man the title my sermon tonight is don't be a derelict don't be a derelict now
what is a derelict well in the dictionary the definition is one who is
neglectful of duty delinquent negligent a person without a permanent home and
means of support a vagrant a bomb one who is guilty of neglect of duty don't
be a derelict right someone who's a vagrant a bomb delinquent in your duties
lazy refusing to work trashy these are all the things that come to mind when
you hear the word derelict all right so if you look down at Proverbs chapter 6
here we're gonna find my first point in verse 6 go to the ant thou sluggard
sluggard is someone who's lazy slovenly think of a slug you know moving very
slowly and lazily 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
gather her food in the harvest how long wilt thou sleep Oh sluggard when wilt
thou rise out of thy sleep yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding
of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as one that travel it and I
want as an armed man so number one if you don't want to be a derelict you need
to be a person who works without being told to work okay you need to be a self
starter self motivated and by the way this starts when you're just a child
living in your parents house get in the habit of doing work without being told
to do work you know just finding something that needs to be done and
getting in there and doing it and those of us that are adults and we have more
freedom to control our eyes we don't have our parents breathing down our neck
we need to take the effort ourselves to make sure that we're working that we're
studying that we're reading that we're learning that we're that we have a job
and that we're getting things done around the house whatever work needs to
be done be self motivated the ant is used as the example verse 7 it has no
guide no overseer no ruler so the ant doesn't constantly have a supervisor
breathing down its neck telling it what needs to be done it just works just gets
in there and does its job and God is telling the the derelicts of this world
hey you need to get in there and work without somebody holding your hand and
doing everything for you and showing you exactly what needs to be done and this
will help you out on your job a lot if you get this principle because your boss
is gonna like it when he doesn't find you standing around and when you're
standing around on the job and the but then the boss catches you that way and
you just say well there's nothing to do and then he starts pointing out things
to do that's bad okay you need to be the one who sees those things you know if
you're let's say you have an office job and there's nothing to do take out the
trash sweep the floor you know there's always you know that's not my job but if
you're the one who's staying busy self-motivated finding work to do and
not needing a supervisor all the time pretty soon you're gonna be the
supervisor you're gonna be the overseer you're gonna be the ruler there are
pretty much two kinds of people in the workforce those who need a supervisor
all the time you know and those who don't and the ones who don't can get
paid more money because somebody doesn't have to pay somebody to stand over you
and watch you right so number one point tonight from the Word of God and we're
pretty much gonna live in the book of Proverbs tonight the number one point is
you've got to work without being told right and really just all things in our
life that we need to do we need to get to where we do them without being told
read your Bible without somebody having to tell you read your Bible pray without
somebody having to tell you to pray go to work do all the things because what
does it mean to be derelict it means to be negligent in your duties well the
best way not to become a negligent derelict type person is that you parent
yourself supervise yourself oversee yourself and get in the habit of finding
work to do on your own especially you kids and teenagers find the job get in
there get it done and that habits gonna be with you for the rest of your life to
not just try to do as little as possible and we live in a day-to-day where people
want to do as little as possible there it's like their dream growing up as a
kid and a teenager is like man I just want to get the easiest job where I can
make the most money isn't that what they say if you could look into their mind
they want to get you know I was the same way when I was a teenager you have this
attitude that says you know I just want to work as few hours and as easy of a
job and get the biggest possible paycheck you know that's an immature
foolish attitude don't try to do the minimum at your job get in there and do
the maximum and that's how you're going to succeed but number two if you would
flip over to chapter 10 of Proverbs chapter 10 don't mess up the job
opportunities that you're given opportunities come in our life
throughout life opportunities will come and they don't always knock a second
time they don't always knock a third time when you have an opportunity to
work and to do a job man jump on that opportunity get in there and do your
best and don't let it pass you by and then later one day you'll cry about how
you don't have a job you'll cry about how there aren't any jobs there aren't
any opportunities but when you've already squandered two three four great
opportunities in your life pretty soon God's gonna stop sending you the
opportunities is you're a bad steward of what he gave you look at Proverbs
chapter 10 verse 26 as vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes so is the
sluggard to them that send him so the lazy slothful derelict person when
they're given a job and they don't get it done it's the most irritating thing
to their boss right it's like smoke in your eyes you ever get around the
campfire and and it's like it seems like you move your chair and it just
follows you and you have that smoking eyes is burning and pain and irritation
don't be that burning painful irritation to your boss because that's what the
sluggard is to those that send him the ones who give him a task and they just
assume oh I can check this off this is done because I got so-and-so on that and
then all of a sudden they follow up the next day oh I forgot you say well
Pastor Anderson everybody forgets things right everybody forgets things some
people write them down because sure if we all just rely on our memory we're
gonna forget things things that are important write it down I remember I got
a job and one of the first things on the first day the guy that was training me
on this job he gave me this little notepad that was like this big and he
said this is your hard drive and he said you got to keep this in your pocket all
the time and our work shirts had a little pocket and everybody at the job
had this little notepad before the smartphones okay so yeah the little tiny
little spiral notepad in our pocket every single person on the job and he
said you know put that in your hard drive write that and we had to
constantly every day write things down when when the boss was rattling off
instructions you'd whip that thing out you'd write it down don't be one who
goofs up on job opportunities that you're given because those opportunities
may never come back or you may never have as good of an opportunity when you
get fired from this job and fired from that job so don't mess up the
opportunities that you're given because the sluggard is an irritation to those
who send him right he's like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes flip
over to chapter 15 you don't have to turn there but Matthew 25 26 his Lord
answered and said unto him thou wicked and slothful servant thou knowest that I
reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not strung and here we have this
parable where Jesus is using the illustration of an angry boss chewing
out his employee chewing out his servant and saying you are a wicked and slothful
servant so being lazy being a sluggard being slothful is wicked in the sight of
God it's wickedness don't goof up your job opportunities number three quit
making excuses excuses why you can't work excuses for everything so number
one work without being told number two don't goof up the job opportunities that
you're given prize those opportunities do your best make the best of those
opportunities and number three quit making excuses why you can't work or why
you can't get a job done this is a big one right here about making excuses look
at verse 19 of chapter 15 there the way of the slothful man is as an hedge of
thorns but the way of the righteous is made plain now the word way in the Bible
is often referring to like a path or a road okay so when the Bible says here
the way of the slothful man is a hedge of thorns its picture like a sidewalk
