Amen.
All right, we're there in Proverbs chapter number six.
And of course, tonight we're starting a brand new Sunday
evening series entitled Undisciplined.
And tonight we're going to be looking
at the subject of laziness.
Just by way of introduction, let me define for you
what discipline is.
Discipline, or sometimes referred to as character,
would be what the Bible refers to as self-denial,
or as self-control, the ability to make yourself
do what you're supposed to do, even when you don't want to.
And living an undisciplined life would
be living a life where you do not ever tell yourself no,
where you never tell yourself not
to do that which you want to do because it's
the wrong thing to do.
It is when you always take the path of least resistance,
when you always do what comes easier.
That is what an undisciplined life is.
And over the next several weeks, we're
going to be looking at this idea of being undisciplined.
And really, we're looking at the idea
of not to be undisciplined, to live a life of discipline.
You're there in Proverbs chapter number six.
The Bible, all throughout the Bible, especially
the book of Proverbs, speaks a lot
about this idea of laziness.
If you notice verse number six there, the Bible says,
go to the ant thou sluggard.
Consider her ways and be wise, which
having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
provided for me in the summer, and gathereth her food
in the harvest.
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
When wilt thou arise 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 travelth and thy want as an armed man.
So we notice that the Bible uses this idea,
or speaks of this idea of laziness.
It uses the term sluggard.
We'll see how it uses the term sloth
throughout the book of Proverbs.
And I'd like you to keep your place in Proverbs.
We're going to be looking at a lot of passages
from the book of Proverbs tonight.
But go with me, if you would, to the book of Matthew, Matthew
chapter number four.
The first book in the New Testament
should be fairly easy to find, Matthew chapter number four.
And just by way of introduction, let
me explain why this idea of laziness is so important,
not only in your personal life.
We'll see that tonight, but in the life of our church.
You know, why would a sermon, why
would we need a sermon on laziness
and on being undisciplined in general?
And the reason is because the local church
is in need of working class people.
In fact, it is working class people
who do the work in the church.
When my wife and I started Verity Baptist Church 10 years
ago, we were, of course, a very young church
meeting in our living room.
And like most new churches, we were reaching a lot of people.
And I'm not talking about people that were already saved
and baptized and growing Christians.
But as far as a lot of the new people we were reaching,
the new converts that were coming into church back
in those early days.
And we still have that to some extent today, of course.
But in those early days, we're reaching
a lot of what you would call lower class,
as far as economic class, poor people.
And of course, we still love poor people,
want to reach poor people.
But in those days, and for newer churches in general,
it's very common to reach people that are not working.
And we're reaching a lot of people
that did not have jobs.
They were living off the government.
They were living off the welfare system.
And they were getting saved and baptized.
And we were trying to help them and instill
some things in them.
And back in those days, I used to preach
a lot on the subject of laziness and character and integrity
and all those things.
And one thing that I used to think to myself back then,
which I found out I was very wrong in,
is when we were reaching a lot of people that were just
not working, living off the government,
living off the welfare, I'm talking about people
in their 30s, people in their 40s, just don't work.
Just chronically just get checks from the government.
They didn't have jobs.
I used to think to myself, well, at least these people
have a lot of time on their hands.
So you think that they were just going
to be coming out soul winning every day.
Back in the early days, I was soul winning
every single day of the week.
And I thought, these people are going
to go out soul winning with me.
They're going to go soul winning with my wife.
They're going to volunteer a lot in church.
At least they have a lot of time.
So they're going to probably, because these people that
were getting saved, baptized, were discipling them,
they were growing in the Lord.
And I thought, it's not good that they're not working.
And we want to try to help them with that.
But at the very least, they're going
to get involved in the things of God
and put a lot of work into the church.
And what I found out very quickly
was that I was completely wrong.
It turns out people who don't work, don't work for anyone,
including God.
They don't work at all.
They don't do anything.
And what I found out as the church began to grow,
I used to, I don't do as much anymore,
I used to feel guilty because then we
started having people come to our church that had jobs, that
had careers, that ran businesses.
And I was watching men who would go to work Monday
through Friday, 10 hours a day, 8 hours a day, 10 hours a day,
moms that were busy homeschooling their children
and busy about the business of their lives.
And then they would show up to soul winning on Saturday.
They show up for cleaning.
They show up for volunteering.
And I used to feel a little guilty about that.
And I'm obviously very appreciative of it.
But I started realizing something.
It is the working class people who also work for the Lord.
And a church cannot be filled with lazy people because lazy
people are going to be lazy no matter how much time they have.
And then as that kind of idea began to cement in my mind,
I realized that when God chose workers,
he chose people who were already working.
Notice there in Matthew chapter 4.
Notice Jesus, if you remember the ministry of Jesus,
Jesus went around doing what?
Healing the sick, helping the poor,
loving those who could not do anything for him,
could not help him.
But I want you to notice when Jesus
went about preaching the gospel and doing things for others,
he looked for poor people.
But when he went around looking for volunteers,
looking for workers to help him fulfill his ministry,
you know what Jesus did?
Jesus chose people who were already working.
Matthew chapter 4, look at verse 18.
Notice what the Bible says.
And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee,
saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
Notice two of the most well-known disciples
of the 12 disciples, Peter and Andrew.
Jesus found them when they were at work.
They were working.
They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
And he said unto them, follow me,
and I will make you fishers of men.
It doesn't end there.
Look at verse 20.
And they straightway left their nets and followed him.
And going on from thence, he, Jesus,
saw other two brethren, James, the son of Zebedee,
and John his brother.
Here we have, again, two more very well-known disciples,
James and John, his brother, in a ship with Zebedee
their father, mending their nets.
And he called them.
Notice, these guys were getting off of work.
And Jesus found them at their job.
And he said, you, you come work for me.
Why did God choose?
Why did Jesus choose James and John?
Why did he choose Peter and Andrew?
He chose workers who were already working.
Notice verse 22, and they immediately
left their ship and their father and followed him.
And by the way, it's not just the fishermen.
Go to Matthew chapter 9.
Look at verse 9.
Matthew chapter 9 and verse 9.
And as Jesus passed forth from thence,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting
at the recita customs.
And he saith unto him, follow me.
And he arose and followed him.
You'll notice that Jesus had this habit of calling people
to help him who were at work.
In fact, it seems like he only called people
while they were working.
Why?
Because it is the working class that will work for Jesus.
It is the worker.
And by the way, and I could spend a whole night on this.
I'm not going to.
You can go back to the book of Proverbs.
But you could find this throughout the Bible.
You find Luke, who wrote the gospel according to Luke
in the book of Acts, and he was a physician.
You find Paul, who was a theologian,
but yet while out on the mission field,
the Bible tells us that he worked as a tent maker.
