So, we're going to be coming back, actually, to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, but if you would,
go ahead and actually turn back all the way to Genesis chapter number 3, Genesis chapter
number 3. What I want to preach to you about tonight is the topic of, well, I'll just give
you the title, it's how to earn an aggressive income, how to earn an aggressive income.
And I'm kind of playing on words there because we've all probably heard the idea of earning
a passive income. Who's ever heard of that? How to earn a passive income. And, you know,
this idea of earning a passive income is something that's being really lifted up and
exalted in the world today. And it seems like it's something that people are really striving
to achieve. Now, of course, there are ways, I'm not going to say that, you know, if you're
earning a passive income that you're necessarily in sin or anything like that. But what I am
saying is that there seems to be this philosophy that it's, you know, it's better to have a
passive income than to actually work for a living. To actually, not that earning a passive
income isn't often work to establish that income. I mean, for example, people who, you
know, have rental properties, you know, those people, you know, saved up money, worked hard,
you know, bought properties, rented them out, they maintain those facilities, but it's a
type of passive income. But then you have, you know, that's a legitimate passive income
that required effort that went into it. Or you might have somebody that, you know, retired,
you know, early from the military, you know, or some kind of, you know, municipal service,
people often retire early. And, you know, they've earned, that's part of what they earn
for the labor they put in, they have a passive income coming in. So I'm not against all,
you know, forms of passive income. But I am against this idea that, you know, the pinnacle
and work in our life is to achieve this status where we just never have to work at all. And
I think this is a, this is an ungodly philosophy that's out there. And it really kind of casts
shade upon, you know, what the Bible teaches of actually going out and working hard day
by day, day in and day out, week in and week out, year after year, and actually earning
a living by the sweat of your brow. You know, you know, what's kind of inspired this is
these YouTube ads, you've seen these guys, you know, before the videos and say, you know,
what if I could tell you there was a way, you know, that through the if you just bought
my program, and listen to my three hour seminar and got my book, that there could be a way
where you just make millions of dollars every year and you had never have to work again
a day. And they say things like so that you can be truly free, you know, and this idea
that if you're working a regular nine to five, somehow you're not free, that somehow you're
in bondage. You know, that's a that's an ungodly attitude. The Bible commands us to work, you
know that, you know, it's it's a glory for a man to go to work. You know, we just read
second Thessalonians three, we're commanded to work, it's something we should be doing.
So that's why I entitled it how to earn an aggressive income to kind of counter, you
know, this idea of earning a passive income. And you know, if you'll just listen up tonight
and give me your attention for the next 45 minutes, I'm going to teach you how to go
out and earn an aggressive income. You won't be filthy rich, and you will have to work
for every day for the rest of your life. But bless God, you know, you'll be you'll be blessed
of God if you do it. Okay. So you're there in Genesis chapter three. And I want us to
just notice that, you know, what God does here, and in to Adam, you know, he curses
him, okay. But, you know, we'll just read it there. Verse 17, it says, and unto Adam,
he said, because I was harken in the voice of thy wife, that's usually where everything
goes wrong, right? And, oh, sorry, sorry, and has eaten of the tree, which of which
I commanded the saying thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake,
and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall bring
forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field, and the sweat of thy face thou
shalt thou eat bread, and return unto the ground, for thou was taken out, for out of
it was thou taken, for dost thou art, and to dust shalt thou return. So a lot of people
read that, and they'll get this idea that, well, man, obviously, working is just this
curse. You know, it's something that God has just cursed mankind with. But that's not the
case. And I want to preach a sermon so that people will have the right attitude about
work, and learn how to excel and achieve at their, excuse me, excel at their job and achieve,
you know, success at their job. It's not a curse. It's, you know, working is not a curse
to be avoided. It's not an activity that, you know, should be shunned, you know, despite
what the, you know, these con men on YouTube and everybody else that, you know, these get
rich quick guys want you to think. You know, it's not a curse. Now, there is a curse here,
right? But what is the curse? The curse is the nature and result of that work, right?
He's saying there, you know, it's going to, you know, it used to bring this forth, you
know, it used to be, it would bring forth fruits and vegetables and everything grew
very easily for Adam. But now thorns and thistles shall bring forth to thee, meaning you have
to put even more effort into getting things out of the earth. And thou shalt eat the herb
of the field and the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread. Now, here's the thing. Adam
was already working at this point. It wasn't like God, this is where God employed Adam
at the curse. He was already working. If you go back to Genesis chapter two, Genesis chapter
number two, in fact, let me turn there because it looks like my notes kind of got cut off
a little bit. But Genesis chapter two, let's go ahead and look at verse seven. And it says
in verse seven, and the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils, the breath of life and man became a living soul. Now look at verse eight, and
the Lord planted and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there he put
the man whom he had formed. Now, why did he put him there? To just swing in a hammock
all day, just take it easy. Just walk around, you know, throw the Frisbee around with his
wife or something, you know, just just go for a stroll. No, let's jump down to verse
15. He says, and the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress
it and to keep it. He was a gardener, you know, he was employed to go and dress and
keep God's garden. And, you know, that's, that's not a curse. That's a blessing. But
is it work? Yes, it is. Anyone who's ever had a garden will tell you that gardening
is work. But it's a pleasure. So what I'm trying to get across in the beginning here
is that not, you know, work is not just this curse, this activity that we should just shun
and just drag ourselves through. You know, working is a privilege. Working is something
that God has given a man to do. From day one, I mean, he forms Adam and says, get to work,
immediately puts him in the garden, and has him start keeping the garden, you know, working,
there's nothing wrong with working. It's not a four letter word. Okay, it's, it's not something
that we should we should avoid. And, you know, specifically, he has him gardening here, you
know, and today, you know, home gardening is kind of a leisurely activity, right? Does
anybody have a garden at home that they keep? No, I know, my grandfather had it, my mother
had a garden, you know, for a long time. And, you know, the she would go out and she put
all this work in this little garden, you know, out there pulling the weeds and planting this
at this time and planting that watering it and taking care of it, keeping the critters
out and then eventually, you know, harvesting it, you know, what she got for it was a few
jars of salsa or something like that, maybe a few loaves of zucchini bread, and some squash.
It wasn't like it fed her for the whole year, it was kind of just this hobby thing that
she did. It was something that she enjoyed that it's something that many people do that
they enjoy. But it's work. It's still work, right? So work is something that can be enjoyed.
And, you know, God here put Adam in the garden to work and it was something that was probably
very nice to do. It's probably a pretty cool garden to keep. I mean, you look at some of
these, you know, very ornate gardens that they have today, they probably pale in comparison
to God's garden, you know, the type of things he had growing there. But when the curse came,
the curse wasn't, okay, now you're going to work. The curse was, okay, now instead of
keeping my garden, you're going to have to work hard just to put food in your mouth.
Now it's going to be the sweat of your face all the days of your life until you die. That
is part of the curse. But working, you could see here, is in our nature. It's something
that we're born and bred to do, you know, as men and women. Now, I'm going to talk a
lot about, of course, working, you know, secular jobs and things like that. But, you know,
even, you know, the housewives and the children in the audience tonight, they can apply this
to their lives as well because, you know, the role of mother, teacher, wife, that's
a job. That's more than a full-time job. That's like double shift every day of your life.
