["Pomp and Circumstance"]
you
Good morning and welcome. Let's turn in our song books to song 449
449
Find your seats take your songbook song number 449
Dwelling in Ula land 449 on the first
On the second
449 on the second
449 on the third
449 on the second
449 on the first
449 on the second
Turn your Bibles to Genesis
39
Genesis 39
If you do not have a Bible, raise your hand
and an usher will bring you one
Genesis 39
We will read the entire
chapter as is our custom
Genesis 39
Just keep your hands up
and an usher will bring you a Bible
Genesis 39
the Bible reads
And Joseph was brought down to Egypt
and Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh
captain of the guard
and Egyptian, bought him of the hands
of the Ishmaelites which had brought him
down thither. And the Lord was
with Joseph and he was a prosperous
man and he was in the house of his master
the Egyptian. And his master
saw that the Lord was with him
and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper
in his hand. And Joseph found
grace in his sight and he served him
and he made him overseer of his house
and all that he had put into
his hand. And it came to pass
from the time that he had made him overseer
in his house and over all that he had
that the Lord blessed the Egyptians
house for Joseph's sake and the
blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the
house and in the field.
And he left all that he had in Joseph's
hand and he knew not ought
he had save the bread which he did eat
and Joseph was a goodly person
and well favored.
And it came to pass after these things
that his master's wife cast her eyes
upon Joseph and she said
lie with me. But he refused
and said unto his master's wife
behold my master what if
not what is with me in the house and
he hath committed all that he hath to my hand
there is none greater in this
house than I neither hath he kept
back anything from me but thee
because thou art his wife
how then can I do this great wickedness
and sin against God.
And it came to pass as she spake to
Joseph day by day that he
darkened not unto her to lie by
her or to be with her.
And it came to pass about this time
that Joseph went into the house to do his business
and there was none of the men of the house
there would and she caught him
by his garment saying lie
with me and he left his garment in her hand
and fled and got him out.
And it came to pass when
she saw that he had left his garment in her hand
and was fled forth
that she called unto the men of her house
and spake unto them saying see
he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us
he came in unto me to lie with me
and I cried with a loud voice
and it came to pass when he heard
that I lifted up my voice and cried
that he left his garment with me and fled
and got him out.
And she laid up his garment by her until
his Lord came home and she spake
unto him according to these words
saying the Hebrew servant
which thou has brought unto us came in
unto me to mock me and it came to pass
as I lifted up my voice and cried
that he left his garment with me and fled out
and it came to pass
when his master heard the words of his wife
which he spake unto him saying
after this manner did thy servant to me
that his wrath was kindled
and Joseph's master took him
and put him in the prison a place
where the king's prisoners were bound
and he was there in the prison.
But the Lord was with Joseph
and showed him mercy and gave him favor
in the sight of the keeper of the prison
and the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand
all the prisoners that were in the prison
and whatsoever they did there
he was the doer of it.
The keeper of the prison looked not to anything
that was under his hand because the Lord was with him
and that which he did
the Lord made it to prosper.
Let's pray.
Lord God Almighty thank you for this day.
Thank you for this opportunity to come together.
Please bless pastor and the message.
Please let it bring glory and honor to you.
In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
Amen.
Alright.
Well we're there in Genesis chapter 39
and this morning we're taking a break
from our Wilderness Wandering Sermon Series.
We are going through a sermon series
going through the book of Numbers
but today of course is our Worker Appreciation Sunday
and I want to take this opportunity
to preach on the subject of work
and work is something the Bible talks a lot about
and let me just begin by giving you a definition
for the word work.
Work is a word that is used in the Bible
and it's a word that is used in the Bible
for recognition for the word work.
Work is defined as
the activity involving mental
or physical effort done in order to
achieve a purpose
or result
and I want to preach on the subject of work
this morning
and there's a character in the Bible
that whenever I read
through his story it always
jumps out to me
of how great of a worker
he was, an excellent worker
in the Bible and that is
the character of Joseph
and let me just say this, one of these days I'm going to preach a whole series
on the subject of work
because you find a theme in the Bible
and I'm not going to touch on this this morning
but you find a theme in the Bible where God's
people are always the best workers
in wherever they find themselves
and we'll see that this morning with Joseph
but we'll also see it with Jacob
his father, but you see it with Daniel
you see it with Shadrach, Meshach, with Bendigo
you see it with Mordecai, you see it with Esther
and it's about the Bible that wherever God's people are
they always are the best workers
and they rise in authority
and that should be the way it is
there should be no one that works harder at your job
than you do
because you're a Bible believing Christian
that's how it should be
but something that I've learned over the years
and it is this
that some people just don't know how to work
and unfortunately some people were not
maybe I don't know what it is
they weren't raised in homes where
there were fathers that made them work
or taught them how to work
and some people just don't know how to work
but the Bible can teach you everything you need to know
about anything and I want to teach you
this morning on the subject of work
I want to teach you from the Bible how to work
and I'd like us to learn some principles
from the life of Joseph
some principles or characteristics on the subject of work
and I would encourage you to take notes
on the back of your course to wait
there's a place for you to write down some things
the Bible says here in Genesis 39
I want you to look at verse number 1
the Bible says that Joseph was brought down to Egypt
now I'm not going to take the time to go through the whole life of Joseph
this morning but if you remember Joseph
was a 17 year old young man
and because of envy
his brothers sold him into slavery
and we are looking at the story here
when he shows up to Egypt
he's been sold into slavery
the Bible says that Joseph was brought down to Egypt
and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh
captain of the guard
an Egyptian bought him
out of the hands of the Ishmaelites
which had brought him down hither
and the Lord was with Joseph
I love that little phrase
you find it throughout the life of Joseph
the Lord was with Joseph
I hope it can be said of me and I hope it can be said of you
that the Lord is with us
the Bible says here the Lord was with Joseph
and he was a prosperous man
and he was in the house of his master
the Egyptian
and his master saw that the Lord was with him
and that the Lord made all that he did
in his hand
and Joseph found grace in his sight
and he served him
and he made him overseer over his house
I want you to notice this little phrase there in verse number 4
the Bible says
that he made him overseer over his house
and all that he had
he put into his hand
and it came to pass
from the time that he made him overseer
in the house
and over all that he had
that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house
and the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had
in the house and in the field
notice verse 6
and he left all that he had in Joseph's hands
and notice this little phrase
and he knew not ought
he had
saved the bread which he did eat
and Joseph was a goodly person
and well favored
we see here that Joseph is sold into slavery
and the Bible tells us that he
served his master Potiphar
and the Bible tells us that
there in verse 6
that he, Potiphar, and he left all that he had in Joseph's hands
and he knew not ought
he had
and what the Bible is saying here is that
Potiphar pretty much let Joseph
run everything
to the point where Potiphar himself
didn't even check in on
what Joseph was doing
or how things were being ran because Joseph
was so trustworthy and such a good worker
that the Bible says that Potiphar himself
though he was the master of the house
the Bible says that he knew not ought
the word ought means there
he knew not anything he had
saved the bread which he did eat
if you would have asked him
how much money do you have in the account
if you would have asked him how's business going
if you would have asked him about the cattle
or whatever it is
the investments that he had
he would have said I don't know
Joseph runs that all for me
and I don't even know
save the bread which he did eat
but he trusted Joseph
because Joseph was such a great
and a hard worker
and here we see the first point
that I want to highlight for you
because like I said a lot of people just don't know how to work hard
or they don't know what it means to work hard
and maybe you are a hard worker
maybe you're not
and maybe this morning you can kind of
identify in yourself and ask yourself
am I a hard worker
am I a Joseph
am I hard
and let me give you several things
characteristics regarding work and maybe you can write these down
number one I'd like to say this
hard workers push themselves
and here's what I mean by that
and when I emphasize this idea
of push themselves
they push themselves meaning
they don't need someone else
to push them
here's another way that we could say it
a hard worker doesn't need to be supervised
because Joseph didn't need to be supervised
the Bible says that he left all that he had
in Joseph's hand and he knew not
ought he had
he left everything in the power of Joseph
and Potiphar just went about his way
went about his day and he didn't have to
supervise Joseph
he didn't have to micromanage Joseph
he didn't have to check in constantly on Joseph
and the reason for that is because Joseph
was a hard worker and hard workers
push themselves
hard workers don't have to be
supervised they don't have to be told
what to do they don't have to be constantly
checked in on and held
accountable a hard worker
doesn't require someone else to
push them but they push themselves
I'd like you to keep your place there in Genesis
that's our text for this morning but if you would
go with me to the book of Proverbs keep your place in Genesis
and go with me to the book of Proverbs
if you open your Bible just right in the center
you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms
right after Psalms you have the book of Proverbs
Proverbs chapter number six
and you know this sermon is important for all of us
because of the fact that God has called all of us to work
the Bible is very clear about the fact that
men were created to work
men are supposed to work
but it's not just men of course women
are created to work as well
and obviously we don't believe that women should go off
into the workplace if you're a wife
and a mother then the Bible teaches that you should
be a keeper at home
but even at home you should be a hard worker
if you read Proverbs 31
about the virtuous woman
she was sitting around at home
watching soap operas all day
she was a hard worker
she was working hard
and one of the characteristics of being a hard worker
is that they push themselves
they don't need to be pushed
they don't need to be pulled
they don't need someone to be watching over them
at every moment
they are self starters
they are people that are going to just work
whether the boss is there or not
whether the boss is watching or not
whether mom and dad are watching or not
whether your husband is watching or not
they're going to push themselves to work
are you there in Proverbs 6?
