Manifesto of Fruitfulness | The Fruit of Eternity

for 16 through 5 through 10. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory behind all comprehension as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, an eternal in the heavens. We're in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. If indeed by putting it on, we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent we groan, being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee so we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith not by sight, yes, we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So rather we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each month may receive what is due for what he has done in the body rather good or bad. This is the word of the Lord. Good evening, folks. If I haven't met you before, my name is Sam, one of the pastors here, honored to bring the word of God to you guys tonight. As we were mentioned in the Creative Conference, I was just reminded that a few years ago we took up our end of the year offering was around that. And just yesterday we hosted an event with our Center for Vocational Mission Forum. This happened yesterday in our location on 57th Street.

It's an observation, not a judgment, but often what the church needs to do because we need volunteers and people to work in the church is we often try to extract your gifts, your talents and your resources and help use that to build the church. It isn't necessarily bad, it's just not fullness. We believe you should have a ministry inside the church, but at the same time you should have a mission inside the city. So yesterday we were able to gather and help equip people, not just extract people, for what it looks like to live on mission as a compelling mission of disciple in your vocation where God has placed you. If you missed that for whatever reason, just encourage you, you can go to cvm.nyc, that's the website. And also all the podcasts from sessions we've done previously are available on every podcast platform that's out there. I would encourage you to check that out. Also one of the things that the very first end of the year offering we had, Tyler said, "Thanks for making a bet," or "We made a bet," "Don't gamble," that's not a good thing. I feel there's a call for that tonight in lingering. Real quick show of hands, if you have ever been to a prayer set or if you serve on our prayer team, would you just raise your hand and keep it up for a second? Amen. Huge part of our church culture. Well, you guys know this. What happens in New York City helps shape the world. Our very first end of the year Christmas offering over eight years ago as a church was to help start and establish something called "Pray NYC." And whether you're brand new or you've been coming for a long time, I just want to say the fruit of what God is doing in New York in our church is actually helping shape what God is doing in other places. Just this past week I had a chance during the week to be in Nova Scotia in Canada and was with Pray.Nova Scotia and was able to be there with Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,

and Prince Edward area, the three maritime provinces in Canada, with over 200 senior leaders about how to build a praying church. I've shared this before. I think this is the most revival-ready region I've ever been to. I've been there two years back to back now and I just want to encourage you, if you're a part of the prayer team where you've been investing into our church, you've got some spiritual inheritance in what God is doing in the maritime provinces in Canada. And so thank you guys for leaning in, thank you guys for being a part of it, and if you're new here, so glad that you're here. Who knows what God's getting ready to start doing now that you get to be a part of and celebrate many years from now. We are in our series. And Pastor John has been setting this up, week one, giving us a vision for a fruitful life. Week two, talking about the source of that, being found in abiding in Jesus, then talking about a vision for a 100X life, being a fourth soil that Mike was talking about in the video. Tonight, I'm gonna move us, and we're gonna begin talking through what's the fruit of certain things we'd like to see. And so my aim tonight is to talk to you about the fruit of an eternal perspective. What does having an eternal perspective produce in our lives? Now, the moment we say something like that, many of you guys start thinking about the end times. And if you do, we're friends. But I can't cover all of that

in just this one short talk tonight. So I've got a new ministry that's launching very soon. I think we got a picture up here. If you'd like to sign up for my end times prophecy course, we'll be getting started in just a few weeks. Only have room for 144,000. So sign up soon. That's actually a joke. Pastor Tim made that for me one day, making fun of me, which is rightfully earned. So don't go to that website, it's not real. Also, I just wanna say this, if you're not a Christian in the room, or like you're new at following Jesus, or you just have no idea why people find this funny, I just want you to know, you're way better off for that. If this is not triggering something in you, you're just much better off than me. So don't go study that, don't waste your time. I'll try to be helpful for you tonight. So what we're going tonight is, I wanna talk about why an eternal perspective matters, what does it change, and then how do you develop it? Very simple, why, what, and how. But kind of what lead in with this idea, the fruit of an eternal perspective isn't that you think less about this life. Eternity teaches you what this life is actually for. This isn't about just hold on and hope that I make it,

this is actually something that when we get this right, it shapes and shifts how we live every moment of every day. But before again, let's pray together. Father, we thank you today for the reality that you are eternal. Father, we thank you that your word says in the book of Ecclesiastes that you set eternity into the hearts of men and women. So Lord, tonight, inside of each and everyone else, there is an eternal ache and longing. And we ask that the eternal one would be very present and very near. And Lord, I ask that you would wake up that eternal ache inside of us. Lord, I pray that an eternal perspective will get burned into our eyes tonight. Lord, for those who are walking right now through incredibly heavy, weighty things that feel crushing to them, I just pray that tonight that we feel a lifting of lightness. For those that feel like life is just mundane and meaningless, I just pray that tonight there'll be a new weight established, a weight to every day, ordinary moments that are significant in eternity. But Lord, more than anything, we just ask that you would be present in our midst. Lord, I would rather you be present and me sound like a fool than me to sound eloquent and you'd be absent from our gathering.

