking about.

Knowing that you got to be part of something that is eternal, entering the joy of the Lord is because it’s our soul and our spirit that are entering into that transaction.

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: It goes much deeper than the flesh. You know, the the volleyball thing is it’s a flesh thing, but it’s there’s an emotion that’s associated with that. But when we start engaging the heart of Christ Mhmm. We enter into the joy of the Lord. And kinda back to what we talked about introduction, we get to enter into the joy of the Lord here and now, but someday we’re going to enter into the joy of the Lord that’s going to be unfettered by sin, unadulterated by the enemy.

It’s going to be so pure. It’s going to be we get to taste it right now.

John McLarty: Right. It’s going to be beyond what we can imagine, but we do. We get tastes of it. Right. Right.

We said in an earlier podcast on the battle of the mind that while we have the mind of Christ, why don’t we follow it more? You had made the point, well, maybe we haven’t experienced the results of that. But I just think even thinking back to that experience makes me go, I want more of that. Yes. Yes.

Because I’ve experienced it. You’re right. We don’t live we kind of don’t live on that high plane. I don’t know even if our mind can handle it, but we should want that regularly in our life. That special

Kimberly Faith: And going back to kind of the volleyball tournament

John McLarty: Praise the Lord.

Kimberly Faith: You don’t we didn’t get to experience that moment of victory the whole day.

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: We worked all day long to get to that. Right? And so I think we we can’t expect to experience these pinnacles of the joy of the Lord while we’re here still working.

John McLarty: And then it would be almost become mundane

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: If we just lived on that plateau. But it’s these special moments when the Lord comes to us.

Kimberly Faith: Well, and imagine in eternity, I mean, won’t have anything to bring us down because we’ll be unfettered by the world and our enemies, Satan,

John McLarty: That’s the world, what the think

Kimberly Faith: And we get to enter into the joy, the joy of the Lord. That’s what Jesus said. I’m like, my goodness. What’s that even going to be like? It’s going to be greater than we can imagine, which it’s going to be for eternity.

That kind of brings us to the second reward. And you want to read Daniel I’d 12

John McLarty: love to. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Oh boy, I think of a song, there’ll be diamonds, will there be diamonds in my crown and just shining. It says, Those who turn many to righteousness. Then I think about that verse, I think it’s in Proverbs, he that winneth souls is wise, but those that are wise shall shine.

And this even says it because they’re turning others to righteousness. Wow.

Kimberly Faith: You know? And so the second reward is your life will shine forever. You know, we wanna we all wanna shine. We all wanna be great at something. We all wanna make a difference and and be relevant and have purpose that people recognize.

But the Lord is saying, look, you you have one job, it’s to glorify me. And part of that is turning people to righteousness, whether that’s planting the seed, maybe through this podcast, maybe it’s planting the seed through, giving a track to your neighbor or helping them with their garden so that you can have the platform, the trust to plant seeds. Maybe it’s taking meals to people on special occasions in nursing homes so you can plant seeds. I don’t know. God’s so multifaceted in opportunities.

John McLarty: This is so interesting. It kind of proves our premise that if we’re trying to achieve the reward for the reward’s sake, we will not get it. But here, this reward shining is because we’ve helped somebody else. Right. We’ve turned many to righteousness.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. Not self righteousness, Christ’s righteousness.

John McLarty: Right. Salvation.

Kimberly Faith: It’s yeah.

John McLarty: Bringing a soul to Christ.

Kimberly Faith: I think turning turning many to righteousness too, I don’t know, maybe it can be interpreted even more broadly than even just salvation. But think about discipleship when Jesus said, go ye there for

John McLarty: I was just thinking about that. You have leading someone to Christ or then encouraging a fellow soldier Right. That will be leading others to Christ.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Right. Yeah. No. It’s it is so you know, I think God just gives us multifaceted opportunities to shine forever.

And, you know, and and so this third one, this third reward kind of was mind blowing to me. And I guess there’s probably more than one way to interpret this scripture, but I really really like it. Revelations twenty two twelve says, this is Jesus. He says, and behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. The way I read this is that Jesus is going to personally reward us.

He’s going to be the one handing out the rewards. I don’t know, dad, I could be wrong, but that’s so touching to me to think about it that way.

