And the verse that I want to preach on tonight is verse number 22 where the Bible reads,
Joseph is a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall.
And the title of my sermon tonight is whose branches run over the wall.
Now this is spoken of Joseph and if we know about the life of Joseph we know
that he went through more adversity and more problems than almost any character in the Bible.
You know everything was going wrong in his life.
Now look at the next few verses here in verse 23.
The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him but his bow abode in strength
and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.
From thence is the shepherd the stone of Israel even by the God of thy father who shall help thee
and by the almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
So we see here that this talks about the fact that he was hated he was attacked
and if you know the story of Joseph even when he was just 17 years old he's beaten and thrown
in a pit he's sold into slavery and then when he's in slavery he's falsely accused he's thrown
into prison and then he gets out of prison and of course becomes the second in command
of the entire nation of Egypt all along the way it keeps saying of Joseph that the Lord was with
Joseph and he prospered everywhere he went even when he's in prison he's pretty much running the
prison you know and when he's in the palace he's running the palace when he's a slave
in Potiphar's house he ends up running everything so in spite of adversity in spite of being
attacked and hated in spite of coming up against a lot of obstacles in his life he still succeeded
through the power of God. Now when the Bible says in verse 22 Joseph is a fruitful bough
even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall I believe that what this signifies
with the wall there is that a wall basically represents some kind of an obstacle or some kind
of a an impediment to further progress you know you're you're walking forward and you hit a wall
you know you can't go any further right wrong you go over the wall okay see Joseph was one
whose branches went over the wall he found a way to get over the wall over the obstacles in his
life now go to Mark chapter 2 and this sermon tonight is a sermon that will help you at your
job especially in your career because there are two kinds of people in this world when it comes
to the workforce there are the people who are constantly coming to the boss with problems
and the people who are constantly coming to the boss with solutions there are the people who just
see the wall all the time and they keep calling them and telling them about the wall that's in
front of them and then there's other people whose branches go over the wall they find a way to get
things done and they don't just let every little thing stop them where the and I know this is
cliche but where there's a will there's a way it's true and people who really want to get something
done people are really dedicated to the job always find a way to get it done and then other people
seem like they're just looking for an excuse why they don't want to get it done now I love this
story in Mark 2 this is one of my favorite Bible stories because these guys knew how to get
something done these guys were like Joseph whose branches went over the wall they found a way to
get something done look at Mark chapter 2 verse 1 and again he entered into Capernaum after some
days and it was noise that he was in the house and straightway many were gathered together and
of course the he here is Jesus and many people are gathering together to hear Jesus verse 2 and so
much that there was no room to receive them no not so much as about the door and he preached the
word unto them verse 3 and they come unto him bringing one sick of the palsy which was born
of four now born means carried so four guys are carrying another guy who's sick of the palsy this
man is diseased and this man needs to get to Jesus because they know if they can get him to Jesus
Jesus has the power to heal this guy Jesus has been healing all kinds of people and his fame has
gone abroad through that whole country but they can't get anywhere near the house where Jesus is
preaching because the whole house is full of people even all around the doorways all around
the windows I mean there's no way to get anywhere near this house where Jesus is preaching so they
basically threw up their hands and quit they basically said hey it can't be done no look what
they did in verse 4 when they could not come nigh unto him for the press they uncovered the roof
where he was and when they had broken it up they let down the bed where in the sick of the palsy
lay I mean isn't this a cool story Jesus is preaching imagine the house is packed no one can
get near it okay just imagine if you know Jesus were here preaching and all of a sudden you know
ceiling tiles just started moving out of the way what's going on next thing you know a bed
just starts lowering four guys with four ropes on the four corners just lowering this bed down
and I mean just right in front of where Jesus is preaching you know just right in front of like
he can't miss it right there I mean they break and it says they broke stuff I mean they broke up the
roof they're ripping out tiles over there we're gonna get this done we're getting this guy to
Jesus we're gonna get this guy healed it's a life you know they lower the guy down on the bed
look what it says in verse 5 when Jesus saw their faith not even that he saw the faith of the guy
that's in the bed no he saw the faith of the guys who are lowering him down the guys who are getting
him there when Jesus saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy son thy sins be forgiven thee