And so we just say now, come holy spirit, feel this place in Jesus name. Amen. All right, first, why does this matter? Why does an eternal perspective matter? Well, and if you're a believer, I think often there's a lie in Christendom that believing in eternity is kind of like this fairy tale, idea, but I just want you to know this, data is actually on your side. The latest Pew research says that 70% of Americans believe in an afterlife. So that means seven out of 10 people you work with, seven out of 10 people in your apartment building, have some belief that there is more to this life than what happens beyond this life. I think it's really important, this is actually a helpful apologetic for you to lay a hold of if you have an understanding and can articulate why eternal duty matters, what it shifts and how to grow in it. You can actually help answer some questions for people. So do not think the lie that this is just something we believe in the rest of the world, thanks for crazy, 70% of New Yorkers believe in some version of an afterlife. So three reasons why we as Christians want to lay a hold of an eternal perspective. The first one is this, God is eternal. I love thinking about attributes of God.

We are under the construct of time. God is not under the construct of time at all. God is an eternal being. In Jewish tradition, Psalm 90 was kind of like an anchor Psalm for the eternal attributes of God. Psalm 90 verses one through four says, Before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting and to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, return, O children of man, for a thousand years in your sight, or as but yesterday when it was passed, or as a watch in the night. There's a level of confidence you can have when you really begin to understand the eternal attributes of God. What that means is what you're struggling with today, good news is God already saw that happening today. There's this idea that it's not that my life is just meaning, but when I attach it to the eternal, when my life is meaningless, when I attach it to the eternal one, it actually can have some significance in it. At least for the next reason, what I think this matters is eternal life begins now. This is not just a one day reality. This is actually a today thing to be experienced here and now. Jesus says in John 17, verses one through three, in his high priestly prayer, says when Jesus had spoken these words,

he lipped his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. "Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. "Since you have given him authority over all flesh "to give him eternal life to all you have given him. "And this is eternal life that they know you, "the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sinned." In first John 5, one through 12, it says, "And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, "and this life is in his Son. "Whoever has the Son has life, "whoever does not have the Son of God, does not have life. "When you're talking about eternity so often in Christendom, "we start talking about what the place of eternity looks like, "and actually if you separate the place from the person, "you're missing the majority of it. "You're going to spend eternity with a person, "and you can start knowing that person today. "So often I find it so interesting "that Christians have this eternal security, "but they do not even walk with the eternal one "in their daily life. "Heaven came in so that heaven could break in today, "not just so we could have a place to escape to one day. "And then third reason why this matters "is that means that this life has eternal significance. "A fallacy that gets thrown out there "is that basically this is meaningless and pointless, "and that one day that thing is what matters, "let's just hold on, let's just make it till then.

"And the reality is when you get a view "that God is eternal, that eternity begins now, "that actually takes very ordinary, "very mundane moments of your day, "and adds profound meaning to it." Matthew 6, Jesus says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures "on earth where moth and rust destroy, "where thieves break in and steal, "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, "where neither moth nor rust destroy, "where thieves do not break in and steal, "for your treasure is there will your heart be also." Jesus is saying, "Hey, there's a way "in which you handle money right now "that's gonna produce an eternal treasure. "There's a way in which we can handle a moment right now "that produces a reward in heaven." C.S. Lewis has this quote in his book, "Mere Christian, I think it's so helpful." He says, "If you read history, "you will find that the Christians "who did the most for the present world "were those who thought the most of the next. "It is since Christians have largely ceased "to think about the other world, "they become so ineffective in this. "Amen at heaven, and you'll get earth thrown in. "Amen earth, and you will get neither." I just wanna say this is not some abstract concept, but this is something that actually should produce

profound meaning for you every day. And also, if you actually wanna make an impact in this life, having an eternal perspective constantly and consistently operating throughout your day is the way which you will produce an effective life here on this earth. Now, one quick note before we shift out of this, all right, so God is eternal, eternal life begins today. And then we can actually, this means that there's meaning to life today through that. I don't know if you've ever heard this growing up, but I used to hear this quite often. It says, "You don't wanna be so heavily minded "that you're no earthly good." Has anyone ever heard that before? Yeah, so it was said a lot in the context I grew up in in the background of faith I came from. [BLANK_AUDIO] Honestly, they were usually just saying that about weird people. Yeah, it's same as somebody knows. And those people will be weird whether they're Christians or non-Christians. We all know they're weird Christians or they're not weird Christians. And the reason why I think that's a lie is because, in reality, there's no such thing as being too heavily in mind that you're not earthly good. Look at the life of Mother Teresa. Look at the life of, I don't know, Jesus, who had the most heavily mined on earth. And yet we're still talking about him here today. Now, if you are weird, let's not be weird. But let's not blame an eternal mindset on being weird, okay?

