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we're here in Genesis 24 and this is our fourth sermon from Genesis 24 we'll finish up next week in Genesis 24 and this sermon is about the servant and the name of the sermon is how to be a good employee or how to be a good servant and although I'm directly speaking towards basically having a boss you know at work the same would apply with any situation of leadership where you have an authority above you and you know you're underneath them whether it be like a school teacher and a child or whether it's parents or whatever that relationship would be but how to be a good employee and point number one if you want to be a good employee which should be a goal that all of us have you need to be regardful of your boss, regardful of your boss and what we see with the servant is when it came to this mission that he's on to get a wife for Isaac basically he had the attitude not my will but Abraham's will be done right and so basically he decides it's not about what I want when you read this story it's all about what would benefit Abraham and not him okay now let's start here verse number 29 and it says here and Rebecca had a brother and his name was Laban and Laban ran out onto the man onto the well and it came to pass when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands now the name Laban should sound familiar because you know Jacob later on is going to have like a situation with Laban when Laban's obviously going to be a lot older at that point but where Jacob is basically the son of Rebecca and Isaac and basically Jacob you know worked for Laban and Laban ripped off Jacob Laban was uh basically a dishonest you know boss he kind of took advantage of Jacob and I'm not saying Laban was necessarily a bad guy because there are some things that look look like he's a decent guy but I do believe he had issues with finances in the bible and you'll notice this in verse 30 it says specifically and it came to pass when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands because when you read this chapter Laban is also very kind to this servant who he does not know but I do believe that the main reason why he is is because he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands and he thought of basically a financial benefit he might get because that's what the servant had given to his sister and later on in the chapter he actually does get something financially you know from this servant and so I believe part of his generosity was the fact that he thought there might be something in it for them and what leads me to that is not just in this chapter where it says when he saw the earring and bracelets but also just later on as he tries to rip off Jacob financially he seemed to have a bit of an issue with money then it says and when he heard the words of Rebecca's sister saying thus spake the man onto me that he came onto the man and behold he stood by the camels at the well and he said come in thou blessed the Lord wherefore standest thou without for I've prepared the house and room for the camels and so basically prepare the house this servant is going to abide at their house that's the arrangement that was made with Rebecca verse 32 and the man came into the house and he ungirded his camels and gave straw and profiter for the camels and water to wash his feet and the men's feet that were with them now verse 32 is interesting because this is Abraham's right-hand man so basically this is the assistant CEO the assistant principal or whatever to the head boss of you know Abraham's household who had many servants right I mean he had hundreds of servants so being the right-hand man is pretty prestigious Abraham had a lot of money okay but in verse 32 you notice that it's this man this servant who ungirds his camels and gives straw and profiter for the camels and water to wash his feet and the men's feet that were with him and so what indicates is this servant goes out but he's not actually by himself he's actually there with other people helping him it's just the story focuses on this head servant but he washes the feet of the men that are with him right that is a very humbling thing to do especially when you're in a higher more prestigious position than basically you know all these other people and yet he humbles himself and you know as I've said before you know with Boaz in the book of Ruth he shows up and he just asks all the workers how are you doing you know how's your day how are things going and he just basically introduces himself and he didn't treat himself as being some high authority this servant is the same way as he's basically taking care of the camels feeding them and look he's been on a long journey you know he's tired you know he could easily just relax and yet he takes the time to take care of other people before himself okay and there was set need before him to eat notice this but he said I will not eat until I have told mine errands and he said speak on now here's the thing I promise you this servant was pretty hungry at this point I mean he's been on a long journey and he gets water and a lot of times gone by and you know we get used to like three meals a day sort of setup where if I miss one of my meals you know I'm gonna starve to death you know if I miss a meal and yet obviously he's going a long time without eating but when he's offered good food and I believe that he was they had good food in front of him okay and you know I like pandesal but it wasn't just pandesal right nice food that they had prepared for him and he said you know what I'm not going to eat until I've told mine errands and what you're seeing is that this person this servant he's not treating this like a vacation I'm on this journey I'm going to make it seem like it took several months and just get to relax and hang out no I mean he's there and it's all about Abraham and he's regard full of what his