which is much more important than getting healed anyway getting your sins forgiven is much more
important than getting rid of palsy but there were certain of the scribes sitting there and
reasoning in their hearts said why does this man speak thus blasphemy who can forgive sins but
God only and immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves
he said unto them why reason ye these things in your hearts whether is it easier to say to the
sick of the palsy thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise and take up thy bed and walk
but that you may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins he saith to the
sick of the palsy i say unto thee arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house and
immediately he arose took up the bed and went forth before them all and so much that they were
all amazed and glorified God saying we never saw it on this fashion and he went forth again by the
seaside and the multitude resorted unto him and he taught them turn to proverbs chapter 22 john
do you have that jar of water for me or isaac can you grab that for me
so
proverbs chapter number 22 look at verse 13 the bible reads the slothful man
and slothful is another word for lazy
the slothful man saith there's a lion without i shall be slain in the streets this guy's looking
for an excuse not to go outside this is a lazy man so well there's a lion out there you know i
could be killed i could be slain in the streets look at verse 26 or i mean chapter 26 a couple
pages over in proverbs there chapter 26 it says in verse 12 see as thou a man wise in his own
conceit verse 12 there's more hope of a fool than of him the slothful man saith there's a lion in
the way a lion is in the streets as the door turneth upon his hinges so did the slothful
upon his bed the slothful hideth his hand in his bosom it grieveth him to bring it again to his
mouth the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason so see
slothful people and sluggardly people are real smart about one thing they're real good at coming
up with excuses and reasons why the job can't be done and why they're not going to get it done
they find all kind of reasons not to get the work done you don't have to turn there but proverbs 20
verse 6 says most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness but a faithful man who can find
faithful meaning someone that you can rely on now listen if you want to succeed at your job
you need to understand the sermon i'm preaching right now about joseph whose branches went over
the wall this was a guy who probably more than anybody else in the bible
succeeded at work i mean he's in the prison he's running the place he's working in potiphar's house
he's running the place palace with pharaoh running everything great worker his boss was always
pleased with him potiphar loved him the keeper of the prison loved him pharaoh loved him this guy's
great now here's the thing about jobs here's the thing about bosses they're usually not
a philanthropist right they're usually not running a charitable non-profit organization
i mean your typical boss is trying to make money and you are a tool to help him make money he's
not just here oh i i i opened this business because i just really wanted to provide jobs
to the community see he that's a wrong attitude for you to have an as an employee to think that
the boss is somehow there to serve you oh well the company exists to provide me with the job
no no you exist to provide work for the company okay the the servant is the one that's serving
the job not vice versa like they're providing jobs for you no no you're working for them
get the right attitude about your job the company's goal is to make money
your goal should be to make money for the company the boss's goal should be your goal
because he has hired you to work for him and to do his will right you're doing the will of
him that sent you when you are going out on those jobs or service calls you know if you're
one who works out in the field or if you work in the office you know you're there to do what
your boss wants you to do the company has certain goals you're there to help them meet those goals
now if you want to succeed at your job you need to be productive at your job you need to be
effective at your job you need to be reliable at your job you see the bible says here that
people are looking for a faithful man they're looking for a guy they can rely on that they
can count on that they can hang their hat on and there are all kinds of people out there singing
their own praises and proclaiming their own goodness but a faithful man who can find and that
was back when proverbs is written today in america the work ethic is declining and so this is getting
even more true but that's good news for you as the worker because it's not going to be that
hard for you to really shine at your job because the bar is low i mean there are so many bad
workers out there that when you show up at your job and you're reliable and you're trustworthy
and you're faithful and you're effective and you're efficient and you're working hard
you're really going to shine you're going to be a superstar it's not going to be that hard
the bible says whatsoever thy hand find it to do do it with thy might the bible teaches that
we are to do our work as unto the lord and not to men not with eye service as men pleasers but
as the servants of christ doing the will of god from the heart that's talking about when you go
to your job on monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday be a good worker that's a good trick
christian testimony to your boss to your co-workers and to your customers when you