Get into a core group, have people speak truth and love into your life. And that'll be more helpful for all of us, okay? All right, so why matters? Well, what does it change? You're saying this should change. I would actually make the argument, I think, just about everything. This is a perspective in which how you view the world, your vantage point, your viewpoint, that really does shift everything about your life. But if I can lift up three primary areas, I think this really shifts in a very significant way for us. The first one would be this is problems. Another one way you can say is problems are pain. We are promised trouble in the Bible. Jesus says in John 1633, "I'm telling you these things so that in me you have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world." The reality is problems, pain, that is something that we are all, you're either walking in it right now or you'll be walking in it at some point. Everyone experiences it, whether you're a Christian or non-Christian. We all know this, in all honesty, if you get around the workplace, you get around people like, "We might put on a good mask and a good facade, but people really overall are not doing very well." Data shows people are more anxious than ever before, like most people's lives, they're not just killing the game, and usually the more they look, they're killing the game, the more something is broken on the inside of them. An eternal perspective doesn't just say, "Hey, your problem doesn't matter." What it does is it actually adds meaning and significance to what it is you're walking through. There's no escapism reality here of like, "Hey, I know it's bad now, but one day I'll get a lot better." No, it actually says, "No, this problem, this pain I'm walking through is going to produce something in my life." Second Corinthians 4, the teaching takes us for this light and momentary affliction

is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Such a beautiful promise here that, "Hey, what you're walking through right now feels crushingly heavy." And I'm not here to make light of it, but what I want to say is when you get an eternal perspective, that crushingly heavy thing is preparing you for something. You know, we all know this, or at least people tell me this, when you work out you want to use heavier weights to build mass. Every service people have laughed at that, but because I have an eternal perspective, I forgive all of you. But you know that, like if you want to build muscle mass, you've got to lift heavy things. And I just want to say, there's something about us recognizing, "Hey, we need to get our spiritual weight up in the body of Christ." There's so many people, Christians and non-Christians, they face problems that we try to run from it versus learning how to actually press with it with the Holy Spirit. This is producing weight in my life. This is producing a weight of glory. Something is going to come from this. Romans 8, the Apostle Paul says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory of this to be revealed for us." An eternal perspective adds meaning and significance to the pain and the problems that you're walking through in this life. Another area which just really begins to change things, what else it changes is how we interact with people. I'll probably say just if the longer you're in New York, the more important this is going to be. I love this city, but New York is a very transactional city.

It basically, and so that, if we're not careful, can we get to sleep into our relationships we have with other people? And rather than seeing people for who they are, recognizing the glory of God, the amago day inside of people, we then begin to view people like projects as pathways for us to be promoted. Every relationship isn't really a relationship, it's a transaction, it's a cost-benefit analysis. And what's interesting is what Jesus has to say about this. And so I'm going to lift up two stories that Jesus says I think it can just be a... Luke 16, verse 25 to 31, "I would encourage you this week to maybe spend some time meditating and praying through this passage." Jesus tells a story that I think is rather haunting. He says, "There was a rich man who clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day, and at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores." Now before we get any further than this, Jesus is doing something very significant here that you don't want to miss. Jesus names the poor man, Lazarus. He does not name the rich man. This would be a cultural insult in their day. Basically, "Hey, you know that person that you esteem of tremendous wealth, prestige, and honor. I just want you to know God and the flesh didn't care about his name. He just knew what he prioritized." Jesus named the one that probably no one else in that town knew, except, "Oh, that's the one that sits by the gate." The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.

The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades being in torment, he lifted his eyes and saw Abraham fall off and Lazarus out of his side. He called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger and water to cool my tongue." For I'm in anguish in this flame, but Abraham said, "Child, remember that in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus, in light manner, bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish." Now what's really kind of startling about his past is that even in death, the rich man still had a poor view of the poor man. He recognizes Abraham's seat of honor, and he sees that the poor man's there and he cries out to Abraham and says, "Hey, send that poor guy to be my servant." Even in death, he still has a wrong view of what God actually honors and esteem. I just want to say, folks, there is nothing wrong if you've been given a position of influence in your life, but to understand that position of influence is used to serve other people. There's a direct confrontation here that I think so often the people that we overlook and don't see, there's a comfort if you feel like that is you that God looks and sees you. But also that confrontation I felt like in praying for the sermon, there's a lot of people that work in a lot of large industries, companies that have 10, 15, 20,000 employees. You know, your CEO walks in and there's a weight to that person. But I just want you to know, heaven ascribes weight to that person that's sitting outside your office doors asking for food just as much as that CEO who walks in. And the beautiful thing about an eternal perspective is it's not about riches bad and poor is good, all that, it actually just adds the appropriate weight and dignity to all humanity. Is that shaping the way you view people? Another haunting passage, Matthew 25, again, these are Jesus' words, so if you have an issue, take it up with him. It says, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