John McLarty: That is. That kind of goes back to Jesus saying to us, Well done thou good and faithful servant. I mean, we will hear that from him.

Kimberly Faith: Right, right. So it makes sense. He would be rewarding us personally. I

John McLarty: think people could relate to this. Somebody says, Well, these rewards, we shouldn’t get all caught up in the rewards. I use the example of a parent. Like if I came up to you, put my arm around you and said, Kim, I’m just really proud of you. That’s a reward.

If my mom and dad do that to me, it was just like that’s a special feeling. Well, what a reward when Jesus and it’s not my reward is with me. I’m I’m coming quickly. Yeah. And the the idea of him personally.

Bestowing that. Bestowing that. Well,

Kimberly Faith: That’s special. I like the way you use the parent example. And another similar example, you know, is just imagine if you’re who your your your greatest football hero. Okay? And if you were a football player.

And if your greatest football hero was Patrick Mahomes or, you know, Tom land not Tom Landry as a coach.

John McLarty: As a coach. Yeah.

Kimberly Faith: Give me a football

John McLarty: Roger Stall, Bob.

Kimberly Faith: There you go. My son will be very ashamed of me right now.

John McLarty: I I like At least you got the

Kimberly Faith: Cowboys next year. I liked Tom Landry, but, you know, I won’t He was a classic. I won’t go commentate on the is that a word? Commentate on the Cowboys or Cowboys?

John McLarty: To make it a word.

Kimberly Faith: But imagine if Roger Staubach came up to you if you were a football player, young football player, and and high school football player and put his arm around you and said, you know what? You you have the makings of being the greatest. You have those plays that you did were some of the best I’ve ever seen.

John McLarty: Right. And he had seen you. Yeah. Wasn’t just Generalized. Generalized.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. He he watched your game. Watched your game, and then he was commenting and encouraging you and saying, well done. And that’s a pretty small, you know, scale compared to what I think, you know, the creator of all mankind and the creator of the whole universe coming to us and saying, I saw everything you did for my glory. That was so good.

John McLarty: Yeah. That’s a fascinating idea. My reward is with me.

Kimberly Faith: Uh-huh.

John McLarty: And we may not fully understand it, but it makes us want to receive it.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. Because he is the greatest.

John McLarty: Yes.

Kimberly Faith: You know, could understand Roger Staubach or Patrick Mahomes giving compliments to a young high school football player and how that would be a great reward for them in and of itself because of who the person is, because of the they have gained gained credibility. They’ve earned the position of of the, having the credibility to give the reward. Well, Christ has we can’t fathom the the credibility that he has because we don’t have the capacity in our minds to understand it, but we should try. Mhmm.

John McLarty: You

Kimberly Faith: know? What what a what a sad thing it would be for a high school football player to have no idea who Patrick Mahomes was and have Patrick Mahomes come up and say, man, I saw every play that you did, and that was amazing. And the guy turns around the foot the high school and goes, well, who are you? Exactly. You know?

And that’s kind of, I think, how we are. A lot of times when our perspective though, we are tuned in and operating into the mind of Christ, we get it. We get it to some degree.

John McLarty: Now think of a verse, I’ll just paraphrase it. We don’t need to look it up. It’s pretty common. But for Jesus said, If fed the poor, if you’ve clothed the needy, if you’ve done it to the least of these, you’ve done it unto me.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. That’s a great verse.

John McLarty: And that’s a good example. Again, we’re not doing it for the reward. Right. We’re doing it because we care for the needy. Right.

We care for people’s plight.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: But that genuine motivation to help others because of Jesus in us, then we’ve done it unto him.

Kimberly Faith: That’s such a good point, daddy, because that reminds me of the first series of podcasts we did about the attitudes of Christ. When we have the attitudes of Christ and the mind of Christ, we will do it for him. And and we’ll understand that when we go and show kindness to a person who does not even receive that kindness

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: It doesn’t matter. We’ve done it for Christ anyway, not for them, and we just let it go. Switching gears, this fourth one really gets me excited. Do you want to read Revelations three twenty one?

John McLarty: I will. To him who overcomes, will grant to sit with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. So this idea of reigning with Christ, that is an amazing idea.