There's something about the fact that Jesus chose
and God chose the working class, the working man,
the working woman to help him in the ministry.
Why?
Because lazy people will not help you get anything done.
When Jesus was born on this earth
and God had to choose a man on this earth
to be the father that would raise his son,
the son of God, he chose a man by the name of Joseph
who was a carpenter.
And you'll find consistently throughout the Bible
that God chooses the working class.
So why a sermon on laziness?
Here's why.
Because if our church is going to finish,
accomplish the work that God has called us to do,
we must attract working people.
I'm all for the poor.
I'm all for the downtrodden.
I'm all for those who need help.
I'm all for loving them, helping them,
discipling them, helping them grow.
But when it comes to accomplishing the work
that God has called us to do,
we have to find working people.
And you know what we should do
is help raise a generation of workers.
So this is why we need sermons on laziness.
This is why we need sermons on these issues.
And tonight, I'd like to give you 10 characteristics.
And specifically in the book of Proverbs
gives us 10 characteristics of a lazy person.
And we're gonna go through them tonight.
We'll go through them as quickly as we can.
I'll give them to you in order.
And I'd encourage you to jot these down
on the back of your course of the week.
There's a place for you to take some notes
if you don't have a baby sitting on your lap
or something like that.
And I'd like you to use these 10 characteristics
as a checklist.
Because here's what I've learned about laziness.
Most people don't think they're lazy.
And most lazy people don't think they're lazy.
By the way, most fill-in-the-blank people
don't think they're fill-in-the-blank.
Most crazy people don't think they're crazy.
That's why you try to help a crazy person
and you're like, you're crazy.
And they're like, no, I'm normal.
It's like, no, you're not normal, you're crazy.
Crazy people don't know they're crazy.
Lazy people don't know they're lazy.
Rude people don't know they're rude.
Proud people don't know they're proud.
It's hard to see your issues in a mirror.
But the Bible tells us that there are 10 characteristics
of a lazy person.
And you oughta ask yourself tonight,
don't just roll your eyes at me and say,
well, this sermon isn't for me, I'm not lazy.
Just because I roll out of bed at 11 a.m. every morning,
that doesn't make me lazy.
You know, you oughta look at the checklist
from the Word of God tonight and ask yourself, am I lazy?
Or maybe you should ask yourself,
am I lazy in any one of these given areas?
For those of you that are parents,
you oughta look at this checklist and ask yourself,
are your kids lazy?
Are there some areas where maybe your kids
are struggling with laziness?
Maybe you're an employer or a supervisor
or a business owner tonight and you can ask yourself,
are my employees lazy?
Have I hired lazy people?
Or what are the type of people that I want to hire?
We should all consider whether we're being lazy or not
because here's the truth.
We like to say this person's lazy, this person's not lazy.
But the truth of the matter is this,
there are some people that are chronically lazy
and that's a problem.
But we all could have the tendency
to be lazy from time to time.
So we should all be mindful of these things.
I wanna give you 10 characteristics.
Biblically, what does it mean biblically
to be a lazy person?
10 thoughts, we'll go through them as quickly as we can
and maybe you can write these down.
Number one, a lazy person has to be supervised.
A lazy person, according to the Bible,
is someone that has to be supervised.
Notice there, Proverbs chapter six,
where we started tonight in verse number six,
Proverbs chapter six and verse six,
the Bible says this,
go to the ant thou sluggard,
consider her ways and be wise.
Here God is looking at a lazy person.
He calls him a sluggard.
A slug is an insect, an animal
that does not move very quickly
and he's using this as a term to refer to a lazy person.
He says, you oughta consider the ant.
Go to the ant thou sluggard.
He says, consider her ways and be wise.
Now what should we consider from the ant?
Here's what we should consider, verse seven.
Which having no guide, overseer or ruler,
provided her meat in the summer
and gathered her food in the harvest.
You say, what does it mean to be lazy?
Or if you're asking the question, am I lazy?
Are my children lazy?
Are my employees lazy?
You oughta consider this.
Can they work without supervision?
Can you work without supervision?
Keep your place there in Proverbs.
We're gonna come back to it.
Go to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter number six.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans,
1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter number six.
See, the ant, we're told, is not a sluggard.
It's not lazy.
And the first characteristic we're giving
is that with no guide, no overseer,
no ruler, no manager, no supervisor,
just watching them and looking over them,
they are able to accomplish their work.
See, a lazy person has to be supervised.
A lazy person cannot work on their own.
They are unable to do what they need to do on their own.
By the way, we'll see it later on in the sermon,
but this is why lazy people cannot be business owners.
This is why lazy people cannot be supervisors.
This is why lazy people cannot be bosses.
This is why lazy people cannot be put in charge,
because a business owner has to be able to get out of bed
and go to work without somebody standing over them,
making sure they clock in.
You know, someone who's going to run the business
has to be able to do the work
without a guide, overseer, or a ruler.
And if you don't work in that capacity
and you have a guide and overseer or the ruler,
that doesn't make you a lazy person,
but the idea is this.
If you need to be watched, then you're lazy.
Children are by nature lazy.
And one thing about children is that oftentimes
they need dad there or mom there to be watching over
to make sure they're cleaning their room
and they're doing what they're supposed to be doing
and they're doing what's being asked of them.
And it's our job as parents to train them
to be able to work without supervision.
As Christians, we should work hard
whether we are being physically supervised or not.
You say, well, why is that?
Ephesians chapter six, look at verse six.
Ephesians 6, six, notice what the Bible says,
not with eye service.
Now he's talking to servants here, workers.
And he says, don't serve with eye service.
You say, what does that mean?
That means that you only work because you're being watched.
Not with eye service.
Notice as men pleasers, don't work in such a way
where you're only interested in pleasing the boss
when he's there, when he's watching,
when he's paying attention.
Not with eye service as men pleasers,
but as the servants of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart
with good will doing service.
Don't miss it, here's the key.
As to the Lord and not to men.
You say, why should I go to work and work hard
even if the boss is gone, even if the business owner
is gone, even if the employer is gone?
He's not even there, he's not even supervising us.
Why should I just work hard anyway
and just do what I'm supposed to do
even if I'm not being watched?
Because as a Christian, you're supposed to be
working for the Lord.
And it doesn't matter what job you have,
it doesn't matter where you work,
whether it's secular work or whatever it may be,
everything we do should be done as to the Lord
and not to men.
So therefore, a Christian should never have to be supervised
because you say, well, I'm doing it for the Lord
and the Lord is always watching.
Then see, the world, this is how workers in the world work.
They sit there and mess around and do nothing
and accomplish nothing and get nothing done
and as soon as the boss walks through the door,
then it's like, oh, get to work.
Like you're working.
You know, as a Christian, you oughta have some integrity
and not be lazy.
You say, I didn't know that was laziness.