And he will place the sheep on his right and the goats on the left, then the king will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clogged me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. When the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink? And when do we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And when do we see you sick or in prison and vis you and the king, the Lord will answer them. Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. There is a weight. This levels the playing field for all of humanity. This is why someone like Mother Teresa, who spent her life serving the most impoverished places, could go speak to kings and rulers of the United Nations. She carried a weight to her life because she had thrown her life into caring for those that no one else cared for. Second Corinthians 5, 16 gives us the instructions, says, "From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh." One of the primary things in an eternal perspective will shift for you as the way that you view people. And if you're not careful, you'll be foreign more into what New York values and what the Western world values and what they esteem as honor and you actually miss all the things in which Jesus says, not only what he cares about, but what you'll be honored for and rewarded for in heaven. There's a guy named Olo. He sits daily on the corner of 57th Street and 7th Avenue. If you pass by him, you wouldn't even pay attention to him. He sits there just about every day.

The reason why he used to live in that neighborhood and the reason I got to know Olo is one day my wife was walking across the street and she tripped and fell, crossing over 7th Avenue. She called me on the phone, very upset and in tears, just because if you've ever had that experience, this kind of shakes you if you fall in New York. And she said there was a guy sitting on the corner, everyone else passed me by, but this guy who was sitting on the corner asking for money got up to help me. A couple days later, I went by and I just said, "Median, for the first time, I'd passed by him a few times." I just said, "Hey, I don't know if you remember this." But there was a girl that walked by the other day, blonde here, that she fell across the street and said, "That's my wife." He said, "Oh, how's she doing?" First thing, he didn't, he just wanted to know how she was doing. And he and I became friends. He's a believer. He goes to Times Square Church. He prays for our church on a consistent basis. And as actually to this day, I call him one of the watchmen on the wall in New York City. Thousands of people pass by him every day. Yet in a moment, the way he treated my wife carried tremendous weight with me. And one of my favorite stories, we talk often about God moving into New York. I go by and see him at least once a week, just in my route of going by, if you see him, tell him I said, "Hey." But it was a few weeks ago, my wife and I were walking by and he was in a conversation and I kind of like rudely interrupted. I didn't mean to, but I just was excited to see my friend. And I'm talking to Olo, my wife starts talking to the person that's talking to him and we walk in the way and she goes, "Well, that was crazy. This is my wife Leanne." The lady that was talking to Olo owns her apartment on Central Park South. Now, I think if you own an apartment on Central Park South, you're doing okay. Just a guess. She was talking to Olo because recently she had felt convicted that she needed to know the God of the Bible. And she knew that this man who sat on the corner asking for money on a daily basis somehow knew about the God of the Bible.

And she was asking him questions about the Bible. Now, I walked away and said, "That might be the greatest evidence of God's movement in New York City." When you have people that own apartments on Central Park South, asking people. And so my question is not, "Hey, do you have lots of possessions or not?" As do you know the eternal one? Do people in your workplace, when they start getting questions about God, do you have a reality with God that can be explained and experienced? The way you view people in eternal perspective shifts that in a tremendous way. Folks, if I can just even confess that story makes me sound better than I actually am. It was just yesterday, I'm prayer-walking, like getting ready for this and asking God, like, "Lord, I need power." Asking him to meet you guys, all this kind of stuff. And I just feel this confrontation going, "You have passed by three people asking for help that you haven't even acknowledged." I just felt this confrontation in my own heart of, "Do not stand here and preach lofty words. You're not willing to sit under on a daily basis." This is the gift of the city we have to us. So it shifts the problems and pain we walk through. It shifts how we view people. And then the last thing that it shifts is our priorities. There should be, your life is lived differently because you have an eternal perspective. I'm going to highlight four where I consider main areas. But I really say you can, just about any area of stewardship in your life, you could think, "Do I have an eternal perspective here?" But before we get into that, I just want to highlight a word we use often and a bit casually in the body of Christ. Now I'm talking about the fruit of an eternal perspective. Most people are like, "Hey, I'm a Christian. I have that. I get it. I understand." There's a Greek word that when you're reading your Bible and you'll read words like faith, belief, trust, like those words are often, is it one Greek word which is the word pistis. And that word carries more meaning than we understand. We have to say like, yeah, I believe in Jesus, but no, no, the early tradition,