and right next that sidewalk is a hedge and that hedge is filled with thorns and
this should be pretty easy to imagine because here is an Arizona everything
has thorns every plant has thorns no matter what the plant it has some sharp
object on it in the desert here so when you think of the hedge of thorns when I
hear this verse I remember growing up in Northern California I used to go to my
grandparents house in the woods and there were these patches of blackberry
bushes who's ever gone through blackberry bushes and I remember there
was this really cool part of the forest that we always wanted to go to but
between my grandparents house and that part of the forest there was a
blackberry patch and you can either go around and take like an extra hour or
two hours just to make some huge circuitous route or you could just cross
straight through the blackberries and so as children were often impatient and we
would just cut through those blackberries and I use the word cut in
the most literal sense because you'd go through those blackberries and we'd get
through it but we'd be all cut up and slash and bleeding from all of the
thorns in that thing now you can get through it but it's just a slow process
and it's painful and you're dragging and it's not efficient at all so when the
Bible says the way of the slothful man is a hedge of thorns but the way of the
righteous is made plain first of all I want you to see that the opposite of
slothfulness verse is righteous because what did Jesus say wicked and slothful
so slothfulness is being wicked and you can't be righteous without being a hard
worker because if you're slothful that's an unrighteous thing so he's saying
here the slothful man it seems like whatever job you give him point a to
point B is always very difficult isn't it white all these obstacles and a lot
of the obstacles are in his own mind or he's exaggerating the obstacles are
building up the the slothful man just always has all the reasons why it can't
be done everything's hard whereas the righteous man it's like the path just
opens up it's just clear and plain why because he finds a way to get things
done he has a can-do attitude where there's a will there's a way and he
finds solutions not just continually finding problems it's not just bad luck
that lazy people constantly have all these obstacles and problems why they
can't get their work done he just everything goes wrong for the lazy isn't
there a saying about that who knows that isn't there some saying about how being
lucky is actually because you're actually working harder I don't know if
somebody thinks of it raise your hand let me know there's some yes there you
go that's exactly what I was looking for the harder I work the luckier I get okay
that's the saying it's a you know a lot of people chalk it up to luck or oh
you're so lucky you're so fortunate or you're so talented or Wow must be nice
but actually you work hard and the way is plain when you're doing right but
when you're lazy all of a sudden they're just obstacles upon obstacles and the
Bible talks a lot about this actually flip over to verse 22 or chapter 22 I'm
sorry Proverbs 22 13 while you're turning there chapter 20 verse 4 says the
sluggard will not plow by reason of cold therefore shall he beg and harvest and
have nothing so the sluggard he doesn't want to start in the springtime it's
time to start plowing the field you got to plant the crops early in order to
have that harvest but he says it's too cold and you know he doesn't want to
physically go out there and experience that cold sensation but not only that
you know the ground is harder because the ground is really cold but you know
the wise man the righteous man the hard worker he goes out there in spite of the
cold he gets an early start and he starts plowing up that ground and you
know what in the harvest he's gonna rejoice he's gonna have the goods whereas
the sluggard the Bible says will not plow by reason of the cold that's his
excuse and therefore in the harvest he's gonna beg and have nothing look at
chapter 22 verse 13 the slothful man saith there's a lion without I shall be
slain in the streets this is pretty unrealistic okay that a lion is gonna be
roaming the streets of the city now true there are lions out there and
occasionally a lion will roam the streets of a city but what are the
chances that you are going to be that Lions victim right they're not that high
and you can find a workaround here you can get some kind of a weapon or be
prepared for that lion somehow but the slot the sluggard is just like oh cancel
the job the slothful man says well there's a lion without I shall be slain
in the streets look at chapter 26 so number one we said work without being
told number two we said don't mess up the job opportunities when you get them
don't mess up the opportunities you have if you've got a good job right now if
you've got a sweet gig right now man don't mess that up right and here's the
way I like to think of it this is the phrase that always comes to my mind run
scared run scared all right who knows what I mean by that you know you when I
go to work and I'm running scared and what I mean by that is I don't just take
my job for granted I don't just take it for granted and just kick back relax and
be complacent man I'm running scared meaning that I am afraid of messing up
I'm afraid of ruining this opportunity I want to make sure that I don't do things
up that's what I mean by running scared maybe that phrase resonates with you
maybe it doesn't but for me that's something that I think about hey I'm
gonna be running scared today meaning like I don't want to mess up I'm gonna
be careful I'm gonna be sober I'm gonna be vigilant I'm running scared all right
so number one work without being told number two don't mess up the job
opportunities that you have right it's a it's a privilege it's a blessing give it
your best don't ruin it number three quit making excuses about anything but
especially quit making excuses why you can't work or why you can't get the job
done we've all had those employees or known those employees who are just
constantly calling the boss with a reason why the job can't be done I
remember we used to wire houses for alarm systems when I first got married
and we'd go to these houses and like literally 99% of the house would be
ready to be wired and there would just be like one doorframe that wasn't in or
something or one window hadn't been installed and a lot of guys would just
want to just pull off the job and be like oh this one's not ready check it
just they want to just cross it out and just shave like two hours off their work
day or three hours by just not doing it and then there were other guys who would
wire the whole rest of the house and then just that one thing that wasn't
ready they'd get the wire like right there close and then they would just
swing by another day and just finish that one thing it would take them like
five minutes or something but they're being more productive staying ahead of
things and stuff like that and there were just two very distinct mentalities
there were certain guys where you knew they walked into that house and they
were literally chanting this in their mind like please don't be ready please
don't be ready please don't be ready you know what I mean you ever been out
soul-winding and knocked on door you're like please don't be home please don't
be up I remember when I first started soul-winding I was really nervous and I
used to kind of hope that people weren't home for those first few doors until you
got warmed up right but a lot of people they go into the job it's just like
please don't be ready please be a problem please help me have an excuse
and then other guys they want to find a way hey I think we can have a work
around here I think we can get this done anyway we don't even need to call the
boss necessarily because we've got a solution all right that's what the boss
wants he wants you to find ways to get things done and if you do call him and
sometimes you know they want some some bosses really want you to call a lot and
let him know every twist and turn some bosses just don't want to hear from you
they just want the work to get done and you got to get to know your boss right
what does he want does he want to get every little twist and turn and update
or does he want you to just figure out a way to get it done and if he wants the
updates then you call him up and say hey boss here's the problem but we've
got a solution here's the solution just running it by you okay great you know so
that way you're not calling them with a problem you're calling with a solution
and then you're not gonna mess up the opportunities that you have and don't
make excuses look at verse 26 the Bible says I'm sorry chapter 26 verse 12 of
