How to Prepare Wisely for Eternity | Proverbs

If tomorrow is not guaranteed, how can you live wisely today and face eternity with confidence? Drawing from Proverbs and supporting Scriptures, Pastor Chris Teien explains why lasting hope rests in Jesus Christ rather than money, plans, or religious effort.

Discover how preparing for eternity can shape your priorities, guide practical decisions, and help you use the time God gives you faithfully. Salvation is received through faith in Jesus, whose death and resurrection provide the hope that careful planning and good works cannot give.

IN THIS MESSAGE

1. FACE YOUR FUTURE

Tomorrow is not promised, and wisdom begins with acknowledging that our time is limited. Plan humbly, make the most of your days, and consider whether you are ready to meet the Lord. Jesus offers resurrection hope to those who believe in Him, giving us confidence as we face the reality of death. (Proverbs 27:1; Psalm 90:12; John 11:25–26)

2. FORSAKE FALSE SECURITY

Money can meet earthly needs, but it cannot save your soul or provide security beyond death. Wealth is temporary, so resist making it your greatest pursuit. Jesus calls us to store up treasure in heaven and invest our lives in what matters to God. (Proverbs 11:4; Proverbs 23:4–5; Matthew 6:19–21)

3. FIND THE PATH OF LIFE

A path can seem right without leading to eternal life. Morality, religious activity, and self-improvement cannot replace faith in Jesus Christ. He alone is the way to the Father, and everyone who receives eternal life depends on His saving work. (Proverbs 14:12; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 John 5:11–12)

4. FOLLOW JESUS FAITHFULLY

Preparing for eternity also means living faithfully today. Continue growing in Christ, reflecting His love, and sharing your faith with others. Trust God to complete the work He began in you as you keep walking with Jesus through each season of life. (Proverbs 4:18; Philippians 1:6; Colossians 2:6–7)

BE ENCOURAGED

Ask yourself, “Am I trusting Jesus alone for salvation? Am I using my time and resources for what will matter forever?” Let those questions guide a meaningful response. Share your testimony with someone you love, put important practical affairs in order, or give attention to a relationship you have neglected. Your hope in Christ can shape both your readiness for eternity and the way you live today.

Series: Summer in Proverbs

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Helping you understand and apply God’s Word. Find more ways to listen and connect, plus links to sermon transcripts at Well.faith. Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church. Questions or feedback? Email wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

