March 3, 2025
More Than Works
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In this episode, host Barry Meguiar talks about the rewards we will get in Heaven as believers and doers of the Word. God’s purpose for your life is the same as His purpose – to seek and save the lost. What does this look like in your life?
While works cannot guarantee that we will get into Heaven, the work we do on Earth will determine our rewards when we reach our final destination. It’s not a matter of our works here on Earth, but a matter of our faithfulness and of our willingness to lead people, every day, closer to Jesus.
(00:00) Eternal Rewards in Heaven
(09:43) Eternal Rewards in Souls Won
Host Barry Meguiar is a car guy and businessman who hosted the popular TV show, Car Crazy, on Discovery Networks for 18 years. He loves cars, but he loves Jesus even more! Learn more about Barry at https://IgniteAmerica.com.
Get your copy of Barry’s book Ignite Your Life: Defeat Fear with Effortless Faith at:
https://www.amazon.com/Ignite-Your-Life-Defeat-Effortless/dp/1636411517
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ignite-your-life-barry-meguiar/1141969308?ean=9781636411514
https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Ignite-Your-Life/Barry-Meguiar/9781636411514?id=8631749682903
.....and other online booksellers.
Learn more about:
- What percentage of believers are sharing their faith.
- Where the Bible explains some of what we’re seeing today.
- Why it’s so important to share the Gospel with the lost.
- How important it is for people to learn about God and His love.
- Who the ruler of the world is
Check out Why Share (https://igniteamerica.com/resources/why-share/) ? on IgniteAmerica.com to learn why it is important for every believer to share their faith. Then visit First Steps (https://igniteamerica.com/resources/first-steps/) which provides practical ways to get started in your faith-sharing journey. Sign up to receive emails that will bring you solid faith-sharing tips and powerful inspiration.
Visit: http://igniteamerica.com/ for more information and resources.
00:00 - Eternal Rewards in Heaven
09:43:00 - Eternal Rewards in Souls Won
00:00 - Speaker 1
First Corinthians, 2.9, says we can't even begin to imagine what God has prepared for those of us who love Him. Okay, so the key is do you love Him? We can't imagine what he has prepared for us, what he has prepared for us if we love Him. So how do we love Him? I'm getting. This is real basic. This is Bible 101,. Okay, but let me put the pieces together, for maybe there's one or two of you that don't know this. But, but let me put the pieces together, for maybe there's one or two of you that don't know this. But he says Jesus said if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.
00:27 - Speaker 2
Welcome to the Ignite with Barry Meguiar podcast, where Barry's book and passion for spreading God's love are guaranteed to ignite your life Now listen in and prepare to have your life ignited.
00:44 - Speaker 1
Hi everybody, welcome back to Ignite. You know it's been said, you can't take it with you, but you can. Amplified by a thousand, I mean this gets really exciting. We don't talk much about rewards in heaven. I don't know if I've ever heard a sermon on rewards in heaven, but it's a constant theme throughout Scripture. It's all over the place. I just think of a couple of scriptures real fast.
01:07
Second, corinthians, 5.10 says we will receive what is due, whether it be good or evil. You know there's two different judgment seats. There's the white throne judgment and there's a judgment seat of Christ. You do not want to stand. You don't want to, at the end of your life, stand at the white throne judgment because then you're going to be as non-Christians, non-believers who have not accepted Jesus Christ. You're going to be judged by what you've done. You don't want to go there. Let's not dwell on that. But that's a horrible thought, too horrible to even contemplate right now. But then you stand before the judgment seat of Christ and you're rewarded for all the things you did do for Christ, you did do for the Lord. That's pretty. In spite of all the crazy stuff, we get rewarded for all the good stuff we did. All right, that's pretty special, particularly if you're an overachiever. I tend to be an overachiever, I think I want to get there. I want to get there, I want to have responsibilities, I want to have some things to do that are important. And matthew 25 21 says um, if you've been faithful over a little on why you've been on the small time we have on earth, I'll set you over much. I think I want god to set me over much when I get to heaven. How about you? Um, it's this imputable law of sowing and reaping. You have this theme. It's all over everywhere you look, you see it when you start looking for it.
02:31
1 Corinthians 3, I think it's 3.8 says our wages are given to us according to our labor, our labor. Are you laboring for God? Are you living every day serving God? Are you living every day serving God? Are you living every day being about your father's business? Are you laboring for yourself and focus on yourself and your own worthy needs? I'm not saying you're not on your way to heaven, but you're not going to get rewarded for selling the lowest car wax or whatever else you're doing. It doesn't work that way. Some people just say I just want to get to heaven. That's their goal. I want to get to heaven? Well, that's good for sure, because it's eternal and you want to get to heaven. But there's different levels of heaven. Do you understand that?