Proverbs seeest thou a man wise in his own conceit there's more hope of a fool
than of him right so what it's saying is the worst type of a fool is the one who
thinks that he's smart the one who's wise in his own conceit you'd be better
off with somebody who's dumb and they know they're dumb then somebody who's
wise in their own conceit right seeest thou a man wise in his own conceit
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 that's what a lazy person says say well I might
be legitimate notice what a lazy person says they're afraid of phantoms the
boogeyman okay verse 14 as the door turneth upon his hinges sewed at the
slothful upon his bed so picture a door that's left ajar and the wind is just
kind of I picture like a screen door just kind of turning on its hinges right
that's what the slothful does on his bay just keeps flipping over okay hitting
that snooze button all right and you know what the snooze button is a bad
idea all right don't hit that snooze but some people literally set their alarm
like a half hour before they need to get up just so they could snooze for half
hour you know I mean hey if you're a very productive member of society and
you're a hard worker and that works for you I don't want to mess with your
formula okay but if you're a young person if you're a teenager if you're a
young adult you know for 99% of people that's a bad habit okay so you know like
I said if you're an effective person and you do that okay fine some people are
the exception that proves the rule but in general hitting the snooze button
over and over again is a bad idea here's what I learned a long time it's gonna be
painful whenever you get out of bed in the morning when you get up early it's
gonna hurt five minutes from now as much as it hurts now so you might as well
just rip off the band-aid just get it over with just get with the first time
your alarm goes off just tell yourself hey it's gonna hurt this is gonna hurt
and then just get up anyway instead of just turning over on your bed and
flipping over because you know the more times you hit that snooze button the
chances are you push the wrong button and then the things you know next thing
you know it's it's 11 a.m. or something it's anyway and by the way let me give
you the great secret to getting up early I have found the secret go to bed early
you know everybody's like oh so hard to go to look not if you go to bed early
you're you know if you go to bed early nothing could be easier than getting up
at any time three four five doesn't matter if you go to bed at eight nine
ten I mean then you'll be able to get up at those unholy hours amen so it says
here as the door turn it upon his hinges and by the way the real unholy hours are
like 11 midnight and 1 a.m. that's where most bad stuff happens there aren't a
lot of horrific sins happening typically at three four five six a.m. you know it's
mainly at night that the stuff's happening morning is a better time the
slothful hide at this hand in his bosom it grieve with him to bring it again to
his mouth so this guy's so lazy it's a workout for him to just put the food in
his mouth isn't that what it's saying here I mean it's like it grieves him oh
man I'm so tired you know just to even lift up his hand to his mouth he hides
his hand in his bosom and then look at verse 16 here's the key because what
did it say in verse 13 see us thou a man wise in his own conceit there's more
hope of a fool than of him you're probably wondering what did that have to
do with the rest of the sermon here's the tie-in okay look at verse 16 the
sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason
so notice the guy who's worse than a fool from verse 12 because he thinks he
knows so much he's so wise in his own conceit that guy is one in the same with
whom the sluggard he is the sluggard sluggards are wiser in their own conceit
than seven men that can render a reason now why is it that they think they're so
smart is because they have to come up with all these wild excuses for why they
are the way they are because people don't just show up and say like I'm lazy
I'm a slugger and look if anybody ever says I'm lazy I'm a sluggard I'm a
slothful person this person is probably on the road to recovery I mean that's
where the healing begins amen you know once they the person who actually admits
that they have a problem and you know I remember coming to a place in my young
adult life just saying to myself or not even saying to myself saying to the Lord
in prayer I remember praying to God saying God I am a lazy person I struggle
with laziness Lord help me learn how to work hard because laziness is something
that I struggle with okay and I remember praying that many times in fact part of
the reason why I chose the Bible College that I went to was because it was a
college that had a reputation for like working you into the ground and running
you into the ground and I felt like that's what I needed the most from
Bible college more than just learning the Bible or doctrine I felt like I
already had a pretty good doctrinal foundation but I felt like I really
needed to work on my work ethic and learning how to work hard so I wanted to
get that work ethic and I and I knew that about myself you know if you know
that about yourself and even if it's not laziness if you know what your faults
are if you know what your weaknesses are then you can work on them and you're
already on the way to fixing them the sluggard however here man he is wiser in
his own conceit meaning he's smarter in his own mind than seven men who actually
can render a reason seven men who are actually intelligent articulate men who
can explain things in an intelligible way the fool is literally seven times
smarter than the wise man in his own mind so just remember that when you're
dealing with slothful lazy people they think they're seven times as smart as
truly intelligent people let that sink in quit making excuses the sluggard is
wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason the reason that
the sluggard wants to render is an excuse here let me give you the reason
why I can't get to work let me give you the reason why I don't have a job the
reason why I can't do this that or the other and you know getting back to the
derelicts of this world you know when we think of the derelicts of this world
people that are just washed up in life people who what did the dictionary say
it said you know they're they're neglectful of duty delinquent negligent
vagrant bomb no permanent home no permanent means of support they're lazy
they refuse to work right when we think of the homeless derelicts of Tempe for
example okay and I like to ride my bike around as a hobby and I see a lot of the
derelicts when I'm out riding my bike and you know they're they're often drunk
addicted to drugs they they're carrying around a lot of stolen property hit news
flash carts aren't for sale no I mean like when you see somebody pushing a
shopping cart that's a stolen item right there okay so you know you see a lot of
these derelicts and you know what you'll see certain common denominators like for
example when you see them eating and drinking it's always junk food virtually
always and they leave their trash everywhere and they don't finish it okay
now let me just park it on this for a little bit people make excuses about
their situation they make excuses about their condition and it's better to just
figure out what the weaknesses are in your life and fix them and fix your life
and get on track get yourself to work yeah look are there people that are
legitimately in need of course there are people who are legitimately in need
but let me just go on the record and say 99% of the homeless population in Tempe
and in Phoenix Arizona refuses to work and that's why they're in the condition
right they refuse to work you can't get these people you could you can offer
them jobs you can offer them opportunities and look so many programs
are available I mean Tempe and Phoenix have a ton of programs where they can go
and they can be trained they can get a job they can go to the and be fed and
clothed and housed I mean there are all kinds of programs to get these people
back on their feet they don't want to they want to be drunk they want to be on
drugs they want to lay around all day they want to steal and do whatever this
is why they're in the condition that they live in but have you noticed how
much junk food that they eat okay and and other just poor people and derelicts
in general love to eat junk food now this makes no sense because junk food is
more expensive than healthy food and I'm sick and tired of this excuse that says
oh it's too expensive to eat healthy that is a myth that is false okay and I
even see a lot of Christians sharing this oh yeah you know junk food so much