You know, that's on call 24-7, no paid vacations. I mean, it's a tough job. And even the kids,
you know, they should get some things out of this because, you know, you're probably
working at home. You probably have chores and things that you're expected to do. And
not only that, but, you know, you're going to enter the workforce, be it, you know, if
you grow up and get married and keep house or as a young man, you grow up and go find
a job to provide for your own, you know, you are going to enter into the workforce at some
point. So this, this sermon applies to everybody. Don't think that I'm just preaching to the
employee tonight. Work is in the nature of all of us. We should desire to work. And especially
as men, you know, we should desire to go out and earn a living. It's not something to be
avoided. But today we're being told, you know, get rich quick, retire young, and if possible,
live off of a passive income. Now, did God give Adam here a passive income? No, that's
a very aggressive income. Go out and earn the living, earn a living by the sweat of
thy face, thou shalt eat bread and the sweat of thy face. You know, being, you know, getting
sweat in your face, you know, that requires you being proactive. You know, that's not
something you do when you're passive. And though not all passive income is bad, this
idea of being set for life is unbiblical. I don't believe in it. I don't think that
it's something that we should try to achieve, you know, just, and people do that. And people
make money, they're God. And, you know, they decide that they're just going to, you know,
forgo church, forgo serving God, in order so they can just work hard and, you know,
do all, do this and do that so they can just get to this point in their life where they
don't have to work anymore. They can just say, now I can just sit back, you know, and
just take thy knees, you know, and that's not biblical. I mean, he says there in Genesis,
he said, in the sweat of thy face, shalt thou eat bread, tell thou return unto the dust.
He's saying every day of your life, you're going to eat bread, or you're going to work
to eat bread in the sweat of thy face. Now go over to where you were in Second Thessalonians
chapter three. I mean, working is commanded by God. It's not like it's optional. And this
society, even if you were to reach this point where, and I was talking to somebody recently,
and they said, you know what, even if I had a million dollars in the bank, and I didn't
have to work every day, another day in my life, he's like, I still would. Just because
it feels good to work. It feels good to go out. And you know what, that's true. It feels
good as a man to go out and work for a living. Some of the most just depressing times in
my life have been when I've been in between jobs. And thankfully, that's been very few
and far between. In fact, the last time that that's really happened is when I moved here
from Michigan. You know, I didn't have a job waiting for me. All I had was a one bedroom
apartment, about two grand in the bank, and, you know, a two or I think she was three,
three year old and one on the way. And it was time to go get a job in a hurry. And you
know what, it was it didn't come right away. And I just remember being very anxious, very
depressed, not feeling like I was worth anything. You know, I had all these duties that I wasn't
fulfilling. I was trying to get a job. And eventually, of course, that happened eventually
within a month, I was employed, you know, full time. But even to the point where I was
like, I'll get like physically sore. I mean, I'm not even working. I'm not working. I'm
not doing any physical activity, but just just my body would just it just needs to work.
It needs to do something. Men need to work. It's it's it's in our nature. And we need
to work all the days of our life. We shouldn't just have this attitude. Now, of course, as
we get older, I mean, I'm sure we're all going to reach a point if we live long enough where
we're just, you know, we're not going to be, you know, shoveling and throwing the bricks
around and everything else that we do that we could do when we were younger. We're going
to reach a point where we start to slow down. I understand that. But, you know, if we're
able and if we have the ability to work, we should work. That's that's my that's that's
what I believe the Bible teaches us. I mean, look at Second Thessalonians chapter three.
It's very clear, very strong teaching here. It says in verse 10, for when we were with
you, this we commanded you. You said this is a commandment of the word of God, that
if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that are some which walk among
you disorderly working, not at all, but are busybodies. Now then that are such we command
and exhort by the Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness, they work and they eat their own
bread. Now, I've heard I've had some people, you know, say if here's the thing, let me
just let me just clarify this, OK? You know, if somebody has a passive income, if they
are if because really what he's getting at here is that it ends there saying that they
should with quietness work and eat their own bread. So the problem really wasn't that they
weren't working so much as they were living off of everybody else. They weren't they were
eating their own bread. They're eating everybody else's bread. You know, they're walking disorderly,
you know, and that's why Paul is saying, you know, we we came and we were in a sample to
you so that we would not be chargeable under you. You know, we had power to take of you
and eat, you know, because the labor is worthy of its higher. You know, they that preach
the gospel should that they that preach the gospel should live with the gospel. He said,
we had that power over you, but we did not use it so we could be in sample so we would
not be chargeable. So the real the problem here is not necessarily that the person isn't
working, but the problem here is that they're eating other people's bread. So I'm just saying
this that, you know, if somebody is maybe doesn't work full time or have a regular job,
but they have another means of income and, you know, they're providing for themselves,
they're putting food in their own mouth on their own accord. They're good. They're good
to go. They can go ahead and eat because it's their bread that they're eating. Okay. Does
everyone understand that? Okay. Because I mean, for example, you know, what if there's
some retired, you know, army guy, you know, some guy retires out of the army. And, you
know, he's, he's got an income, he's, he's used, he's, you know, kept his finances very
well over his life. He's been very smart with his money. And now he's able to just kind
of not work. Do you think I should come to that guy and be like, well, I know you're,
you're set, but you need to go get a job, buddy. I don't care if it's making Subway
sandwiches. I mean, think about it. That doesn't make, I don't, I wouldn't agree with that.
I'd say if that guy is eating his own bread, if he's worked and put himself in a position
where he doesn't have to work and is able to provide for himself, you know, second Thessalonians
three really doesn't apply to an individual. That's my opinion. People can have a different
take on that. That's how I feel about it. So we, basically what he's saying here is
that we should be the ones putting food in our mouths. Okay. And that we should not,
you know, not, it shouldn't be the government or the strangers, or we shouldn't just always
be, you know, a drain on other people. And I understand sometimes we go through hard
times that we need brethren to help us out and things like that, but that should not
be a way of life. And boy, is that the way of life today in America. Boy, are there plenty
of people out there that, you know, they're not eating their own bread. They're eating
your bread in the form of welfare. The government's just taking it out of your paycheck before
you even have a chance to look at it and giving it to some bum who doesn't want to work. You
know, that's not how it works in the Bible. Okay. And God says that those people, and
here's the thing, you take away the welfare programs, the EBT cards and the food stamps
or whatever, and you watch how quick these people go out and get a job and put food in
their own mouth. It'll happen. But they've been enabled. And this is, you know, I don't
want to go off on this, but it is something that needs to be mentioned. You know, that
would be a 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 type of thing. If some able-bodied guy joined the
church and was just, well, I'm just on welfare. You know, I'm just on the government dole.
I would say you either need to go out and get a job and eat your own bread or get out.
That's what 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 is teaching. That's where that would apply.
So 1 Timothy, go over to 1 Timothy chapter 6. I mean, this is a New Testament doctrine
that you need to work and provide for yourself and not have this idea of just, you know,
allowing other people to take care of me and carry me through life. 1 Timothy chapter 5,
look at verse, or you're going to 1 Timothy 6, but it says in chapter 5 verse 8, if any
provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the
faith. There's not many times that that's brought up when he talks about if you do this,
you've denied the faith and are worse than an infidel, worse than an unfaithful person.
If you don't provide for your own, you're worse than an infidel. That's what the Bible
is saying. That's very strong language. And who is he talking about? The guy who's lazy
and does not want to take care of his own family. The guy who does not want to work,
who wants to just sit back and collect a government check and just live off of, you
know, food drives and everything else and not go out and earn a living by the sweat
of his brow. That's who that's talking about. And it says that that guy is worse than an
infidel. Let me just say this, is that, you know, true freedom, like they tell you, they
say, oh, if you could just not have to work ever again, you'd be truly free. That's wrong.