like this word meant something beyond that. It wasn't, do you believe that or think that? We use it casually, like this team is better than that team. I believe this restaurant is better than that restaurant. We use the term belief so casually it's lost the weight of its meaning. Like for example, like current, it's like, hey, I think this is what belief means. But in biblical times it's, I live as if this is true. So my question is, I hit some of these areas for you is not, what do you think about this? My question is, how do you behave about this? Because how you behave is actually a better indicator of what you believe than what you say you believe with your mouth, right? And all of us have gaps in our life. I don't say that when you shame or condemnation. The first area, money. How do you prioritize money in light of eternity? I read the Matthew six passage earlier about storing up treasures in heaven. There's another haunting story in Luke chapter 12 where there's a man who has significant resource, being blessed tremendously. And basically he's storing so much that his barn is completely full. And he decides, you know what I need to do with this? Build a bigger one. And so he decides to build a bigger barn to hold all the stuff that is being given to him.

And in Luke 12, 21 says, but God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared, who's will they be? So is the one who lays up treasures for himself and is not rich towards God? The issue isn't that the guy had a barn. The issue is that he was building a bigger one without a reference point for eternity. It was his frame of reference for why he was doing it. I actually think of, he said, you know what? I think a famine's coming, I want to build a bigger barn so I can actually help serve my community. That's actually what Joseph did to save the Israelites in Egypt. There's a biblical wisdom that comes from that, but in the moment his whole vantage point was right here right now had no eternal stewardship reality attached to it. It's having an eternal perspective changing how you prioritize stewardship of the resources that God has put into your life. Another area where this can get confronted in us is time. What we do with time. Ephesians 5 says, look carefully then how you walk. Not as unwise, but as wise. Making the best use of time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. If I could just give you a little pastoral help from pastoring people for close to two decades now.

Tomorrow is a delusion. One of the number one things I see believers get tripped up in is the deception that I'll get to that later. I'll start serving once I get to a set point in my life. You know what, I'm gonna make it in my career so that one day I can be generous. It's that mindset I'll get to that later and I just want to say if you don't get to it now you'll never get to it later. If you don't train yourself in generosity now you will not become generous later. This has to be, and I see it so often that I think intentions are right, they're pure, but the deception of tomorrow and the delusion of time you are not promised tomorrow. Having an eternal perspective shifts how we view people, how we interact with them, how we steward our time. Another area where we feel this. Again, not just what we say we believe or how we actually behave in this is in sex and our desires. 1 Corinthians 6, 13 says food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food. God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual morality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. Now if I could just say this, there is a lie out there that God is trying to suppress your desires. That Christianity is trying to basically like subdue that. And I just want to say the desires that you have

are God given. There is a God given and actually I think longing. C.S. Lewis has this same book, "Dear Christianity," which is a great book to read, says, "If I find myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." I used to serve in youth ministry back in the day, and I used to say this to students all the time, "Hey, if you're going to be one foot in, one foot out, you might as well go as hard as you can at the world because the faster you get out there and realize that's going to lead you to emptiness, the sooner you'll get back to what actually matters." And I wasn't saying that from place of arrogance, I was saying that was true in my life. I was in pursuit of the best that the world had to offer. I wanted every desire and longing to be filled in the fullness on this side. And what I realized is what that produced in me was an emptiness, a holiness, a shallowness, and what I found is Christianity actually is the thing that satisfies that thing. There actually is the eternal ache that everyone has that everyone's longing for, and I would just say this, awaken that ache. Those desires, it's not about destroying them, it's about aligning them. It's a disordered desire, that's what gets us in trouble. The pastoral note I just want to mention here is we'll say turns in the body of Christ, you know, if you're in the prayer room often we pray Psalm 16, "In your presence is the fullness of joy, not your right hand, or pleasures forevermore." You know, you'll hear believers talk about being fully satisfied in God, and I do want to say, man, you can taste satisfaction in God better as one day in his courts than a thousand elsewhere. I mean, there are moments of encounter, there are moments of an experience in walking with God that just are transcendent of other things, but the reality is that's not everyday normal life. And I think a lie gets set in where it's like, oh, everyone's experiencing this thing, I'm not, and I'm actually just longing for what the world has to offer.