are a hard worker that is giving the name of christ a good name whereas being a lazy poor
worker is giving christ a bad name because you represent jesus christ as a christian
your ambassadors for christ the bible says
now all of us desire to provide for our family to provide for ourselves to pay for our wife to pay
for our children so we want to excel at our job also that we might get raises and promotions and
be able to afford the cost of living here in arizona right i mean everybody wants to go out
and succeed and and make more money and do a good job now we're not trying to be rich that's a
wicked goal according to the bible to desire to be rich but we do desire to provide for our families
and to live a life not of riches or of poverty but to be between that's what the bible teaches
in proverbs chapter 30 so if you want to be like joseph whose branches go over the wall
you need to learn to come to your boss with solutions not problems and not constantly have
an attitude that it can't be done have a can-do attitude now i could stand here literally all
night and just give you concrete examples of this just from my own experiences of just people who
i've seen and the dumb excuses that they've come up with and then other people that i've seen where
they found a way to get it done you know we could just go on and on and on about that you know i'll
just kind of throw out a few examples i don't want to spend too much time on that but i just want to
kind of give you an idea of what i'm talking about and look this can be applied to all areas
of life spiritual things this could be applied to soul winning there are people that have a defeated
attitude of soul winning all they see is a wall missionaries go to a foreign country and all they
see is a wall oh soul winning doesn't work here people are unreceptive blah blah blah another
guy's branches go over the wall he finds a way to win souls he finds a way to get it done this could
go in all areas of life but i want to focus on your job because that's the most applicable thing
to most people in this room is is going out and doing your job as a plumber an electrician a
carpenter computer programmer you know what are some other jobs in the room tonight call them out
pool swimming pool man yeah that's a big thing in arizona right keeping the pools clean
doing maintenance car mechanic
nurses installing cables what else
that's it all right
so people that get it done and people who are constantly finding an excuse not to get it done
and listen kids you listen up too because it's the same way with chores mom gives you a chore
and you shoot it right back at her oh well i can't do it because of x y and z or whatever
same thing this principle even a child is known by his doings whether his work be pure and whether
it be right the bible says but you know for example let's say you know and i'm kind of
drawing from my own experience because i worked in the fire alarm business which is basically
low voltage electrical work and i did that for a long time and one thing that we would run into
sometimes when i would send because i had i owned my own company for a while and i had workers that
worked for me and i'd send them out to jobs and they'd call me with issues and then even when i
worked for uh the company that was based out of chicago i was still running the company and so i
had i was the second in command and so i had workers under me and i was dealing with a lot
of different workers that my boss would hire and you know one thing that would happen sometimes
is they'd go out to a job and they don't have a tall enough ladder you know what i mean they
call me and this is something you run into right in the construction industry hey i don't have a
tall enough ladder i can't get this done i don't have a tall enough ladder and you know one thing
that i i would constantly say to them is like you know i'd constantly come up with ideas of how to
get it done without a tall ladder like for example i would say to them you know okay you're at coals
or whatever there's another department store right next door what i would often do is i would go next
store and say hey i'm working on the fire alarm at coals they don't have a 12-foot ladder is it
all right if i borrow your 12-foot ladder i can give you my driver's license and whatever and
usually they'd say sure no problem i borrow the ladder get it done you know that's one example
or let's say that's not an option you go to the job there's not a tall enough ladder you
call an equipment rental company and you rent a ladder and they drive out and they drop off a
ladder and there you go now you got a tall ladder you can get the job done okay and you know these
are just maybe examples that some people could relate to or some people cannot relate to or
let's just say there's a little tool that you need and it's just a small hand tool you can call the
boss and say hey can't do this job we're gonna have to reschedule because i don't have a tiny
screwdriver you know or i don't have an allen wrench we're gonna have to reschedule this for
another day you know or you can go to the hardware store and buy an allen wrench you know what i
mean especially with the smartphone i mean just pull it up allen wrench go to the store get the
allen wrench get it done right you know you just got to think about solutions instead of just
coming to the boss just i don't have an allen wrench what do i do uh go buy one you know what
i mean or i don't have a ladder what do i do borrow one rent one steal no just kidding just
kidding you know if i get one get it you know figure out a way to get it done
now here's what you do when you have a problem at your job and sometimes i mean it's the dumbest
