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Re: “More On The Millennial Believers”. Could it be that writing the third testament will be one of the things that the church will do from the New Jerusalem? People are always asking and speculating on what the church’s purpose will be after the rapture and bema seat. Maybe some will be assigned to write another testament. I can hardly wait to see what it is that he has in store for us.

When Christians are raptured and go through the Bema Seat judgement, we’re rewarded for what we did while we are on Earth for God. Is it possible to grow, to gain more treasure and earn a more prestigious position (governing 5 cities instead of just one) when we are in the New Jerusalem? Or will our actions on earth all we will be rewarded for? Also, do you think the treasure we store up in Heaven might have something to do with a monetary system we’ll we’ll use to buy and sell there?

Would you please explain exactly what it means to live our lives in God’s strength? If everything at the Bema Seat Judgment is burned up as if it never existed if it was done in human strength, and only actions done in His strength are recognized, how far do you take this? After all, we awake every morning and arise in His strength. If it wasn’t for God, we would stop breathing! What exactly does in His strength mean on a practical level?

Thank you for your many articles! I have a misgiving that you may be able to give me some insight about: If our “good deeds” vis-a-vis the Bema judgment depend on our motives being pure, then I cannot imagine that anything good I’ve ever done during my walk with Jesus will be rewarded. I don’t think I’ve ever had motives that were 100% pure.

I am impelled to do good; I want to good; I strive to do good. Why? At least part of the reason is that *that* is (now) my purpose for being. When I do good I am more closely bearing my Lord’s image; it is the only way I have of tangibly show God that I love Him.

Yet at the same times, competing thoughts pollute my efforts: “you’re really doing this just to store-up treasures in Heaven!” and “Oh! someone’s seen your deed; surely you’re doing this just so they’ll notice!” and other awful things like that. I often try to do these things in secret (and at times am discovered, my heart sinks). When I can’t be secret, I simply write-off the effort and try to forget that I even did it.

At times, When I’m fully exasperated with my mixed “motives,” I steel myself inside and say to myself: “THIS is the RIGHT thing to do. Whether I am disqualified or not in God’s eyes, I will do this deed because it is right and I am His! Even if my only reward is that I know this has benefited someone (and God rejects my deed), nevertheless I will do it because it is my purpose to do good.” Then I do the good deed, and assume that it will be considered “wood,” “hay,” or “stubble.”

I have been gifted in many ways, but I have the horrible sense that at the Bema I will find that I’ve been a horrible waste to God, and that I will have badly failed in fulfilling my purpose and be held in shame because I, who had so much turned, it into so little for God.

Often when I’ve done good for others, I tell myself: “This is good??? Oh, this single act is, but you should be doing this ALL the time. Instead of feeling “good” or “satisfied” that I have done a good deed, I feel pain and condemnation that I’m not ALWAYS this “good.” Still, I do good; that is my purpose.

I have an idea of what 100% pure must be like, and no matter how “pure” I am, my purity won’t be 100% until I am finally with Him. (And I long for a pure heart.)

At this point in my note, I’m not sure what I’m asking. I guess it would be nice if I could continue to fulfill my purpose without being conscious of it, not feeling “good,” but at least not feeling “filthy” either.

Have you seen this struggle before, and do you know what it means, and how to resolve it?

You have written more than once on how teachers of the Word will be judged more strictly because of the positions they hold. If those in leadership positions are not necessarily interpreting and teaching correct doctrine, but have accepted the penalty paid by Jesus Christ on the cross and are themselves saved, how are they judged differently from those that follow them?

I am confused on what the Church will be doing during the actual tribulation. If we are raptured directly into the New Jerusalem, will we be cognizant of the horrors that are happening on earth? Will we be able to see any friends/loved ones left behind and their struggles? And, at the end of the 1000 year reign, where is the church during the final battle?

I’ve read in several places that the only ones at the Great White Throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15) will be all of the “unsaved” dead throughout time. But I have always had a question about that. If the church is judged at the Bema Seat (to receive awards), when are the OT saints judged? Also, what about the people that live through the tribulation and go into the millennium to repopulate the Earth? When do those people and their descendants get judged? Will those that trust in Christ for salvation during the millennium receive sinless eternal bodies like the “Church” will receive at the rapture? If these people will not be present at the Great White Throne judgment, then why would Jesus even bother opening the Lamb’s Book of Life? If only those whose names are not written in the Book at present, why would He even need to check?

Re: Lordship. You have said, “We’re saved because of what we believe not because of how we behave, so regardless of our behavior, once we’re His we’re always His.” Will not what we believe by definition affect how we live?

What is the difference between submitting to the direction God/Jesus has for our lives and doing things because we are Christian? Example. All my life I have worked with the kids at church doing Christmas plays, puppets, etc. I struggle with “Is this the direction God had for my life?” vs. “I do these things because that is what we are to do as Christian people.” I go on mission trips because I feel it’s my responsibility to help others. I haven’t ever had this great sense of being called to do something. I do the things I do because that is what is expected. Am I wrong? Will these be burned as wood, hay and stumble at the bema seat?

Thank-you for this section of your web site, it has helped so much with my Bible study.

I’m am however having a real hard time seeing in the scripture that everyone who is saved is going in the rapture. When I read some of the parables such as the ten virgins and the watching servants, it seems that Jesus is separating the faithful servant from the unfaithful servant. Could this mean that even though salvation is a gift for belief, the Rapture is a gift for faithfulness?

I also find it hard to believe that Jesus would take anyone in the Rapture that doesn’t even believe the Rapture will happen, Although many that Love the Lord do not believe. Wouldn’t this be against their free will?