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Chris T 0:16

Preparing for eternity. As a pastor, I have opportunity to talk to people when they find out that their eternity is closer than they think. I have an opportunity to pray with them and try to instruct them towards being right with God. So I developed a kind of an instructional sheet that talks about getting ready to go be with Jesus. And in the instructions, it has all sorts of encouraging Bible passages. And it talks about how to know for sure you're saved and the difference between heaven and hell and what the Bible says. And then how to prepare, record your will, express your desires, arrange your affairs. And so trusting God, all these things. And then on the back, it's got how to make sure you're saved. And then a link to my website, ChrisTyan.com/slash what happens when we die. And so there's some videos on there, but I just realized recently that I should turn that into a YouTube playlist so that people can watch that. Because now more and more people that are in hospice or in hospice care or whatever can actually stream stuff on their phones and sometimes to the TVs, and so they can watch that kind of stuff for insurance. But we really, no matter how old we are, need to be thinking about, you know, what if it's my time? What if it's my time to graduate to glory? What if it's my time to go from faith to sight? So what if it's my time to finish my course or my race to go to be in the presence of Jesus? So as Christians, we look forward to that. We don't joke about it like non-Christians and say, well, I guess I'll just cease to exist or I'll be pushing up daisies. But we look forward to it and we can plan for it. We can strategize for it. We can think about the rewards that we might receive from Jesus if we're faithful in this life. We can think about how we can make an eternal difference while we're here on this earth by what we share and what we even leave behind. So we just recently did Elsie's memorial service here. And just like her husband Dwayne, she wanted her memorial service on YouTube as a timeless, well, as long as it exists, remembrance of her faith in Christ and her life. And I would hope that you would do something like that. At least that you would write down your testimony and share it with your family. And so much more important than just leaving a will and what to do with your resources. And if you're married, it's helpful if you leave like a list of passwords and things like that. But to think about eternity and to think about what the Bible says about it. So Proverbs is a book of wisdom. It doesn't have, it's not all full of just talking about eternity. It's more talking about Shalom, about peace, about the peace of God. So if you read through the book of Proverbs, and maybe you did, there's all these comparisons. You know, there's good, there's evil, there's the route that you want to take, and the route that you don't want to take. The thing that you want to do, the thing that you don't want to do. And if you could go through and just focus on all of those things that you want to be, you want to do, what Proverbs says, the way that you should live, the person that you should be, the things that should be your priorities and all those godly things, and you just list that and forget all the things that it says not to do, or what the wicked people do, or what the fools do, I think that would give you a pretty good glimpse of what living with Jesus for eternity would be like. As far as that trust, that compassion, that care, that kindness, that joy, that wisdom all ties together. I often suggest when people are thinking about is their life coming to an end, or did their loved one just die, or who are they in Christ, to read Erwin Lutzer's Erwin Lutzer. He was uh pastor of Moody Church, and I think he was a leader of Moody Bible Institute for a while. But he wrote a great book. It's not a very big book. I think you can actually get it on Audible for like $2.50 right now, but called One Minute After You Die. And it's a good book, and I encourage you to read it and listen to it, ponder it, think about it. He says, One minute after you die, every question about eternity will be answered. Faith will become sight. There will be no uncertainty about where you are or where you will spend eternity. So that's a pretty good quote. Kind of makes you want to read the book, doesn't it? But long before Erwin Lutzer wrote that book, Solomon wrote some things that are important to think about eternity. And in the time that we have, I thought that I might cover some of these things. So Solomon wants you to live wisely because eternity is coming. This life is temporary. Eternity, obviously, is eternal. It's so strange that what we do in this life can make a difference for our eternity. If you read through the Bible, it appears that those who are faithful in this life are rewarded with more opportunities. So look into that. That's an amazing study and do rewards and those people who sacrifice for the kingdom of God today. But to think about it, to pray about it, to ponder it, to be diligent, but yet be discerning. Be discerning. Not everything that you see or read or hear or watch or whatever is necessarily godly. I like Randy Alcorn's book on heaven, but I think there's a lot of things in there that, you know, maybe, maybe not. There's no scriptural passage to back up some of the things that he says. But it's a good read, something to think about, something to ponder. It's all good. But to look at what the Bible has to say. And then once you're assured, to know where you're going, and then to take as many people with you as you can. So number one, face your future. Face your future. Unless Jesus returns, every one of us is headed towards that door of death where we will cross over into life. Some eternal life, some life separated from God. The Bible calls it hell. And to think about your destination, your future. I might die before you. You might die before me. None of us have any idea when it's our turn to go. We could be in a freak accident. Our heart could just stop. Or we could live long, long, long lives. There are some people who just keep living and they just so badly want to go to heaven. And there's other people that are excited to go to heaven, but they just so badly want to stick around because they feel there's so much more work to do, so many more things to say, so many more things that they want to do for ministry, for the things of God. So as you know, I've mentioned this before, but Chuck Swindah was influential, influential in my Christian