True freedom doesn't come from being wealthy enough not to work, despite what all these
YouTube gurus are going to tell you. Because here's the thing, if you could just get to
a place in your life where you never had to work again, become very idle, that's what
you'd be, right? That's what they're saying. You know, I just want to live a leisurely
life where I don't work. You want to be idle is what you want. I mean, just call it what
it is. That's what it is. You're being idle. You're not really having a direction. There's
no drive. You're not achieving anything. You just want to coast through life. You want
to be idle. And here's the thing, the Bible teaches that idleness leads to bondage, that
being rich and wealthy leads to bondage. The Bible says in Proverbs 13, wealth gotten by
vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathers by labor shall increase. So there's nothing
wrong with riches if you gather them by labor. You know, a guy picks up a trade, gets good
at it. You know, he works for a company for several, and I know several individuals like
this. They go, they start out in some trade, like an electrician or plumbing or whatever
it is. One of these trades and then they work for somebody, they learn the trade, they get
good at it, they apply themselves, they excel to get to the point where they say, you know,
I could run my own company. They save up money, they start investing, they start out very
small. And eventually, you know what, now they're hiring guys. And you know what, eventually
they're having a larger income. And now their labor has increased them. They've increased
by labor. There's nothing wrong with that. God blessing them, giving them wisdom on how
to run a business, sending the business their way, you know, and they're doing things right.
They're gathering by labor. They shall increase. But here's the thing, wealth gotten by vanity
shall be diminished. You know, the guy who just takes his minimum wage job, gets a paycheck,
runs down to the liquor store and gets some scratch off tickets and is just hoping to
hit it big. You know, not too rich, just a million, you know, just to take the edge off.
I'm not saying I got to be Bill Gates, you know, but I just, just, you know, and I've
heard guys say that, man, if I could just get a cool million, that would just take the
edge off, you know, pay off some debt, you know, get a few things that I like and then
just, you know, I could coast. Look, that's wealth gotten by vanity, the scratch off ticket,
the lotto ticket, and so on and so forth. But here's the thing, even if you did, and
it says that, that wealth should be diminished. And there's a saying, easy come, easy go.
You know, these guys that go down to the casino, pull the jackpot lever and sheching and then
come into tens of thousands of dollars. I mean, it's gone like that. Easy come, easy
go. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 9. Idleness leads to bondage. This, you know, passive
income where you're just going to get super rich without having to do anything, you're
going to end up in bondage. It says in verse 9, but they that will be rich fall into temptation
and a snare. Now notice it's they that will be rich, not they that are rich. You know,
sometimes we have a bad attitude towards wealthy people. We'll say it's a, well, they're rich,
you know, they're, they must be wicked. No, it says they that will be rich. Maybe that
rich person, that wealthy person that's, that's doing well, maybe they've gathered by labor.
Maybe they worked really hard for a long time and increased by labor and wisdom and knowledge
and understanding. Maybe that's how they got to where they were. They weren't just,
you know, some trust fund kid or something like that. They actually put in some effort.
But here's what it's saying here. They that will be rich fall into temptation and snare.
Meaning those that want to be rich. Look, if your only goal in life is to get rich,
you're going to fall into temptation and a snare. If all your life is about is just earning
as much money as you can and getting a lot of money in the bank, you know, you're going
to have the wrong priorities in life and you're going to fall into temptation and a
snare one because you're probably going to sacrifice a lot of things along the way. Church
is going to have to go by the wayside. Maybe put off having a family, you know, Bible reading
is just going to be, you know, something I'm not going to do. I don't have time for prayer
because I got to work, work, work, work. Cause I gotta be rich. Like the guy on YouTube said,
you know, you're going to fall into temptation because you're not taking care of that which
is spiritual. You're going to be spiritually weak. You're going to fall into temptation
and a snare. And here's the thing, the worst thing that could happen to people who insist
on being rich is becoming rich because they're already spiritually weak and then they come
into this wealth, okay, now they're going to fall into a snare because there are certain
sins that aren't available to the poor guy. There are some sins that you can't afford
as a poor guy. And there's some sin, I mean, there's a lot of sins you can get into, but
there's some sins you got to have money if you're going to, if you're going to be into
this sin. And it says there, and it says that they fall into temptation and snare into many
foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. Like if you
desire to be rich, you're going to, you're going to sacrifice things along the way that's
going to make you spiritually weak. Then you're going to, then if you actually achieve that
wealth that you desire, it's going to open up all these doors to all these other sins
that you might not otherwise had. The drugs, you know, the, the, the, the loose living,
you know, the loose, you know, women that are out there, life in the fast lane kind
of a thing. The casinos, just all this kind of thing that takes money to, to go out and
indulge in. That's what you're going to run into. And it says in verse 10, for the love
of money is the root of all evil. It didn't say money is the root of all evil. It says
the love of it is the problem that people are willing to do anything to become rich.
And it says, which some while they covet after have erred from the faith and pierce themselves
through with many sorrows. So, you know, the guy on YouTube is saying true freedom comes
from passive income, from just having, you know, $30,000 roll in every month through,
you know, Amazon sales. And you never touch a thing. You know, you just log on every once
in a while, check your account and watch it grow. You know, the truth behind all these
scams is if you want to get rich like that guy, you got to come up with a scam and sell
it to people. That's, that guy really is rich, but now he's getting rich by scamming you.
You know, we were talking about the stay at lunch. People fall for these scams all the
time. I mean, how is it that I can get turned on YouTube and see these ads from multiple
people that are all saying the same thing, Oh, get into Amazon sales, you know, billboards.
That's where it's at. And the, all these guys are pitching their ideas. You know, expensive
it is to run those ads like that. I've never done it, but I can't imagine it's cheap to
just run ads to millions of people on YouTube, but they do it. And why, why would they spend
all that money? Because it works. Because people out there go, Oh, that sounds like
a great, I'd love to have a passive income. I'd love to have $20,000 come in every month
without having to do anything. That's my dream. This is passive income. It's not real. The
truth is you have to come up with a scam and pitch it to people on YouTube. That's
how you get rich. That's a, that's the real passive income is duping everybody. And why
do people go for it? Basically because they're lazy, lazy people avoid work. Go over to Proverbs
chapter 26, Proverbs chapter 26. You know, God, God told Adam, Hey, you're going to eat
bread in the sweat of your face every day of your life until you die. Adam couldn't
just go, well, I don't feel like it. That's not an option for him. That's not an option
for us. It's the, you know, work. We want to, you know, the people want us to make a
think that work is optional. And you know what? I understand there's certain elements
of our society and our government that would like us to think that work is, should be something
that's optional, but it isn't. And only lazy people would have want to avoid work. The
Bible says in Proverbs 20, 22, you're going to 26. Okay. It says in verse 13, the slothful
man sayeth, there is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. That's what the slothful
man says. The guy who doesn't want to go to work. Well, there's a lion out there. I can't
go. It's an excuse. Now look at Proverbs 26 verse 13, the slothful man sayeth, there is
a lion in a way. There is a lion in the streets. And no, that's not a typo. That's actually
repeated twice in Proverbs for a reason. So that we would understand that, you know, slothful
people, they come up with reasons to avoid going to work. Look, lazy people are the ones
that avoid working. And then it goes on and says in verse 14, as the door turneth upon
his hinges, so did the slothful upon his bed. And it's, it's, I love just the way the Bible
describes things. You know, you ever, you ever oversleep, you know, when your body has
enough sleep, but you kind of insist on sleeping anyway, what do you end up doing? Tossing
and turning, right? Like every 15, 20 minutes, you kind of wake up and turn over again. You
got to get on the cool side of the bed, flip the pillow over. And I mean, you're like that
door that's just moving back and forth because when you're getting real, when you're really
sleeping and you're really getting the rest that you need, you're completely still. Yeah.