Kimberly Faith: It really is. Mean, don’t even know. I mean, think about it that the king of England or the king of some great country said, hey, if you do what I’ve laid out for you to do, guess what? I’m going to share my throne with you. I’m not even sure we can fathom that, but this isn’t this isn’t something that is an esoteric promise.

These are word the words of the Lord, you know, who overcomes to him who overcomes.

John McLarty: Yeah. And it seems so we all have you know, if we’ve been born again, we have salvation. But this yeah. This is like kind of a special category.

Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.

John McLarty: He who overcomes what?

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: Special trials, martyrdom, all kinds of trials, tribulations. But, it’s like those who fought a spiritual battle faithfully.

Kimberly Faith: Mhmm. I like to call this the in in my terminology, which I guess I need to start my own urban dictionary. I don’t know. But I like to call this my inner ring, the inner ring.

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: And and when I say that, I don’t mean that it’s exclusive. I mean that it is inclusive. Anybody can be in it. It’s whether you’re ready to make the commitment. You know, there might be thousand there are thousands of people in the army, but there’s only one special forces.

There’s only one Delta Force. There’s only one, you know, spec op group that goes in and does particular missions. And the thing that I think Jesus has given us is the option. We can opt into that. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re an 80 year old grandmother or great grandmother or whether you’re a 15 year old teenager, you can opt in.

All you have to do is surrender. You have to sign up and say and commit. And sometimes you have to do that several times a day. Right. You know?

It’s not a it’s not like a one off.

John McLarty: And just to make it clear that this is not some cakewalk, I think of Paul said, I’ve fought the good fight. And you think about Paul’s life and you think that one of the main the person that brought the gospel to the Gentiles, so to speak, so involved in the early church that God would have kind of given him a golden path and some guardrails. He had a rough life.

Kimberly Faith: He did have

John McLarty: a He was beaten. He was thrown out of town. He was shipwrecked

Kimberly Faith: to death.

John McLarty: Was stoned.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah.

John McLarty: He had a lot to overcome.

Kimberly Faith: It never stopped him. Mean, he wrote the Bible, parts of the Bible from jail. He cared about his jailers even. And he didn’t do that because he was Paul. He did that because Jesus was in charge of his let Jesus be in charge.

Jesus was his commander. You know? And I don’t know. I get very excited about knowing that I can be part of God’s special forces.

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: And I think when he’s talking about who’s gonna reign with him, those are the people who said, I do every day. I do for you. I do because I wanna bring you glory. You are my commander. You are my king.

I’m in. Show me what to do. Show me where to go. Show me what to think, what to say, what to do. I’m gonna do it because I trust you.

You’re in control, and I trust your command. I I I just see this as as the the very committed people who come any kind of trial, like the trials that Paul went through, they’re they’re unwavering. The the people in Nigeria who are who are being tortured and murdered and their churches burned down, the people in China, the people in Pakistan, the Christians who are standing when I mean, even in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth century martyrs, you know, when you read about in the Fox’s book of martyrs, these are the people who are going to reign because they never wavered in following the mission.

John McLarty: And you’re right. This this is happening today in these countries. You mentioned Nigeria that’s in the news today. They are being given the opportunity. This will end, torture, if you recant Christ and accept another religion.

Right. And they don’t.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Yeah. This is this is who’s gonna reign with Christ.

John McLarty: Yes.

Kimberly Faith: And and, you know, I can’t of course, I can’t imagine being a Christian in Nigeria or in the these countries where they’re persecuted. I can’t put my I can’t empathize. I can’t I’ve never been there. But the thing that I will I I do believe that this does apply to those who live in, you know, countries like America, but who are willing to go all in? You know?

Is your profession dedicated to glorifying God? Because if it is, you are going to suffer some persecution from the rest of the world, from your colleagues who say you are a Jesus freak. You know what? When people to me, when somebody comes in and says, I, you know, I I I need you to represent my son who’s a, you know, teenage drunk driver because he needs some Jesus, and I hear you’re the Jesus lawyer. That’s the greatest compliment I can But it it requires letting go of your own goals, your own dreams, your own you know, you’re clinging to your own sense of security and saying, no.

Jesus Christ is my greatest security, which is the same thing the martyrs are doing, people that are being martyred.