life. And so he keeps showing up on these video podcasts now with Greg Laurie and some other people. And so he's like in his 90s, and he's still praising God. He's still quoting tons of scripture. Guy is amazing. So all of those years, he's still here. He's still, I don't know when he wrote his last book, but he's still here. And then the podcast interview, one thing that he said that I think was really good is he said, it amazes him that people actually want to come hear him speak, and all over the years that they wanted to come hear him speak, or they wanted to read what he wrote. He wrote all these books and commentaries, and he was the president of Dallas Theological Seminary for a while. And he said, It amazes me that people want that. And he said, when I had an opportunity to work at the seminary, I tried to make it my goal to show those men, to show those people at the seminary how much God loved them. And so pretty cool. But face your future, to know that if this were your last day, would you have said everything that needed to be said and done all the important things? And if God gives you 10, 20, 30, 40 more years, to have a plan for what you are going to do with it. Proverbs 27:1 says, Don't brag about tomorrow, since you don't know what the day will bring. You know, that is so true. We don't know what the day will bring. All this doom scrolling on our phones or whatever or watching or whatever, it's like, oh, there's so many ways to die now of some kind of virus or sickness or fire or weapon or crime or terrorists or whatever could take us out. And on the other hand, there's lots of medical technology that can keep us living for a long time. So, and then somewhere in between, God just might help us to stay healthy and to keep going. But don't brag about tomorrow since you don't know what the day will bring. It is good to plan. It is good to know what you're going to do tomorrow, to have a plan. So I'm not going to share it with you because it totally could change. But uh I was praying about it and working on it, and I came up with a list of things on a preaching calendar that I would like to go through all the way to fall of 2029. I have a general idea of what I would like to cover if God gives me the opportunity and you give me the opportunity to stick around until 2029. So I've gotten to preach the Bible for 30 years, and there's still more things that I would like to study and get into. And so it's good. But things could totally change. Something could come up or a different uh God could, the Spirit could move in a different way. So Proverbs, repeatedly, we heard about wise planning and uh doing those things that are right. You know, James actually says, Come now, you who say today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring, what your life will be, for you are like a vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. That is a good way to live, a good way to live. So in Psalm 90, 12 it says, Teach us to number our days so that we may get a heart of wisdom. To number our days, to think about, you know, what we can do with the time that we have been allotted, with the things that God has blessed us with. Maybe if we're young, married, we're thinking about growing that family, and then as we that family grows up, we're thinking about what the next stage might look like if the kids grow up and move out. Some move out, some stay in the house forever. But sometimes they stay in the house and they're helpful, really helpful, and they could be good. But nonetheless, what does the midlife look like? What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do with your time? What are you gonna do to serve? What are you gonna do with your resources? Later years come along. I was having a conversation with the beggar and the checker at Super One yesterday about people that come out of retirement because they're so bored the guy bagging groceries, he's like, I just can't sit around. He's like, What am I supposed to do? He said, I'd rather be here bagging groceries. But to think about what your life could be like. And then I was thinking, you know, it'd be great if we had some leaders of ministry that could do some activities for the people that are retired, that have time. However, I find out that some of the people that say they're retired and have time have less time than the people that actually go to work all the time because their soul schedule is filled up. So I mentioned this before, but I'm going to mention it again that my neighbor, where I used to live, worked at the Chanhassan Dinner Theater, and she got us free tickets to go see the play I Do I Do. A very interesting play because it opened in 1971 for what was intended as a six-week run. So it was a musical about this couple that fall in love, get married, have children, hit middle age, hit older age, and then leave the house and get into the apartment and grow old, and eventually they die. Such a popular, popular show that it showed for 22 and a half years. It showed at the Chanhassan Dinner Theater for 7,645 performances with the same original cast. In a little over two hours, it follows Michael and Agnes through 50 years of marriage from their wedding night through children, conflict, disappointment, reconciliation, aging, and finally leaving their home together. And it was good, but I left so depressed because they lived their entire life without any thought of God, without any thought of eternal hope, without any thought of why are you even on this earth? There must be something more. They just missed it. They missed out on all of life because they didn't know Jesus. So, and maybe they did know Jesus. I don't know the cast or anything about it, but that was the play that was presented, and people must have liked it because it just kept going on and on for a young lifetime, really. But to remember that life is short, to remember that our life matters, our life has a purpose, and when we know Jesus, when we are adopted as children of God, that we are bought with a price. Our life is not our own. Therefore, we should serve the Lord and glorify the Lord. Proverbs 14, 12, I'm sorry, Proverbs 14, 32 says, the wicked are crushed by disaster, but the godly have a refuge when they die. Think about that. Think about that. So if you don't have Christ, when all falls apart, where do you run? What do you run to? You have nothing but the godly know Christ, have a refuge, have hope. It's not, well, the worst thing that could happen is I could die. No, the worst thing that could happen is I could die without Jesus. The best thing, according to the