cheaper really because how much does it cost to go across there to Wendy's is
that what we have in the parking lot here is that a Wendy's or Arby's Arby's
is like ten years ago it shows how often I eat there amen but you know this this
Wendy's here how much does it cost to go in there as a grown man and get a full
meal who knows ten bucks how much you can get out of there for four or five
bucks yeah you're drinking water look I guarantee if I got the combo with the
soda what do you think John what are you doing going there what's my son doing
going there he said when he gets there he's he's out for 12 bucks when he goes
there all right well I you're a frugal I like that all right that's good so but
look it isn't four or five dollars I'm sorry it wasn't even four or five
dollars back in the 90s when I was going there okay so you know I see a lot of
these combos for six seven eight nine dollars and stuff everybody acts like
it's just so cheap and sure they have the 99 cent menu it's garbage friend but
here's here's this I gotta get this off my chest okay and let me tell you where
this whole sermon came from you know let me tell you the impetus for this sermon
okay okay I got home yesterday and on the edge of my front yard in my yard
there was just a pile of McDonald's trash there were like four or five
perfectly good nuggets just laying in the dirt there was like a burger with
like two bites out of it just ripped apart laying there all the trash all the
junk just in a perfect pile and by the way last week three bottles of Budweiser
on my front yard the week before that three Budweiser bottles just like the
little triple Budweiser pile okay and it's just littering it just blows my I
can't understand it there are trash cans everywhere it's not like it's hard to
find a trash can it's just the ultimate slothfulness ultimate sluggard total
derelict when you're throwing your chest and I used to wonder who does this and
then I started having kids and I realized that kids will do that if
they're not taught if you hand an ice cream to a two-year-old they just take
the package off and just throw it and I started to realize wait a minute this is
just children who their parents never taught them that littering is wrong so
they just they have that two-year-old mentality of just take off the package
and toss it well you've got to teach your kids hardcore that littering is
wrong okay littering is wrong I mean it trashes our whole city our whole city
starts looking like trash and you just walk down the street it's just trash
trash who does this who is it I saw a car drive in front of my house and just
chuck a whole bag of trash out the window just driving by just chuck a big
super gulp whatever trash drink out of the way so that's where the sermon came
from because I just I just looked at this image I was like the Indian with
the tear in my eye it's just like I was like this is a picture of America 2019
the problem with the derelicts of this world it's I was trying to think how
many things can I find wrong with this it's like you're eating junk food you're
wasting money you're littering you're not finishing your food you're wasting
your foot I was just like ah it's really bothering me but I kept seeing this
thing on Facebook that was just driving me nuts it showed like french fries 99
cents and then this little fruit cup for $4.99 this is why it's hard to eat
healthy wrong that's the dumbest thing in the world because you don't have to
do what if I told you you don't have to go to Panera in order some overpriced
fruit cup to get fruit in your life like they show this little thing from the
airport or something you know what I mean where you go to the airport there's
like a little plastic cup with a lid and it's got like four little cubes of
melon and four little cubes of whatever folks what if I told you you can just
buy a whole cantaloupe for less than that okay and and and here's the thing
fruit is not expensive vegetables are not somebody else I heard
somebody told me that they told somebody hey you know you need to eat more fruits
and vegetables and they said well that's rich people food fruits and vegetables
that's rich people food folks that is such nonsense the poor people of this
world live off of fruits and vegetables in fact I've even heard the nutrition
advice eat like a poor person and they weren't talking about American poor
people they're saying like eat like the poor people of Mexico or Nicaragua or
all these different places because of the fact that they eat a lot of just
simple foods and rice and beans and tomatoes and spinach and corn tortillas
and stuff like that you know they eat a lot of nutritional stuff believe it or
not but they sit there and say oh it's just too expensive eat healthy now now I
did a demonstration a while back but I left out a major fact in that
demonstration there's a video I did on YouTube well I was a sermon I did here
but I made it into a short video on YouTube they got a lot of viewers and it
was it was called like you know eating healthy is is just as cheap as eating
junk food or it's cheaper eating healthy is cheaper than eating junk food and I
actually went to Food City just right across the street here which is where a
lot of poor people would go for their food and I went there and just spent
like $11 and just loaded up on tons of nutritious food and I had avocados and
and cabbage and corn and tomatoes and beans and rice and it's just like a lot
of food for you know let's say one and a half trips down to fast food or if
you're my son John you know 90% of a trip to fast food you know and basically
and I made this demonstration of look at all this food and then I pulled out all
the junk food Doritos $4.99 you know soda or whatever that has zero
nutritional value two dollars or whatever okay so that's just making an
excuse of just I can't eat healthy it's too expensive but here's what I failed
to mention in that demonstration what was the common denominator of all the
nutritious cheap foods that I showed they all required some amount of
preparation they all required work like like for example you know the
watermelon or the candle you have to cut it the cabbage you got to wash it and
cut it you know wait the avocado has to be peeled you know or whatever but but
but people they don't want to do any work remember they're so lazy they only
want to raise their hand in their mouth so therefore that's why they gravitate
toward the french fries and the chips and the cookies and think about when
you're at home and you get the munchies why would you reach for the cookies why
would you reach for the chips why do you reach for the ice cream because there's
zero preparation that's why it's just right it was cereal bowl milk done you
know whereas if you wanted to eat something healthy like scrambling some
eggs or something you know you got a butter the pan scramble the eggs cook
you know it takes a few minutes but it doesn't take that long it's not that
hard to scramble some eggs and eggs are cheap it's not that hard and and people
who think fruits and vegetables are overpriced and then this what they'll
show on Facebook with their little memes they'll show like grapes and like they'll
show like just these really like fancy foods look when I was a kid when we
pretended we were rich we would fan each other with palm branches and feed each
other grapes and stuff like and we pretend like we were a king and we had
servants who ever played that game with your kid and you're being fed grapes and
fanned and waiting on hand and foot look maybe you're not gonna be able to afford
the grapes but you know you could buy an apple right you could buy an orange you
could buy a pear you can buy cabbage you know that cabbage is one of the most
nutritious foods on the planet that that cabbage is packed with nutrition and
cabbage one of the cheapest things you can ever buy and you can make all kinds
of things with it but here's the key make things you can make all kinds of
slaw and kraut and whatever you want to make with it but I'm telling you you can
eat healthy and by the way you say well I want the strawberries and the cherries
and the grapes look I want you to have strawberries cherries and grapes too but
here's the thing about that you get them when they're in when on sale when
they're in season right here in America we just expect I don't care what time of
year it is we want to eat all the fruit on the menu 12 months out of the year so
we're paying somebody to fly produce up from Chile South America and they're
like oh this is expensive to eat healthy because we're flying stuff up from Chile
why don't you eat what's local and what's on sale and what's disease every
time you go to the store there's some kind of fruit or vegetable that's on
sale super there's always something that's just ridiculously cheap isn't