little things sometimes it's literally something that costs 75 cents a dollar it's a nine volt
battery turn the truck around we don't have a nine volt you know drive back an hour or whatever
just go buy the stupid nine volt battery and get it done you know you got you got to think
about hey let's get this done let's figure out a way to get it done and uh you know sometimes
it's just the dumbest little dollar 75 two dollars and fifty cent part or something just buy it just
go get just fine just borrow it i mean sometimes i'd be on the job and just bum stuff off some
other trade or some other tech hey can i get some of these wire nuts
here's a can of soda or whatever who cares
but there's a mentality that gets it done and a mentality that just makes excuses now
if you have a problem and it's a real easy fix and it's a real quick fix and you're literally
across the street from a hardware store and the part costs 50 cents or something and you can just
walk over there and just buy it and yeah i don't want to spend 50 cents of my own money well here's
the thing first of all a lot of jobs would reimburse you for that rather than you having
to make another trip out there cost them a 50 dollars instead of 50 cents but even if they
didn't reimburse you you know what you spending 50 cents or a dollar fifty is going to pay off
when you get a dollar an hour raise and for the next several years you're making an extra dollar
an hour an extra two dollars an hour an extra three dollars an hour because you're the guy
where you're faithful and they give you a job and when they give you a job they don't have to worry
about it's just it's it's done i mean where they can hand you a job and just consider it done
it's done he's got it it's gonna pay off a little investment of 75 cents or or three dollars or
something you know is gonna go do wonders when you are buying a special pair of pliers or something
for eight bucks you know and these are real life situations that you run into or you get there hey
a hard hat's required i don't have a hard hat you know they don't have a loaner hard hat you got to
go to the store and buy a hard hat you know you don't just call the boss i don't have a hard hat
what do i do okay so number one if it's a real easy quick fix like it's just right there and if
you're you know and some jobs give you more freedom than others your job gives you the
freedom to where yeah you can call you can rent a ladder you can put it on the company card you
just get it done if you have that power and freedom right but let's say you have a job
where it's a little more strict and you have to run things by the boss you know you do have to
talk to the boss about problems and things you run into right that might be your situation then
here's what you do when you call your boss okay you call your boss and you say it like this you
don't call the boss say hey i don't have a hard hat what do i do hey i don't have a pair of pliers
what do i do i don't have a small enough screwdriver what do i do instead if you have
to run things by the boss if that's what they work that's what they want you to do then you call up
and you say hey listen they require a hard hat i don't have one i'm gonna run up to harbor freight
and pick one up is that all right you come with a solution like you come you don't just come with
a problem you come with a solution hey i don't have a tall enough ladder but there's a ladder
rental place in this town is it all right if i throw a ladder on the company card it's 75
for them to bring the ladder out here for me to use it for four hours and then they'll pick it
up again it's 75 out the door is that cool not just i don't have a ladder what do i do well is
there a ladder rental place i don't know i guess i can check okay well i don't how much is gonna be
i don't know like figure out a solution figure out an option and then make the call call with
solution okay get your branches going over that wall give them a call come up with a solution and
then if they don't like your solution they want you to do something different fine but at least
be the guy who's always calling with a solution not always calling with a problem of just it's
not working what do i do what do i do what do i do you know try to take some initiative and get
things fixed get things done and have a can-do mentality where there's a will there is a way
and there are people who have this attitude they find a way to get it done and and i bet you that
there are things that you really want to get done you find a way to get them done i'll bet
because it's all about attitude you know it's the slothful man who just sees a lion in every street
and a wall everywhere it's just walls everywhere and it's the righteous man the hard-working man
who finds a way over the wall finds a way past difficulties go to Exodus chapter four
and honestly this is good advice for you on your job
you you've got to go to work and be be fervent in your work be zealous be be be excited about
your job take it seriously do your best find solutions to your own find solutions to the
problems of people around you you know there's one level of solving your own problems then
they're solving your co-workers problems getting in there and help you know and obviously you don't
you know every company's different you don't want to overstep your bounds or do anything
inappropriate use wisdom but you know what get in there and be a problem solver be a guy who's
got solutions all the time you're going to climb the ladder you're going to be promoted you're
going to make more money you're going to be able to provide this is good advice for you let your