Bible, it's so strange. The Bible says that the day of your death is better than the Solomon said this too. The day of your death is actually better than the day of your birth, for those of you who know God. Pretty exciting. But we don't wish it, we don't run to it, we don't try to expedite it. I said to the doctor one time, I said, it's hard to preach about heaven and not be excited to go there, in which he said, Are you suicidal? And he got there by his computer. I'm like, get away from the computer, I'm not suicidal. Never get life insurance if he types that in. Nonetheless, to have that hope, to have that hope in Christ. Hebrews 9 27 says, just as each person is destined to die once, and after that comes judgment. When you stand before the Lord, if you are a believer in Christ, he's not gonna judge you to see if you merit heaven or hell. He's gonna judge you based on what did you do in this life with the knowledge you had, with the resources that you had, with the time that you had, and that can be reward worthy. So Jesus has already done it all as far as salvation. We need to receive it. John 11, 25. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? Do you believe this? I believe that. I believe that I am secure in Christ because of what Jesus did, and that I place my faith in Jesus. He has forgiven me of my sin, though I'm not perfect, and that I have eternity secure. The Holy Spirit is a depositor on my salvation. So I've been adopted as a child of God, and he will not unadopt me. And I hope the same is true for you. So don't live as if tomorrow is guaranteed. Plan, but know that if Christ decided that it was time for you to come home now, that you're ready to go. So don't just prepare for this life, but prepare for eternity. Number two, forsake false security. Forsake false security. Some people think that they've got everything they need and they don't need anything else, and it makes them so much more less likely to hear about the gospel and about Christ than somebody that's going through a hardship, a difficulty, a job loss, a sickness, all that hard stuff. But some people they turn to their wealth. And Proverbs 11:4 says, wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. Or riches won't help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death. I'm going to talk more about what Proverbs says about finances and stuff next week. But just this general idea that if you've got enough money, you can buy anything you want. You can buy your way out of trouble. You can, yeah, your car's not working out for you, not a problem. Just buy a new one. Not so healthy? That's okay. Not a problem. Just go get the best medical care. So years ago when I lived in Forest City, Iowa, first place I started as a pastor, that's where they made Winnebagos. I think they still do. And so all the Winnebago industry travelers would come into town for their big rally. And so as I was talking to them, they're like, well, if you have this medical problem, you want to go to Arizona. If you have this medical problem, you want to go to Rochester. That medical problem, you're going to want to go to Canada for that. And these people literally just drove wherever they needed to go in their RVs. It's like their house was on wheels. And they're like, yeah, not a problem. We'll just drive there and get that. But to know that your bank account isn't going to save you. So when I planted the church years ago, we had bought land and had the land basically paid off. And I had a computer programmer guy go into my church. And he said, Hey, you know what? I can make a program really easy that will contact all of the millionaires and billionaires around the United States and send them, you know, something about our church and let them know that we need money to build the building and how that might help out in the community and make a difference, since we're the only church like us here in this town. And so I could do this. And so my treasurer, who was one of my elder's wives, she quickly said, you know, if you do that, make sure you make it very clear to them that no matter how much money they give, it won't make them right with God. But if they want to help further the kingdom, we'd be glad to take their money. And so I was pretty wise. So, and also to think that you actually have someone in church that could like do that. This was like, I don't know, 15 years ago. But nonetheless, your money can't save you. Your money can't keep you from difficulty. Proverbs 23, verse 4 says, Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. In the blink of an eye, wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle. You've heard of people that say, Oh, I wish I hadn't worked so much. You know, they get to the end of their life and they're like, you know, I wish I would have worked enough, but not so much. I wish I would have known how to have balance. And in the blink of an eye, wealth really can disappear. Your investments can be wiped out. You can have a financial hardship, you can get sued. There can be an economic collapse, theft, taxes, lawsuits, inflation, repairs, dishonest people, foolish spending, children who waste your money, all those things. Riches aren't the solution. Jesus says, Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where your thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I think Randy Elkorn says that you can't take the money with you, but you can send it ahead. And so I think he wrote that in the treasure principle, that book. Those are good. So we're going to talk more about money and finances next week. Number three, find the path of life. To know the true path of life. Now, this might just seem like a reminder for those of you who have been in the church for a long time. You're like, yeah, I know the path of life. I know the path of eternal life. But some people need to figure out what it is and find it. So we can point them to the way, to the path. The way of the godly leads to life. That path does not lead to death, it says in Proverbs 12, 28. The way of the godly, those people in Christ, they are on the path towards Jesus, path towards heaven, path towards eternal life. And that does not lead to death, not as far as eternal separation from God, that form of death. Life includes back then when this was written, also we're saying that when you live a godly life, you will more likely live longer, you will be safer, you will be more secure, you'll be less likely to be killed for. Being dishonest, life will probably be less destructive. People will probably appreciate you more and want to keep you around. Again, it says