03:22
1 Corinthians 3 gives a description, a scripture. I laugh at sometimes that some of us will be like we're escaping through flames. It's like it describes, like there'll be cinders on our robes. I don't think that's how the Apostle Paul entered heaven. I think he came into heaven a whole different way. I want to be more like the Apostle Paul.
03:45
You know, 1 Corinthians 2.9 says we can't even begin to imagine what God has prepared for those of us who love him. Okay, so the key is do you love him? We can't imagine what he has prepared for us, what he has prepared for us, if we love him. So how do we love him? I'm getting at it. This is real basic. This is Bible 101, okay, but let me put the pieces together, for maybe there's one or two of you that don't know this.
04:15
But he says Jesus said if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Okay, in Mark 12, he talks about that specifically when they said well, so what's the greatest commandment. You have 10 commandments, or you have hundreds really, but you have the 10 commandments. And when you look at the 10, they say well, so what's the best, what's the most important? And you know what he said. He said love me with all your heart, mind, soul, all in love. If you're all in loving God, his love overflow you and you automatically love your neighbor as yourself. The two you can't be separated. They always go together. But if you love your neighbor as yourself, you're going to be as concerned for their salvation as you are your own salvation. And that's when you start moving everybody every day closer to Jesus, because everybody's under your purview, everybody's under your influence. You have influence. God's given you influence. What are you doing with your influence? Love is defined as salvationing. Let me explain this just a moment to you. When God loves you, it's a thousand percent salvationing you. He's loving you to bring you to himself. He's loving you to bring you to eternity. He made you for eternity. And when he loves you, he's salvationing you and he's bringing you to eternity. And when you love people around you, when you speak to people, every, every, really every conversation you have, everything comes out of your mouth. He wants a salvation.
05:50
That message, whether it's be laughter or sorrow or whatever it is, but it'd be with a thought of salvation. I just lost a dear friend. I'm weeping over that. I'm grieving over that, but in my voice you know there's joy for him. He's in heaven. I just lost a dear friend. I'm weeping over that. I'm grieving over that, but in my voice you know there's joy for him. He's in heaven. Even in our worst moments, we can bring glory to God and we can salvation people by the very fact that we love God. Our joy is strong, even in the midst of our worst times.
06:21
Okay, 1 Corinthians 13 gives us. It's the love chapter. Right, and it really is appropriate for this message, because it really gives us messages. Without love we gain nothing. And it lists you know, I can give to the poor, give all my money away, I can be sacrificial, I can do this. There's a long list of all these things we can do. And it says but that means nothing if you're doing without love. What does that mean? It means nothing if we're not doing it. To love people into heaven, to salvation them into heaven. That's what life's all about. It's so simple and it's so profound. This is what we live for every moment of every day. If you're not doing that, you're missing joy now and you're missing rewards in heaven.
07:09
I'm not talking about earning your way into heaven. Let me insert this right quick. I'm well aware of Ephesians 2.9. That says you know, it's not of works works, lest any should boast, we can't earn our way to heaven. Obviously it's not a works works, lest any should boast. We can't earn our way to heaven. Obviously we cannot be good enough. Being good does not get us into heaven. But we can earn our rewards. We can. There are levels in heaven and there's levels in hell. There are some that are going to be really good people. There are really good people that just refuse to accept Jesus Christ. They'll have a different place in heaven than, say, maybe, charles Manson, and there's certainly different levels in heaven, and I want to go as far as I can in that direction.
07:56
I hope you are too. Do you just want to get into heaven? No, do you just want to get into heaven? No, you want to go to heaven and get ready to have the time of your life, and you're going to have the time of your life no matter what. But you get my point. I want to have added responsibility, I want to be charged, I want to be challenged. Whatever there is, I want all of it.
08:21
Okay, so we have what? 100 years or so on this earth, and for that 100 years? It's not about selling car wax. I mean, I love my business, don't get me wrong. I love my business. I'm passionate about shiny cars. I really am. I'll drive you crazy with my passion for shiny cars and I love sports and food and places, all that. It's not that we don't do that, but what it sums down to. He's given us 100 years to discover who he is and make life's most important decision. Do you or do you not accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord? That's what it's all about, and to love him. And then, after you love him, you allow his love to flow through you to others and you love everybody else around you into heaven. That's what life's all about. I'll end it with this word, and it's a powerful word. I already discovered this not too long back, a few months ago.