there that's what you eat okay if you want to get your fruits and vegetables
get what's on sale and by the way it's been shown in scientific studies that
eating what's in season in your area is healthier anyway because your body needs
the summer stuff in the summer and the winter stuff in the winter you know and
so I don't know if that's true or not but it sounds great so just you know eat
what's on sale it's good for you and you know just sit there and say oh yeah
those fruit cups $4.99 yeah that's because it's a ripoff go chop up your
own fruit and it's super cheap I mean you could probably get an apple for 10
cents or something okay and you're gonna get the same amount of and eat the core
while you're at it amen get those nitrile asides but anyway I don't want
to go off on too much of a tangent here actually I do but I saw this I just read
this article about this yesterday as I was preparing for the sermon it said you
know calorie for calorie junk foods cheaper yeah of course it's cheaper
calorie for calorie because there's way too many calories it's not that junk
food is cheaper than healthier food it's that calorie for calorie it's cheaper
because it's packed with junk empty worthless calories so calorie for calorie
junk food cheaper so poor folks gravitate to junk food in order to fill
up in order to fill up like they're just starving to death right in America poor
people are just starving to death and so they have to gravitate toward these
high calorie foods hey news flash if you're overweight you're running a
caloric surplus so you're not you don't have to just gravitate toward calories
you know what I mean like you should gravitate toward a low calorie so the
point is though that if you're at it there are two ways for your body to be
running caloric surplus caloric deficit all right does everybody understand what
I'm saying so every day you burn calories even if you're just sitting on
your rear end all day you still burn calories even your brain is burning like
20% of your calories just thinking burns calories so even just sleeping you're
burning calories okay so every day you burn a certain amount of calories the
more active you are the more calories you burn the less active you are the
less calories you burn there's calories coming in and this calories going out if
more calories go in than what goes out then you're gonna slowly gain weight
over time slowly slowly you're adding right because one pound of fat equals
3,500 calories so therefore if you have an extra hundred calories every day
which isn't much extra hundred today 35 days later you gain one pound okay so
this is how life works now if you're running at a caloric deficit you eat
less calories then then the work you're performing then you know if you're at a
caloric deficit of a hundred calories then 35 days later you weigh a pound
less or whatever okay that's typically how the math ends up working out so the
thing is you've got people that are not underweight here they're not
malnourished this isn't like you know people that are in Africa or what and
they're just struggling hand-to-mouth existence or something I mean we're
talking about people in the United States of America who came and finished
their burger they can't finish their chicken nuggets they can't finish the
french fries they're throwing food away and then basically they're oh they got
to gravitate toward those high-calorie foods to fill up no what they're
gravitating toward is that which is easy and doesn't require any work that's what
they're gravitating toward because lazy people gravitate towards something that
requires zero effort and zero work that's what's going on folks and yet it
when you eat a lot of junk food it makes you hungry here's why there's no
nutrition in it so your body is screaming for nutrition feed me feed me
feed me and you're giving it junk and it's like I'm still not getting what I
need oh well here's another cheeseburger here's another order of fries here's
another milkshake I still don't have the vitamins okay well you know it's like
well this this meal has 1% of my daily vitamin whatever so I'm just gonna have
to eat a hundred of them okay so anyway a little bit of a tangent there but quit
making excuses why you can't go to work making excuses for eating junk food
wasting money throwing things on the ground just don't make excuses okay
number four and this leads right in that don't waste your food all right so point
number one work without being told what's the sermon called don't be a
derelict and you say well pastor I understand I don't think anybody in here
is gonna ever be a derelict you know what probably somebody in here is gonna
end up being a derelict I've seen young people come out of a fundamental Baptist
Church and grow up and become a derelict you think it's impossible for people who
don't work without being told they mess up the job opportunities that they're
given right and then they make excuses for why they can't work and why they
live the lifestyle that they live they waste their food you know they can grow
up being a derelict but here's the thing I don't even want to act like a derelict
even if I do have a permanent dwelling place and a permanent job and even if I
do go to work every day and take care of my responsibilities I don't want to have
the attributes of a derelict in my life all right I don't want to be like unto
a derelict and so I don't want to be one who wastes look at you what a Proverbs
chapter number 12 Proverbs 12 don't waste and by the way he also that is
slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster so the Bible says
that being lazy at work and being wasteful go hand in hand there are two
peas in a pod so if you want to be a hard worker you've got to learn not to
be a great waster because the great waster is one in the same with the guy
who's lazy at work so work on both of these at the same time now notice it
says he that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster
it's okay to waste a little bit don't be a great waster okay sometimes a little
waste makes sense you don't want to be penny wise and pound foolish sometimes a
little waste makes sense you don't want to go crazy or overboard okay but you
want to be like the Catholic Church where you have to like wipe out the
inside of your glass or something to make sure every drop is still accounted
for you have to go crazy like that but don't be a great waster and you know
what if you raise your kids this way they're gonna grow up and be derelict or
they're gonna act like derelict or whatever when you just let your kids
just make themself a giant plate of food take a couple bites is I'm full folks
and then you're and then you're gonna get on your knees and pray for God to
give you your daily bread as you're just throwing food and the trash on mass
that's disrespectful okay eat your food clean your plate and here's the thing
about that if you don't finish your food you can you can box it up and put it in
the fridge you can put plastic over it you put foil over it put it in the
fridge and pull that out at the next meal and don't let your kids just go to
restaurants just order insane amounts of food or worse yet go to a church
activity and just load up take a few bites and then and fall little brat you
little snot all right so you know you got it you got to finish your food these
habits start young I guarantee you that if we could somehow know the history of
a typical derelict drug addicts of Tempe I guarantee you that these are kids who
weren't finishing their food growing up they weren't doing chores without being
told they constantly had excuses for why they couldn't get things done okay I
promise you that these attributes would be in their life do not waste food why
because the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 12 verse 27 the slothful man
slothful again is lazy sluggard the slothful man roasteth not that which he
took in hunting but the substance of a diligent man is precious so what the
Bible is saying here is that when you work hard you value your money and you
value your property because you worked hard and you paid for it so the
diligent man who worked hard man he values his stuff he values his substance
the opposite of that is the lazy person who doesn't even roast what they took in
hunting so they go out they hunt they kill an animal they've got all this meat
and they're just like too lazy to even cook the food that they hunted and again
what does this go back to all they want to eat is fast food why because there's
no work that's exactly what this verse is talking about
you could apply this to the slothful man doesn't want to cut up his own
cantaloupe you know he it grieves him to have to chop up an apple he just he has
to only eat that little fruit cup that's been totally prepared in heavy syrup or