You're basically paralyzed. You go into that deep REM sleep, your body just goes limp,
you know, and that's like, that's, here's another parenting tip kind of from this morning
sermon. You know, when you have a kid that, you know, when you're sleeping, if you're
co-sleeping with the kids, you know, when you're nursing them and stuff in bed and,
you know, you learn real quick that you can't just jump out of bed or you're going to wake
up the baby and you do like the ninja moves out of the room, you know, you know, you're
a parent when you're like slowly crawling out of a room when you're all fours trying
not to wake a baby. Right. But then I learned this trick. Here's how you know if the kid
is out cold, you just lift up their arm and drop it. They're just, you know, because why?
Because they're totally out there. I mean, their body's getting the sleep that it needs.
And the Bible saying here, look, when you're just laying around and you're not even, you're
rested. It's not that you're tired. You're just lazy. The slothful man is like guy just
turns around. He's just flopping on his bed. Okay. 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there, 15
more minutes here. You know, he's just laying around. He's like a bed or he's like a door
on its hinges. So that the slothful upon, so that the slothful upon his bed, the slothful
verse 15 hide his hand in his bosom. Agree with him to bring it to his mouth. I mean,
he's so lazy. Just like he doesn't want to even feed himself. He just wants like a tube
put in or something. It's like, Oh, I guess I have to eat down. Oh, I hate having to do
this. Right. And then it says this, the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men
that can render a reason. And here's what I'm saying is that lazy people avoid work
and they're full of excuses. They'll hear, you know, they'll hear preaching like this
or they'll hear a sermon like this or someone come and tell them, Hey, you need to get a
job. You need to work. They say, well, you don't understand my, my situation. You don't,
you don't get it. They're full of excuses. And it's interesting that it calls them a
sloth. Okay. And this is kind of a crude illustration, but I'm going to go ahead and make it because
I think it's cool. All right. It calls them a sloth. And I heard somebody say this. I
thought next time I preach on the subject, I'm using an illustration and I think other
preachers have done this, but he calls them a sloth because why? Because of like a creature.
We think of the creature, the sloth, right? Everyone knows what a sloth is. It's that
really incredibly weak creature that moves very slow. They stay up in trees for like
weeks at a time. But did you know that a sloth only relieves itself like after like once
like every week or so, maybe even longer. I don't know exactly how long it is, but it's
not, you know, it's not regular like most other animals. It only does it every so often
because it has to come all the way down the tree. And because it's so slow, you know,
that's a very vulnerable time for it. It could be attacked by predators. So it only comes
down the tree to do that. And it lives in the same tree all the time. And it'll come
down and when it relieves itself, okay. And I hope I'm not being too crass here, but it's
like one fifth of its body weight, like 30% of its body weight in one go. Okay. You know,
and then you think, well, why is that? You know, well, it's kind of because you ever
heard the expression and this is crass, and I apologize if this is offensive to you, because
he's full of crap, right? You ever say that about somebody else? You ever say that about
another person? That guy's full of crap. What are you saying? They're full of excuses. That's
what a slothful man's like. He's full of excuses. He's full of crap, like a sloth, right? He's
just full of it. And he can just tell you, oh, well, he's wiser than seven men that can
render reason. Someone can say, hey, you need to work. The Bible says it's not a curse.
The Bible says you're supposed to do it. First Thessalonians, or second Thessalonians, you
know, first Timothy, and we could go on and on, and seven men can show him, work, work,
work, work, work. And they say, well, he's wiser in his own conceit than seven men. He's
full of it. He's got excuses. He's a slothful man. He's like the sloth that's just full
of it. And, you know, being lazy and refusing to work is shameful. It's something that's
shameful, quite frankly, and that's something we need to bring back in our society. It should
be something that we're ashamed of, not something that we desire to achieve, the state of not
working. You know, and people want to glorify that today, where it's just like, hey, I don't
have to work anymore. I get to just, you know, do this leisure activity and do that leisure
activity and just take it easy. We go over to Proverbs chapter 10, Proverbs chapter 10.
But the Bible teaches us that working, that putting in a hard day's work, putting in an
honest labor, earning, you know, our bread by the sweat of our brow is something that's
honorable. It's something to be admired. It's something that we're supposed to do. And then
it's lazy people that refuse to work that should be ashamed. Not the other way around.
Look at Proverbs chapter 10 verse 5. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son. You know,
the guy that goes out and gathers during the harvest. And it says, hey, you know where I'm
from in Michigan, that, you know, cherry capital of the world. And there's a certain time of the
year where the cherries come in and it's time to go shake the trees. You know, and if you're, you
know, a lot of teenagers at that time, they go out and they work for like a month, month and a
half, just shaking cherry trees, shaking cherry trees, shaking apple trees, and just bringing in
the harvest, right? And he's saying, look, he that gathereth in the summer is a wise son. There's
a time to go to work, right? But he that sleepeth is a son that causes shame. I mean, can you
imagine being that cherry farmer and having this strapping young man that's ready to just go, that
has the ability to go out and work hard, go in, put 12, 15 hours a day and bringing in a harvest.
And you go to get him and he's just sleeping. And it's like, get up. Let's go. No, I can't do it. I
don't want to. I don't feel like it. You know, my college professor says I don't have to. You'd be
ashamed of that guy. You'd be ashamed of that kid. You know, you'd go, you do what my dad used to do.
You'd soak a washcloth. I'm giving the parents tips tonight, right? You probably, you probably got
some yourself. You could probably give me a few. You soak that washcloth in ice cold water and
go in their bedroom and just throw it right in their face. I mean, there's nothing worse when
you're trying to, you know, get that extra few hours of sleep and all of a sudden you just get
hit by this soaking wet washcloth and it just instantly saturates the pillow. You have to get
up at that point, right? Why would you do that? Because you're embarrassed by that kid. You say,
man, there's work to do. He can do it. This is shameful. It's embarrassing for the son. It's
embarrassing for the parents. You know, and we could talk about actual work, but how about let's
apply it to soul winning, right? I mean, doesn't Jesus call, doesn't he say the harvest, the field
is white unto harvest, but the laborers are few, right? You can apply that to soul winning too.