look at verse number 6
Proverbs chapter 6 and verse 6
the Bible says this
go to the ant thou sluggard
now the Bible talks a lot about hard work
and it also talks about lazy people
and here we have a verse
giving some advice
to a lazy person
a sluggard is someone who is lazy
they're being
represented here by an animal
by an insect
by a slug
and of course when we think of a slug
we think of someone that's not moving very fast
someone that's not getting a lot done
and here God is using this
to describe an individual
he says go to the ant thou sluggard
consider her ways and be wise
so he's using the ant and then he's using a slug
and he's trying to say which one are you
are you an ant or a slug?
and then notice what he says about the ant
he says which having no guide
overseer
or ruler
provideeth her meat in the summer
and gathereth her food in the harvest
the Bible says that one of the things
about an ant, a working ant
think about the working ant
is used as an example here of a hard worker
one of the things about a hard worker
is that like an ant
they provide for her meat in the summer
they gather her food in the harvest
but they have no guide overseer
or ruler
there's nobody that is telling these little ants
working all summer long
that you have to get to work
you have to go to work
they push themselves
they realize that they have to work through the summer
and they have to work through the harvest
if they're going to survive the winter
and we see this as a characteristic of
a hard worker
they push themselves
keep your place there in Proverbs
go back to the book of Genesis
keep your place in both Genesis and Proverbs
if you would, we're going to go back and forth between those two books
let's begin there and ask yourself
are you the type of person
that can work without being supervised
that is a self-starter
that is going to continue
if you work a job
in a secular job, ask yourself
do you work as hard
when the boss is not there
as to when the boss is there
when you're being watched
and when you're not being watched
and you know
this is probably the
if you want to just say, I don't know
am I a hard worker?
what's the litmus test for knowing if you're a hard worker
here's the litmus test
do you have to be supervised?
do you have to be micromanaged?
does somebody have to be constantly saying
you need to be doing this, you need to be doing this right now
this is taking too long
work harder, do you need that
or are you the type of person that just gets in there
and gets things done
now let me just say a couple of things
about pushing yourself
and self-supervision
obviously all of us
should work towards
pushing ourselves
and being
self-starters
but you know, one place
where this is extremely important
is for people that are
business owners
or people that are self-employed
and you know, over the years
I have always highly recommended
that men start their own businesses
or work for themselves
and that's something that I've recommended a lot
I've preached a lot about it
and when guys come to me and they're like
I'm struggling in this, I always say
we live in the United States of America
you can make money
and I highly recommend it
and I think that's one of the reasons our church
has a very high above average number
of self-employed
and business people
sometimes I talk to other pastors that have similar sized
churches and they'll ask me
or we might be talking about the subject
and I'll start counting
you know, how many business owners we have
and I don't remember what the number is, last time I counted
I think we had like 12 or 13
business owners or self-employed people
and other churches that are running 200, 250
they're like, I have two
you know, so for some odd reason
I have a lot of them here
and I think maybe I attract business owners
and praise God for that
or maybe it's just the fact that I preach about it
and recommend it a lot
but you know, let me say this
because I have recommended it over the years
and I continue to recommend it
but one thing that I have also kind of become aware of
over the years is this
that you're not going to make it
working for yourself
or being a business owner
if you can't drag yourself out of bed
and work hard all day long
and you know
and look, let me just say this
and I'm not trying to beat up on you or whatever
but some people
don't need to be business owners
some people just need to work for someone
and there's nothing wrong with that
because some people just need somebody
to tell them, no, you're going to be here at 8am
you're going to work till 5, you're going to take lunch at 12
you know, so
I do advise
that people, especially men
start your own business, work for yourself
all those things, but you also need to be honest with yourself
and ask yourself, can you get yourself
out of bed?
Can you get up early and work all day long?