whatever so the Bible is saying here the slothful man roasted not with that which
he took in hunting I used to always quote this verse to myself back when I
ran my fire alarm business I would go out and I would do a whole bunch of jobs
and I had to do the paperwork and the paperwork was how I got paid and I
remember just getting back from work and being exhausted and tired and I didn't
want to do that paperwork and I would always quote this verse to myself you
know this is what I took in hunting I need to roast this you know and that I
would use this verse to motivate myself to do paperwork like I did the hunting
now it's time to butcher the animal amen and I'd fill out the paperwork and get
it turned in and everything like that so the the substance of a diligent man is
precious that means if you're a hard worker you're not wasteful if you're
wasteful you're probably not a hard worker and again sometimes a little bit
of waste makes sense sometimes a little bit of waste is being efficient you know
so you don't want to just go overboard on just wasting like an hour to preserve
like some 20 cent item or something you obviously have to weigh your time versus
the the expenditure and everything like that but when you see somebody just
ordering a fast-food meal when they're homeless and poor and they're holding a
sign up that says I'm hungry you know I'm hungry and anything helps God bless
and then you see them not even finish their food and then litter it on my yard
not even finish it right they can't even finish chicken who doesn't finish their
chicken nuggets I mean look I've look I've I've been at a point where I
couldn't finish a burger I don't think there's ever been a time when I couldn't
finish chicken nuggets I mean chicken nuggets are like the easiest thing to
finish in the world you there's never enough when is there ever enough when
are you like this is too many chicken nuggets nobody says that it never
happens I mean for chicken I mean people were so I post a picture to Facebook of
the of the trash on my front yard and and and somebody said like maybe you
could wash those off because I mean it's just like it goes against the grain to
just see these little pristine chicken nuggets sitting on the ground untouched
it's like but you know here should be a news flash how come the animals aren't
touching them and we got all kinds because we all kinds of cats in the
neighborhood we've got wild coyotes and stuff that roam the neighborhood from
time to time bugs and everything is you know the answer like taking a wide
birth it take like a birth around so that's you know that should be a hint
okay but man not finishing when you can't get your kids to finish their
chicken fingers you're in trouble as a parent at that point Wow let's go ahead
and let's I gotta hurry up for sake of time here go to verse go to chapter 24
of Proverbs chapter 24 we said number one be self-motivated self-starter don't
have somebody always have to tell you what to do all the time right see I'm
sick of people tell me what to do do stuff yourself and then nobody will tell
you what to do they'll just say oh leave that guy alone he's productive if you're
constantly being told man my parents are constantly on my case they're constantly
telling me what to do probably cuz you're constantly not doing anything
okay I don't like being told what to do then do stuff without being told right
make your own rules amen number two don't screw up the opportunities that
you're given you know sometimes sometimes that great job opportunity
only comes once make the best of it number three quit making excuses why you
can't work making excuses for your shortcomings making excuses why you eat
junk food and you're too lazy to cook a meal or prepare something better don't
make excuses you've got to start taking responsibility for yourself people are
delinquent of their duties they're derelict you know they're not taking
responsibility take responsibility and say you know what it's my job to make
sure that I get X Y & Z done I'm gonna take responsibility number four don't
waste food okay and don't waste by the way don't waste supplies at your job
either you know and again this you got to use common sense on this because
sometimes a little waste makes sense but don't be one who's just constantly
just throwing away materials because you're just too lazy and you just want
to open a new one all the time right I mean I could go on and on about that but
this is not a job seminar okay it's a Bible sermon but another thing you don't
want to waste besides wasting food is don't waste opportunities look at verse
30 of chapter 24 and this this sort of goes hand in hand with wasting food I
went by the field of the slothful and by the vineyard of the man void of
understanding now stop for a second the field and the vineyard what is this this
isn't just saying oh I went by and he didn't mow his lawn what this is saying
is the field or the vineyard is where food comes from the field is where the
crops are growing the vineyard is where grapes are growing this is this guy's
livelihood it's his job it's his food it's his meat right I went by the field
of the slothful and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding and lo it
was all grown over with thorns and nettles had covered the face thereof and
the stone wall thereof was broken down then I saw and considered it well I
looked upon it and received instruction you say how dare you look down on these
people how dare you well how dare the author of Proverbs look down on this guy
because the author of Proverbs right when he went by the field of what he
considered a lazy person he went by that field and he considered it and he took
lessons from it and he said to himself you know what I don't want to be like
that guy is that what not what the Bible says he considered it and he took a
lesson he said look that guy doesn't have any food he doesn't have any money
because he's he's not even using what he has here's enough I mean what is a field
it's an opportunity what's a vineyard it's opportunity you know there's some
people who don't own any land there are people in the Bible who don't own any
land right they're just servants and bond maids and bond servants look if you
actually own a business or you actually own a vineyard or you own a farm that's
an opportunity and so this guy who's just letting it all grow over with
thorns and nettles and the walls breaking down basically what he's doing
is he's wasting a great opportunity where he could be producing something
and we should take lessons from that it says I looked upon it and I received
instruction it says in verse 32 I received instruction so I'm not up here
just saying oh yeah stinking derelict that's not what the sermons about it's
not about looking down on people you know what it's about it's about taking a
lesson saying I'm not gonna end up that way look I feel bad for the homeless
people I feel bad for the derelict I feel bad for drug addicts you say well I
did it to themselves yeah but I mean I still feel bad for them because they're
living a miserable life oh that drunk he did it to himself yeah but I still feel
bad for him because he's still living a miserable life but you know what the
best thing we can do for that guy is rebuke him because he needs that's what
his parents failed to do that's what his church failed to do and we you know he
needs to be taught you can't just coddle him all right here let me give you some
free needles that's what the city of San Francisco will do that's what Portland
Oregon will do right here let's just give you needles folks that's not what
they need they need to be taught a more excellent way and then we need to all
so teach our kids and say kids look at this kids receive instruction from this
look out the window kids this is not how you want to end up therefore finish your
food therefore do work around the house therefore be motivated right amen I mean
that's what the Bible is saying consider it and receive instruction and realize
verse 33 oh it's it's because of white privilege is that what it says in verse
33 I looked at the field of the slugger and I said oh white privilege this guy
you know he's too brown that's why he can't make anything happen folks that's
bologna oh I looked at it realized oh it's cuz slavery 200 years ago what it
was oh it's because you know the white man took the Indians land you know here
we are 2019 folks let that go that was a long time ago all right you know what
I mean like everybody's got excuses oh you know oh the wage gap oh you know
these people they can't they start out behind they can't get ahead you know
what folks in America you can get ahead there may be places in this world I'm
sure there are in fact for sure places in this world where you start out in