branches go over the wall be as joseph look at exodus chapter four this conversation reminds me
of a lot of conversations that i've had with employees over the years okay god just finished
explaining to him in exodus chapter three god finished explaining to moses this is what i want
you to do he's basically giving him the service call you know what i mean he's giving him the
assignment he's giving him the work and duties to perform and moses just starts coming at him
with excuses right moses answered and said but behold they'll not believe me nor hearken unto
my voice for they will say the lord has not appeared unto thee and the lord said unto him
what is that in thine hand you know so god comes at him with the solution what's in your hand a rod
and he said cast it on the ground and he cast on the ground and it became a serpent and moses fled
from before it and the lord said to moses put forth thine hand and take it by the tail and he
put forth his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand that they may believe that the
lord god of their fathers the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob hath appeared
unto thee and the lord said furthermore in him you know he shows him another miracle that he's
going to be able to show so that they won't uh doubt him verse 9 and it shall come to pass if
they will not believe also these two signs neither hearken unto thy voice that thou shalt take of the
water of the river and pour it upon the dry land and the water which thou takest out of the river
shall become blood upon the dry ground so he basically says okay moses i've got solution number
one solution number two and if that doesn't work here's solution number three i mean god's got
solutions moses just well what if they don't believe me okay excuses so then after god just
demolishes that excuse by giving him three different solutions if one and two don't work
number three will moses said to the lord oh my lord i'm not eloquent more excuses neither
heretofore nor since thou has spoken unto thy servant but i am slow of speech and of a slow
tongue by the way that wasn't really true because in act chapter 7 it says that moses was a man
mighty in words and deeds in egypt so he was a good speaker in egypt and the lord said unto him
who hath made man's mouth or who maketh the dumb or deaf or the seeing or the blind
have not i the lord now therefore go and i will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say
another excuse and he said oh my lord send someone else on this service call lord
maybe you should send somebody else this is you know i don't think i can do it
oh my lord send i pray thee by the hand of him without will sin and the anger of the lord was
kindled against moses and look your boss's anger is going to be kindled if you just keep coming
at him with excuses of why it can't be done look oh i can't figure it out i don't know google it
google it look you're having computer problems google i mean you know it was a good day when i
learned that that when you can't figure something out on the computer you just google it and the
answer is like 99 of the time right there it's always that i mean like i can't get this hard
drive to load or whatever it's like google it and it's like step by step instructs you know just
learn to google stuff but look i remember i i'd show up at at job sites in the fire alarm business
all the fire alarm systems are different there's all these different brands so you're constantly
having to learn new panels so i was always teaching my employees you know what you gotta
fake it till you make it don't show up and and act like you don't know what you're doing
evoke confidence and my boss taught me this the guy that i worked for in illinois
he said you gotta evoke confidence in the customer and he said everything you do do it
with authority he said if you go to the port of john he said you walk to that port of john
like a man on a mission you walk to that port of john with authority like you're going somewhere
and you walk out of that port of john and you march onto the job site and everywhere you go
you're a man on a mission not just kind of walking around and looking confused i mean
you need to walk around and look like you know what you're doing so i always taught my fire
alarm guys i train people on fire alarm and i always tell them this if the customer if you
walk in and see a fire alarm panel that you've never seen before and the customer starts grilling
you like hey do you know how to work on this panel because sometimes you know are you familiar with
this are you sure you know how to work on simplex or notifier or whatever because sometimes they
would they had it in their head that only the notifier guy can work on notifier only the
simplex guy can wear so here's what i taught them to say i taught them to say this you know i
haven't worked on this particular panel but i've worked on a whole bunch of panels and they're all
pretty much the same they operate on the same principles so i'm gonna have no trouble working
on this i can easily work on this then you with authority you know march into the bathroom and
pull out your laptop and you google the manual for that sucker you know what i mean right and
you you open the manual and you pull it up online and look i'd pull up these manuals online and
sometimes you had to pay a few bucks for a pdf or something but guess what it's worth a couple bucks
to be the guy who always gets it done to be the guy that can work on any panel you know
why because you just read the instructions you know you just go online you find the answer you
google it you figure it out so when you run into problems on the job you call the boss you don't