And if you're not able to
supervise yourself, look, if you just know
I'm not going to be able to do that
then maybe you should just work hard
somewhere else, but when you do work hard
somewhere else, continue to be someone
that doesn't have to be micromanaged
and supervised
because it's not for everyone
and honestly, often times when people
become self-employed
when they become business owners
and then they struggle
9 times out of 10
it's, you're sleeping in
you're not working hard all day
you're sitting around
and then, yeah, how are you going to expect
to succeed in life if you're not
working hard? So here's the thing
start businesses, be self-employed
you live in the United States of America
you can make money, but if you know
that you're not a self-starter
then go work somewhere and work hard
and obviously in life
we need to just be the type of people that aren't being
micromanaged and watched all the time
and we're going to work hard, but you do need to realize
that it's not for everyone, and look, I have to learn
this the hard way, when I became a full-time
pastor, you know, I went from working
a full-time job and I went to become
a full-time pastor and though I'm not a
business owner, I started a church
you know, no one tells me when to get up
no one tells me
when to
when to do anything
I mean, you know, I work for the church, but
my boss is God
but God doesn't have me
fill out a timesheet, you know what I mean
and look, my wife and I got up
at 6 AM this morning
nobody made us get up at 6 AM
there's no boss telling me
you know, get up
and get to work
and some people can do that and some people
cannot, and you just have to be honest with yourself
and if you're struggling
then
don't go out and
start some business and then sleep till
noon all day, because that's not going to work out well for you
but even at work though
make sure that you're working hard
even if you're not being watched
and making sure that you
are doing the things
that you need to do, so you've got to be
honest with yourself, because a hard worker pushes
themselves, they're not being
pushed by, and look, I've got
three full time employees
you know, I'm telling them
you know, you've got to do this, you've got to do that
or whatever, but I
have to be able to, I need to be working
all day long too, to justify
me telling them to work
and do those things, so number one
hard workers push themselves
let me give you another characteristic
go to Genesis 39, look at verse
20, Genesis 39 and
verse 20, the Bible
says this, and Joseph's master took him
and put him into
the prison, and again I'm not preaching on the
life of Joseph, the life of Joseph is
extremely interesting and very complicated
but if you're not familiar
with the life of Joseph, you should know this
that he of course gets sold into slavery
and then he does a great
job as a slave
he works hard as a slave
we already saw it, Potiphar
just makes him, you know
the lord of the house pretty much
and doesn't supervise him
but of course Potiphar's wife
lies about him and gets
Joseph thrown into prison
so then we see that Joseph
is thrown into prison, notice
here, Genesis 39 verse 20
and Joseph's master, that's Potiphar, took him
and put him into the prison, this is of course
after Potiphar's wife falsely
accused him, a place where the king's prisoners
were bound, and he was there in the prison
notice again the phrase
but the lord was with Joseph
but the lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy
and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison
look at verse 22
and the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand
all the prisoners that were in the prison
and whatsoever they did there
I love this little phrase, you ought to underline this phrase
in your Bible, especially if you love
work and want to be a hard worker
I love this little phrase
that is said of Joseph and I hope that this
can be said of me and I hope it can be said of you
the Bible says there, whatsoever
they did there, he was the
doer of it
and you know another thing that we can learn
from the life of Joseph is not just
number one, hard workers push themselves
but number two, hard workers
produce value
hard workers produce
because they push themselves
they also produce, they are
producers, they are productive
notice here, and look
this for sure is telling you
that Joseph wasn't lazy, he's in prison
and he's still working hard
he's in prison
and he's working hard
and the Bible says
whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it
can that be said of you
at your job?
whatsoever they did there
so and so is the doer of it
hey, can that be said of you at Verity Baptist Church?
and whatsoever they did there
he was the doer of it
he was productive, he produced
he was a productive
individual, so we see that
hard workers not only do they push themselves
but hard workers also
produce, they are productive
they are producers, they
produce value
you're there in Genesis 39, flip back to
Genesis chapter 30
when it comes to the subject of work
in the Bible, one of my favorite characters
is Joseph, that's the one we're looking
at this morning
and there are other characters that we can also learn from
like I already stated, Mordecai
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach
Abednego, all these individuals are
individuals that we can exemplify
them at the workplace
but honestly for me personally
probably my favorite
character in the Bible that exemplifies
hard work is Jacob
now Jacob, I'm not preaching
about Jacob, but I do want to just give you
some verses just because it's in the same book of Genesis
and of course it's interesting to me that
Jacob is Joseph's father
and Joseph ended up being a very
hard worker and Jacob
the Bible also tells us that he was
a very hard worker, but I want you to notice how
Jacob produced value
for his boss, Genesis 30
and verse 29, notice this, the Bible says
this, and he, this was Jacob
again another great worker in the Bible
he said unto him, this is Jacob
speaking to Laban, Laban is his
boss, he's also his father-in-law
and his uncle, but in this
context they're talking about work
he said unto Laban, thou
knowest how I have served
thee and how
thy cattle was with me
notice verse 30, for
it was little which thou
hath before I came
and it is now
increased unto a multitude
and the Lord has blessed thee
since my coming and now when shall I
provide for mine own house also
and I want you to notice here that what we're looking
at is Jacob is really putting in his resignation
to Laban and he's saying
I'm gonna go work for myself now
but I want you to notice one of the reasons, and Laban is not
happy with it, but one of the things that
Jacob says, and Laban agrees with him
and I'm not gonna probably get to it this morning but we might
talk about it later, and
Laban is pretty much gonna tell Jacob
you know
tell me what I gotta pay you to
keep you here, but I want
you to notice, so Laban agrees
with what Jacob is saying, and here's
what Jacob says, it was little
when thou had, verse 30
for it was little which thou had before
I came and it is now increased
unto a multitude. What is Jacob
saying? Jacob is saying I have produced
for you. I have
produced value. When you hired
me, you had a small amount of flocks
and because of my work and because of my
labor, it has now increased
unto a multitude. I want you to notice
that hard workers, not only do they
push themselves, but hard workers
also produce
value. They produce
and they are productive
and that's what makes them hard workers
so you need to ask yourself, what do you
produce on a regular basis?
What are you producing?
What are you doing? What
are you accomplishing? Because that's
what will determine whether
you are a hard worker
or not. Go to Genesis
49. Genesis 49.
While you turn there, let me just give you
a little story.
My sons
I've got two teen boys
and several years ago
they started working with their uncle
Brother Jose Cruz. Of course he's a member
here. Brother Jose has a very
successful landscaping
business. My boys don't really work with him
anymore because they started their own flyer
delivery business and they've got more
work now than they can even do
so I don't know what they're going to do.
They're going to have to hire someone I guess.
They're just teen boys. It's just a little business they run
as teenagers but
the Lord is blessing them.
Before they started that
flyer delivery business they would
go work with Jose.
Of course Jose would have them come do
manual labor and when they were doing clean
outs or they were doing landscaping or whatever
and
when I would drive my sons to the workplace,
this was kind of the first time that they were going to go work somewhere
else, you know, somewhere away from me.
I would always, every time I drove
them there I would kind of give them the same advice
and I'd just remind them of the same
things because I wanted to make sure that they were
going to work hard and obviously they work
hard for us at home or whatever but I just
wanted to make sure that they were ready to go work
and so this is the advice
I gave them. So I want to give you this advice
for all the young men out there.
You should listen up because this is good advice
for you but honestly even for the not so young
men out there this might be some good advice for you, okay.
Now you might think like, oh you're just a
pastor, you're just a dad and you
know you're going to give us this little quaint
advice. Let me just say this, okay.
I gave my sons this advice
and after several days of them
working with Jose because Jose has like
employees that are you know just normal
guys that are not related to us that are just
you know employees that he hired.
One day I was dropping off my
boys there and one of his workers
who I didn't really know him,
I mean I'd seen him around obviously because I've been around Jose
but I didn't really know him.
He's not a church member, he's not a family member.
He came up to me and he said, hey
you know I just want to tell you that
your sons work harder than most grown men
I know. And
again if Jose had said stuff
like that in the past but I just kind of thought like
oh well you know he's just being nice, obviously he's their
uncle but this guy is just some regular
worker. He had no reason to
walk up to me and say that and he was just
like, hey I just want to tell you you're doing something right with your sons
because they work harder than most grown men I know and I'm
only saying that to say this because
they follow this advice.
So I told my sons this is what you need to do
and then just some grown man
that's not a family, that's not
a church member you know because I get it if it's
like a church member saying hey you know your sons
but it's just some guy that works for Jose
walks up to me and says you should know
your sons work harder than most grown men I know
here's the advice that I gave them and here's the advice
that they followed and maybe you know
some of you men need to learn how to work.
So let me help you out with this. This is what I told my
sons as I would drive them to work
these are the things I would tell them.
You need to, and I've said this before, you've probably
heard me say this before, I would coach
them. You need to work as fast as possible
and as slow as needed.
You need to work as fast as possible
and as slow as needed and I would explain to them
here's what I mean by that. As fast as possible
while still paying attention
to detail and
making sure things look good.
Okay and look I'm telling
you at work or whatever area you find
yourself in you need to work as fast
as possible and as slow as needed
because I've found with workers
there's these two extremes. There's people that
go really fast
but then it's all a mess
and that doesn't really help anything because look it doesn't
really help anything when you're going
really fast and then someone has to
go behind you and fix it all.