Well, according to the Bible, if you have to be supervised,
you're lazy.
Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler
provided their meat in the summer
and gathered their food in the harvest.
Hey, you kids, listen up.
Your mom and dad oughta be able to say,
clean your room and they're downstairs working
or doing whatever they need to be doing
and you're in your room cleaning your room
and they shouldn't have to stand over you
to make, you know, with a belt in their hand
or a paddle in their hand, making sure you're doing
what you're supposed to do.
Now, maybe when you're four and five,
but definitely not when you're 15 and 17,
you oughta be a hard worker.
You say, what does it mean to be a good worker?
It means you're not, a lazy person has to be supervised,
but a good worker says, hey, I work hard
whether the boss is working or not, is watching or not.
I don't work for eye service.
I don't work as men pleasers.
I work to please the Lord, as to the Lord and not to men.
So number one, a lazy person has to be supervised.
So ask yourself this question.
Do you have to be supervised?
Does somebody have to be watching you all the time
in order to get you to do what you're supposed to do?
Or can you just get to work because that's what you do,
because you work.
Number two, go back to Proverbs chapter six.
Look at verse eight, there's a second thing here.
Notice what it says, go to the anthall sluggart,
consider her ways and be wise,
which having no guide, overseer or ruler,
notice verse eight, provideth her meat in the summer
and gathereth her food in the harvest.
I said, number one, a lazy person has to be supervised.
Number two, a lazy person does not prepare for the future.
Here we're told that the ant is a hardworking animal.
It's not a sluggart.
And one of the things that makes it not lazy
is the fact that with no guide, overseer or ruler,
provided her meat in the summer
and gathered her food in the harvest.
But the other thing we can take away from this passage
is that it provided her meat in the summer
and gathered her food in the harvest.
See, in the summertime, the ant prepares
so that it will be ready to survive during the harvest
and it can reap a harvest.
See, it sows in the summer, it reaps in the harvest,
it works in the summer and it reaps in the harvest, why?
So that it can survive through the winter.
See, the ant is smart enough to realize
that during the summertime, it can not only feed itself,
but it can also put away for when the harvest is done,
for when the weather gets cold
so that when the food is no longer available,
it can put in store for the future.
See, a lazy person does not prepare for the future.
You say, well, what does preparing for the future
have to do with being lazy?
Well, it's the same idea that they lack discipline.
When you're lazy, you lack discipline.
You take the path of least resistance.
You don't do what you need to do.
You do what you want to do.
You see, a lazy person lacks the discipline
to do now what needs to be done in the future.
So you say, how can I tell if I'm lazy?
Well, a lazy person does not prepare for the future.
A lazy person gets to work.
A lazy person doesn't have to be supervised,
but a lazy person has the discipline to do today,
has the discipline to do today
what needs to be done to prepare for the future.
When my wife and I were young,
we got married when we were 18 years old,
and I'm just telling you that as a fact.
I'm not saying that as a recommendation.
I don't recommend it.
It worked out for us, but you're not marrying my wife.
If you were marrying my wife, it might work out for you too,
but you're not that lucky, so wait till you're 20.
When my wife and I were young, we were broke.
And you know, in our 20s, we budgeted.
In our 20s, we saved.
When we were in our 20s, I remember,
it's embarrassing now to think about it,
but I remember us budgeting and scraping away
a few dollars here and there to save up
for our first $200 dinner table.
We ate on the floor for the first year and a half
of our marriage while we scraped up money
to buy a dinner table.
Then we saved up money to buy our first couch.
We saved up money to buy our first computer.
I remember we spent $300 on a computer
and we saved for a long time and thought about it
and prayed about it, and I'm not complaining to you.
It was good for us.
It was a good bonding time for us to work together
and you know, we spent our 20s serving the Lord.
We spent our 20s on bus routes and our church
had bus routes in the church we went to
and we worked hard at those things
and we served in our church and we did those things.
When my wife and I got married, you know,
we didn't go to Hawaii for our honeymoon.
We went to Clear Lake.
And let me tell you something about Clear Lake,
it's not that clear.
And I'm thankful we went to Clear Lake.
It was gifted to us by our family
and we went there, but you know,
when we got married, we watched all the other couples
around us getting married and you know
where they were all going for their honeymoons to Hawaii
on credit cards and payday loans and all sorts of debt.
You know, the funny thing is that my wife and I
get to go to Hawaii now 17 years later
and I'm not telling you we're rich or whatever,
I'm just telling you this, we're debt free
and we get to enjoy some things now that we're older.
See, when you work hard and you prepare
and you provide your meat in the summer,
then you can gather in the harvest.
And a lot of young people that went off to Hawaii
and went off to Vegas and went off parting
and putting in, racking up credit cards,
you know, what you reap, what you sow,
they're paying for that now.
And I'm not mad at you if that's the place you're in,
I'm just telling you that we must realize
that we have to develop some discipline
and sometimes we have to say no today
so we can say yes tomorrow.
We have to deny ourselves in some areas,
we have to not allow some things,
we have to suffer a little bit.
You say, pastor, what were you doing
when you were 25 years old?
You know what my wife and I were doing
when we were 25 years old?
Starting Verity Baptist Church.
And I'm not saying this in an arrogant way
and I don't mean this in an arrogant way
and I hope you understand,
but you get to reap today the work we put in 10 years ago.
Our church now, and I'm thankful for it,
supports a full-time missionary
that has started two churches in the Philippines
and started five churches that did not exist
before we started this church.
We've got several full-time, part-time staff,
families that are supported through this ministry
and the generous giving of our church and people online,
but let me tell you something,
all of that happened because a 25-year-old
and his 25-year-old wife decided,
we're gonna prepare now so that God might bless later.
See, a lazy person can work hard and not be supervised
and a lazy person does not prepare for the future,
but a hardworking person says,
I'm gonna deny myself today
so that I can reap the benefits later.
You gotta work hard.
Go to Proverbs 6, look at verse nine.
Let me give you a third one.
I said, number one, a lazy person has to be supervised.
Number two, a lazy person does not prepare for the future.
Here's number three, a lazy person,
and this one should be kind of obvious,
but a lazy person sleeps a lot.
You know that lazy people are addicted to sleep?
Proverbs 6, look at verse nine.
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
When wilt thou arise 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 traveleth in thy want as an armed man.
You know, lazy people are addicted to sleep.
Proverbs 20, look at verse 13.
If you would, you're there in Proverbs 6.
Look forward to Proverbs 20.
Now let me say this.
Oversleeping, and I'm talking about when you normally don't,
can be an indication of some things.
Sometimes, look, sometimes you need to get some rest,
and we understand that.
Oversleeping, if you're not someone
who's just constantly sleeping away the days
and you find yourself having a season in life
where you're oversleeping and you normally don't,
that can indicate some things.