be like moses here kindling the anger of your boss rather you call the boss with ideas or solutions
okay hey i'm dealing with this you know panel that we've never worked on before not just like
i'm scared i don't know what to do you know just say you know hey i'm gonna need a little extra
time because i'm gonna i'm pulling this thing up on my laptop i'm pulling up the manual right or
we're gonna you know we're gonna have to purchase the manual or you know i found the manual on ebay
or whatever you know but but at least come up with some idea some solution where you're at
least making an effort to think about fixing things not just calling the boss with just a
problem now look sometimes you might have a problem where you really don't have an answer
i get that the exception proves the rule but you just don't want to be the guy who just at the
drop of a hat never has the right tool never has the right part never has the manual and never has
an idea of how to get it and how to figure it out and you can apply this you know i'm just talking
about fire alarm stuff but you could apply this to whatever your job is you know whether it's
whether it's uh you know now if you're in nursing don't fake it till you make it all right now
that could cost lives
sorry
but you know you get in there you do your best you try you know plumbing or whatever you know
electrical whatever you get in there and you try and you learn and you figure things out and you
know sometimes you go home and you study the manual at night sometimes and learn how to do
stuff you know what i mean and get better at your job so that you can you know be a better provider
so that you can do your best and and be a good worker and it all and you say wow you know i'm
not reading this stuff on my own time yeah but you know what like any work that you do the bible says
in all labor there's profit but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury in all labor there's
profit because you'll end up making more money per hour in the long run because of the study
that you did because you're faster because you're more reliable because you're getting things done
and also god sees your effort keep in mind there's a supernatural element here
god sees all your works and god will bless your effort when he sees you doing your best
he'll recompense you for the work that you're doing when he sees you have a heart that says
i want to do a good job and make the boss happy and make the company happy and be the best
plumber landscaper maintenance man mechanic i can possibly be i'm gonna do my best
figure out a way to get things done go if you would to judges chapter four this is another
example of a get it done kind of person in the bible you know i i love that story where they
tear up the roof i mean they found a way to get it done they got the job done
you got to be careful obviously damage damaging property on construction sites
and stuff like that okay i'm not you know get it done but uh here's another get it done kind of
person jail okay now jail in the bible this is a woman okay this is a woman who defeats a mighty
warrior the mighty warrior cicero how she how is he defeated by a housewife jail well what does
the bible say verse 18 jail went out to meet cicero and said unto him turn in my lord turn
into me fear not and when he had turned in under her into the tent she covered him with a mantle
and he said unto her give me i pray thee a little water to drink for i'm thirsty
she opened a bottle of milk and gave him drink and covered him again he said to her stand in
the door of the tent and it shall be when any man doth come and inquire of thee and say
is there any man here that thou shalt say no
then jail heber's wife took a nail of the tent this is one of the tent spikes and took a hammer
in her hand and went softly unto him and smote the nail into his temples and fastened it into
the ground for he was asleep and weary so he died and behold as barack pursued cicero
jail came out to meet him and said to him come and i will show thee the man whom thou seekest
and when he came into her tent behold cicero lay dead and the nail was in his temples i mean she
found the right tool she went to the hardware store it was real close by she got the parts
needed to finish the job this service call was complete and i mean look she defeated a guy
who was much stronger and much more formidable i mean cicero was a wall of a man her branches
went over the wall she found a way to get it done i mean david found a way to get it done david
didn't just look at goliath and say this is a wall that is insurmountable how can i a youth
defeat this man who's a man of war from his youth he found a way to get it done through the power
of the lord in that case and it was god's power obviously that got it done look at judges chapter
five we're in judges four flip over to judges five judges four is the story about barack and deborah
and cicero and jail and then in chapter five they're celebrating defeating this horrible enemy
cicero so they're singing a song about it and these are some of the lyrics to the song it says
in verse 24 blessed above women shall jail the wife of heber the keenite be blessed shall she be
above women in the tent he asked water and she gave him milk she brought forth butter in a lordly
dish she put her hand to the nail and her right hand to the workman's hammer and with the hammer
she smoked cicero she smote off his head when she had pierced and stricken through his temples
look at verse 31 so let all thine enemies perish oh lord but let them that love him meaning love
the lord be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might and the land had rest 40 years she got it