That didn't help anything.
That doesn't do anything.
And then there's other people that
you know it looks real nice
but you know
by the time you finish you know the job
we were all dead.
The job
don't even finish the
they died. We're selling the house
now okay they're dead.
So there's people like
I'm a hard worker but it's like yeah
but it looks like garbage
and then there's people that are like oh
this is going to look so great but it's like well you know
well your boss is dead
you don't have a job anymore. So
at work you need to work as
fast as possible
and as slow
as needed and let me tell you something
bosses would rather and look I'm a boss
I have employees.
Bosses would rather you take your time to
do it right the first time.
But they also don't want you taking longer
than you need to.
So you need to work as fast as possible
and as slow as needed.
As fast as possible while still
paying attention to detail while still
making sure that things look good while
still not being sloppy while still
making sure it looks nice.
Here's the other thing I would advise them.
Do whatever your boss tells you to do
and never
make your boss tell you to do
something more than once.
Look I'm a boss. I have three full time
employees. I'm telling you
nothing irritates a boss more
than having to tell you to do the same thing
more than once.
And you should just make it a rule in life
that if your boss tells you
you know I don't like this
I don't want it done this way
that he should never have to say that to you again.
Just look you want
the favor of God upon your life
with your boss
make him never have to repeat himself to you.
Do whatever your boss tells you to do
and never make your boss tell you to do
something more than once or make you
have to remind you hey we've talked about
this that is something that's going to
irritate them. Here's another piece of advice
that I gave my sons. And look again
you can say oh advice you give your sons but
I had a grown man tell me
your sons are really good workers you know.
So and look
so they better you know they're
here now so now I'm putting pressure
on them they're going to work real hard at those work days.
You know let me say this too
some of the best workers we've had at these work days
have been these teen boys not just my sons all the teen
boys. I've been very impressed with
the teenage boys in our church that they're
good workers they're hard workers they like to talk
a lot but they're good workers talk a lot of
baseball.
I don't care if they talk a lot as long as they're working. Number three
here's the other advice I gave them
and then look this might help you at work I don't know.
Here's
what I told them do what your boss tells you to do
and if no
one is directing you let's say
your boss because they're doing landscaping
I told them do whatever
Jose tells you to do or whoever's in charge
whatever they tell you to do.
But if no one's directing you and
they can't direct you I told them like let's say for example
Jose's on the phone
or the guy that's running the crews on the phone
maybe he's talking to another
employee or he's talking to
one of the clients and so
they can't direct you. You know do what
they tell you to do but let's say they haven't
told you to do anything or you're done doing
what you were told to do and they're on the phone
or they're preoccupied
where they can't give you another direction
then do what the boss is
doing. So if
he's on the phone you know he
told you do x y and z you did x y and z
you're done he's on the phone he can't
give you another direction but he's
picking stuff up as he's talking you start picking
stuff up while he's talking.
So do what he tells you to do
when he's done directing
if he can't direct you do whatever he's
doing if he's not around
do whatever other employees are doing
and if no one is doing anything
then just find something to clean
or pick up or organize
and here's what I told my sons is
be busy the whole time you're working.
Only take breaks
when it's the designated time to take
break to take lunch or whatever but don't
just and I told them never
never stand there with your hand
in your pocket. That's one thing
I cannot stand
is watching people working
with their hand in their pocket. How are you
working with your hand in your pocket?
So look the point
is this do what your boss tells you to do if he
can't direct you let's say he's busy he's on the phone
do what your boss is doing or what he
was doing before he got on the phone
if
if that's not a possibility
do what other employees are doing
and if that's not a possibility then just
start picking stuff up start cleaning stuff
start organizing stuff start putting back
tools back in the truck
just keep busy and here's what I'm telling you
that's just the advice I'm just I mean
this wasn't like a sermon outline I'm just driving down the road
with my sons and I'm telling them now listen guys
you get to work you know I'm telling these things
and then a grown man walks up to me a couple
days later says your sons work harder than
most grown men I know
and I thought to myself I should probably teach this to grown men
work as fast as possible and as slow as needed
do whatever your boss tells you
to do and don't make him repeat himself
and stay busy at work
do what he tells you to do if he's not
directing you do what he was doing
or what he is doing if
that's not possible then just clean something
and look this attitude that says
my position doesn't
just pick up a stinking broom and sweep
right no one is above that you're not
above that
just clean just organize
just stay busy just push the ball
forward just be productive
because hard workers
not only push themselves and by the way these all
go together a hard worker doesn't have to sit
there what are you doing I'm waiting to be
told what to do well a hard worker doesn't have to
be told what to do they don't need to be supervised
they find something
to do and they have a plan
I'm going to do what the boss told me to do
and if the boss is gone or done
I'm going to find something else to do I'm going to do what the
boss was doing before he got on the phone or what the
boss is doing while he's on the phone
or what the other employees are doing or if there's
nothing to do I'm just going to start picking up tools
cleaning up tools putting them away
organizing the truck do whatever
but stay busy
you say why are you preaching
this because some of you didn't have parents to teach you these things
I'm thankful that I had
a dad that made us work you know for me
my favorite days off
the holidays
were the days off that
my dad didn't get off
you know what I mean
I don't know if you understand what I'm saying
like when we had president's day
off of school and he still went
to work that was a good day
Christmas, Thanksgiving
not so much because he was also off
and when he was off
that meant nobody was off
because if my dad was home we weren't just
sitting around in our pajamas until noon
he was always finding stuff
for us to do always finding things for us to do
we were doing a bunch of dry walling at the building
this week
and it was just reminding me of my youth
because I remember my dad
we lived in the bay area and we were
doing this work in our garage and kind of turning
the garage into a
room that we could use and things like
that and I remember him we'd get
up at five in the morning and he would go off to work
and my brother and I he would give us instructions
and he would say okay today I want you guys
to dry wall this and I want you guys to do this
and he taught us how to cut the sheet rock and how to measure it
or whatever and it was just reminding me
of my youth except
nobody was yelling at me you know
but hard
workers push themselves
and hard workers produce
value go to Genesis 49
let me give you a third one
I don't know if that will help you
but just find some version of that
at your job
work as fast
as possible and as slow as needed
do whatever the boss tells you to do and don't make him
repeat himself do what the boss
tells you to do and when you're done with that
if nobody's telling you what to do
find something to do do what the boss is doing
while he's on the phone or while he's away
what he was doing what other employees are doing
and you can always find something to clean
you can always find something to organize you can always
find something to pick up you can always find something
to put away so hard workers
push themselves hard workers
produce value let me give you a third one
Genesis 49
now in Genesis 49 we have Jacob
who's now an old man
and he's literally on his
deathbed and he's
going through each one of his sons and he's kind of
giving them these last words right before he dies
and to be honest with you for a lot
of them he says a lot of mean things
because they were just kind of a bad crew
but I want you to notice what Jacob
says about
Joseph on his deathbed
Genesis 49 verse 22
the Bible says this is what Jacob said
Joseph is
a fruitful bough
he says Joseph is fruitful that goes with the idea
that he was productive he produced
even a fruitful bough
by a well
here's the phrase I want you to notice there in verse 22
whose branches
run over the wall
Jacob said
about his son Joseph
that Joseph
was fruitful and that
and he's using this analogy
of a vine
or a plant a tree that has branches
but he says his
branches run over the wall
and I believe what
Jacob is saying here
is that Joseph had overcome
a lot of obstacles
in his life
Joseph had overcome a lot
of difficulty in his life
and here's the third point that I want to give you this morning
and it's this I said number one hard workers pushed
themselves number two hard workers produced value
here's point number three hard workers
persevere through difficulty
hard workers persevere through difficulty