Our teaching text tonight, the Apostle Paul says, "Hey, while you're in this tent, you groan. While you're in this tent, you ache. You will never be fully satisfied until we are fully unified with God." Even being a Christian is basically, hey, folks, we're engaged, the wedding hasn't happened yet. When the wedding comes, there'll be the full party that begins to happen, but right now what we taste is a shadow of what is to come. And so do not believe that you're experiencing the best that God has for you right now. There is always more, and you will spend the rest of your life in pursuit of tasting and longing after that. I pray this often, Lord, would you make me hungry, satisfy that hunger, and then make me hungry, or still? The world and the church will tell you to numb your desire, medicate your desire, distract that thing, and I want to tell you, you should agitate that eternal ache. You should be wholly unsatisfied that wakes up a desperation and a desire for the eternal one to come near and to come close. What you do with sex and desires really has an impact in how you think through an eternal perspective. It's unto something preparing the weight of eternal glory. The last area that I think shifts in our priorities is our work. Colossians 3, whatever you do, work hardly as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that it's from the Lord that you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord of Christ. Folks, can I tell you the comfort that comes from being a believer when you know that everything in your life, everything that you do, whether it's acknowledged by men, whether it's done in a secret, there's a Father in heaven who not only sees the rewards. Do you feel overlooked, underappreciated? Do you feel like you're missing something because you don't have the right relationships to connect?

You just want to say there is a comfort you can find when you're walking with God that hey, you have a Father who sees and rewards what's done in secret. Right now in the Western world, we have such an obsession with platforms and influence. One of the things I even wrestle through pastorally is how often I have to speak with a microphone. And most of the promises for rewards are what's done in secret, and I'm like, Lord, there's too much of my life that I have to live in public. The majority of people are never going to have a podcast, never have this massive platform or impactful ministry, but your faithfulness in the everyday, mundane, seemingly meaningless moments in life actually have an eternal weight of significance. What you do in the hidden places God will reward in the heavenly places. And there's a comfort that comes from finding that. that yet speaks loudly in resounds in the halls of heaven. Folks, in eternal perspective shifts, how have you time, how have you our money, what we do with our desires, what we do with our work. And this is the thing, it's not just a cheesy, this is what has shaped society throughout history. This is what Christians who actually believe that eternity was a reality. There will be rewards in heaven is what shifted the Roman Empire. Tim Keller says this, the early church was strikingly different from the culture around it in this way. The pagan society was stingy with this money and promiscuous with this body. A pagan gave nobody their money and practically everybody their body. And the Christians came along and gave practically nobody their body and gave practically everybody their money.

This was the distinctive. Not just what they said, not just what they talked about, but how they behaved in a way that was radically different from the world around us. Man, what an opportunity we have here in New York City. So why does it matter? What does it shift? And then here's the last thing I want to land a plane here. How do I grow it? All right, I get it, I get why, I get what? Well, how do I develop this in my life? We can be three areas in how to train yourself in developing the eternal perspective. This doesn't happen naturally. Life is crushing. Your next problem is right in front of you. You've got to disciple yourself and train yourself in this area. So three things that will put in front of you. The first one's a bit morbid, forgive me, death. You should contemplate your death. I hate to tell you, you are going to die. So fascinating how obsessed our culture is with longevity right now. Everyone is trying to biohack their whole life into living forever. And the reality of I hate to say it is a delusion. That same song that the Jewish culture would anchor in about the eternal attribute of God also gives us this instruction.

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Wisdom is not found in you maximizing your days. Wisdom is found in you numbering your days and living like today could be your last day. Remembering that you will die will teach you how to live. Now this isn't just a Christian concept. This is actually interesting how this is getting popular in today's age as well. But if you study like ancient great societies, the majority of them from the Egyptians to the Romans had the practice where they contemplated death consistently. The Western world right now has one of the most unhealthy views of death that we've ever had in human history. We want to ignore it, we don't want to talk about it. It's just this thing that's way off in the corner. But actually, if you want to live a life of impact, then you need to put death right in front of you on a daily basis. I kind of get made fun of for this, but I think about death all the time. And not in some more bit fearful way, but just I want to live my life in such a way that if I died today, died tomorrow, there will be no regrets in how I live today. I have an annual practice. I do this at the end of the year. I'm kind of a contemplative. I write out my eulogy of what I want to be said

at my funeral. And it's shocking how it's not these big moments, these big things. It's the meaning I want to have in every day, ordinary moments of people. I think about my death often. I would ask and implore you, and this crowd can be a bit younger sometimes. It's like, you need to think about this. I have a friend that passes a church in LA and just about a little bit over a year ago, he was given a diagnosis that barring a miracle from God, which I'm asking for, he's going to die very soon. He's got terminal cancer diagnosis. He's married, has a life-giving church, has young kids. I was with him last year and get to see him pretty frequently online, and I'll be with him in a few weeks. And spending time with him is such a confrontation. And it's not that I feel sorry for him. It's actually, I do feel for him. But when you're talking to him, there's something about, oh man, he is in reality right now. All my problems, everything I'm stressed out about, they matter almost nothing to him. It's like a plumb line comes right back into my life. Like he is walking way more in reality than I am. There's this confrontation that begins to happen. It's actually beautiful to experience.

