Chapter 7: Daily Shaping Our Eternal Future
Is your house built on rock or on sand?
Discuss Reward Principle #5: Obeying God is not only right, it’s smart. It will always pay off in the end.
Read 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 and James 2:17-26. What strikes you about these passages?
The author writes, “God condemns works done to earn salvation and works done to impress others. But our Lord enthusiastically commends works done for the right reasons.” What are the right reasons? Discuss examples.
Discuss your reaction to the author’s statement, “Where we spend eternity, whether heaven or hell, depends on our faith. Our further condition in either place will be affected by our works.”
At the end of this chapter the author invites us to read our own obituary as it would be written now by an onlooking angel from heaven’s point of view. Do you like what you see? What can you do differently in order to edit the obituary?
Chapter 8: Welcomed into Heaven’s Homes
Read Luke 16:9; John 14:2-3; Revelation 21:2, 16.
Do you agree that in heaven, and/or after the resurrection on the New Earth, people will literally live in dwelling places? Was Jesus actually suggesting in Luke 16 that we will spend time there with people who we have influenced on earth by our wise and generous use of God’s money?
How are you using your available resources to plan for your eternal future?
Did you try the field trip to the junkyard? If so, discuss your trip. If not, do you think it would be a good trip to make for you and your family? What might you learn?
Chapter 9: From Here to Eternity’s Rewards
What was your reaction to the farmers’ story at the beginning of this chapter?
Read Matthew 16:24-27; 19:27-30; 25:14-23; Luke 14:12-14; Romans 2:6, 10;
Ephesians 6:8. What do you learn from these passages?
This chapter goes into specifics regarding rewards. How are you currently doing in the areas for which God rewards?
Discuss your reaction when the author writes, “although all believers will be with Christ, not all will reign with him, at least not with equal responsibility and authority.”
What is your reaction to Reward Principle #6: We will have differing levels of reward in heaven, depending on our actions and choices on earth.
Discuss the chart on page 96.
Chapter 10: Rewards: Our Missing Motivation.
Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Galatians 6:9-10; Ephesians 6:7-8; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; 2 Timothy 4:7-8. What is the apostle Paul’s view of works and rewards?
Discuss the implications of the author’s statement “The doctrine of eternal rewards for our obedience is the neglected key to unlocking our motivations.”
Discuss Reward Principle #7: Desiring rewards is a proper motivation for serving Christ.