done she got the job done by hook or by crook and so we need to have a get it done attitude a can do
attitude now obviously we're not smiting off anybody's head here like jail did or like david
did in the case of goliath and you may not be installing fire alarm panels or doing any kind
of work like that but you know we all have work that we do in our life and we need to find a way
to get things done and come to the boss with solutions not just coming to the boss all the
time with problems and when we approach the work of god we need to have a can-do attitude
that looks at the job what's the job the job is i look i've got a vision for our church here's
what i see the job as get the gospel to every single door in phoenix arizona in this greater
area i'm saying knock every door with the gospel in this whole area and look i don't think we as
a church should have a small vision that says hey let's knock every door in a three mile radius
or hey let's knock every door in our zip code or let's knock every door just in the city of tempe
well guess what there are only about 180 000 people i think living in tempe that's only about
60 000 doors because there's an average of three people behind every door each household's
approximately three people you know i believe that god would have us to to broaden our vision
and that's why my personal vision when i started the church and what we've always talked about as
a church and what we've always put out there and we've got the map back there and everything
that the goal of this ministry faith forward baptist church is to get the gospel to every
single person in maricopa county now i'm not saying we're going to get every person in
maricopa county saved because that's up to them whether they get saved or not and broad's the
way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in there at but the goal is to knock
every door at least once with an opportunity for people to hear the gospel of jesus christ
that's over a million doors that's one million plus doors because that's almost four million
people and you know what there are a lot of people that would look at that and scoff at that
and mock that and say that's ridiculous that can never be done what in the world there's 40 other
church there's 40 other independent baptist churches in this town let them dare do their part
you just do your zip code well guess what most of those churches aren't doing their part
very few of them are most churches are scaling back soul winning they're not doing a lot
i believe that we as a church should ignore ignore the other churches in our area in the
sense that we should not rely on them to get it done because i don't think that they're reliable
for that i think that we and think about this what if every church had this mentality of just
well i don't know what everybody else is doing but i'm just going to get the gospel of this whole
city just with our church well then everybody would get the gospel 10 times great so much the
better so we've knocked every door in our you know if you took a three mile radius of our church
we've knocked every door about seven to eight times you know and then if you go to south phoenix
even six seven eight miles west of here we've knocked every door seven eight times city of
guadalupe every door has been knocked at least six or seven times okay but the goal though is
to knock doors in the entire city i mean we're talking from dan to beer sheba we're talking
surprise to santan valley and you say you're crazy we're gonna do it god will you know with
the help of god if god allows us to continue what we're doing and keep on going i believe
it can be done let's not see the wall let's find a way to get it done let's find a way over the
obstacles let's find a way to to to surmount whatever you know adversaries or obstacles are
in the way of getting that done you know not only that but i believe that we as a church should
plan to start churches all over the state of arizona to where the entire state of arizona
is covered with churches that were started by faithful word baptist church
our style of church and what do i mean by and look i and by the way there's nothing about our
church that i came up with i mean i didn't come up with soul winning i didn't even come up with
coining that phrase i didn't come up with the roman's road right i didn't come up with hard
preaching i didn't come up with any of this stuff this is all stuff that i learned from other people
so when i say our style i just mean the way we're doing it not saying that we
somehow invented it or pioneered it but i just mean a hard preaching zealous soul-winning
biblically correct fundamental independent king james only fire-breathing baptist church
let's get one in flagstaff let's get one in yuma let's get one in king let's get one everywhere
why not let's get several of them in the valley here let's get them in tucson let's get it
everywhere why not and then let's start churches all over america like faithful word baptist
that'll reach their city in their state and get that big vision let's send richard miller to
nashville you know let's send brother baker to jacksonville florida let's send out a whole army
of preachers all over america and then let's send people all over the world and get a big vision and
when we go to batswana you know we're not going to be looking at the walls we're going to be sending
our vine over the wall and look are there obstacles in batswana sure are there obstacles
in south africa yeah we're facing opposition we're facing obstacles but you know what that
wall is not going to stop us we're just going to keep on going our vines are just going to keep on