John McLarty: You know? And we don’t experience that, and nothing can mitigate, you know, the or compare our experience in America.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: And, you know, we can’t just we can’t can’t go out on the street and say, oh, would somebody come persecute me? Right. But there is there are challenges here in America, and one of them is that intimidation or that rejection. When Lynn and I first got saved, all of our hippie friends, I mean, we were like, stay away from them.

Kimberly Faith: Shunned. Yeah.

John McLarty: We were shunned. That’s a good word. Yeah. We were literally shunned. I mean, it changed everything.

Kimberly Faith: Well, Jesus said if unless you’re willing to leave your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, and everything and follow me, you know, he he gave us that challenge. And, you know, for most of us, that that we can still have our family, but sometimes we can’t. Sometimes they like, no. You know what? You’re too crazy.

You’re off the rails. And I have friends and I know people who have suffered that from their family, especially like my one of my friends who’s a missionary down in, to Mesquito Indians in Nicaragua. His family was Amish. You know? And they’re like, nope.

You know what? You’re you’re you’re off the rails. And they won’t even they they shunned his whole family for

John McLarty: So we need to have the heart to overcome kind of what’s thrown at us.

Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.

John McLarty: And we just you know, we can we can only imagine. You know? We can only, you know, pray that if we were in similar situations. Right. And you think I think I can’t imagine recanting my faith.

Kimberly Faith: But

John McLarty: boy, those people that are I say that and I believe it. I believe it of myself just because I’ve thought a lot about we’ve read the Fox’s Book of Martyrs and you just want to thank. I would be faithful. Die Yeah. You know, for Christ.

Kimberly Faith: Well, I I I know we we’re living in such a great time for spreading the gospel because of the Internet, because how accessible now the Bible is. You know, I was I was noticing on the Bible app, they were celebrating 1,000,000,000 downloads on the Bible app. And, you know, that’s all over the world. And, which which kind of brings us to this reward number five, which is our last one we’re gonna talk about. And in Colossians this to me is is so powerful because it just reminds me that everything that we do matters.

And Colossians chapter three, verses twenty three and twenty four say, and whatever you do, whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think of the story of Albert McCacken McMacken. Sorry. Have you heard of him? No.

So he was a farmer who invited a guy named Billy Graham to a revival, drove him there, and took him there several times, and Billy Graham got saved. And everybody knows what happened from there.

John McLarty: We all know Billy Graham.

Kimberly Faith: We all know who Billy Graham is, and we all know who Billy Graham’s son is, and we all know who the the Christmas the whole Christmas box thing they send all over the world, which teaches children how to have, how to how to know Christ and also how to grow. Albert McMakin Makin McMakin, I’m not saying it right. There you go. Is serve is is receiving part of the inheritance of the of this of the guy from named Billy Graham because he was a born again believer and sowed into Billy Graham. And I’ll bet you that Albert’s in heaven watching those rewards, that inheritance come in still Mhmm.

Because it’s still working.

John McLarty: Wow. I think of another story, and I think I have this right. It’s I believe that this shoe salesman Yes. Witnessed to somebody, and was it D. L.

Moody? It was. Yes. D. L.

Moody. Started

Kimberly Faith: the yeah. Started. I mean, everybody knows about the Moody Institute in Chicago. Yeah.

John McLarty: And then was Billy Sunday involved in that? The D. L. Moody?

Kimberly Faith: So yeah. I think think

John McLarty: Some connection there.

Kimberly Faith: There was a connection. I don’t remember what it was.

John McLarty: A shoe salesman definitely reached out to D. L. Moody’s. Yes. Now there’s the D.

L. Moody Bible Institute, Exactly.

Kimberly Faith: If we are focused on obeying Christ, living in loving obedience, not not obligatory obedience, but loving obedience. Like, we want to obey Christ because he’s done so much for us. You know, that’s loving. That’s because we love him, we’re grateful,

John McLarty: we’re

Kimberly Faith: thankful. Then you we never know that seed that we plant, what it’s going to harvest. You know? Even if it’s just one person that comes to know Jesus, think about how their eternity has been changed. Instead of eternal suffering, eternal death, they’re experiencing eternal life.