09:21
Paul's talking to the believers in Thessalonica, and it's in 1 Thessalonians 2.19. Read it. So we read about crowns and rewards. Well, I want a crown when I get to heaven, I think we take the crowns and place it at His feet. I'm not sure how all that works, but we will be receiving crowns based on what we've done on earth. Okay, and he's saying to the people that he's led to the Lord in the baby church in Thessalonica. Can you imagine Him sitting there? He's looking at them and he's saying so what will be my reward, what will be my crown when I see Jesus face to face? What will be my reward? And then he finished by saying it's you, it's you, you're my reward. God has loved you through me and brought you to him, and you're going to be in heaven forever, and that's my reward. God has loved you through me and brought you to him, and you're going to be in heaven forever, and that's my reward. The people we lead to Jesus Christ are our reward for eternity. We can take it with us, wow.
10:32 - Speaker 2
See you next time. If you enjoyed today's episode, let us know, and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review to help us reach more listeners. See you next time.
First Corinthians, 2.9, says we can't even begin to imagine what God has prepared for those of us who love Him. Okay, so the key is do you love Him? We can't imagine what he has prepared for us, what he has prepared for us if we love Him. So how do we love Him? I'm getting. This is real basic. This is Bible 101,. Okay, but let me put the pieces together, for maybe there's one or two of you that don't know this. But, but let me put the pieces together, for maybe there's one or two of you that don't know this. But he says Jesus said if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.
00:27 - Speaker 2
Welcome to the Ignite with Barry Meguiar podcast, where Barry's book and passion for spreading God's love are guaranteed to ignite your life Now listen in and prepare to have your life ignited.
00:44 - Speaker 1
Hi everybody, welcome back to Ignite. You know it's been said, you can't take it with you, but you can. Amplified by a thousand, I mean this gets really exciting. We don't talk much about rewards in heaven. I don't know if I've ever heard a sermon on rewards in heaven, but it's a constant theme throughout Scripture. It's all over the place. I just think of a couple of scriptures real fast.
01:07
Second, corinthians, 5.10 says we will receive what is due, whether it be good or evil. You know there's two different judgment seats. There's the white throne judgment and there's a judgment seat of Christ. You do not want to stand. You don't want to, at the end of your life, stand at the white throne judgment because then you're going to be as non-Christians, non-believers who have not accepted Jesus Christ. You're going to be judged by what you've done. You don't want to go there. Let's not dwell on that. But that's a horrible thought, too horrible to even contemplate right now. But then you stand before the judgment seat of Christ and you're rewarded for all the things you did do for Christ, you did do for the Lord. That's pretty. In spite of all the crazy stuff, we get rewarded for all the good stuff we did. All right, that's pretty special, particularly if you're an overachiever. I tend to be an overachiever, I think I want to get there. I want to get there, I want to have responsibilities, I want to have some things to do that are important. And matthew 25 21 says um, if you've been faithful over a little on why you've been on the small time we have on earth, I'll set you over much. I think I want god to set me over much when I get to heaven. How about you? Um, it's this imputable law of sowing and reaping. You have this theme. It's all over everywhere you look, you see it when you start looking for it.
02:31
1 Corinthians 3, I think it's 3.8 says our wages are given to us according to our labor, our labor. Are you laboring for God? Are you living every day serving God? Are you living every day serving God? Are you living every day being about your father's business? Are you laboring for yourself and focus on yourself and your own worthy needs? I'm not saying you're not on your way to heaven, but you're not going to get rewarded for selling the lowest car wax or whatever else you're doing. It doesn't work that way. Some people just say I just want to get to heaven. That's their goal. I want to get to heaven? Well, that's good for sure, because it's eternal and you want to get to heaven. But there's different levels of heaven. Do you understand that?
03:22
1 Corinthians 3 gives a description, a scripture. I laugh at sometimes that some of us will be like we're escaping through flames. It's like it describes, like there'll be cinders on our robes. I don't think that's how the Apostle Paul entered heaven. I think he came into heaven a whole different way. I want to be more like the Apostle Paul.
03:45
You know, 1 Corinthians 2.9 says we can't even begin to imagine what God has prepared for those of us who love him. Okay, so the key is do you love him? We can't imagine what he has prepared for us, what he has prepared for us, if we love him. So how do we love him? I'm getting at it. This is real basic. This is Bible 101, okay, but let me put the pieces together, for maybe there's one or two of you that don't know this.
