Rewind — the teaching platform built on your church’s own preaching

The big idea

Every person will stand before one of two judgment seats, and knowing what's coming next should shape what you do with your life now.

Because of Jesus, believers can face their future with hope rather than fear. Scripture describes two judgment seats: the Bema Seat, where Christians will answer for what they did with the time, talents, treasure, and testimony God gave them, and the Great White Throne, where those without Jesus answer for their own deeds. Both are presided over by the same Savior who died to bring people to Himself, so the real question isn't whether God wants you, but whether you want Him.

With Christ, all things are possible

— Pastor Bill Bush

Point 1 of 6

Revelation is hard to understand, but it's given so that knowing what happens next changes how we live now.

Pastor Bill opens with the 'Irish wristwatch' meme illustration, comparing the difficulty of the phrase to the difficulty of Revelation's prophetic, ancient literary style. He names the series' big idea he's repeated all series: if I know what's happening next, it should impact what I do now, and frames this final week as 'the tale of two judgments.'

Point 2 of 6

Believers will stand at the Bema Seat and answer for what they did with what God gave them.

Working through 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 and 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Pastor Bill explains that Christians will be judged not for sin but for whether they built their lives on Jesus with things of eternal value (gold, silver, jewels) or worldly, temporary things (wood, hay, straw) that burn up in the fire, resulting in reward or great loss.

Point 3 of 6

Four things God gave us that we'll answer for: our time, talents, treasure, and testimony.

He walks through each category, asking whether believers spend their time with God, use their spiritual gifts to serve the church, trust God with their finances rather than the world's way, and use their story of God's grace to build others up. He connects this to his own calling to preach and challenge the church, saying preachers are held to a higher standard.

You do realize you can sit in your garage all day long, but that doesn't make you a car

— Pastor Bill Bush

Point 4 of 6

The Great White Throne judgment is for those who never truly knew Jesus, and ends in the lake of fire.

Reading Revelation 20, Pastor Bill traces the sequence: Satan bound a thousand years, the millennial reign of Christ, Satan's brief release and final defeat, then the resurrection of the unsaved dead judged by their own deeds before the Great White Throne, with anyone not written in the book of life thrown into the lake of fire.

Point 5 of 6

Hell is not God torturing people; it's the complete, terrifying removal of His presence.

He corrects popular images of hell (Dante's inferno, demons with pitchforks, cosmic torture chamber), arguing instead that hell is simply God stepping back and letting people have the eternity without Him that they wanted, pointing to Jesus' cry 'my God, my God, why have you forsaken me' as a glimpse of what separation from God feels like.

Related passage

All he has to do is leave

— Pastor Bill Bush

Your own demons will torture you, and there's no hope

— Pastor Bill Bush

Everything else that's been prophesied in the bible has always happened

— Pastor Bill Bush

Illustration

A man in Chandler, Arizona hit and killed a zebra that had escaped from the ostrich festival, used to illustrate how strange-sounding prophetic events do in fact happen

A story from life

The preacher describes avoiding his tax appointment two years in a row despite never having owed, used to illustrate how believers avoid thinking about judgment even when they have hope

Point 6 of 6

Both judgment seats are presided over by the same Jesus who died for us, so the real question is whether we want Him.

Pastor Bill closes the teaching by reminding the church that the King who judges is the same suffering servant who went to the cross, so no one need fear trusting Him. He reframes the whole message around one question: God wants you, but do you want Him?

Related passage

The question is not if God wants you. The question is, do you really want Him

— Pastor Bill Bush

Take it into your week

Pastor Bill frames the choice as a question to sit with: when your life is assessed, how will you do?

Application

Examine your time, talents, treasure, and testimony
Believers should honestly ask whether they are spending these on eternal things or on what will burn up, since every Christian will answer for what they did with what God gave them.
Serve in your church with your gifts
If you call this your church but aren't serving, Pastor Bill says something is wrong with how you're following your Lord; use your spiritual gifts to reach people and build up the body.
Trust God with your finances even when it's tight
Give financially to the church as an act of trust in God rather than the world's way, remembering that everything already belongs to Him.
Examine yourself before taking communion
Before taking the bread and cup, ask which judgment seat you're heading to and how you're doing, using it as a chance to remember, reflect, and recommit.
Turn to Jesus if you never truly have
If you've never confessed Jesus as Lord and believed God raised Him from the dead, pray now to put your faith in what He did for you rather than in yourself.

Keep going

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