First of all, it can indicate a physical problem.
You may be sick or have some sort of a physical ailment,
and maybe your body needs to get some rest,
or you need to get something checked out.
You know, we understand that.
Sometimes, oversleeping can indicate an emotional problem.
When people are depressed or discouraged,
they tend to sleep a lot.
And if you find yourself sleeping a lot,
it may be an indication of an emotional problem.
Sometimes it's exhaustion, just not getting enough sleep.
Sometimes people go through seasons,
and even here in the ministry,
we'll have seasons during the ministry
when things are just hectic and there's a lot going on
and there's a lot to be done,
and we're just getting up early and staying up late
and just not getting a lot of sleep,
you know, overnight, overnight, overnight.
And sometimes you just have to sleep.
You just have to turn the phone off
and just allow yourself to sleep for a while.
So I'm not advocating that you not get sleep.
And by the way, I would say this.
I also advocate that people get enough sleep.
Now, there are some people,
and they're lucky or blessed or whatever,
and they can live off of four or six hours of sleep,
and God bless them,
but the average person needs seven to eight hours of sleep.
And I'm not for burning the candle at both ends
and those types of things.
You know, you oughta get some rest.
You oughta take care of your body.
When I talk about sleep, that's not what I'm referring to,
but I will say this.
There are some people who are just chronic,
sleeping in, sleeping late,
sleeping long periods of time,
and it's not they're sick or not feeling well.
It's not that they've had a busy season
and they need to just rest.
It's not that they're discouraged and just,
and by the way,
I don't think that's something you should stay in either.
You should try to fix that and get some help with that.
But it's not any of those things.
It's that they're just chronically sleep a lot.
Well, when you chronically sleep a lot,
that's an indication of something too, laziness.
Proverbs 20 and verse 13, notice what God says.
He says, love not sleep.
Sleep is not something you should be in love with.
Love not sleep.
You need it.
You should get it.
You should get enough of it.
If you feel like you need more than normal,
then it might be indicating something.
But just chronically in life,
you shouldn't be the person who just sleeps in every day,
takes naps every day, goes to bed early every night,
and just, why do you sleep so much?
You say, I'm tired.
You didn't do anything.
God says, love not sleep.
Lest thou come to poverty, open thine eyes,
and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
Chronic sleeping in, chronic sleeping through the day
is an indication of laziness.
Proverbs 19, look at verse 15.
Here's the interesting thing about people that sleep a lot,
is that laziness begets more laziness.
Sleeping begets more sleeping.
Look, if you allow yourself to get into this habit
of sleeping in, sleeping in, sleeping in,
you'll say, I'll just sleep in a little bit,
and I'll feel fine.
But you'll start sleeping in every day,
and it'll just become a thing.
So you decide, I need to stop this.
Laziness begets more laziness.
Proverbs 19, look at verse 15.
Proverbs 19, 15, slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep.
Isn't that interesting?
Now you would think hard work casts into a deep sleep,
and the Bible says that a hardworking person,
that they have good sleep, and they get a good night's rest.
But the Bible here tells us that slothfulness, laziness,
casteth into a deep sleep,
and an idle soul shall suffer a hunger.
You know what the Bible says?
The Bible says the more you sleep,
the more you want to sleep.
You say, why is that?
Because it's the path that leads resistance.
It's what comes easy to your body.
Say, well, how do I deal with it?
How do I take care of it?
You have to force yourself to get up.
You need to set an alarm.
You need to set two alarms.
You need to set three alarms.
You need to set an alarm next to your bed.
You need to set an alarm that you have to walk up,
you get out of bed and into the restroom to shut it off.
You know, you need to write angry things on your mirror
and say, get up, lazy bum, whatever you gotta do.
I read about a guy who was trying to break the habit
of laziness, and he was some sort of a computer programmer
type guy, and he developed this software where,
and this was a guy that wrote and had Instagram followers
and all sorts of things, and he developed some software
where every day at a certain time, every morning,
if he did not get up and manually put in a password
to turn this program off, it would automatically,
every morning at a certain time, send a message
to all his followers on Instagram, Facebook, everywhere
saying, if you are reading this, it's because I was
too lazy to get up and turn off the program,
and I slept in, or something like that,
some embarrassing thing, and it took,
and it got him out of bed, and the point is this,
that laziness begets more laziness.
The more you sleep, the more you want to sleep.
Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep, the Bible says.
But here's the interesting thing,
that though the more you sleep, the more you want to sleep,
the interesting thing is this, that the more you sleep
in the morning, throughout the day,
the less you're able to sleep
when you're supposed to sleep at night.
Go to Proverbs 26, look at verse 14.
Proverbs 26, verse 14.
Proverbs 26, verse 14 says this,
as the door turneth upon his hinges, get the visual here,
a door on hinges, turning, as the door turneth
upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.
Now look, I understand that there are some physical reasons
why people may have, you know, the inability
to go to sleep at night, and I'm not saying
that everybody that can't sleep at night,
this is the problem, but the Bible tells us here
very clearly that there are some people,
they just turn all night long, they can't go to sleep,
and the reason is, they weren't active enough
throughout the day, they just haven't been active enough.
The Bible says that as the door turneth upon the hinges,
so doth the slothful upon his bed.
If you say, I just have trouble sleeping at night,
maybe you didn't do enough during the day.
I can't sleep at night, get on the elliptical,
get on the treadmill, work up a sweat, get yourself tired.
Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep.
The more you sleep, the more you want to sleep,
but the problem with that is that the more you sleep,
the more you can't sleep when you're supposed to sleep.
So then you stay up all night on Facebook and YouTube
and messing around doing stupid things,
and then you're sleeping in the morning,
and you're lazy, you're undisciplined.
Laziness begets more laziness.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 10.
Proverbs chapter number 10.
I said, number one, a lazy person has to be supervised.
Number two, a lazy person does not prepare for the future.
Number three, a lazy person sleeps a lot.
Number four, a lazy person cannot be counted on.
Proverbs 10, look at verse 26.
As a vineyard, excuse me, as vinegar to the teeth.
Now the idea here is that vinegar can be irritating.
He says as vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes,
again, the idea is that when somebody's blowing smoke
in your eyes or if you're standing in front of a campfire
and the smoke is blowing into your eyes,
it's very irritating to you.
As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes,
so is the sluggard to them that send him.
So what's the idea?
Here's the idea.
When a boss, when a parent, when an employer
gives a task to a lazy person,
it becomes as irritating as smoke is irritating
when it blows into your eyes.
As drinking vinegar to your teeth,
so is the sluggard to them that send him.
See, a lazy person cannot be counted on.
You can't count on them.
You give them a task, you give them a responsibility,
you give them something to do,
and you can't count on them to do it.