04:15
But he says Jesus said if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Okay, in Mark 12, he talks about that specifically when they said well, so what's the greatest commandment. You have 10 commandments, or you have hundreds really, but you have the 10 commandments. And when you look at the 10, they say well, so what's the best, what's the most important? And you know what he said. He said love me with all your heart, mind, soul, all in love. If you're all in loving God, his love overflow you and you automatically love your neighbor as yourself. The two you can't be separated. They always go together. But if you love your neighbor as yourself, you're going to be as concerned for their salvation as you are your own salvation. And that's when you start moving everybody every day closer to Jesus, because everybody's under your purview, everybody's under your influence. You have influence. God's given you influence. What are you doing with your influence? Love is defined as salvationing. Let me explain this just a moment to you. When God loves you, it's a thousand percent salvationing you. He's loving you to bring you to himself. He's loving you to bring you to eternity. He made you for eternity. And when he loves you, he's salvationing you and he's bringing you to eternity. And when you love people around you, when you speak to people, every, every, really every conversation you have, everything comes out of your mouth. He wants a salvation.
05:50
That message, whether it's be laughter or sorrow or whatever it is, but it'd be with a thought of salvation. I just lost a dear friend. I'm weeping over that. I'm grieving over that, but in my voice you know there's joy for him. He's in heaven. I just lost a dear friend. I'm weeping over that. I'm grieving over that, but in my voice you know there's joy for him. He's in heaven. Even in our worst moments, we can bring glory to God and we can salvation people by the very fact that we love God. Our joy is strong, even in the midst of our worst times.
06:21
Okay, 1 Corinthians 13 gives us. It's the love chapter. Right, and it really is appropriate for this message, because it really gives us messages. Without love we gain nothing. And it lists you know, I can give to the poor, give all my money away, I can be sacrificial, I can do this. There's a long list of all these things we can do. And it says but that means nothing if you're doing without love. What does that mean? It means nothing if we're not doing it. To love people into heaven, to salvation them into heaven. That's what life's all about. It's so simple and it's so profound. This is what we live for every moment of every day. If you're not doing that, you're missing joy now and you're missing rewards in heaven.
07:09
I'm not talking about earning your way into heaven. Let me insert this right quick. I'm well aware of Ephesians 2.9. That says you know, it's not of works works, lest any should boast, we can't earn our way to heaven. Obviously it's not a works works, lest any should boast. We can't earn our way to heaven. Obviously we cannot be good enough. Being good does not get us into heaven. But we can earn our rewards. We can. There are levels in heaven and there's levels in hell. There are some that are going to be really good people. There are really good people that just refuse to accept Jesus Christ. They'll have a different place in heaven than, say, maybe, charles Manson, and there's certainly different levels in heaven, and I want to go as far as I can in that direction.
07:56
I hope you are too. Do you just want to get into heaven? No, do you just want to get into heaven? No, you want to go to heaven and get ready to have the time of your life, and you're going to have the time of your life no matter what. But you get my point. I want to have added responsibility, I want to be charged, I want to be challenged. Whatever there is, I want all of it.
08:21
Okay, so we have what? 100 years or so on this earth, and for that 100 years? It's not about selling car wax. I mean, I love my business, don't get me wrong. I love my business. I'm passionate about shiny cars. I really am. I'll drive you crazy with my passion for shiny cars and I love sports and food and places, all that. It's not that we don't do that, but what it sums down to. He's given us 100 years to discover who he is and make life's most important decision. Do you or do you not accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord? That's what it's all about, and to love him. And then, after you love him, you allow his love to flow through you to others and you love everybody else around you into heaven. That's what life's all about. I'll end it with this word, and it's a powerful word. I already discovered this not too long back, a few months ago.
09:21
Paul's talking to the believers in Thessalonica, and it's in 1 Thessalonians 2.19. Read it. So we read about crowns and rewards. Well, I want a crown when I get to heaven, I think we take the crowns and place it at His feet. I'm not sure how all that works, but we will be receiving crowns based on what we've done on earth. Okay, and he's saying to the people that he's led to the Lord in the baby church in Thessalonica. Can you imagine Him sitting there? He's looking at them and he's saying so what will be my reward, what will be my crown when I see Jesus face to face? What will be my reward? And then he finished by saying it's you, it's you, you're my reward. God has loved you through me and brought you to him, and you're going to be in heaven forever, and that's my reward. God has loved you through me and brought you to him, and you're going to be in heaven forever, and that's my reward. The people we lead to Jesus Christ are our reward for eternity. We can take it with us, wow.
10:32 - Speaker 2
See you next time. If you enjoyed today's episode, let us know, and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review to help us reach more listeners. See you next time.