Sermon Recap
Turn and Live
Part 1 of 7 in Full Reward
Parte 1 de 7 de la serie Full Reward
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Brian Hunter · August 3, 2025
“Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve, but that you may receive a full reward.”
Scripture Referenced
Recap
Kicking off a new series called “Full Reward,” Brian opened the short, easy-to-overlook letter of 2 John and its warning about losing what has been worked for. He explained the “we” in the verse as the fivefold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) who labor to establish, encourage, teach, and free the people they serve, and compared spiritual growth to physical fitness: stop showing up, and the ground gained starts slipping away. The core distinction Brian wanted to land in week one was that this reward is not salvation itself, which is a free, once-for-all gift, but something given on top of it, tied to how a believer’s life is actually lived out.
To build the case, Brian moved through Hebrews 9:27 (each person dies once, then faces judgment), Revelation 20:12-13 (the dead standing before God’s throne as books are opened, including a “book of life”), and a passing reference to a Psalm describing every day of a person’s life being recorded before it was ever lived: a book of what God planned for someone to do, not merely what they ended up doing. Brian was careful to slow down on the concept of judgment itself, cautioning the room against assuming they already had an accurate picture of what biblical reward and judgment actually mean before the series had a chance to unpack it further.
The message closed by framing the weeks ahead as an invitation to “turn and live”: to take reward seriously as motivation for how life is stewarded now, rather than treating salvation as the finish line with nothing left to pursue afterward.
Touch Points
- Brian compared spiritual growth to physical fitness, something that declines without ongoing effort. Where do you feel that decline most in your own walk right now?
- Before this message, how would you have described the difference between salvation and reward? Did that distinction surprise you?
- Revelation 20 describes a book recording what God planned for your life to look like. Does that image feel more motivating or more intimidating to you?
- What would it look like this week to “turn and live” in one specific area rather than coasting?