Jesus Commanded: "Do not let anyone steal your crown" (Rev 3:11). The 5 Crowns of Reward are not an optional set of personal actions; they are a integreted process of leadership development. Short-circuiting any one of the 5 Crowns of Reward causes hiccups in the rest of the other Crowns. The following are some of the wiles of the devil to steal your crown. Stealing Your Crown of Righteousness: STUDY your Bible. This theft of the devil is the original sin: "did God say" in order to doubt the Word of God. When you read the Bible, if you are struggling with this, just be aware that God knows the lie and is testing your desire to stay in fellowship with His Holy Spirit, who spoke that Scripture. But there are theologies and philosophies swirling out there with the sole design to get you to doubt God's Word. Stay true. This is the base of the rest of your rewards. Stealing Your Crown Imperishable: SERVE your Church. If the devil cannot get you to doubt Scripture, the next phase is to turn away from serving the Church. He does this through accusation, slander, and discord. Do not fall for it. Remember if God loved you first in your sinful state, God can love the rest, too. But be on your guard, because those in the Church who have allowed the devil to steal their crown will not like you earning yours right in front of them! Stealing Your Crown of Life: SUFFER for the Gospel and His name's sake. The devil fills people with lies of all sorts. One of the biggest lies is that God would never allow you to suffer as His child. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christ suffered in His earthly ministry and commanded us to follow in His footsteps. Never let anyone look on your suffering as proof that you are not following God. Job's life was filled with just that: friends who gave terrible counsel about Job's suffering. Jesus promises "great reward in heaven," i.e., the Crown of Life, for those who endure the hatred of this world for following His example. Stealing Your Crown of Rejoicing: SHARE the gospel.

The Crown of Righteousness is loving Jesus at His Coming, but the way we get there is to love reading and studying our Bible. That's why Jesus promised that the Spirit would give us -remembrance- of everything He said: we remember what we read! But have you ever thought about the different ways to study God's word? 1. Thompson Chain Reference Bible A great resource to see how God's word chain references key topics. Working through this Bible will give you a great inter-textual (i.e., between books) look at how God revealed things through the centuries. This will aid you in shepherding others to see how their doctrine incorporates the entire Bible (Crown of Glory). 2. Chronological Study Bible This Bible will aid you in seeing how God worked from one century to the next and how God's people worked through it all. Understanding who you are in that vast timeline of God's works will aid you in serving the Church better (Crown Imperishable). 3. Apologetics Study Bible This Bible will give you cross references that aid each other in helping you defend the faith, defend the hope that is in you. As you win souls, this will become incredibly valuable (Crown of Rejoicing). 4. Ancient Faith Study Bible This Bible will link your doctrine to the ancient teachings of the Church leaders of old. It will give you a strong sense of just what doctrines Christians have suffered for in the past (Crown of Life). The 5 Crowns of Reward will guide you in all your faith journey, that is what they are designed by Jesus to do. That is why Jesus commands each of us not to let anyone steal our crown (Rev 3:11).

We never know the benefits we can bring to other believers if we just share our story. Sometimes the most mundane points to us sit with others as the most life-changing messages for them. SHARE YOUR STORY 🙂

Leaders in the faith would do well to research every tradition of Christmas and be prepared to defend their faith. Amen and amen. People need to know Christ is a living person, with a real birth, and we celebrate that.

The one aspect of life the modern, Western Church has torn to shreds is the home life. There's ministry for women, men, teens, the elderly, etc. The problem that is created is that no one is on the same page, and there is no sense of authority in the home because everyone is leaning on someone different for their teachings. Coming back to the 5 Crowns of Reward puts the authority in the parents' driver's seat again. Children are never to be handed off or outsourced to another person. Ever. Parent train their children, and children obey their parents. The 5 Crowns are easy for everyone to learn, and they keep the authority in the hands of the people whom God designed to train and build the next generation, the parents. Home life builds under the 5 Crowns because God has always promised to save households. From Abel's righteous sacrifice, to Job's sacrifice and intercession for his home, to Noah and his sons and their wives, and the ministry of Jesus through parents' petitions, and most clearly seen in the Church as the house of God built by its own family membership, God has always saved by household. Take the passover instructions: put the blood on the doorposts, and the household was saved; those that did not, those households were not saved. An entire nation of households walk out of the slavery of Egypt. The 5 Crowns are a family study session. I read the list of these crowns to my 6-month old daughter and she loves them. My wife and I read the list before every Bible study. We practice them, share our stories, and build our faith together. God saves by household.