So is the sluggard to them that send him.
I have learned quickly over the last 10 years of ministry
to be able to identify people, and I'm thankful for it.
There are some people that you just,
they volunteer to do something,
you give them a task to do, you give them something to do,
and you know it's gonna get done.
I mean, you can just give it to them and forget about it.
You know they're taking care of it,
they've got it taken care of, no issues, no problems.
If it's not done, they're in an emergency room somewhere
or they're dead.
Because they're just someone you can count on.
And then sometimes you've got well-meaning, lazy people.
Pastor, I'll do that!
And you're kinda like, oh, okay.
Because you know there's a 50-50 chance
it's not gonna get done.
Because you know there's a high probability
they're not gonna show up, they're not gonna do it,
it's not gonna be done, no one's gonna take care of it.
Look, that's laziness.
We should be the type of person
that when you're gonna do something,
when you give your word, when you say I'll be there,
when you say I'll take care of it,
when you say I'm gonna do it,
you can, it's as good as done!
1 Corinthians 4 and verse 2 says,
Moreover, it is required in stewards
that a man be found faithful.
And look, I understand, from time to time,
we drop the ball, everyone does.
Something happens, you're stuck in traffic,
you're, you know, you got a flat tire, whatever.
We all fail from time to time.
But when you're the type of person
that like 50% of the time,
you do what you say you're gonna do, you're lazy.
That's laziness.
It's a lack of discipline.
It's a, your problem, and look, I'm not mad at you,
I'm trying to help you, your problem in this life
is that you constantly take the path of least resistance.
You do what comes easy.
But the great things in life are not easy.
Like we talked about this morning,
raising godly children is not easy.
Having a good marriage is not easy.
Having a great career and starting a good business,
these things are not easy.
A lazy person cannot be counted on.
We as stewards of God must be found faithful,
the Bible says.
We, the word faithful means we can be counted on.
You oughta develop, the Bible says a good name
is rather to be chosen than great riches.
Look, you oughta develop a reputation in your life.
I mean, and I'm not gonna name names,
obviously I'm not gonna name names,
but we've got men and women in this church
that I know when they say, pastor,
I'm gonna take care of this,
I mean, I can literally just forget about it
and know it's gonna get done,
and half the time it gets done
way better than I would've done.
Look, at work, guys, that's who you want to be.
You want your boss to be like,
I can give it to him and forget it.
It's done.
Not, I gotta follow up, I gotta look at it,
I gotta ask, I gotta do this, I gotta do that.
And obviously, in work we always,
we always have follow up and accountability
and we get all those things,
but you need to be someone who can be counted on,
who can get it done,
because to the guy that sends you, it's irritating.
Look, you kids, don't, you know,
your dad says take the trash out,
30 minutes later the trash is still there,
you're like, what happened?
Oh, I started to do this and then the dog wagged the tail
and I got, I got distracted.
You don't wanna be that guy, don't be that guy.
We train our kids and I love my kids
and I'm not trying to discourage them,
but sometimes I follow up with them,
I'm like, what happened?
And they're like, oh, this happened, this happened.
I tell them, is that the worker you wanna be?
Is that the type of employee you wanna be?
Always got an excuse for why you couldn't get it done,
why it couldn't be done?
Why it didn't happen?
As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes,
so is the sluggard to them that sent him.
A lazy person cannot be counted on.
Number five, go to Proverbs chapter 12.
Proverbs chapter 12.
See, maybe your definition of laziness is different
than the biblical definition of laziness.
According to the Bible, a lazy person has to be supervised.
A lazy person does not prepare for the future,
a lazy person sleeps a lot,
a lazy person cannot be counted on.
Number five, a lazy person is wasteful.
Proverbs 12, look at verse 27.
Proverbs 12, 27, the slothful man
roasted not that which he took in hunting,
but the substance of a diligent man.
The word diligent means hard worker.
It's a biblical word for diligent man
is a hard worker in the Bible.
Notice, the slothful man, that's the lazy man,
roasted not that which he took in hunting.
Now, what is that if not waste?
You go hunting, you kill an animal,
but then you're so tired,
you don't actually cook it and eat it.
Just goes to waste.
The Bible says that the slothful man
roasted not that which he took in hunting,
but the substance of a diligent man is precious.
Go to Proverbs 18, look at verse nine.
See, the substance of a diligent man,
a hard working man,
they value things, it's precious to them.
Proverbs 18, verse nine,
he also that is slothful in his work, don't miss this,
is brother to him that is a great waster.
What is he saying?
He's saying being slothful and being a great waster,
they're brothers.
These things go hand in hand.
Lazy people are wasteful people.
You say, why is that?
Here's why.
A lazy person does not value things
because they didn't work for it.
The substance of a diligent man is precious.
That's why kids don't care.
All the lights are on, the air conditioner's on,
the door to the garage is open,
the front door's open, the back door's open,
nobody cares.
You know who cares?
Dad cares.
I'm air conditioning the whole stinking neighborhood,
shut the door.
You know why?
Because I pay the bills.
The substance of a diligent man is precious to him
because when you work hard for money,
you don't wanna see it wasted.
You know why lazy people are wasteful?
Because they don't value the worth of things
and they don't work for anything.
A lazy person does not value things.
They do not value what they work for
because they didn't work for it.
Go to John chapter six, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
John chapter six.
Let me give you a gospel example of this.
John chapter six.
But let me just say this while you turn there.
Mom and dad, this is why you don't wanna develop
a welfare mentality in your home.
Where you just give things to your children
and give them all these things.
Give, give, and give, and give, and give.
You say, why?
Because when they don't have to work for anything,
they never learn to value anything.
Everything is always given to them.
You know, I tell these stories about my wife and I
have to save up money for this, save up money for that,
do this and do that.
You don't think we have parents
that could have bought us those things?
You say, why didn't your mom and dad buy you those things?
Because they looked me in the eye
when I got married at 18 years old and they said,
oh, you wanna get married when you're 18?
All right, well we're cutting off the umbilical cord, buddy.
Go provide for that wife.
I'm glad they did.
I'm glad they didn't bail me out.
I'm glad they, my parents and my wife's parents
let us struggle a little bit and work hard for some things
and develop some character, why?
Because you learn to value something.
Lazy person is wasteful because they don't value
what they didn't work for.
John chapter six and verse 24, the Bible says this,
when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there,
John 6 24, neither his disciples, they also took shipping
and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus.
And when they had found him on the other side of the sea,
they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?
And Jesus answered them and said, verily, verily,
I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles,
but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled.
Now I want you to get the context here.
And earlier in the chapter, Jesus had fed the 5,000.
He gave a free meal to the 5,000.
In John 6 22, the Bible tells us that we're now
in the day following, so this is the day after.
Jesus fed the 5,000 and that night,
he crossed the lake there and he got out of town.