Maybe we're hard workers in some areas, but are we working for the Lord? Are we putting in the
spiritual effort? Are we going out into the spiritual harvest and working hard? Are we being
a wise son that gathereth in the summer? Because the night cometh when no man can work. Look,
this life is the only life you have to win souls, and then it's done. That's it. It's over. There's
only one harvest in your life, but he that sleepeth is a son that causes shame. You know,
people that want to back out on the soul winning and be wiser than seven men that can render reason
and come up with their excuses of why they can't do it or why they don't need to do it. You know
what? They might not be ashamed now, but they're going to be ashamed when they stand before the
father and say, show me the work you did. Well, I didn't do any. It's shameful. Lazy people work
hard at not working. I know I learned this when I went to work for the city of Phoenix. I've never
seen a group of people work so hard at not working. Now, I'm not saying every person that
works at the city is some bum or something like that, but from my experience that I had,
I've never seen people that were just so obsessed with retiring. The first week I'm hired,
the week before Thanksgiving, instantly have paid vacation. Instantly have. Sometimes you have to
work for a year before you get those benefits. They're like, oh no. Next Thursday, you get
Thanksgiving off, the day after Thanksgiving off, and by the way, the day after Thanksgiving,
that's like the best day. That's the best holiday. That's better Thanksgiving practically. Anyway,
that's another story. I'm not saying if you work somewhere you get that, that's wrong. You take
what they're giving when you're working for a living, right? But what I'm saying is, there's
some people that are just obsessed with, they want to work hard at not working. I mean, the day I
came on, I had 17 paid holidays. 17 paid holidays, two weeks paid vacation. Day one. I had a month
off. Not to counting my personal time, my sick time. I mean, and then of course they're all
about the pension, right? And some people that's what they want, but you know what? I'm not
interested in trying to take as much time off as I can. And there's nothing wrong with taking off
time. I mean, the Bible, the Old Testament, God commanded them to take the Sabbaths. The weekly
Sabbath, they would take a whole week off sometimes. There would be times where they
would take a month off, several times in a year they would take time off. But you know what? That
time off wasn't paid. That wasn't paid time off. You know, and I love the job that I have now,
you know, because there's no paid time off here. There's no paid time off. He's like,
if you want to take time off, you need to just put in some extra hours and save up to take that time
off. And I said, you know what? That sounds right to me. And I'll get more into that, why I agree
with that kind of a mentality. But it says in Proverbs 23, labor not to be rich. Cease from
thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make
themselves wings and fly away as an eagle toward heaven. You know, people get so upset, obsessed
with just trying to get time off, earn money, become rich. And then they find out that, you
know, it just slips through their fingers. Lazy people work hard at not working. Think about,
like, the short work week. Everyone's just like, man, you know, and there's some countries where
it's like 38 hours a week. Like, they cap you, right? But what did God say in Exodus? In fact,
go over to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. The short work week, right? That's what everyone
likes that. You ever get the job where you get the four tens, right? That's a pretty good week,
right? Now, again, I'm not saying if you get this that you're in sin or something. I'm just saying,
like, don't let it affect you and turn you into a lazy person because that's not God's program.
Exodus chapter 20, you know, people are like, well, I got to go get a job, but I'm only going
to get the job that allows me to, you know, work four tens and I get, you know, like the city job,
where I have over a month's paid time off from day one. Otherwise, it's just it's not the job
for me. You know, if you get a job like that, great, you know, go ahead, enjoy that. But don't
make that the standard, you know, don't labor to be rich, don't be labor, just have all this
excess of time off. Look at Exodus chapter 20, verse nine, six days, shalt thou labor and do
all thy work. Now, I'm pretty sure this is, you know, in the in the Ten Commandments. This is part
of the Ten Commandments, right? And he's saying right here, six days, shalt thou labor and do all
thy work. And that's a commandment from God to work. Now, I'm not saying that you if you, if you
don't work six days, you're six days, you're in sin. But I am saying this that God prescribes a
six day work week in the Bible. How about this one retirement, right? And again, I'm not against
people retiring, you know, if they work hard to make that happen. But people were just, you know,
obsessed with this, you know, it's the social security, which if you're counting on social
security anymore, I don't know what, maybe, maybe some older folks can get away with it. I don't
know, maybe even I could, but this younger generation, I wouldn't count on it. Who knows
where that's going to be? I mean, we run into people all the time out there that are living on
fixed incomes. I mean, their social security is a joke anymore. Or 401k, just investing in
retirement. But does God does God have a retirement program? Well, he does. Actually,
if you if you look in your in your Bible there in Exodus chapter 20, go down to verse 12,
the fifth commandment, the first commandment with promise, remember, honor thy father and thy mother,
that they days may be long upon land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. You say, well,
I think that I thought that was all about just obeying your parents. Well, that's part of it.
But it also teaches us in First Timothy chapter, chapter five, honor widows that are widows indeed,
but if any have children and nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite
their parents. For that is good and acceptable for God. He's saying, look, the widow should be
able to fall back on their children to be what requited from their children, right, that we are
to requite our parents. Requite means to repay them. And I believe that's what the Bible is
saying here. You know, and Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, you know, that that they made void
the tradition of or they by the tradition of men made void the commandment of God.
For they would say to their parents, you know, they would say, right, Corban, right,
which I hear all the time having my name being Corban. Oh, like in the Bible. I'm like, no,
it's an I, not an A. And Corban is a terrible thing if you actually go read in the context.
But they would say it's Corban saying it is a gift that I might whatsoever I may be profited
by thee. So let's say instead of me requiting my parents in the old age, we'll just say Corban,
meaning that, you know, it's a gift from my parents. It's like an inheritance. They're
saying, hey, you don't have to take care of us. You know, it's a gift from them. They're saying,
don't worry about taking care of us in your old age. That's what he was saying there.
But the Bible teaches, you know, honor your parents when they get old and they can't work
anymore. That's where children come in. Not the 401k, not the government. You know,
here's my one, two, three, four and one on the way K program. That's my 401k
retirement plan right there. I got four of them and one on the way and I'm investing heavily,
right? Because I'm taking care of them. I'm working hard to provide for them. I'm teaching
them good and right way and bringing them up with the nourishment and admonition of the Lord.
So when they get older and I get older and now they're adults and they have homes of their own,
especially you, right? Cause you're the boy, right? You got to take care of me when I get old,
right? Requite your parents. The Bible commands that. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Who's going to take care of me? Your kids should. Not just, you know,
stick them in a home somewhere. You know that, and that's just, that's just Bible. Retirement,
you know, being obsessed with this, the short weeks, it's for lazy people. I'm not saying
having those things is bad. I'm saying people who just insist on that, you know, that I must not,
and there, and there's a whole mentality, mentality out there. I can't work more than
40 hours a week. You know, I can't, I'm not going to work unless I get too paid. I'm not going to
go take this job unless they're willing to give me this benefit and this benefit and this benefit.
It's not right. Pay time off. How about this one? Overtime. Overtime. You know, I hate overtime.
How could you say that? No, I do seriously because I don't know. I've had more than one employer.
I said, man, I'd love to work an extra 10 hours. You know, he caps me at 40 and I would love to
work and just make a few extra hundred bucks. So I can't, cause I can't afford the overtime.
And by law, I, I, they are, they have to pay me overtime. It's a socialist concept, people.
It's socialism. And go look it up that over time, this whole, this whole thing is unbiblical. It's
socialist. It's socialism of paying somebody more for working more than 40 hours. You know,
and I, and here's the thing, when you work for a church, you know, that law doesn't apply.
And I was told we don't pay overtime. You want more money, work more hours. I said, thank you.
I was glad to hear that because you know what? I'd rather work 10 more hours of straight time
than just 40 hours of straight time to have an employer say, well, I can't pay you more than
40 hours a week. That's all you get. And that's what I tried to do with the city. And I, after
a year, I quit the city because, you know, I went to him and said, Hey, cause I was already working
a second job, trying to make extra income. And they had all this backlog of work and they're
telling me, go hire a contractor for $60,000 a year to come in here and help you with your job.
And then I'm sitting there, it's going, why am I working? But I'm working a second job.
I'm scratching my head and I go back to him and say, how about you pay me an extra $35,000 a year
and I'll do, and I'll work and I'll work these extra hours and get us caught up. No, we can't
do that. We'll see ya. You know, I'll go somewhere where somebody is willing to pay me, you know,
50, 60, 70, 80 hours a straight time rather than just take the peanuts that you're offering at 40.