some low caste or you start out in a bad situation it's really hard to pull
yourself out of that we are living in the place in the world where it's the
easiest to pull yourself out of poverty okay I don't care what color you are I
don't care what education level your parents have you can succeed in this
country and you know what you know well you don't understand my disadvantage and
you know I grew up with a single parent what look I'm sorry but it's time to
just quit making excuses and just get to work and make something of yourself
break the cycle break sign you know what they're all kinds of black
people and Indians and Mexicans that are doing well and succeeding and they are
taking care of business and they're making money and they're feeding their
family and they're respectable people and then there are other people who are
derelict and you know what they do they complain and blame it on oh it's cuz I'm
this I'm that you know quit making excuses and being a derelict I consider
it and I said here's why this field looks this way here's why this vineyard
looks for this way yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the
hands to sleep so shall I poverty come as when the travel and I want as an
armed man hey poverty is coming when you're lazy that's what the Bible says
okay the Bible says this over and over again and so we don't want to fall into
these kind of liberal talking points of you know it's everybody else's fault you
know nobody made you wear your pants sagging a foot below your waist slavery
has nothing to do with that okay you know you can pull up your pants no
matter what color you are you can pull up your pants no matter what your
economic background is you can pull up your pants no matter what side of the
tracks you live on and you know what men who go to work never dress that way
because of the fact that men who go to work they wear a practical garment for
work you can't get anything done this is how they walk am I lying yeah you
know what that just shows they're literally holding their ways and they're
just like that's like it's like a hula hoop to keep their pants up or something
seriously anybody who's serious about getting a job done man they got their
pants they fit they're cinched up and it's like let's go they got practical
shoes they got practical pants right they're ready to roll they're not and
and by the way they don't wear some sure I guess this is the 90s preaching coming
out but you know the shirt down to the knees giant gold chain hey that's gonna
get caught in something if you're trying to actually work for a living that chain
is gonna suck you into the machine or something it's gonna get caught in the
drill right you're gonna be like hanging from the Raptors if you're doing a
framing job like that so the point is look where you know you see people that
aren't serious about work take a lesson take instruction you see some homeless
person just laying by the side of the road filthy dirty when they're like 30
feet from what from a source of water there's like a drinking fountain right
here there's a canal here there's a lake here you know it's all this water
is available right there they could just go up to the drinking fountain and clean
up these underwear showing dirty drugged out just middle of the daytime right
other people are out at work you say well don't you feel bad for me yes I do
but you know what some of these people is too late for them and I you know I'd
love to see the homeless derelict of our city you know get jobs and get cleaned
up and get right with God but you know what some some of them they've just
they've lived that way a long time they're just they're on a downward
spiral and they're just people people are trying to help them every day you
know with all these programs and everything it's just not working but so
what we can do is prevention by teaching our young people hey that lifestyle is
not an option you've got to go to work you've got to make something of yourself
you've got to work okay and then let me just finish up with the last couple
points here number point number five is don't be covetous and greedy the Bible
says and I got a hurry so just turn in your Bible if you would to chapter 13
but of Proverbs but the desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labor he
covetous greedily all the day long but the righteous giveth and spareth not so what the
Bible saying here is that the slothful man ironically is very covetous and that you
know this is why they'll buy lottery tickets homeless people buying a lottery ticket you
say well you know they're trying to get out of poverty come on that's ridiculous it's pretty
much the work you have the idiot tax is what lottery is you know who runs the lottery the
state okay and a lot of a lot of states where gambling is illegal but the lottery you know can
be run by the state government it's idiot tax it's a tax on you for being an idiot is what it is you
pay you're taxed for stupidity that's what the lottery is it's a voluntary you sign up and say
I'm an idiot tax me more well it's my lucky day folks he that hates it to be rich should not be
innocent the Bible tells us don't make haste to be rich but they covet greedily all the day long
the Bible says lazy people their hands refuse to work but they covet greedily all the day long and
then the Bible talks about the righteous man the hard worker is generous right he's he's spending
money to help other people you know he'll take somebody out to eat and pay the bill he'll buy
somebody's groceries when they're down on their luck right somebody hey I'm falling on hard
times can I borrow a hundred bucks sure here you go here's a hundred bucks you know what hard
working righteous people are more generous and they're not just interested in getting more for
themselves now there are greedy people out there but I'm saying the right kind of hard worker is
not a greedy covetous person but the Bible says that the sluggard greedily covets all day long
he doesn't just lay there and say I'm totally content he wants a shopping cart that doesn't
belong to him and other things don't belong to him okay and again there's no place that I know
of where you go to buy shopping carts I've never seen a shopping cart store okay the shopping carts
are all stolen they should be returned to the grocery store amen you need to go out repo all
the shopping so he covetous greedily all the day long the desire of the slothful killeth him the
soul of the sluggard desireth oh you're there in verse four the soul of the sluggard desireth and
hath nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat number six the final point don't be
a know-it-all don't be a know-it-all so we said don't waste food don't be covetous don't make
excuses why you can't work don't mess up your job opportunities work without being told and don't
be a know-it-all okay look at verse one a wise son hereth his father's instruction but a scorner
hereth not rebuke again I guarantee you that the derelicts of this world they did not listen their
parents growing up guaranteed they didn't listen to rebuke when somebody told them hey you need to
go to school or you need to work you need to learn how to read and write you need to show up for work
you need to stop pushing the snooze button you know you need to get a haircut you need to pull
up your pants and then tell me what to do they didn't listen to rebuke and this is where they
are now listen to your father's instruction see every teenager thinks that they know more than
mom and dad when I was a teenager I thought I knew more than my mom and dad but but you have to
just by faith follow your parents instructions follow the pastor's instruction follow role models
in your life that are telling you look here's how you succeed at work here's what you need to do
listen right listen to other people giving you advice you don't know everything the soul of the
slugger desireth and hath nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat diligent means
you're working hard and steady patient you're not in a hurry but you're doing a good job you're
getting your work done verse 7 there is that maketh himself rich it hath nothing there is
that making themselves poor yet hath great riches the ransom of a man's life are his riches watch
this but the poor hereth not rebuke you see that here's a person who somebody tells them how to get
out of poverty and they don't want to listen they won't listen to the rebuke they won't listen the
instruction and then they just want to blame everybody else they think voting Democrat is
gonna fix everything is that what they think they think that stinking Bernie Sanders or whatever
that dirty old communist freak that's who they think is gonna fix all their problems Bernie