Jacob said about
Joseph that his branches
run over the wall
and again I believe that
is a reference to the fact that he persevered
over obstacles he persevered
through difficulty because if you think about the life of Joseph
he had a lot of obstacles he was
sold into slavery by his own brothers
he was lied about
by his boss's wife
lied about and thrown into prison
while being innocent and falsely accused
he was forgot remember he helped
the butler he was forgotten about
by the butler for two years
and he had all these
bad things that happened in his life
all these walls and obstacles that
happened in his life but you know Joseph
he was just fruitful and his branches
every time he came up against the wall
his branches just went over the wall
he overcame and he
persevered through
the difficulty go to Proverbs the book of Proverbs
keep your place there in Genesis go back to Proverbs
if you kept your place in Proverbs
Proverbs 15
you know let me say this lazy people
give up when things get hard
that is a characteristic
of laziness
we think
of lazy as people who don't even start
which is true right that's point number
one hard workers are self starters
you're definitely lazy if you can't even
start but the Bible
also says that laziness
is when you start something and then it gets
hard and then so you then you quit
Proverbs 15 verse 19
Proverbs 15
and verse 19 the Bible says the way
of the slothful man
remember sluggard
now we're using sloth
same thing with a sloth and a
sluggard they move very slow
sloths are animals I should have looked
it up but I think they sleep like 20 hours
a day
the way of the slothful
man notice what the Bible says
is an hedge of thorns
what is the Bible saying here
a hedge of thorns is like
a barrier like a wall
a plant wall
but it's got thorns you can't overcome it
here's what the Bible says for a lazy person
everything is hard
for a lazy person everything is difficult
for a lazy person
you know just the way
like the road you're supposed to walk
it's like every road they go down
it's like there's just a hedge of thorns
across them the way of the slothful man
is a hedge of thorns but
the way of the righteous is made
plain
now the Bible isn't saying here that
righteous people get it easy and lazy people get it hard
no what the Bible is saying here is that
for lazy people everything is hard
it's difficult
go to Proverbs 20 look at verse 4
Proverbs 20 and verse 4
the Bible says this
the sluggard will not plow
by reason of the cold
it's just too hard
it's too cold
it's too difficult
it's too early
it's raining
the sluggard
will not plow by reason of the cold
therefore shall he
beg and harvest and have nothing
and look
most people
I'm not going to say all people but most people
that are poor today and have nothing
it's because of laziness
Proverbs 22 look at verse 13
you know
a lazy person
they always have an excuse
and look
don't be that guy who's constantly going to your boss
with some excuse some reason why you can't
you know
your boss is not going to like you
if every time he's like let's do X, Y, and Z
and you're just the guy that's always like well let me give you three reasons why we can't do that
that's laziness
a hard worker
person says
we can do it we can get it done
we can overcome
we can do the work that needs to be done
Proverbs 22 verse 13
the slothful man saith there is a lion without
I shall be slain
in the streets
I think this is literally Solomon being sarcastic
I envisioned
I imagined that some wife
shows up you know
walks up to her husband who's laying on a couch
or laying in bed at
10 in the morning
and she's like why didn't you go to work
and he's like there's a lion out there
there's a lion without it
and I shall be slain in the streets
go to Proverbs 26 look at verse 13
he says it again
Proverbs 26 13 the slothful man saith
there is a lion in the way
a lion is in the streets
what are they saying
they're saying I can't do it because there's a lion in my way
what did David do
he killed the lion
he killed the bear
he killed Goliath
the sluggard will not plow by reason of cold
the slothful man is in the hedge of thorns
and you know lazy people
they give up when things get hard
and often times things get hard
but a hard worker
says I'm going to push through
one thing
that I've learned and I'm thankful for all the men that have showed up
we have tons of great men that have showed up
and I appreciate all of them
we've been working a lot with these contractors
and God bless them
obviously the staff and I
have been
let me tell you something about our staff
these work days they're not there for a shift
they're there from 8am to 9pm
and I'm not paying them overtime
and look
I'm paying you for your work
if the men are showing up after work
to volunteer
then we're going to show up and volunteer as well
and praise the Lord for it
but some of these contractors
are there from 8am to 9pm
and God bless them
one thing that I've learned with these guys
with brother Joel and brother Adam
these guys they just push through
they just
things get hard and things get difficult
and they're just like we're going to figure out how to do this
we're going to figure out a way to get this done
and you know it just shows me
that hard working people figure out ways
to overcome
they are a fruitful branch
that overcomes the wall
and lazy people
and look this is what I can't stand about lazy people
is they'll literally just leave you hanging
like you'll be in the midst
of some big huge project
that's all going bad
it's all going wrong and they're just like
this is too hard I got to go home
and literally you're just going to leave me here?
lazy
that's lazy
but a hard worker says we're going to stick with this thing
we're going to get this thing done
we're going to get it done
lazy people give up when things get hard
but you know hard workers they persevere through
and that's what made Joseph a hard worker
he was fruitful
but one of the ways that he was fruitful
is that he overcame the obstacles
he overcame the walls
go to Genesis 31
this is back to the life of Jacob
and this is something that hard workers realize
that there are going to be seasons
of difficulty in life
obviously there are going to be times
when things right now
for our church for our staff guys
you know for myself
it's a season of difficulty
I mean
we're at the work days from 8 am
to 9 pm
last night on Saturdays
we go soul winning and then from 1 pm
to 9.30 pm or whatever
but look I still got to write sermons
still got to preach
these guys still have work that they got to do
notice what Jacob said
Genesis 31 and verse 38
this twenty years have I been with thee
thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young
and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten
that which was torn of beasts
I brought not unto thee
I bear the loss of it
hand does thou require it
whether stolen by day or stolen by night
thus I was
notice what Jacob says
Jacob says and by the way we're talking about this
because I'm not going to finish this sermon today
so I'm going to preach part one this morning
and I'll preach part two tonight
but Jacob ends up becoming a very wealthy man
by the way all of the people in the Bible
that worked hard ended up being very wealthy
but notice what the Bible says
Genesis 31.40
thus I was in the day the drought consumed me
and the frost by night
and my sleep departed from mine eyes
hard workers realize that sometimes it takes long hours
sometimes it takes long days
and obviously I don't think that anybody should work
twelve, fourteen hours every day of their life
but there's going to be seasons
when you have to work hard
and you have to, look
I have to, this morning
this is not something I normally do on a Sunday morning
I don't like to do this on a Sunday morning
I'd rather spend time
reading the Bible and praying
but this morning I got up
I read the Bible, I had a cup of coffee
and I had to work on my sermon
because it wasn't done
and I had to catch up on some other
just administrative stuff that I needed to get done
by this day
and look, sometimes you just have to realize
that you're going to work late, you're going to work
at different hours, you're going to do different things
and it's just difficult
it's hard
but lazy people will just give up
when things are difficult
don't be that person
hard workers realize that things
are going to get hard
and let me just give you some thoughts
regarding difficulty
of course you need to work through it
look, when things get hard
and this is something that
my wife actually said this to me about labor
and look, my wife is one of the hardest
working people I know
and praise the Lord for her
but I remember, we were talking about this a long time ago
I'm talking about giving birth
because giving birth is a lot of work, it's called labor
for a reason
but one time we were talking about
labor and she was explaining
how some people
make it more difficult
than it has to be because they're trying to
almost run from labor
like they're trying to hide from the pain
or make it stop
and she was just saying that one thing you have to
realize in labor is that
you just
got to embrace it
if you want it to be done, you just got to
work through it and get it done
don't run from work
just get through the work
so you know
and look, I realize that this building we're working on
it's like labor, it's not like women's
labor, I'm not comparing us to that
but it's hard and it's difficult
and right now it seems like when is this thing
going to end and when are we going to find
you know, but we just got to
embrace it and work through it and get it done
we just need to work through it
because life can
be difficult and things
are not going to be easy and if it was
easy, everyone would do it
you understand that?