But their hands are bound. A lot of these employers that go to, they're just like, well,
it's just the, it's just the law. You have to pay overtime. I'm against it. I think it's,
it's, I'm not saying if you get it, you're wrong. You're not right with God.
If you can get it, go get it. Go get the overtime. I'm all for it. But I'm just saying if I were an
employer and if I had the option, I'd say no overtime. Sorry. You want to work more hours,
then go ahead and work more hours. But it's the same, you know, honest days, honest days work,
honest days pay. But some people say, well, I'm not going to get a job. I'm not going to take this
job or that job unless I know I'm going to make X amount of money, get X amount of time off.
They're full of excuses. It's lazy. And here's the thing, and I know I'm kind of going along
again. I'll wrap this up and I'm being kind of ranting tonight, but let me just say this,
being lazy and avoiding work has consequences. It's not like you can just, you know, well,
you know, if I do that, then maybe I just have to put up with, listen to brother Corbin rattle
his cage every year or something like that about this, you know? No, there's consequences.
The Bible says, go over to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six.
He become with poor that deal with with a slack hand. I mean, that's so logical. That's just so
one plus one equals two. He could become with poor that deal with with a slack hand. Well,
duh. Right? Why am I poor? Because you don't work because you're slack because you're slothful.
Why don't I have enough? Because you're not working. But the hand of the diligent maketh
rich. Now I'll point out about this. It says the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Does this say it becomes rich? It says it maketh rich. And this is kind of this is kind of leading
me into my next point about how to earn an aggressive income. And it's it's, you know,
having the right attitude about work, but have the right attitude at work, have the right attitude
at work. And this is the attitude you should have at work. The hand of the diligent maketh
rich. If you go into a job and you say, I'm here to make this company money,
you're going to succeed. If you walk into a job, you get you get hired somewhere and you say,
hey, I'm here to make this company money. You will succeed. And those in your efforts in all
likelihood will not go unnoticed. And you will be blessed. And you will and you will probably make
more money in the process. I mean, my last job before I got hired as Deacon, you know,
that was my attitude. And I would go out and I would try to upsell customers. And I would try
to tell them about, you know, this better hardware and I would upsell jobs and my boss
loved it. And when I left, he said, come on back if you ever need to. He wasn't relieved to see me
go. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I'm just saying, look, having this attitude is
what will make you successful. He the hand of the diligent maketh rich. Because here's the thing,
this is what so many people don't seem to understand how many guys I work with this did not
get this concept. If the company does well, you do well. If your boss is a decent boss,
and most bosses are, you know, sometimes bosses just have are instantly just blackballed by their
employees because they're in charge or whatever. But if you if your company does well and you have
a good boss, you're going to do you're going to do well. You know what, I you know, I don't work
there anymore. So I'll say it. You know, glad the last Christmas there, not every guy got a
Christmas bonus. And my boss came and said, here, don't tell the other guys. And handed me an
envelope. I don't remember how much is in there. But it was significant. It was nice. Believe me,
there was a steak dinner that night. Right. And why did he do that? Because he liked the look on
my face. Right? You just you just you just liked me. He did like me. No, it's because I had this
attitude of, I'm here to make him rich. I'm here to make him money. Because he's the one that
signs my paycheck. And if you have that attitude at work, you will go places. Say I'm here to make
the company money. Now I'm the first I'm the last guy here first one to leave. You know, how soon
can I get out of this? Do I really have to come in today? You know, but if you go into work and say,
I'm here to work, I'm here to work hard. I'm here to make this company money. It's going to not
going to go unnoticed. So you know, the title of the sermon again, you know, how to have an
you know, how to earn an aggressive income, right? As opposed to having a passive income.
You know, then the first point really was this. Have the right attitude about work.
Don't want to be one of these people that just looks at work and says, oh, it's such a drag.
It's such a curse. It's you know, I'm just trying. It's my hardest to not ever have to do it again.
That's not the right attitude. Oh, I only work if it's a job that affords me all of these benefits.
Wrong attitude. Okay. Have the right attitude about work. But not only that, you say you
convinced me I'm going to go work. Have the right attitude at work. Okay. You're in Ephesians
chapter six. Are you there? Look at verse five. Servants, be obedient to them that are your
masters. You know, bring that into the modern vernacular. Employees, be obedient to your bosses,
to your supervisors, to your managers. According to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness
of your heart. As unto Christ, not with eye service as men pleasers. See, look, when you go
to work and you work for your boss, just pretend your boss is the Lord. That's what he said there.
I mean, am I misreading it? He says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters,
according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of heart, as unto Christ.
Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God
from the heart. You know, put your heart into it is what he's saying. And he's saying, look,
not as not with eye service. You know, the guys that when the boss is away, they're just kind of
like, well, you know, boss is gone. Just lean. And, you know, we'll get to that later. You know,
I remember I had this job and there was a lot of the shop guy had a lot of downtime because the
shop was slow. And I was a road technician. And I would come in the shop and I'd look around,
I'd be like, man, if I were here eight hours a day and was this slow, it wouldn't look like this.
I mean, everything would be neat and organized. There wouldn't be any.
And eventually my boss came in and he just looked at the shop guy and said,
you either start making this shop look good or you start looking for a job.
Right. But the thing was, whenever the boss was there, that guy was busy. I mean, he was just,
you know, find all kinds of things to do. But when the boss was gone, it was just,
you know, pretend this is the cell phone. Just taking it easy. Right. Now, look, if you serve
your boss like you serve Christ, you're not going to do that. You're not going to just do it with
eye service. Oh, the boss is looking, you know, because if you say, well, I'm going to, you know,
if you're going to treat your boss like he's Christ, let me ask you this. Does Jesus see you
at all times or not? He sees you all the time. So work like you're always being watched,
is what he's saying. Not just, you know, not just when the boss is around, but work like someone's
always paying attention to what you're doing because somebody is. It's called the Lord.
God sees that. God sees that kind of an attitude, even at work. People like to think that, you know,
we only have to concern ourselves with the Lord when we're here on Sunday and, you know,
the midweek service. But you have to concern yourself with God outside these walls.
More so than when you do here, really. You know, this is just to help you when you're out there.
Not with eye service as men pleases as a servant of Christ, but doing the will of God from the
heart. Go over to Colossians chapter three, or it's, yeah, Colossians three. It's like a parallel
passage. I mean, Paul's just telling everybody this. He's telling Ephesians to do this. He's
telling the Colossians to do this. It's something that he's trying to drive home in the New
Testament. Look at verse 22, Colossians three, verse 22. Servants obey in all things your
masters. I mean, that's like almost verbatim from Ephesians. Servants be obedient, servants obey
in all things your masters, according the flesh. Not with eye service as men pleasers,
but in singleness of heart. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as the Lord and not unto men.
Do it as if Christ were your boss, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of
inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. You know, the Bible says in Proverbs, in all labor
there is profit. In all labor there is profit. You know what? And I've said this before and
I'll say it again. And last time I said it, I got some weird looks, but it's the truth.
Even if you were to go work for somebody and they didn't pay you a dime, there would be profit in
it. There would be profit. One, because God sees it. Two, you're learning how to work.
And three, you're developing character. In all labor there's profit. In everything that you do,
there is some kind of profit, even if somebody weren't paying you to do it.
You say, I don't understand that. Well, you know, there's more to life than money.