They woke up the next day and they realized
Jesus wasn't there and they went and followed him.
And when they got there, they asked him,
where did you go, why did you leave?
And Jesus responds, verse 26, verily, verily,
I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles,
but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled.
Now notice verse, here Jesus is referring to the fact
that they're looking for a free meal.
He fed them yesterday and now they want him
to feed them again.
He fed the 5,000 with the loaves and the fishes,
performed the miracle.
And now they're looking for another handout.
Now here's the interesting thing,
that Jesus identifies the fact, he says,
because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled.
He said, that's the only reason you're here.
That's the only reason you're following me.
You want a free handout, I gave you a free meal yesterday,
now you want a free meal today.
Here's the interesting thing about the passage,
is that later on in John chapter six,
Jesus preaches this hard sermon.
Look at verse 60, many therefore of his disciples,
when they heard this said,
this is a hard saying, who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples
murmured at it, he said unto them, does this offend you?
Now here's the interesting thing, look at verse 66.
John 6, 6, 6.
From that time, many of his disciples went back
and walked no more with him.
Here's what's interesting.
The people who didn't work for anything,
and who were just looking for a handout,
they also just walked away from Jesus, no problem.
Once he didn't feed him and he preached something
they didn't like, they went back and walked no more with him.
You know, these people did not value the ministry of Jesus
because they weren't working in his ministry,
they were just there for a handout.
And look, at our church, we believe that we should
not make the house of God a house of merchandise,
and we believe that everything we do around here
should be free, and we shouldn't charge for anything,
and we don't charge for any of those things.
But let me just say this, sometimes there's a tendency
when you give stuff away for people to not value it,
to take advantage of it, to develop this welfare mentality,
this spiritual welfare mentality, and to not appreciate it.
Look, we need to be careful about not appreciating
the things that you have.
And people equate this, they think,
oh well, you don't sell anything at church,
so therefore you should give me stuff for free.
No, understand this, selling and giving you things
are two different things.
We can say we don't sell anything at Baptist Church
and never give you anything, do you understand that?
Now we give a lot of stuff away,
we just gave a bunch of t-shirts away.
We give lots of stuff away, we give everything away.
We don't care, but don't develop this welfare mentality.
See, people come to church like this,
and they're like, oh, this is a nice t-shirt,
and it says the same thing, can I get five more?
So I can give them away for Christmas?
So I can give them away to all the church members
that quit the church that I'm so friends with?
It's like, no!
This is for our church people.
And look, I'm not mad at you, I'm just telling you,
sometimes when you don't pay for something,
you don't value it.
Now that doesn't mean that we're gonna start charging
for things, I'm just saying, you oughta be mindful
and appreciate the things that people give you.
Look, and I understand it, I get it.
People get flat tires, things don't work out,
and all those things.
But you know, we have events here,
we put on these events,
married couples, sweetheart, bank wits,
and all sorts of things that we put all this money into,
and people just, you know,
20 people just decide not to show up.
We pay all this money, they say they're gonna come,
we pay all this money to buy them food,
but if we were like the old IFB church
and charged them 20 bucks to come to the event,
they would show up.
I'm not mad at you, I'm just telling you,
maybe you oughta appreciate it
when somebody gives you something.
Amen.
Because it's a lazy attitude, and look,
and if you say, oh, I missed the last event,
and I was sick, I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about people who take things,
who don't appreciate it, who just don't care.
That's laziness.
A lazy person is wasteful.
A lazy person wastes things.
A lazy person does not appreciate
what's been given to them.
Number six, go to Proverbs.
Proverbs chapter 15.
Here's another characteristic of a lazy person.
A lazy person always has an excuse.
You know what lazy people always have?
They don't have much, but they always have a reason
why they can't do something,
why they can't accomplish something.
Proverbs 15 verse 19.
Notice what the Bible says.
The way of the slothful man is an hedge of thorns.
Now, how can this be?
This verse doesn't even make sense.
How can the way of a sloth,
like, do slothful people walk in a hedge of thorns?
No, the idea is this, that anywhere a slothful person goes,
there's a hedge of thorns.
You know, diligent people, they go down a road,
they walk down a road, and they realize
there's going to be obstacles in those roads.
You're gonna have to overcome those obstacles.
You're gonna have to work through that and get through it.
But the slothful person, they're just like,
ah, I can't do that, there's a hedge of thorns.
The way of the slothful man is an hedge of thorns,
but the way of the righteous is made plain.
Look at Proverbs 20, look at verse four.
Proverbs chapter 20, verse four.
Why will a slothful person not go down
and do what they're supposed to do?
Because there's a hedge of thorns.
I mean, there's a hedge of thorns there.
What could I do?
Gone around it?
Gone over it?
Gone through it?
Cut the thing down, do something?
I couldn't do it, there's a hedge of thorns.
Proverbs 20, look at verse four.
The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold.
I would have plowed, but it was too cold.
Therefore shall he beg and harvest and have nothing.
Proverbs 22, look at verse 13.
The slothful man saith, there is a lion without,
I shall be slain in the streets.
And I think here, the book of Proverbs
is being a little sarcastic.
Why don't you go to work?
Well, there's a lion out there.
A lion out there on the street?
Well, somewhere out there there's a lion.
Proverbs 26, 13.
The slothful man saith, there is a lion in the way.
A lion is in the street.
And look, the idea is this,
that a lazy person always has an excuse.
They always have a reason why they can't,
why they can't do something,
why they can't accomplish something,
why they can't get it done.
Look, lazy people don't know they're lazy.
So they think, no, no, I'm not lazy,
it's just the lion was in my way.
No, no, I'm not lazy, it's just the hedge was there.
No, I'm not lazy, it's just a little cold today.
A little cold to go soul winning on Saturday.
The lion was out there.
There's always a reason.
Look, look, do you know that there's always a reason,
there's always a valid reason for you
to not do whatever you're supposed to do?
Do you know that Pastor Jimenez,
the pastor of the stinking church always,
if I needed to, could come up with a valid reason
why I couldn't show up to church on Sunday night?
I mean, every week.
I could, sorry guys, I didn't make it.
I know you guys all showed up for church on Sunday night.
I didn't make it because, you know, here's the thing,
there was this lion and then it was really hot
and then there was a hedge of thorns and then, you know,
but you know, after a while you just start to realize,
I think the guy's just lazy and you'd be right.
Lazy people always have a reason
why they can't do something.
Go to Genesis 49.
Keep your place in Proverbs.
We're coming back to it, Genesis 49.
You say, what do diligent people do?
Diligent people use resourcefulness and initiative.
They look at obstacles and they don't see obstacles
as obstacles, they see obstacles as opportunities.
Here is an opportunity for me to think a little,
to be forceful, to take some initiative
and to try to get something done.