there's a path before each person. That seems right, but in the end, it leads to death. That is so true. That is so true. There are so many religions where people learn the religion and they want to keep all the ways, the works, and they feel really good about keeping the rules and doing the religion, and they think that they're right with God. They think that they're on the right path because they're doing all the right stuff and they find security and going through the motions and doing everything that's on the list, and they live the list, but the list isn't what leads them to eternal life. It is Jesus. Sometimes that path, the wrong path, it doesn't even look evil. It looks good. Sometimes it looks healthy, sometimes it looks more successful, sometimes it looks helpful. In Chanhassan, Minnesota, near the Chanhassan Dinner Theater, is this big pyramid-like building called Ekenkar. And they believe that you can travel outside your body into a different dimension and go and help people. And so in this cult, you can feel good about what you're doing. You can walk their contemplation trails, all these things. And so they feel good about what they're doing, claiming that they're the light and sound of God, I believe the hue, if I remember right. So I had to do a report on them a long time ago. But nonetheless, a path before each person that seems right. Proverbs 15, 24 says the path of life leads upward for the wise. They leave the grave behind. In the King James Version, it says, the wise follow the upward path of life, he may depart from hell beneath. But some say that in this time in this translate the translation, that hell isn't actually the it wasn't talking about the permanent, eternal condemnation, but it was more talking about the grave. And so I'm not going to go into the different words for hell of Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and those. But to think about that, the path of life leads upward. The path of life leads to Jesus, because Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And what hope is found in that. 1 Corinthians 1 24, yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. So we were reading about wisdom, and then we find that wisdom is fulfilled in Christ. And that is a confident assurance that we are on the right path. Again, verse 30. Do you see that? Jesus is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So I'm not perfect enough, but I receive, and you receive Jesus' righteousness, sanctification, his redemption. And that is so good. If you, Acts 4.12, salvation is found in no one else. There's no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. So again, the right path is only in Jesus. It's not Buddha, Muhammad, all of those others. It's Jesus Christ. No other name under heaven given to us by which we must be saved. And if you've come to any funerals, this is my favorite funeral verse. This is the testimony that God has given us eternal life. God gave us eternal life. And this life is in his son. Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. And it's so wonderful when I know the person who has gone to be with Jesus has Jesus, has the Son, knows they have eternal life. So then we just talk about how they came to Christ and what a great thing they're experiencing now. So wonderful. Share your testimonies with us, it would be great. So, number four, last point, follow Jesus faithfully. Follow Jesus faithfully. When you think about the way that you live, Proverbs 4.18 says the path of the righteous is like the morning sun shining ever brighter, brighter till full light of day. The path that the righteous are on keeps getting better and better. So the more and more we grow with Christ, the more and more we become like Christ. The more and more we learn, the more we know so that we can live it out. So the more that we can have Christ shining out from us. We reflect his light. Just like his love flows into us and our, and then it overflows out of us to other people. Those are such a great thing, such a good promise. Philippians 1 6 says, I'm sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. So doesn't that motivate you to want to keep serving, keep growing, keep learning, keep praying, keep praising, keep telling people about your faith in Christ. Some people will respond in such a good way, and other people will be so vile and angry. So this last year I've been posting a lot of shorts on YouTube. They do better under the Christ Tion YouTube channel than they do under the church one. I read that, it's because it's tied to a person, not a church. And hopefully they see that it's at the church and they come to church here. So many people are like, thank you for sharing that. That was encouraging, that inspired me. Amen. Thank you so much. And every now and then I get some terrible ones, but nonetheless, when we're on the right path and other people are not, it can cause them to not like you. But me, Proverbs 24, Proverbs 4:26, give careful thought to the path for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or to the left. Keep your foot from evil. So we're walking with God. We're living with Jesus. We're doing the right thing and we're staying on that path. That is a good thing. So Colossians 2.6, have you just as you received Christ as Lord, continue to walk in Him, being rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught and overflowing with gratitude. So are you growing on your walk with Christ? Are you keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus? And if Christ returned today, would he find you faithful? All right, so the worship team can hit up here. I'm going to pray. Lord Jesus, I thank you so much that you have given us your word. And I thank you that it is so readily available. It is in print, it is in on our phones. It is available on our phones. It is in audio. We can, if we have a CD player in our car still, we could pop one in and listen to that. It is so readily available. Help us to get into it, to understand it, to live it out. Lord, we pray that we'd keep living for you, that each week, each month, each year, we would see that we're becoming more and more like you. I pray that you'd give us experiences that build us up and encourage us in our faith and give us experiences where we see fruit from our labor. We see victory in people's lives that we're trying to help along the way. Lord, we see people who have come to you through our testimony, through our ministry. God, we pray you do great things. Lord, we all look forward to eternity with you, and all that means we thank you for this time in Jesus' name. Amen.