Even planting the seed of salvation, sharing the gospel, giving one gospel tract to one person matters. Everything that’s you know, we you and I have told stories about how we the Lord said, give that person a tract. Lay it on our hearts. And we just, oh, no. That person doesn’t look like they even and you drive off and then you got to turn around and come back and give them a track because the Holy Spirit won’t leave you alone.

John McLarty: And that is exciting, understanding this, that just obeying the Lord. And again, over and over again, say, We don’t take any that’s not a good work we’re doing in terms of our flesh. That’s just a yieldingness and it’s wanting the peace of the Lord and just wanting daily joy of the Lord. And then but he’s leading us to do something that we think is just small, having somebody, our life story tract. Right.

And how that we have no idea.

Kimberly Faith: We don’t.

John McLarty: You know, those tracts we handed out across I 40 on the way to Colorado.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.

John McLarty: Who knows? Who knows? You know, how that how that ripple effect is is Well, we know multiplied.

Kimberly Faith: That the word of God is quick and powerful. It’s a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It it changes lives. It change changes my life every day. Every time I have my quiet time, God’s word is transforming me.

But it we don’t have to worry about the how. We just need to do what the Lord says to do. And he’s got the how, the why, the what all figured out because he doesn’t time means nothing to him. He’s already there. I don’t know, dad.

When just thinking about Christmas, we’re celebrating Christmas, I think about these eternal gifts. I think what brings this home to me and and makes Christmas so much more special to me when in talking about these eternal gifts is that it means that every single thing that I do, every word that I say, every thought that I think matters, and it matters.

John McLarty: I’m just thinking about this rereading this first. It says, Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not into men. And then knowing from the Lord you will receive the inheritance. To me, the inheritance is almost an umbrella term for all these rewards. Because when you get an inheritance, it’s not just like, oh, you get the guitar or a house.

You get this basket of the inheritance. All these gifts are part of our inheritance, and that is tied to whatever you do, do it heartily.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah, Unto the Lord.

John McLarty: So according to the judgment seat of Christ, our life does matter.

Kimberly Faith: It matters.

John McLarty: Not just for souls today, but how we experience eternity. Yes. And it’s not just, again, if we’re doing it for the rewards, we won’t get them. But if we’re doing it unto the Lord, it’s exciting and fun to think about, well, what does all that mean in eternity? But even if all it meant is Jesus coming up and putting his arm around you Right.

And saying, Kim, you had some rough things happen to you down there, but you persevered. I’m proud of you. That’s enough. It is enough. That’s enough.

Mhmm. But there’s more. Right. But that’s that’s enough. Just that pleasure of

Kimberly Faith: the Lord. Think about so many, you know, athletes work their whole life for the Heisman Trophy or for the, you know, the the Vince Lombardi award or whatever, you know, and it sits on the shelf. Well, these these rewards are gonna be active. They’re made living. They’re gonna be lived out for eternity.

They’re gonna matter for eternity. We get one shot, and that’s his life.

John McLarty: That’s a fascinating idea.

Kimberly Faith: We get one shot, and we do not need to miss this opportunity. You know? It will it it’s today. And it’s you know, Christmas is a great time to exercise that opportunity because there’s a lot of sad, lonely, depressed, angry, you know, people, And they need to see the light because the light’s what’s going to attract them to Jesus.

John McLarty: And Jesus is the reason for the season.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. Well, next week, we’re gonna we’re gonna talk about some more of these eternal rewards that we’re in, the gifts of Christmas, the five crowns, and I can’t wait to talk about this.

John McLarty: That should be interesting.

Kimberly Faith: Are you looking for a place to recharge your faith, refocus your mind, and reignite your passion for Christ? Head over to gofaithstrong.com, your one stop hub for powerful devotionals, life giving podcasts, uplifting worship music, and real stories from real people walking their faith out just like you. We know life gets busy and it’s easy to feel spiritually drained. That’s why everything we create at Go Faith Strong is designed to be clear, Christ centered, and easy to plug into. Whether you’ve got just five minutes or you have a whole hour.

From Bible based blog post to worship music, it’s all there to help you stay connected to truth throughout your week. So take a moment today, visit us at gofaithstrong.com and dive into the resources that were made just for you. Because faith isn’t meant to be passive, it’s meant to be lived, and we’re here to help you live it strong. Again, that is gofaithstrong.com. And don’t forget, hit that like, follow, and share button for the podcast.