if it was easy, everyone
would be accomplishing it, everyone would be
getting it done, so hard
workers persevere
hard workers get through
it all and like I said, the Bible teaches so much
on the subject of work, I'm not going to get through it all this morning
I'm going to preach
I'm going to finish this sermon tonight
there's one more point I want to cover this morning
but I am going to finish this tonight
and let me just give you
kind of some of the things we're going to talk about tonight
because I'd like for you to come back tonight
we're going to talk about tonight how hard work
is the secret to financial success
and how the Bible teaches
that hard worker is how you
provide for yourself and how you provide well
for yourself, I'm also going to talk to you about how to get
raised, how to get promoted, we're going to look
at these men in the Bible and see what they
did to succeed in
the workplace and in work in general
so I want you to come back tonight for the rest
of the sermon, but I do want to cover just one
more point before we're done
this morning, go to Genesis 39
I said number one, hard workers push themselves
number two, hard workers produce
value, number three, hard workers
persevere through difficulty, but just let me
give you one last
point here
and it is this, number four
hard workers
prosper, hard
workers prosper, go back to Genesis
39, look at verse
number two again
and the Lord was with Joseph
notice these words
and he
was a prosperous man
who was a prosperous man? Joseph
you say no, he's a slave
yeah, but at the end of the story he's a very
prosperous man
you know why? because he's a hard worker
and the Lord was with Joseph
and he was a prosperous man
and he was in the house of his master
the Egyptian, look at verse three
and his master saw
that the Lord was with
him, so not only
does the Bible tell us that the Lord was with him
but his own master saw
that the Lord was with him and that the Lord
made all that he did to prosper
in his hand
I mean Potiphar's looking at Joseph
and he's saying everything this guy touches
turns to gold
this guy just has the blessing of God
upon his life, look at verse four
and Joseph found grace and his
sight and served him
and he made him overseer
over his house and all that he had
he put into his hand, look at verse five
and it came to pass from the time
that he had made him overseer
in the house and over all that he had
that the Lord blessed
the Egyptian's house for Joseph's
sake
not only is Joseph blessed but
Potiphar is blessed just for hiring Joseph
just for having Joseph work for him
and the blessing of the
Lord was upon all that
he had in the house
and in the field
you know what the Bible teaches?
the Bible teaches that hard workers prosper
that God will make a hard worker prosper
go to Genesis 30
let's look at Jacob, remember Jacob with Laban
Genesis 30 verse 27
remember Jacob is putting in his
resignation to Laban
he's saying I gotta resign
cause you're not paying
cause Laban was cheating him
and notice what the Bible
notice what Laban says, Genesis 30 verse 27
and Laban said unto him Jacob
I pray thee if I found favor in
thine eyes, Terry, he says stay
don't leave
think about that
think about if you quit your job
if you showed up to work on Monday and said hey
I gotta put in my two week resignation
if I say no Terry
or are they gonna say good riddance
praise the Lord
you beat me to it, actually I got a pink slip here for you
and Laban said unto him
I pray thee if I found favor in
thine eyes, Terry, notice what he says
for I have learned by experience
that the Lord had blessed me
for thy sake
you know hard workers they not only
push themselves, they not only produce value
they not only persevere through difficulty
but hard workers, they prosper
the Lord prospers them
go to Proverbs 14
Proverbs chapter 14
look at verse 23
Proverbs 14 and verse 23
notice what the Bible says
in all
labor there is profit
but the talk of the lips tendeth only to punary
the Bible says
in all labor there is profit
you say well yeah if I'm getting paid
no no no, in all labor
you say even free labor
even free labor
you know
the Bible says any time
you work, you say what if I work for church
what if I show up to a work day, what if I do what some of these guys
are doing and I'm there for many hours
and working and I'm not getting paid
well in all labor there is profit
and obviously
we can't pay these guys, we can't pay them
what they're worth, they're worth way too much
for what we can pay them
they're doing it as a work for God
they're doing it as a labor of love
for the Lord, but here's what I know
we can't pay them, but God will
because in all labor
there is profit, I'm talking about everyone
all the men that are showing up and working
and giving up their time, let me tell you something
you might be volunteering and working for free
but you're not working, you're never going to owe God
anything because in all labor there is profit
and God is going to make sure you get paid
now that might be
financially, it might be in other ways
maybe it's your health, maybe it's a relationship
whatever, but God's going to make sure that he
blesses you for the work that you do
because here's what I can promise you
in all labor there is profit
and look, obviously
I've been talking about
today's the work day
work appreciation Sunday, but one of the themes
that we've been having is the work days
go to Numbers if you would
Numbers chapter 32
actually you know what, go to Haggai
go to Numbers as well, I'm going to have you go there
but go to Haggai first
Haggai chapter 1
if you find
if you find the last book
of the Bible
of the Old Testament and Alakai
if you go backwards you have Zechariah then the book of Haggai
Haggai chapter 1
I can't help but talk about the work days
because I don't know if you know this, but the Bible
talks a lot about working at the house of God
not only that, the Bible
talks a lot about work days
like going to
a house and working
the house of God and working on it
there's lots of passages in the Bible about that
let me just show you one
and let me show you how it's connected to the blessing of God
Haggai 1
look at verse 2
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying
this people say
the time has not come
the time that the Lord's
house should be built
he's saying
because Haggai is trying to get them
he's like Pastor Jimenez right now
he's trying to get people to show up to the work days
and help build the house of God
but some people say the time has not come
the time that the Lord's house should be built
then came the word of the Lord
by Haggai the prophet saying
it is time for you
oh ye to dwell
excuse me, he says is it time for you
I want you to notice there's a question
oh ye to dwell in your sealed
houses and this
house lie in waste
he's talking about the house of God
and look you can say well the house of God is
a church and we're congregation obviously we know that
but he's literally talking about a physical building
here's what he's saying
should you live in your
carpeted house while the house of God goes without carpet
that's what he's saying
should you live in your dry
walled house while the house of God goes without dry wall
should you live
in your painted house
while the house of God goes without being painted
you say I'm a pastor
I think you're kind of putting
am I making this up?
then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying
is it time for you oh ye
to dwell in your sealed houses
and this house lie in waste
he's talking about the house of God
now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts
consider your ways
ye have so much and bring in little
ye eat but ye have not enough
ye drink but ye are not filled with drink
ye clothe you but there is none warm
and he that earneth wages earneth wages
to put them into a bag with holes
thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways
did you just read that with me?