In the Marines they use this term,
improvise, adapt, and overcome.
You're not allowed to just say, well, there was an obstacle.
You may have to improvise a little.
You may have to adapt a little.
You may have to overcome the thing.
Genesis 49 and verse 22, if you study the life of Joseph
and we're not gonna do it tonight of course,
but if you study the life of Joseph,
you'll find that Joseph was a very hardworking man.
Everywhere he went he worked hard, he got things done.
Everywhere he went he got promoted.
In Genesis 49 and verse 22, Jacob, Joseph's father,
says this on his deathbed about his son.
He says, Joseph is a fruitful bow,
even a fruitful bow by a well, notice,
whose branches run over the wall.
Jacob said, you know something I noticed about Joseph
is no matter how many walls you put in front of him,
his branches will run over the walls.
He's saying, Joseph found a way to overcome.
His brother sold him into slavery.
He found a way to overcome that.
They lied about him while he was in slavery,
threw him into prison, he found a way to overcome that.
They had a famine in Egypt and he was in charge
of taking care of the, he found a way to overcome that.
Look, we can only find solutions to our problems
when we believe that there are solutions to our problems.
Do you understand that?
It is taking the path of least resistance.
It is taking the easy way out.
Kids, when your parents say, do something and you can't,
it's the easy way, the easy thing to do is say,
I can't do it, I couldn't find it.
I tried and it didn't work.
Look, you don't wanna be that guy at work.
Boss is constantly saying, do this, I couldn't do it.
Hedge of thorns, do this, oh, there was a line.
Do this, it was really cold.
Joseph found a way to get things done.
He improvised, he adapted, he overcame,
he used resourcefulness, he took some initiative
and he got it done.
But you know what, lazy people always have excuses.
Maybe you're here, you say, I didn't know I was lazy,
but I do have a lot of excuses.
Well, maybe you are lazy.
Maybe you don't understand how the Bible defines laziness.
Number seven, go back to Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 13.
We're gonna go back to Genesis just so you know.
You wanna keep your finger there.
Number seven, a lazy person does not have ambition.
Proverbs 13 and verse four.
The soul of the slugger desireth and hath nothing,
but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
The soul of the slugger desireth and hath nothing.
You ask a lazy person, what do you want in life?
They're like, I'd like to have a nice marriage,
I'd like to raise nice kids, I'd like to have a nice house
and live for the Lord or do whatever.
They have all these things they want,
but they're never gonna get any of it
because they don't have enough drive
to actually get out and do it.
But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
Proverbs 21, look at verse 25.
Proverbs 21, verse 25.
The desire of the slothful killeth him.
You say why, here's why.
There's so many things they want
because they stay up late watching all these infomercials
about all these things and they want all these things.
But notice, for his hands refuse to labor.
The problem with the slothful man is that he wants things
but he doesn't actually have the drive, the ambition,
to get to work to get those things that he wants.
Proverbs 13, look at verse 12.
Proverbs 13, verse 12.
Proverbs 13, verse 12 says this,
hope deferred maketh the heart sick,
but when desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Hope deferred, in fact you say,
I wanted something but that got deferred,
I didn't get it, I can't get it.
That maketh the heart sick, the Bible says.
That can be discouraging.
But see, a lazy person does not have the ambition,
they do not have the drive,
they do not have the desire to get up and do something.
And look, we should all have
some sort of God-given ambition in your life.
Hope every father walked out of here this morning
with some ambition to raise some kids for God.
Hope every mother has a drive in her that says,
I wanna raise these children for the Lord
and I wanna do something great for God.
But look, all of us should have some ambition,
but let me just say this, especially men.
I mean, God gave you this thing called testosterone.
You're supposed to wanna go out and hunt something,
kill something, conquer something, overcome something,
provide and protect.
It's what God gave you.
Sometimes I look at these young men today
and I look at men in general
and I'm looking at a 38-year-old man
who's spending 12 hours a day playing video games
and I'm thinking to myself, what are you doing?
Look, when I was a child, I speak as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child.
Sometimes you gotta wake up, grow up, go to work,
get something done, get some drive in you,
get some ambition in you to accomplish something.
Not everyone is vision-driven, I understand that.
My wife did a personality thing,
she read this thing about husbands
and it puts husbands into different categories
and she did it for me and it says that I,
and I think we knew this, but it says that I lean
towards being more of a vision-driven person,
which is a good thing, but it has bad things too
because vision-driven people, they see things
and they want to accomplish things,
but they're also the ones that sometimes go broke
and go bankrupt because they're pushing towards some goal
that maybe they shouldn't be pushing towards yet
and all those things, but it was interesting to me
because one time we had this family,
they don't come to our church anymore,
but we were out to lunch with them
and there's this man sitting across from me
and he's telling me about how he has this business
and he's doing this and he's doing that
and I started getting really excited for him.
He's telling me about this business he's starting,
he's doing this and that and I'm just like,
man, that's a great idea and you could do this
and you could do that and I started giving him
all these marketing ideas and you could do this
and you could provide this service
and I was telling him, I was just reading this book
about this and that and I'm telling him all these things
and he's just looking at me like.
And I just realized none of this is connecting.
I think I'm more excited about your business than you are.
Well, he ended up being a failure
because the soul of the slugger desires,
oh yeah, I want to start a business.
Man, that's exciting, let's get up early,
let's get a plan going, let's do this,
you can knock these doors, you can send these mailers.
And they're like, no, no, I don't want to do all that,
I just want to start a business.
All right, well go hungry.
At some point, you gotta have some drive.
At some point, you gotta say, I want to do something,
I want to get something done, I want to accomplish something.
Number eight, go to Proverbs 12, verse 24.
A lazy person does not get promoted.
Look, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings,
but if you've been at your job for years and years
and years and years and everybody's getting promoted
around you, the guy that doesn't even speak English
gets promoted over you, you may be lazy.
A lazy person does not get promoted.
Proverbs 12, verse 24, the hand of the diligent
shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute.
You know who gets promoted?
Hard working people.
Go back to Genesis 47, remember Joseph?
Everywhere he went, he got promoted.
They made him a slave, he got to work,
they put him in charge of the slaves.
They put him in prison, he got to work,
they put him in charge of the prison.
He started working in the kingdom,
they put him up at the top.
The only person more powerful than him was Pharaoh.
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Mordecai, Esther,
everywhere in the Old Testament, you see,
God's people working in a secular environment,
they get promoted, why?
Because we should work as unto the Lord.
We should not be lazy, we should work hard.
A lazy person does not get promoted,
but hard working people do.
And look, I'm just telling you,
if you want to get promoted in your job, stop being lazy.
Genesis 47, look at verse six.
It's interesting because here, Joseph is speaking to Pharaoh.
His family has moved into Egypt.
