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Welcome to the Bridge Church VB Podcast, your weekly source for uplifting and transformative Sunday messages! Each episode features insightful, practical teachings rooted in Scripture, designed to inspire and guide you on your spiritual journey. Led by our passionate Lead Pastors, Archie and Tangie Callahan, we strive to create a welcoming environment that encourages individuals from all walks of life to connect with the person, power, and purpose of Jesus Christ.
In this podcast, we delve into relevant themes and timeless biblical truths that speak to the challenges and joys of everyday living. Whether you’re commuting, exercising, or simply seeking encouragement, our messages aim to empower you to grow in faith and discover your unique purpose.
Join our vibrant community of believers as we explore how to apply God’s Word in practical ways, fostering a deeper connection with Him and one another. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enrich your life through these dynamic teachings. Connect with us and find out more at www.bridgechurch.tv!
Gladiator is one of my all-time favorite movies.
It is set in the Roman Empire around 180 AD, mainly in Rome and its imperial world of armies, politics, and gladiator arenas.
The story also moves through Germania, Spain, and North Africa as Maximus is betrayed, enslaved,
and forced into the games.
The Colosseum-style arena in Rome is the most important setting because that's where political conflict becomes public spectacle.
Why is the setting so important?
It's important because it creates a world where honor, loyalty, and revenge, and imperial corruption all collide in the arena.
Rome is shown as both majestic and brutal in nature.
which is why the movie feels so large and dramatic.
Today, we're going to look at a subject that is often overlooked in our modern society and culture.
I wanna talk to you about living for eternity.
Most people are living for today with barely a thought of eternity.
You and I will live longer in the afterlife than in this present life.
However, we live like this present life is all that matters and we never develop an eternal perspective.
Maximus in the movie said, what's done in time echoes in eternity.
What echo is your life creating in eternity?
If you're only living for the present, the echo in eternity is diminished.
But if you live for eternity, the echo of your life is maximized and it reverberates.
King David, whose life is betrayed in the Old Testament,
of the Bible was a man who understood the importance of living life with an eternal perspective.
David from an early age in life understood that he was anointed and appointed by God, and that gave him the ability to live with this eternal perspective in mind.
David could live with eternity in view because he believed God was greater than any moment and greater than his enemies and greater than death itself.
The mindset of David is found and seen in Acts 13, 36.
It says this, now when David fulfilled the purpose of God or served the purpose of God in his own generation, he fell asleep.
To fall asleep within the context means to die.
David fell asleep.
The focus of his life, the focus of his allegiance was God.
And because it was God, he fulfilled the purpose of God in his generation.
Can I ask you this?
What's the purpose of your life?
How is your allegiance today?
Is it fully devoted to God?
Will your life matter in eternity?
What's done in time truly echoes in eternity.
Are you maximizing your life by living for eternity?
Or are you minimizing your life because you're only living for present entertainment purposes?
present materialism or present gratification?
Will your life, will my life make a difference that reverberates in eternity?
The emperor Marcus Aurelius asked Maximus a very important question.
He said, Maximus, remind me again, why are we here?
Maximus replied, for the glory of Rome.
Can I ask you today this question?
Why are we here?
Why are we here?
We have to answer this question with sincerity from our hearts.
The Bible teaches us that people are here to bring glory to God.
That's why we exist.
Maximus is as loyal as you can get.
He is loyal to his wife, his son, the Roman army, and ultimately King Marcus Aurelius.
As in life, we all have to determine our allegiance.
Where do we place our allegiance and why do we place it there?
These two questions are central to our lives and how we move forward in life.
Maximus must decide where his allegiance lies, his career, survival, or the true emperor.
Call men, call men today to examine their lives.
That's the call that's going out, men and women.
We must examine where our functional allegiance is.
Who is our king?
Is our king success, comfort, lust, or Jesus as Lord?
Who is our king?
Is it success?
Is it comfort?
Is it material possessions?
In Acts chapter five, the apostles of Jesus were healing people in the name of Jesus and preaching the gospel.
People were being saved and healed in Jerusalem.
In fact, people were coming in from surrounding towns and cities.
In the Bible, it says all of them were healed in chapter five.
At this time, the high priest and all the associates of the Sadducees became jealous of the apostles and what they were accomplishing through the power of Jesus.
They arrested the apostles and put them in jail.
But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the jail and the apostles walked out and continued to preach the gospel and heal the sick the next day in the name of Jesus.
It was in the mighty name of Jesus that they were doing these things.
Again, the captain and his officers brought the apostles in to appear before the Sanhedrin, which was the religious ruling body.
They told the apostles that we gave you strict orders not to teach in the name of Jesus.
However, you filled Jerusalem with your teachings.
And Peter and the other apostles stand up and reply, we must obey God rather than human beings.