stinking Sanders or or Alexandra airhead whatever her name is right all these stinking bunch of
literal communist socialist devils that literally want to turn our country into like the Soviet
Union or the People's Republic of China or something stupid like that they want to just
flush our freedom down the toilet flush all our opportunities down the toilet or that or that
idiot Joe Biden that pervert he's always like hovering over children is such a freak Uncle
Biden or whatever will creepy Uncle Joe is oh yeah dirty old man Joe Biden this dirty old man
this creep is just like it's like salivating over these kids and and and here's what he said the
other day he said oh here's the answer we need we need to pay for women's daycare we need to
give him a tax credit to pay their way to daycare so we can send more women into the workforce he
said we can put 720 million women back to work folks there's only 330 million people in our
country there's 330 million people in our country how many women does he want to send to work you
say well he just misspoke you know what did he mean 72 million seven million yeah that's the
answer let's take all the women out of the home and let's have the government pay them to put
their kid in daycare so that they can neglect their responsibilities and go off to work and
make more money so they could pay more taxes so they can make more money and pay more taxes folks
is a scam to line the pockets of the government to get men and women both working and everybody's
pouring into the government more taxes because when your wife stays home you get more write-offs
that way when you're one income you get the two incomes the government's taking a lot of it and
then they're gonna give it back to you so you can pay it into some childcare provider so you can
drop your kid off it don't care excuse me daycare drop your kid off it don't care and go to work
folks we don't need women joining the workforce to the tune of 720 million you know we need is
women raising their kids not to be a derelict because a child left to himself will bring his
mother to shame the Bible says don't be a derelict don't be a know-it-all don't say oh you understand
my situation here let me give you some advice how to fix it and then have you ever tried to help
somebody and given them all these tips how to fix their life and they're just like no no that won't
work no no that won't work no you don't understand oh but you don't understand this other thing have
you ever had that kind of conversation you're providing like ten salute well what about this
why don't you try it why can't you work at this job why don't you get a job right here here's a
place where you can get yourself cleaned up oh here's where you can get some skin oh no no not
gonna work no no no no not gonna work not gonna work not gonna work but oh oh let's go down and
vote for some stinking commie and destroy our whole country so that what so they oh so I can
maybe today will be my lucky day with the lottery and then Bernie Sanders can give me some kind of a
Bernie phone or Obama phone or whatever feel the burn or whatever yeah burn in hell okay Bernie
Sanders these people are so evil and you know what if you don't know how evil they are you're
ignorant and you shouldn't be voting I don't even vote anyway by the way I don't even vote
because I don't even like any of them they're all a bunch of Devils you know I actually I vote every
week when I go out soul winning I guarantee you they're going out soul any every week does more
for our country's freedom because where the Spirit of the Lord is there's Liberty I haven't voted in
since like 2012 or something I'm probably never gonna vote again but I vote every single week when
I go soul winning I vote every single week when I get up and preach sermons like this and I voice
the truth and by getting people saved you know you're actually gonna help God to bless our
country more and keep these Devils from destroying our country okay because these these people are
super wicked I mean some of the people that are that are running for office in California and
something you can't even believe these people it's like an episode of the Twilight Zone or something
I mean it's it's weird it's creepy like you wonder like you're like pinching yourself like am I
asleep you know it's crazy right don't be a know-it-all and so let me just close with a
couple we did all Proverbs so let me just give you two verses from the New Testament Romans 12 11
you don't turn there not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord isn't that a
great motto right there Romans 12 11 this should be us as Christians not slothful in business
fervent in spirit fervent means like on fire burning right passionate serving the Lord right
that should be our trifold motto when we go to work right we're not slothful in business and
you know what we're on fire we're not just like don't move like a slug okay move fast right be a
be excited show up to work and don't miss Monday isn't that what people say like hey how you doing
hey buddy how you doing it's Monday just kidding you know so it's just you know don't have this
it's Monday attitude you know TGIF or whatever that's stupid man TGIM let's get to work right
amen look get zealous about your job and then find out how much you can succeed serving the
Lord so when you go to work you work as unto the Lord not unto men Hebrews chapter 6 verse 12 that
you be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise
don't be lazy don't be slothful follow the people who by patience and faith inherit the promises
right there are all kinds of promises for people who work hard there are all kinds of promises for
people who are diligent who are patient and work and they're not in a hurry to get rich hurry to
get done hurry to finish their job no they want to diligently work hard do a good job and you know
they inherit the be followers of those people don't be lazy don't follow all the people who
are like you understand what my ancestors went through and you understand you know how hard it
is growing up in XYZ the city or whatever look I know there are people growing up in some hard
places but none of them are in the United States there I said it yeah Pete there are people who
are who are growing up hard in Mongolia they're growing up hard in Nicaragua they're growing up
hard in Venezuela there are people are growing up hard in Uganda and Kenya people are growing up
hard in South Africa yeah people are growing up in some what do they call those things in South
Africa those neighborhoods the townships you're going up in some Township in South Africa yeah
you know you're at a disadvantage but you know what if you're growing up in the United States
of America the world's your oyster you're like a citizen of Rome or something in the Bible where
just everything's available to you okay so therefore make something out of your life work
hard you say well what's this sermon about is it about getting no it's not about getting rich it's
just about not being a derelict I don't want to be rich I don't want you to be rich I just want us
all to be not be delinquent and not be derelict I just want us all to be able to work hard feed
our families and teach our children to grow up and be productive members of society who
eat healthy food and don't throw it in other people's yards they don't litter right they
eat their food they work they're a blessing and they're a good testimony to where when they go to
work they say hey that's a good Christian testimony he's the best worker on the job
spirits never word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word Lord the book of Proverbs
is such a treasure Lord the wisdom that's in Proverbs is better than rubies it's better than
gold Lord help us not to be a fool that doesn't want to listen to rebuke and you don't know my
situation Lord help us to just listen to the Word of God tonight and and not be sloth will not be a
slugger and Lord God if there's anybody in the auditorium tonight who's working hard at their
job and they're struggling to pay their bills and they're and they're struggling to make ends
meet Lord I pray you'd give that person a special blessing Lord I pray you just look down from heaven
and if there's anybody here tonight who's working really hard Lord I pray that you give them a
blessing this week give them a bonus give them some windfall or overtime or something Lord bless
though and Lord God any I pray for all the poor people of Tempe Lord that you would bless their
work and their efforts Lord but but God those that are lazy and refusing to work Lord I pray
that they would hit rock bottom Lord and I and I pray that you would actually wake them up and
that they would actually get right Lord but but please bless the hard-working poor Lord and in
Jesus name we pray amen