You know, there's things that you can learn. You know, I can't remember how many times I was told
to do things as a child and a teenager that I went and did. I didn't get paid for it.
You know, go do this chore, go do that chore. They didn't pay me, but did it profit me? Yes, it did.
Because it taught me about taking responsibility, that sometimes you have to just go do things you
don't like to do. Like here's a big one growing up in Northern Michigan, shoveling snow. That's
this white stuff that falls, anyway. But, you know, and that's like a serious chore when you
live in the northern climates. I mean, you want to leave the house in the morning, you have to
shovel your way out. You want to pull in your driveway at night when you come home, you got to
shovel your way back in sometimes. I mean, it's pouring down, you know, and then this plow goes
by and it builds up this big mound in the alley. And I would, you know, when I'd go bus calling,
you could tell which guys were just bums because they would not shovel anything. They'd just start
parking out on the road, you know, and as the winter goes on, the roads get narrower and
narrower because the drifts are just building up from the snowplows. And these guys are just
parking the road. There'd just be this one little path all the way to their front door.
Porch isn't even shoveled. It's like, you bum. Get a shovel and get a, go take 15 minutes and shovel.
What's the matter with you? They're just inside smoking pot or whatever. It's like, you lazy bum.
You know, but hey, every time my parents said, hey, grab a shovel and go shovel the sidewalk
and all the way down to the mailbox and shovel a path for the postman so we can get the mail.
Because if you didn't, up there, if you didn't shovel a path for the postman, no mail.
Your bills aren't going to get delivered. They're not going to trudge through, you know,
three feet of snow to give you your mail. You had to shovel a path to the sidewalk and the city
would take it from there. Go shovel that. Go shovel all the snow in the driveway. And we didn't have a
snowblower. Same thing, you know, with a dishwasher. Mom, can we get a dishwasher? I got three,
is what she said. Mom, can we get a snowblower? I got three, you know. And it's called kids and
you can put the shovel in their hand. And I didn't get paid a dime for it. But you know what? I can
shovel with the best of them. I guarantee you that. You know, I know what it's like to go out
in the cold and break a sweat. I profited from that. But what's he saying here in Ephesians and
Colossians? He's saying, you know, be obedient. Obey the boss. Do what you're told. Have the right
attitude at work. Have the right attitude. Obey your masters in the flesh. I mean, that seems
like you should just go without saying, but you'd be surprised how many people like to just argue
with their boss or tell their boss why they're wrong. And I, you know, and I know I've kind of,
I don't know what all I've repeated before, but I'll say this too, is that one of the things that
helped me succeed. And again, I'm not saying I, you know, I climbed the, you know, these great
heights of success, but let me, at the very minimum, you know, I kept my job and if things
slowed down, I wasn't gonna be the first one to let go. I can tell you that. You know how I did
that? By just obeying the boss. He said, be here at this time. I was there early. Okay. And here's
the thing. When he told me to do something, I did it. And when something went wrong and he came to
me about it, I, sometimes even when it wasn't my fault, I would just take it and say, well,
we'll fix it. You know, I just have to say, well, let me explain my position because all the boss
wants, let me just clue you in, all the boss wants is the problem fixed. That's all they're concerned
about. They really don't care who did it or why or how. They just want to know that it's not going
to happen again and it's going to get fixed. And a lot of times, you know, things would go wrong
that really were out of my control. And, you know, the bot, and instead of just sitting there
and going on and on with the boss and rattling on, I just tell him what he wanted to hear. Hey,
it won't happen again. You're right. I'll fix that. I'll make sure that doesn't happen again.
He'd say, thank you. And that was the end of the conversation. Obey your boss, you know, and
especially if it is your fault, you know, fess up. I remember I had a boss take me in the office
when I hadn't even done anything yet. And he says, and he just, he's like, hey, you got a minute?
It's like, yeah. He's like, just, I want to let you know this real quick. If you ever break
anything here, you back into something or a piece, a tool or something, just tell me,
I'm not going to be mad. I just want to know about it. Cause a lot of times guys would break things
and then they just wouldn't say anything. And then the next guy goes to use it. It's like,
and a whole job gets delayed. Well, we'd go do it, but you know, somebody brought back this,
this packer and the handle's bent and you can't use it. It's been, you know,
got dropped off the back of a pickup or something. And I remember we had a morning meeting one time
and the body that we, everybody knew who did it. The boss knew who did it. And he's like,
who did it? And he's just sitting there. He's like, I can't believe it. You're sitting there
right now. Everyone in this room knows who did it and you still won't mess up to it.
And it wasn't much longer. That guy was gone. Cause all he wanted to know was that the problem,
that there was a problem that needed to get fixed. So it didn't cost him more money. I know I'm
rattling, but the point I'm trying to make is this. Obey the boss. You want to learn how to,
Hey, you know, here's my first step on how to earn an aggressive income today.
You know, obey your boss and you go to work. Do what you're told. Confess when you, you know,
fess up when you made a mistake. Let them know about things that you break. That's just step one
in my get, you know, get rich very slowly, you know, lifetime. And over the course of a lifetime,
you just might break even, right? Obey the boss. Accept correction. You know, I kind of already
went over that. And here's one, do it the way they want it done. Do it the way they want it
done. You know, and this is some, somebody else has told me about this. And when I heard it,
I thought that's golden. Don't ever forget that. Because a lot of times guys will, you know,
they'll learn a trade or something and they'll go to work at another company. And the company
does things a different way or they use a different tool. And the person that switches
over says, well, that's not how we did it at the last company. Let me just clue you in. Your boss
doesn't care how they did it at some other company. He cares how you do it at his company.
He doesn't care what tool you used over there. He cares what tool you're going to use here.
Because he wants to know what he can expect. He wants to know when he walks on a job,
things are done a certain way. He doesn't have to sit there and wonder how something got done
and who did it or whatever. Do it the way they want it done. And this guy said that he started
this job. I believe this is Pastor Anderson. He started a job and the supervisor, the first thing
he said to him was, if you have a different way of doing things, I don't want to hear about it.
Don't come to me and tell me about a different way. Don't tell me how you did it somewhere else.
He says, but if you have a better way of doing it, then you can tell me about it.
But I'm not interested in a different way. All I care about is a better way.
And that's, you know, do it the way they want it done.
What is the other thing that Paul said here? He said, in singleness of heart, he repeated that.
In Ephesians 6, he said, you know, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart is then
to Christ, not with eye service as men pleasers in Colossians 3, but in singleness of heart,
fearing God. You know, he's saying whatsoever that he's saying, what did he say? Let me find it.
And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. What's he saying here? You know,
it's basically this, work heartily, put your back into it. I mean, if you're going to do so,
if you're going to go work a job, succeed at it. I mean, why would you want to be the best
employee you can be and really lean into your work? The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 9,
whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no rest or device nor
knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest. I mean, what if, you know, your employment
ends somewhere, you know, for even not even for a bad reason. Let's just say you have to switch
jobs for some reason. You know, when you end that job, you should want your boss to say,
you're going to, hey, that's going to be your tough shoes to fill. We got to find another guy
to replace so-and-so. It's going to be hard. Or they're going to be like, glad he's gone. Maybe
I'm going to get somebody better in here. You know, or do you want to have to leave a job and
say, hey, if it doesn't work out where you're going, you know, the door's open here. I mean,
I've had that. My boss said, hey, if it doesn't work out, you come on back, I'll hire you.