he says maybe the reason that God isn't blessing you
financially is because you're not volunteering
to work in the house of God
did I just make this up
or did I literally just read a passage that says that
is it time for you
oh ye to dwell in your sealed houses
and this house lie in waste
and then he's telling him
here's why you want to work for God
because ye have so much
and bring in little
ye eat but ye have not enough
ye drink but ye are not filled
he says ye clothe you
but there is none warm
and he that earneth wages earneth wages
to put them into a bag with holes
look obviously I show up to the workplace
I'm the pastor I get that
but you know what if I was in the pastor
I'd show up to all the workdays
I've had several women say this to me
my wife was one of them
but I've had three other women in this church
independent of each other say to me
if I was a guy I'd show up to all the workdays
and I'm just like
yeah maybe we should start having the women show up
because obviously like the workdays
you know it's like Bible reading
the first you know
all these men showed up
and now it just kind of trickles
I mean can I just be honest with you?
we're supposed to have this thing done by now
we're supposed to be celebrating right now
it's done!
you say why?
because we treat work like you treat your Bible reading
January 1st
Genesis you're reading your Bible
Exodus and Leviticus
Numbers
some of you haven't read the Bible because you're lazy
because hard people
they don't continue things when they get hard
Genesis is exciting
and then you know it starts getting into Leviticus
because you're like this is kind of hard
I don't think you should be preaching this
I'm preaching the Bible to you
pastor are you trying to shame us into work
if I have to shame you into work
you ought to be ashamed!
it's a shameful thing
for people to be
especially men to be lazy
you ought to be ashamed
look all I'm saying is this
I believe there are men
and look I don't even want to ask them
I don't even want to bring it up
because some of these guys are showing up and they're working long hours
I don't even want to ask them like
don't you have to work?
I don't even want to say that because I don't want to put their thought in their head
because I'm just thankful they're there
but here's what I believe
God's going to bless them
God's going to pay them
and God's going to pay them way better than anything we could have paid them
because they're working for the Lord
and the Lord is blessing them
go to Numbers
Numbers chapter 32
and look
if you're like I don't think you should be preaching about work days
then you're an idiot
because it has not read the Bible
tell me that you can't
think in the Bible of passages
where literally
Hezekiah and different kings
Josiah are going back to the house of God
and saying hey this house is in disarray
we need to repair it
we need to remodel it
have you not read that in the Bible?
so don't tell me I'm not preaching the Bible or I'm out of bounds here
you'd be shocked how much
the Bible talks about working
in the house of God
but to me
when I think of work days here's what I think
this is a verse that often
comes into my mind
because even as the pastor
I could probably just
I've got three full time employees
I can make them go
which I do make them go, praise God
and they go because they want to
I've got two teen boys I can make them go
I could just justify well I'm the pastor
and I've got to write some
and look obviously there are times
when I have had to leave the work day
and be gone for a couple hours
because as a pastor I do have some responsibilities
I've had to meet with people and talk to people
obviously people are still going through major
problems and having big
life events in their lives and I've had to
you know
leave for a little while to do my job
that's what I do
I need to be available for that so I get that
but you know I could just kind of like
sit at home and say like well I'm the pastor
I you know
I do spiritual work and
just let these volunteers do it all
make the staff do it all
make other men do it all
but you know if I did that here's the verse
here's the passage that would
kind of guilt me
Numbers 32
because in Numbers 32 you have the story
where you have the two and a half tribes
of Gad and the Reubenites
and they are asking
to stay
on the other side of Jordan
and they're saying can we
have our inheritance here
Gad and Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh
and Moses
thinks that what they're saying
is they don't want to go to the other
side of Jordan and help the children of Israel
conquer the land and do
the work that needs to be done there
and here's what Moses says
in Numbers 32 6
Moses said unto the children of Gad
and to the children of Reuben
shall your brethren go to war
and shall ye sit here
and you know
that's the question that would
that would dawn on me
shall your brethren
go to work and ye shall sit here
and wherefore
discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel
from going over into the land
which the Lord had given them
so you know the Bible teaches that we should get
involved in things and look I realize
we're standing here
five, four, five, six weeks into this
work day and these work days and it's
been difficult and I get that and I
understand you got to work I get not everyone's
going to be able to be there from 8 AM to 9 PM
I don't necessarily even want all of you there from 8 AM to 9 AM
you know we get that
but what I am saying is this
don't have this attitude
that says well someone else will do it
and you know my wife and I were actually talking about this
one of the
one of the things is we
at Verity Baptist Church I don't know if you know this
this is like our heritage we've had work days
from the beginning
I mean the very first
I was thinking brother Ron has been so faithful
showing up to the work days and helping
but my wife and I were just reminiscing
brother Ron was there at the very first work days
when we left the house and we
got our very first building
800 square foot building we have to remodel that
and we have to fix that it was 800 square feet
it was nothing but to us it was a big deal
and then the 1600 square foot building
and then almost every building
except for that cursed Northgate building that we got
protested in
this building we have to fix up and remodel
it's just the way we do
but you know here's one thing
we noticed though
when our church ran 20
all the men showed up every day
all the men showed up all the time
I mean as much as they could
one guy took a whole month off of work and showed up every day
because I think in their minds they're like
there's only like four of us
if we don't show up it's not going to get done
but what's interesting thing is
as the church gets larger
it feels like we have less
it seems like we have more people helping
when we're running 50 and 70
than when we're running 200 and 250
but I think here's the reason
when you're running 250
everyone thinks
oh someone else will show up
but then just the same six guys
keep showing up
everybody keeps thinking oh someone else will do it
let me tell you something
someone else isn't going to do it
the calvary's not coming we're out of money
if it's going to get done you need to show up
either that or write a million dollar check
well either one we'll take it
but don't have this attitude
that says I'm going to
sit here while my brothers
go to work
I'm going to sit in my sealed house
I'm going to sit in my nice house
while the house of God is in disarray
you say but it's going to be
it's hard and there's
brother Joel says there's at least like two more months
worth of work I know it's hard
but you know what hard people hard workers
they push through
they persevere
they get it done
they definitely don't quit halfway through
and here's the thing
here's the catch
God will bless you for it
go to Ephesians chapter 6
I got to finish up
Ephesians chapter 6
let me just give you a couple of verses
and we'll finish up
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians
Ephesians chapter 6
and look
honestly to me this is
God's project and God's going to
if you sit there and say like
oh pastor blah blah blah
if you have a bad attitude that's your problem
he's trying to guilt us
you know who's not feeling guilty right now
guys that show up and work
I always think it's funny
when people are like you're trying to guilt us
you preach about soul winning you're trying to guilt us
well you know the only people that feel guilty
when I'm preaching about soul winning is people that don't go soul winning
you understand that?
like you're in control
of whether you feel guilty at a sermon or not
if I'm preaching on tithing
and you're a tither you don't feel guilty
you're like amen
if I'm preaching on soul winning
and you're a soul winner you don't feel guilty
you're like amen
do you understand what I'm saying?
if I'm preaching about Bible reading
you don't feel guilty about Bible reading
you're saying amen
but if I'm preaching about Bible reading and you're not a Bible reader
you're like ah that doesn't make me feel guilty
so listen to me
if you're sitting here this morning you're like
ah he's trying to make me feel guilty about work
maybe your problem is you're lazy
because if you get up and work hard every day
you're like praise the Lord
some of your wives are like yeah are you listening?
lazy bum
Ephesians 6
look at verse 5
servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the plan
so it's just interesting to me like
pastors making me feel guilty no you're in control of that
every sermon I preach
you're in control of what side of the aisle you're on
are you on the soul winning side or the non-soul winning side?
are you on the working side or the non-working side?
are you on the Bible reading side?