going until we find a way to get over that wall until we find the chink in the armor
until we find that crack in the wall where we can get through and jam our way through there's
a great work that can be done for god in batswana but but we're gonna have to have a can-do attitude
not like these missionaries who just it's really hard over here it's really hard
i mean i could be that way about tempe it's really hard in tempe
i mean everybody's so liberal here you know it's a college town
devil state university asu their mascot's the devil there's a pitchfork everywhere
their motto is fear the fork
i mean we could just whine about how oh it's so hot
oh it's just how could anybody go so anyway it's so hot
oh everybody's so liberal they're all a bunch of commies and lefties and hippies and whatever
like or we can get it done and so this applies to all areas of life
oh i can't read my bible every day it's just too hard get it done everybody can carve out
some time to read their bible oh i just can't get to church church is too far crawl on your knees to
church walk crawl hitchhike no don't do that that's dangerous find a way to get to church
and you know there are people who who come past sea and land to get to church and they work hard
i mean there are people who drive cars you know i thank god for my parents you know what my parents
did when i was growing up they always drove me to the church that they felt was the best church
and sometimes they drove an hour each way sometimes they drove 45 minutes i mean i can't
even count how many times we would drive to church for sunday morning service and the church had
nothing going on all afternoon but they didn't want to drive all the way home and drive all the
way back i can't even count how many times my parents drove me to church we went to sunday
morning church we went out to lunch and then we just hung out until the evening service
and we just like we would just go look at houses we weren't even looking we didn't even want to buy a
house you know we would just my parents just kind of liked looking at new houses so we'd go to like
these open houses you know the realtors have and it's like dad are we moving no but we're just
checking out houses just going through the open house we're going shopping we're going to start
just killing time and just like when's the evening service you know thank god for my parents doing
that because they got me under the best preaching that they could and and the drive didn't matter
to them it was important to them to go to the best church that they could find
but then other people 15 minutes is too far 20 minutes is too far 30 minutes is too far i mean
there are people i mean look there's a guy at verity baptist church named alessandro some of
you guys might have met him because he's been to our church a few times as a visitor he drove for
two years two hours each way to verity every sunday for two years he lived in san jose and
he drove to sacramento for two years every sunday four hours in the car you say that's crazy you're
nuts yeah but you know what he said is the best decision that he made now he lives in sacramento
seven minutes from the church with his wife but you know what though he said it was more important
for me because he said i felt that i was getting backslidden in the church in san jose whereas at
verity i was getting fired up i was growing in the lord he said my spiritual health was more
important to me and people thought i was crazy he said people thought i was nuts but you know what
i'm glad i did it for two years i mean that that's commitment but then other people you know 15
minutes is too far 30 minutes is too far 20 minutes is too far to get to church and they just they're
just making excuses and and whining and it's the gas money and you know dig in the couch cushions
get some gas in the tank and get down here if you're a if you're a branches over the wall type
of a guy you'll get down here you'll find a way to get down here there you know the missionary in
south korea told a story
there was a guy who was listening to the sermons from our church faithful word baptist church and
he lived in south korea and he was listening to the preaching from faithful word and he got saved
through listening to all that preaching and he wanted to get baptized he took like trains and
buses he crossed the whole country of south south korea it took him like five or six hours to get
there and he showed up at at uh barry hoffman's church and said like i'm here to get baptized you
know i gotta say i traveled from this distant place so and i some of you might remember i
read the letter at the time with all the details about that story but that's pretty cool isn't it
that somebody had an a can-do attitude a get it done mentality i like that attitude and so we need
to to in our spiritual lives you know stop making excuses in all areas of life and find a way to get
the things done that we need to get done in our lives and and and be a branches over the wall
christian not uh you know come to the wall and turn around and walk away kind of christian
let's borrow that word of prayer father we thank you so much for uh this example of joseph lord
and help us to apply this principle on the job in our families just in our in our personal lives
with with bible reading with church attendance with soul winning
with with child rearing with our marriage lord help us to have a can-do attitude about our
marriage and not just you know come up to a wall in our marriage where our marriage is going bad
and just throw up our hands lord help us to find a way to get the branches over the wall
in all areas of our life all aspects of life to be a solution person not a problem person in
jesus name we pray amen