Peter and the apostles chose that day that Jesus was their king and they refused to obey human authority over God's authority in their lives.
How many of you know when political authority tries to infringe on society,
God's allegiance in our lives, we must rise up and say, we're gonna obey God rather than a king.
Can I ask you this?
Who's your king?
Where's your allegiance lie?
Remember, the king you choose determines your identity.
I'm gonna say that one more time.
The king you choose determines your identity.
If money is your king, you become greedy.
We must watch our allegiances.
In the harsh arena of life, followers of Jesus must remember their true identity.
1 Peter 2.9 gives us this true identity that we have in Christ.
It says,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him, Jesus, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Ephesians chapter one tells us that we have been chosen by God, redeemed by Jesus, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Though Maximus was sold into slavery, he remembered who he was.
He was a soldier that became a slave, a slave that became a gladiator, and a gladiator that became a hero in Rome.
It was important that in the darkness of his enslavement that Maximus understood who he really was.
Slavery disconnected him from his family and friends, but it never disconnected him from his true identity.
Maximus still knows who he is and whose cause he serves.
When life gets hard and confusing, we're tempted then to disconnect from our true identity in Christ.
People often try to identify us with our past and not our current reality as sons and daughters of God through Christ.
The world may label you by failure, addiction, or status, but in Christ, you're chosen, you're royal, you're beloved, you've been sent by God.
You and I must remember who we are and by remembering whose we are.
I'm going to say that again.
You and I must remember who we are, and we do that by remembering whose we are.
We are God's children, and we are in God's family.
Can you state your identity in Christ as clearly as Maximus states his identity in that arena?
Can you?
When you can, you are no longer a slave, but a free individual.
I want you to know today, you were created to know who you were in Christ Jesus, are in Christ Jesus presently.
You have been created by God.
You have been chosen by God.
Your new identity as a believer is in Christ.
In fact, 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old is gone.
Behold, all things become new.
Don't allow the struggle of life, your past, your present,
and the labeling of other people to rob you of your true identity.
If you allow them to rob you of your true identity, it defeats you, and you can miss your purpose in life.
Again, once you learn who you are, you can never be labeled by other people, and you become free.
And Jesus said, he who the Son sets free is free also.
Indeed.
Maximus is longing for a home beyond the arena.
And though he fights in the present for freedom, he longs for eternity.
He longs for the hope that is to come.
It's a place where all things are new.
As followers of Christ, we live in the present, but we have a continual thirst for eternity.
In fact, God placed that eternal thirst in our hearts.
In the Old Testament, it says that God has placed eternity in the hearts of men and nothing but God can satisfy the eternal thirst.
We long for eternity.
In fact, Revelation chapter 21 says this, "'He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
"'There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain "'for the old order of things has passed away.'"
He who is seated on the throne said, I am making everything new.
See, even in Hebrews chapter number 11, the people that were marked by faith, they had an eternal thirst for a better home.
They were longing for a better country, a heavenly one.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
The pain, the disappointment, the hardship of the present life will be erased in the next life.
Heaven is real, folks.
It's relational.
It's a reunion of those who have died in Christ.
Ecclesiastes gives us some insight into the handiwork of God.
He has made everything beautiful in its time, Solomon said.
He has also said eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
I wanna encourage you to live your life with eternity in view.
See, Maximus lived his life not for the present life, but for the life to come.
In the arena there in Rome, he gave his life for the dream that was called Rome.
As followers of Christ, we must give our lives for this dream called the kingdom of God.
We are called to live in light of eternity, to live our lives in a way that brings glory to God.
I know all of us are tempted.
We're tempted to live our lives for self-gratification, to live our lives for the appeasement of our own desires.
But we are called by Jesus Christ.
to lay down our lives and take up our cross and follow him.
Truly, what's done in time, folks, will echo in eternity.
Will echo in eternity.
I want you to live your life with eternity in view.
Our decisions about purity, our decisions about forgiveness, our decisions about courage and sacrifice matter forever.
How we live our lives really matters.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11, six, that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
I want you to seek him.
Today, don't live your life for the present, but live your life with eternity in view.
God gave his son, Jesus, this one man named Jesus, stood there suspended between time and eternity.
so that we might experience eternal life.
He died, He was buried, and He was resurrected, and my reception of Him and the forgiveness of sins guarantees me eternal life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Let's live our lives with eternity in view.
Would you bow your heads, please?
Lord, I just thank you for the ability to reflect on eternity.
God, may we have honest hearts today.
Are we living for eternity?
Are we just living for the present day?
God, I just pray right now, Lord, that you will give us an eternal perspective.
Help us.
Help us, Lord, to live with eternity in view.
Help us to commit our lives to you today.
In Jesus' name, amen.