because everything I preach either you're doing it or you're not
everything the Bible says either you're doing it or not
so stop blaming me
when you feel guilty for a sermon
maybe when you feel guilty for a sermon
it's the Holy Spirit of God telling you
you ought to fix something
Ephesians 6 look at verse 5
servants be obedient to them
that are your masters according to the flesh
this is a passage about work
with fear and trembling
in the singleness of your heart as unto Christ
not with eye service
as men pleasers
that's what we were talking about at the beginning of the service
these are the people that only work
you know the guy who only works on the bosses around
that's what this is talking about
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
as to the Lord
and not to men
knowing, don't miss this
please don't miss this
knowing that whatsoever good thing
any man doeth
the same shall he receive
of the Lord
whether he be bonded for you
you know what the Bible says?
the Bible says when you work hard
the Bible says there's profit in all labor
the Bible says even if you work hard as a volunteer
you know all you men that have been showing up
and you've been faithful and I appreciate you've been giving us your evenings
and you wives have been allowing honestly allowing your husbands
to come and I get the sacrifice
that you're allowing them to come
and women that are bringing meals
and all those things you know we're not paying any of you
we're not paying any of you to do anything
but I just want you to know this that God will pay you
knowing
that whatsoever good thing
any man doeth the same
shall he receive
of the Lord
and honestly just the work itself is a blessing
I've really honestly I've just enjoyed being around
the men of our church
and just laughing and working hard
but just getting to know them
and laughing and joking
it's been a great time
go to Colossians 3
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians
Colossians
chapter 3
look at verse 22
here's another passage on work
it's amazing how much God talks about this
servants obey in all things your masters
according to the flesh
not with eye service as men pleasers
again the guy that works only when he's being supervised
but in singleness of heart
fearing God
and whatsoever you do
do it heartily ask the Lord
and not unto men
knowing that the Lord
that knowing
excuse me verse 24 knowing that of the Lord
ye shall receive the reward
of the inheritance
for ye serve the Lord Christ
I mean it's just it's consistent throughout the Bible
when you work God will bless you
obviously when you work your job you get paid
and praise the Lord for that that's great we'll talk about that tonight
but even when you're volunteering
even when you're just doing it for the Lord
even when it's worker appreciation Sunday
and your name's on that roster
and you show up early
or you stay late or there's some ministry that you do
on off times or off hours
or you serve during the church services
all of that the Bible says
knowing that of the Lord
ye shall receive the reward
God will pay you
let me give you one last verse 1 Thessalonians 1
then Colossians just flip over to 1 Thessalonians
so we ought to work hard
and we ought to work hard for the Lord
and look
we're taking a Thanksgiving break
but the work days are going to resume guys
and I don't know about you
but I don't want it to be said of me
I want it up to just a handful of guys to do it
I sat in my sealed house
while the house of God needed work done
I get it you have to work
I get that and you need time to rest
and I get that too
but you got to ask yourself
am I being a hard worker or am I being kind of lazy here
am I someone that's just going to show up
and work hard
and prosper as a result
or am I going to sit back
and let my brethren
do all the work
1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 3
Remembering without ceasing
your work of faith
and labor of love
and patience of hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ
in the sight of God and our Father
Paul is looking at these individuals today
and he's telling them
Paul is telling the church of Thessalonica
he's saying I want you to know
remembering without ceasing
your work of faith and labor of love
and for all of you men who have been showing up
God bless you
and the ladies that have been bringing meals
God bless you
and you know honestly for whatever it's worth
I want you to know that as your pastor
I see you and I appreciate you
and I'm praying that God will bless you
immensely for the work that you're doing
but you know more importantly than that
more importantly than that
God sees you
and God will bless you
and God will reward you
for your work of faith and labor of love
Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer
Heavenly Father
Lord we love you
Lord thank you for the subject of work
You never thought that work would be a controversial subject
but it's so controversial in our day and age
Lord I pray you'd help us to be people who work
who are not afraid to work
help us to be people Lord who push ourselves
don't need to be supervised
don't need somebody to tell us to do something
just push ourselves and do it
help us Lord to be people who produce value and are productive
and get things done
help us to be people that persevere
when it's hard and it's difficult
we get through the obstacles
we don't give up, we don't quit
and Lord we thank you
that we really do work by faith
believing that you will prosper us
there's no possible way we could
repay and re-give to these individuals
the time and energy that they put
in the work days at the new building
and here as they volunteer
but I'm thankful that we don't have to
because we know that you will repay them
you will bless them
you will prosper them
Lord I pray you'd help us to be a hard working church
help us to not have an attitude that says
I'll sit in my sealed house
while the house of God goes in disarray
I'll sit back
will my brethren work
Lord help us to strive together
as a church family, we love you
in the matchless name of Christ
we pray, Amen
alright well we're going to go ahead
and have a song
as we prepare for baptism
we have a couple of baptisms
this morning so we'll go ahead and prepare for those two baptisms
and we're going to go ahead and
prepare for those two baptisms
and we'll sing as we prepare for that
Turn to Psalm 355
355 on the first
listen to this
to any
everything
to our
land
our works
will not be
forgotten
all our
dreams will be
there
all because they
do not matter
every
change we've got
is there
every
trial is a temptation
this is
trouble any
more
this is
no good
this is no
my
hello
hey
hello
hey
hello
Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy,
Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy,
Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy,
Holy, holy, holy, holy is empowered to be!
Great working like a Christmas sports will save men
On the first, I must tell Jesus, all of my trials I cannot bear these burdens of old
In my distress he kindly won't help me He ever loves and prays for his holy
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus I cannot bear my burdens of old
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus Jesus can never be Jesus again
I must tell Jesus, all of my travels He is a kind, compassionate friend
If I don't ask him, he will be never Making the troubles with me again
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus I cannot bear my burdens of old
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus Jesus can never be Jesus again
All right, well, we have Jessica Roberts coming for baptism this morning,
and Jessica and her husband, Matthew, are both being baptized today,
and I praise the Lord for that.
My husband and wife get baptized on the same day,
and this is Brother Anthony and Ms. Sarah Coffney's friends,
and I praise the Lord for that.
And, Jessica, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?
All right, Jessica, by your profession of faith, I baptize you, my sister.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
buried in the likeness of his death, and raised to walk in newness of life.
God bless you.
All right, and we have our husband, Matthew, coming for baptism.
And, Matthew, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?
All right, Matthew, by your profession of faith, I baptize you, my brother.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
buried in the likeness of his death, and raised to walk in newness of life.
God bless you.
All right, well, thank you very much for being here this morning.
I do want to, of course, say thank you to all of the volunteers
for the Worker Appreciation Day, all the work that you do for the church.
We appreciate you.
We have a gift card for you.
Hopefully everybody got one, but if your name was on that list,
and you did not get one of the Amazon gift cards that we were giving out,
then please see Brother David or Brother Shaw after the service.
If they, for whatever reason, missed you, then make sure you see them.
We want to just give you a little gift, and thank you for the work that you do.
And I want to encourage you to be back tonight, 6 p.m.
We're going to continue this sermon on hard work,
and we're going to talk about work being the secret to financial success.
We're going to talk about how to get promotions and how to get raises.
And look, I'm not going to bring up the workdays,
so you don't have to worry about that.
Some of you guys are going to be like,
oh, can I do something at the workday right now?
No.
We're taking the week off.
Happy Thanksgiving.
We'll have lots of workdays coming up.
So we have clipboards.
We'll have that for you.
But I obviously want to encourage you to be back tonight, 6 p.m.
If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
Now ask Brother Matt if he would not mind dismissing us with a word of prayer.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word that was preached to us this morning.
Lord, help us to apply all these things to our lives, Lord, and to work for your glory.
We pray that you would bless the rest of this day.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.