Notice Genesis 47, verse six.
The land of Egypt is before thee, in the best of the land.
This is Pharaoh speaking to Joseph.
He says, in the best of the land,
make thy father and brethren to dwell.
In the land of Goshen, let them dwell.
Pharaoh, who's obviously, I'm not saying,
obviously, not a saved guy here, maybe even a reprobate,
but this guy must have been a hardworking guy.
He's the Pharaoh of the leading power
of the world at that day,
speaking to Joseph, his second in command,
and he makes this request.
And if thou knowest any, I love these words.
Every young man ought to underline these words.
If thou knowest any, underline these three words,
man of activity.
If thou knowest any men of activity among them,
then make them rulers over my cattle.
He said, find me men of activity and put them in charge.
Say, what does that mean, men of activities?
It means they're proactive.
It means they take the initiative.
It means they're diligent, they're hard workers,
they're busy.
You're not sitting around saying,
well, I don't know what to do, tell me what to do.
You don't promote the guy who always
has to be told what to do.
Remember point number one?
If you have to be supervised all the time, you're lazy.
A lazy person does not get promoted.
But we as God's people, we should be diligent,
and the diligent shall bear rule.
Go to Proverbs 24, Proverbs 24.
Let me give you point number nine.
A lazy person does not take care of things.
This goes back to the idea that they don't value things
because they don't work for things.
Proverbs 24, look at verse 30.
Proverbs 24, 30.
Notice what the Proverb says.
Solomon says, 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.
Here, Solomon tells us that he went by the field
of the slothful, the lazy man.
He went to his house and he looked into his backyard,
he looked into his field, and he says,
it was all grown over with thorns
and nettles had covered the face thereof
and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
You know a lazy person does not take care of things?
Let me help some of you single people.
And I'm not telling you to do this.
I mean, I would do this and I'm gonna do this for my kids.
You know when my boys start dating
or my girls start dating when they're 35?
You know, one of the things I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna talk to mom and dad of potential suitor
and I'm gonna say, what's their room look like?
What's their car look like?
I might show up at their workplace
and just kind of look at, what does their desk look like?
I'm just telling you, lazy people are dirty people.
They're not tidy, they don't take care of things.
Everything around them is a mess.
There's only one word for that is laziness.
In fact, diligent people oftentimes
can't get to work in messy environments.
Sometimes they have to clean things around them
just to be able to think clearly.
But the Bible here says a lazy person
does not take care of things.
I went by the field of the slothful,
by the vineyard of the man void of understanding and love.
It was all grown over with thorns
and nettles had covered the face thereof
and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Sometimes we're driving through poor neighborhoods
or ghetto neighborhoods and unfortunately,
it seems like you only see this in the ghetto neighborhoods.
It irritates, it frustrates me.
I'm driving, somebody's in front of me
and you just see them throw some piece of trash
out the window, some empty cop or some whatever
and you know, every time that happens,
I just think to myself, that's a lazy person.
They're so lazy, they can't even just
take their own trash to a trash can.
They lack so much discipline that they think
that they can just throw trash on the floor
and someone will pick it up.
But by the way, this is why you go down ghetto areas
and they all have trash everywhere.
Because a bunch of lazy people live there.
And you know what, everybody's house in your neighborhood,
and I'm all for living in ghetto places,
I live in ghetto places.
Let everybody's house look like trash
but you pick up your place.
Keep your place nice.
We don't really have the Taj Mahal here.
We don't have church in the nicest part of the neighborhood
but you know what, let that place look like a mess,
let that place look like a mess
and let Verity Baptist Church look good.
Because we work hard around here
and we value what we have and we want to take care of it.
Don't be this person that does not take care of things.
That doesn't value things.
It just destroys things.
And look, I understand, we have things to use them.
You can take it to an extreme as well
where you want your house to be some museum or something.
Look, you purchase things, tools to use them,
get the use out of them but also care for them.
Don't destroy them.
Number 10, go to Proverbs chapter six where we started.
I said number one tonight,
a lazy person has to be supervised.
Number two, a lazy person does not prepare for the future.
Number three, a lazy person sleeps a lot.
Number four, a lazy person cannot be counted on.
Number five, a lazy person is wasteful.
Number six, a lazy person always has an excuse.
Number seven, a lazy person does not have ambition.
Number eight, a lazy person does not get promoted.
Number nine, a lazy person does not take care of things.
Number 10, a lazy person will be poor.
Now, not all poor people are lazy
but all lazy people are poor.
Proverbs six, verse nine.
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep.
Notice these words.
So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth
and thy want as an armed man.
When you're lazy, your poverty is gonna travel with you.
They've done studies of these poor people
that win the lottery get millions of dollars
and within years they're poor again, broke.
Why?
Because it's not about the opportunity.
It's not about the things you have.
It's about your character.
Proverbs 20, look at verse 13.
Proverbs 20, verse 13.
Proverbs 20, verse 13 says,
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty.
Open thine eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
Proverbs 19, verse 15.
Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep
and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
You know how a lazy person will be poor?
A lazy person will not succeed in life.
You come down to Verity Baptist Church
on a Saturday morning.
Come down here around 930, 945, 10 a.m.
By the grace of God, you'll see this auditorium
filled with 100, 110, 120 people.
And you know what you'll find it filled with?
You won't find it filled with the people that have no jobs.
You'd think it'd be filled with people
that had no jobs and had nothing to do.
You'd think they'd wanna get out of the house
and just go soul winning on a Saturday.
But that's not what you'll find.
You know what you'll find?
If you went through here on a Saturday morning
and interviewed some of the men and women
that show up for soul winning, you know what you'll find?
Men who got up every day and worked eight hours,
10 hours, 12 hours, Monday and Tuesday
and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday
and they showed up for soul winning on Saturday.
Women who were busy about the work of the home
all week long raising their children
and they showed up to soul winning on Saturday.
You say, why is that?
Because the workers are the ones that work for the Lord.
So don't be lazy.
Ask yourself.
Look at these 10 areas and ask yourself, am I lazy?
Maybe you're not lazy in all these areas
but you're lazy in some of these things,
you oughta get to work on that.
Maybe your kids are struggling with some of these things,
you oughta get to work on that.
We oughta be working people
because it is the working people that God chooses
to do the work of the Lord.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for the Bible.
Thank you for these passages on laziness
and Lord, I pray that you would help us
to not be undisciplined people.
Help us to be people who live disciplined lives.
Help us to work hard, not be lazy.
And Lord, in the areas where we're lazy,
in the areas where we are struggling,
I pray you'd help us to get to work on that,
to break those habits and to begin to make them better.
And Lord, I do thank you for a church
filled with working men and women.
I think it can truly be said of Verity Baptist Church,
this is a working church.
And Lord, we thank you for it.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray, amen.