I appreciate even the gift he is to my life now, because basically he just wants to give all of his days that he has left to pour out at the feet of Jesus, love his family, love his church really well. And it's like, you know what? I think that's all that matters. James 4 says, come now, you who say, trade, and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. For what is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then it vanishes. It's life, it's a vapor. That doesn't mean it's meaningless, but it's what you do with that vapor and where you live and which direction with an eternal perspective that actually produces more meaning. So one, consistently contemplating your death. Two, weighing your decisions in light of eternity. The decisions you make in light of eternity. What I love about this is New Yorkers get this. You're not living in your paying extremely high rent because you don't like you want the best right now. That was the case you would move down south and buy a giant house of what you're paying for rent. You know about delayed gratification. You know about paying a price now so you get experienced reward later. I just want to tell you that's beautiful. Shift it to eternity. Living your life with the weight of eternity impacting how you make decisions. We just saw that with the Tafoya's video. Everyone is leaving the city they make a decision to stay. Why? Because they have an eternal perspective. This is what marked the early church. This is the faith you have inherited throughout centuries that when everyone else is fleeing Christians step in. The decisions they make are starkly different than societies. Why? Because they're not afraid of death and they realize that I'm storing up my life for another life. There's something else that's to come. Psalm 73 it won't be on the screen but it's one of my favorite Psalms. I'll call it the Psalm for New York. It's a worship leader named Asaph. He opens up with his beautiful line. He says surely God is good to Israel. But as for me my feet nearly slipped. He's

basically saying the church line like God is good but I'm sucking wind right now. Why? Well he goes and starts dropping 15 verses on the wicked or prospering. I've been serving you this entire time and yet they are doing great. I'm over here struggling. He gets so into it. He's talking about how much food they have. He's talking about their skincare. He's like their faces are glowing. He's like he's been thinking about this for a while. He's wrestling on this. He just has this Christian don't moment. He says all of these things I could not understand until I entered into your sanctuary. One of the challenges I think we have in the Western churches our lives actually look just about the same as everyone else's lives. And I think as I believe for your life should be irreconcilable outside of the light of eternity. And then it goes on to whom do I have in heaven but you. What a desire on this earth. He reminds his own self knowing. I see that the wicked or prospering. If you don't feel this in New York like when you see people who are doing it the wrong way yet they're being rewarded in some way to shape or form. It's hard to reconcile if you don't have an eternal perspective. Hebrews 11, speaking about Moses as by faith Moses when he was grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God that enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward. Do you weigh your decisions you make with a view of eternal rewards? The last area so contemplating your death weighing out your decisions and then remembering you have a destiny. So I'll tell you the future is bright. I don't know what your career is gonna have in store for you. I don't know what life's gonna have in store for you but I know this if you are a Christian the future is very bright for you. I mean if there's no other that Luke 16 parable that poor man begging at the gates you know what his future was real bright. He's now seated at the right hand of Abraham. There's a solace we find in that reality. First Peter 3, "Bless be God in the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His great mercy. He has caused us to be born to get into a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to what an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading and kept in heaven for you." Ladies and gentlemen I just want to tell you the future is bright you know why you have an inheritance. Good news you're a trust fund baby. You've got an inheritance to store it up imperishable, undefiled, unfading and guess what it's being kept in heaven for you where people can't take it from you. Jonathan Edwards thinking about the destiny he said Lord stamp eternity onto my eyeballs. Folks you need to get this eternal vantage point in front of you moment, and we so focus on what is seen, but what is seen is transient. What is unseen is eternal. So, in short, how do you grow this and develop this? Number your days, weigh your decisions, fix your eyes on Jesus. Number your days, weigh your decisions, fix your eyes on Jesus. If you consistently wake up thinking today could be my last day, weighing out your decisions, you'll still make some bad ones, I still make some bad ones in light of eternity, and fixing my eyes on Jesus, the author, the professor, and the finisher of my faith, you can live a life of weight. The scariest thing for me would be that you live a very successful life here in your, but an empty life here in heaven. You could be a tremendous success in the eyes of the Lord, and your life carry no weight and significance in the eyes of heaven. What's promised us in Christ is that our life can carry weight, substance, and significance. Second Corinthians 5 and 9, so whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. If I could make this even simpler for you, what if the greatest aim of your temporary life was to simply please the one that you'll enjoy forever? You can live a life that pleases God. You can live your day tomorrow that pleases Him. Folks, He didn't rescue you because He was frustrated at you. He rescued you because He delighted in you. Do you know He delights in the people that inquire of Him and ask Him questions? Folks, this does not mean a life that pleases God is not the perfect life, but I think it's a life that's sought after living and seeking Him. Worth the greatest aim. If you want to live a life that matters, have an internal respect to it. Leveraging this temporary life simply to please the one that you'll enjoy forever. The fruit of an internal perspective is not that you think less about this life. Eternity teaches you what this life is actually for. If you were to invite you to stand, let's pray together.