I mean, that's what you want. And why is that? Because when you go to work, you should put your
back into it. You should do it heartily. Do it with all your might. Don't just kind of halfway
kind of just drag yourself through the day. Well, I guess they got to do that again. You won't
succeed with that attitude. You will not earn an aggressive income, right? And that's what this is
all about. Do what needs to be done without being told, not with eye service. Now, if you would go
over to Proverbs 6, and we're almost done. I know I'm going long. Proverbs 6. He said twice there,
in signals of heart, not with eye service, right? Not as men pleasers. You know,
what he's saying there is, you know, do what needs to be done without being told.
In Proverbs 6, look at verse 6, go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise,
which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provided her meat in the summer,
and provided her food in the harvest. How long without sleep, O sluggard? When will thou arise
out of thy sleep? But he says there, the ant has no guide, overseer, or ruler, but she provided her
meat in the summer. Look, no one's going to the ant and saying, hey, ant, it's time to clock in,
let's go. You know what I mean? No one does that to the ant. The ant just knows it's time to work.
And they work hard. And that's what he's saying here. You need to go to the ant,
if you're a sluggard, and consider her ways. And how she doesn't, you know, she's not doing what
she does with eye service. There's no one standing over here, just cracking a whip, saying get to
work, get to work, pick up the pace, don't forget to do this. They just get to work without even
being told. You know, that's, that's a big day when people figure that out, that they can just
do things without being told. And really, that's a huge sign of maturity. When you start actually
doing things just because they need to get done without being told, that's a big step in maturity.
I mean, sometimes my kids do that. My wife, and she'll tell, she'll, I'll come home and she'll
tell me about, oh, it was such a blessing today. You know, Karen just went, without even being
told, just went and cleaned up. No, it's not every day that happens, right? But you know what,
that's what makes a big impression on people, when it's not, when they don't have to stand over
you. And here's, here's a tip, you want to get a raise at work, you know, make your manager obsolete.
You know something, a lot of companies have to hire people to make sure other people keep working.
That's what managers do. They're there to make sure everybody's doing their job, they're there
when they're supposed to be there, that they do what they're supposed to do, and they complete
their shift, and that, you know, they keep them accountable. You know, but if everyone worked like
an ant, you wouldn't need a manager. You know, and then the employer could quit paying this guy
to watch you. Or how about this, you get to be the guy that watches people, and that guy makes
more money, the manager. You know, he's got more responsibility, but you know what, hey, if that
position's available, I'll take that one. And I guarantee you, the manager doesn't have to have
somebody watching over them, otherwise they wouldn't be the manager. Go to the ant, do what
needs to be done without being told. Look, working is a major part of life for everyone.
Moms, dads, children, for everybody. Working is a major part of your life.
Even if it's not in a job, you know, if it's working for the Lord, it's doing chores at home,
it's raising children, it's earning an income, it's a major part of life. And that's why we
need to preach about it. That can and should be very rewarding. You know, working can be very
rewarding. It's one of the best feelings in the world to complete a job well done. To get done
with a project, to put in a hard day's work, and to come home and know that you gave it your all,
that you worked hard. You know, when you get that check, and you know you earned every dime of it,
that's a rewarding feeling. You know, people get all upset and mad about having to pay bills,
but here's the thing, that's actually a real source of accomplishment.
When you sit down and do the budget, and there might not be a lot left over, but praise God,
the bills are paid. I mean, that's called being responsible. There's a sense of fulfillment from
that. It makes you feel like an adult. It makes you feel like you're doing something with your
life. Look, and work is something that God has given us from day one. I mean, He created man
and said, get to work. It's a huge part of our life, and it's something that can be very
fulfilling and very rewarding. You know, and I'll just say this, that's why a lot of lazy people
are very depressed. You know, I already talked about it earlier. My most depressing times in my
life have been when I didn't have any work to do, because I'm a man. I'm built to work. That's what
I'm here to do, and when I don't have somewhere to do that, it can be a little depressing.
Go over to, well, let's end in Ecclesiastes chapter two.
Thank you. Look, didn't even have to be told. Look at that guy. You're going places, brother.
Didn't even have to ask him. The Bible says in Proverbs, I'll just read to you,
blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways.
Thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Well, he's saying, you know, if you eat, it's a blessing to eat the labor of your hands,
that you'll be happy, and it shall be well with thee. You know, when you eat the labor of your
own hands, that's a rewarding feeling. You know, you might not have a lot, but if you earned all
of it, man, that feels good. Ecclesiastes chapter two is where I had you go. My notes
are all chopped up. I got to go there. Where am I going? Ecclesiastes.
Way off. There we go. Ecclesiastes chapter two. Let's go, let's go Ecclesiastes three real quick.
Just look over there real fast.
Ecclesiastes three, look at verse 13 says, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy
the good of his labor. It is the gift of God. Oh, working is such a curse. Oh, I just want a passive
income. Oh, you don't, God's gift isn't good enough for you. Isn't that what it says right
there? You know, that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor,
going out and working and putting food on your own plate and taking care of yourself through
your own hard work. It is the gift of God to go out and work. You know, earning an aggressive
income is not something to be shunned. It's God's gift to us. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter two.
Ecclesiastes chapter two, we'll go to verse 22. For what half a man of all his labor and of the
vexation of his heart, wherein he labored under the sun? For all his days are sorrow and his
in his travail grief. Yea, his heart taketh no rest in the night. This also is vanity.
There is nothing better for a man than that, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should
make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This I saw, also I saw that it was from the hand of God.
And saying, look, life is vain. There's a life is just full of vanity. You know,
people want to chase after, you know, these prolonged, you know, they just want to go on
these cruises and vacations. And you know what, if you get to a place in life where you enjoy that,
go ahead. But just understand this, it's all vanity. It's all vanity. And he's saying here
that, you know, there's nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink. He should just,
you know, put food in his mouth, enjoy what he earned, and that he should make his soul enjoy
good in his labor. This also I saw that it was from the hand of God.
Look, going to work is God's, it's a blessing to go to work. It's the complete opposite of
what the idiot YouTube guru will tell you. You need to be on a passive income. No,
it's not what the Bible says. The Bible teaches an aggressive income, that we should work every
day of our life. You know, of course God prescribes breaks, you know, we take our
Sabbaths here and there and whatever. But let me just say, you know, people who avoid working
are missing out. They're missing out on one of the greatest gifts that God has given us. The
ability to go out and to work hard and to enjoy the fruit of our labor and to have a real sense
of satisfaction and fulfillment in our life that'll bring us joy. So how to earn an aggressive
income? Let me just give it to you in three points. And if you just follow these three points,
you know, I'm done with that. Abandon this work less, live more attitude. Work less, live more.
Look, life is work. Life is work. You know, that's what my dad told me one day. He said,
you remind me a lot of my dad. That's what my dad told me. He said, you remind me a lot of my dad.
I said, yeah. He said, yeah, guess what? I said, what? He said, you're going to be,
you're going to live a long time and you're going to work really hard and you're going to hate it.
And I said, I don't know if that's the best thing to tell a six year old. I was 18. But you know
what? There was a grain of truth. Now I'm not saying I hated it. And I hope I live long. And
you know what? If I work hard all the way, you know, God, that's the gift of God. Life is work.
Abandon this work less, live more. That's not living. That's just vanity. Adopt a good attitude
about working and practice a good attitude about work. That's how you're going to earn
an aggressive income. That's how you're going to succeed out there. That's how you're going
to have a fulfilling life is if you have a good attitude about work. And then when you're at work,
have a good attitude about work. Okay. Let's go ahead and pray.