So we'll take a moment here to invite the Holy Spirit to speak. Whatever posture you would like to get in to help you just kind of contemplate where you are with the Lord. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that Your Word is eternal. Well, these passages I've been read from tonight have been lifted up for thousands of years. They have ministered to, confronted, and challenged people throughout the ages. So we just say now, "Come Holy Spirit." We're not asking you to come because you're absent from the room. We're asking you to come because we want you to come even deeper. To search, to know, to test, and to try. So maybe if you're bold enough or willing and able just to say where you are in your breath, come Holy Spirit. So we'll take a few seconds here to wait upon the Lord. In just a few moments we'll have our worship team begin to lead us in worship. Our prayer team will be down in front and we'll have a time of response, but just a few areas I would feel like the Holy Spirit might be highlighting tonight is one you're in the room and you're walking right now through tremendous suffering and pain. Like when I say these light and momentary afflictions, it's like you almost want to laugh because right now you feel like you are being crushed by life. The word I'm hearing is suffocating. Life feels suffocating to you right now. I just want to say God is not here to mock you. We're not here to say that doesn't matter. God's here to meet you in that and to help you lift that. Cast your cares upon him. If you feel like life is suffocating for you right now. Another area of invitation I just feel that there could be someone in the room that's talking about storing up treasures for yourself that you've been storing something God has been asking you to sacrifice. There's an area of delayed obedience in your life that it's like I'll get to that tomorrow. I'll get to that at this point and I just want to say I think today is the day you need to make the commitment to do it. It's not about storing up but it's about stewarding and most stewardship happens through sacrifice. If you're in the room and you're not a Christian This is not just like a self-help talk about how to get you need to surrender your life to Jesus tonight to commit to living your life for him. It is where you'll find all meaning, all significance found in him and him alone. This is eternal life that I know you. If you've never met him tonight, he'd like to meet you. He actually is reaching for you right now. If you need to surrender your life to Jesus tonight. In the last area,

I just feel I need to lift it up in this room. I've felt this past few weeks and it's almost every week, but Jesus came that we could have life and life to the full. The enemy came to steal, kill and destroy. I just want to say if you're in the room and you feel like you are under a cloud of depression and darkness to the point is reaching self-harm and suicidal ideation. I just want you to know that it's not from the Lord and he wants to meet you here tonight. He wants to break that spirit of death off of your life. You are not assigned to a barrenness in this life. You're actually assigned to start birthing things in this life. Brokenness is not your inheritance. Blessing is your inheritance. And so I'm going to invite our prayer team forward. If any of those areas resonate with you at all, you feel like the cares this world are suffocating your life right now. You feel like there's a step of obedience God is asking you to take. You need to surrender your life to Jesus, or maybe there's just like a spirit of death, self-harm, suicidal ideation that's just marking you. You can't get away from you. I just want to tell you you're not alone. We'd love to pray with you and encourage you. As our prayer team makes this way forward, I'm going to pray for us and our worship team's going to lead us out in response to just invite you to lean into whatever the Holy Spirit might be asking you to tonight, but let's respond in some way. So Father, we thank you again for your work. If Father, I just thank you that you do not leave us alone that more than anything an eternal perspective is met by meeting the eternal one. So Lord, right now we just ask in this room that the veil between heaven and earth would go away. Lord, I ask the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of the eternal one to fill this room to bring light to the eyes of hearts. Lord, I pray anywhere where scales have gotten into our eyes, Lord, I just ask you to open our eyes and freshen anew. Lord, we thank you that you do speak and we just ask you to speak to people in the room tonight. Lord, I just pray that you would find on the other end of that people that are responsive to your reach in our lives. Lord, we thank you that we don't reach for you more than you reach for us. And so Lord, I just pray that right now you feel the room full of courage and a boldness to respond to the sound of your voice. As Lord, your word says that you are enthroned upon the praise of your people. So we just invite as we worship you, as we minister to you, we just ask that this room here for other for place would become your throne room for a moment in time. We invite the fullness of your leadership to come and wait and to come and power. Lord, I pray you would mark our eyes, mark our lives with the view of eternity. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. I invite you guys to lean in and respond however you feel it to.