boss wants and he said I'm not going to eat anything until I've told mine errand because he considered that to be the most important thing the most premier thing he's like that is why I am sent and that is what I'm going to do talk about this to this person okay now go to verse number 54 54 54 verse 54 and they did eat and drink he and the men that were with him and tarried all night and so basically they they you know don't leave at night time which is a smart thing we know from the word of God you know leave early in the day you know it's a smart thing so they stay over there overnight and they rose up in the morning and he said send me away under my master so basically they've already determined everything with Rebecca and basically that you know she's the one for Isaac and basically it's he says you know just send me away well verse 55 and her brother and her mother said let the damsel abide with us a few days at the least 10 after that she shall go so what they're basically saying is okay you know we'll send you away but just 10 more days because you have to understand as the mother and brother you weren't expecting you know your sister to just be gone and married right i mean this is just like eloping you know basically getting married something that isn't expected so of course they don't want to see you know her mom doesn't want to see her daughter leave the brother doesn't want to see his sister leave that's understandable okay so they want them to stay for 10 days now here's the thing i'll be honest if i was a servant i'd be like great 10-day vacation for me because he's not going to have to do a whole lot right he's going to just get to relax get to kind of eat rest you know youtube whatever you know you would do back then for fun he'd be able to relax for 10 days and you could certainly see what that would be tempting to do basically just relax because you're you're given a free vacation basically and he said unto them hinder me not saying don't stop me seeing the lord hath prospered my way send me away that i may go to my master and he says you know what i'm not going to stay here 10 days don't stop me you know i was sent on a mission and i want to do this mission as fast as possible and accomplish it and what you're seeing is an employee a servant that regards his boss and basically you know what his boss gave him instructions and he said you know what i'm not going to take a break i'm just going to finish this right my boss told me to do something i'm not going to take a 10-day break and then do what he said i'm just going to do what he said immediately and accomplish the goal of what i was sent for and so basically he's regardful of his boss now many examples you could look at in the bible one of the great examples you could think of is just with the lord jesus christ when he was sent here because we do believe in one god absolutely but we also believe in the trinity the father the son and the holy ghost and the bible says that that god the father sent god the son to be the savior of the world and so when god the father sent god the son to be the savior of the world he sent god the son he sent jesus christ out on a mission to do something right and jesus christ himself said not my will but thine be done right well basically it's not about what i want it's not about me being here promoting myself because think jesus christ was god right jesus christ is god i mean he's he's powerful and yet he came here and he humbled himself he could have easily just been like you know well you know just promoting himself as a king but he did not do that right and he shows us a great example of basically how you should be regardful of the boss that you have right not saying that god the father is better than god the son but just it's just kind of like with a marriage husband and wife husbands are not better than wives wives are not better than husbands but there is an authority structure okay and it's the same thing with god the father and god the son god the father sent god the son to be the savior of the world and the son said not my will but thine be done right and so basically being regardful of your boss is an important step to being a good employee being a good servant or being obedient to whoever's your master in whatever area it is point number one he's regardful of his boss he does what his boss says he accomplishes what his boss says point number two he's reverential of his boss he's reverential of his boss meaning he respects his boss he treats his boss as a a master not just as a friend or this cool buddy but he's just very reverential like he respects abraham verse 24 verse 34 genesis 24 verse 34 and he said i am abraham's servant so immediately right when he starts he says i am abraham's servant you know he tells him who he is and basically he mentions abraham saying i'm the servant i'm nothing special he doesn't say hey you know what i am the head servant of abraham he doesn't say that right because look as i said abraham had hundreds of servants and so if you're the right-hand man of abraham it would be like being the assistant ceo of a company right because there's hundreds of servants a lot of money i mean that's a pretty you know well-regarded position right i mean that's something where basically you've accomplished something in terms of being successful in this world but here's the thing he doesn't say i'm the head servant you know of abraham that's in control of all that he has he just says i'm abraham's servant right and he says and the lord hath blessed my master greatly so then in verse 35 he refers to abraham as his master and the lord hath blessed my master greatly and he's become great and he hath given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and men servants and maid servants and camels and asses and sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old and unto him at the given all that he hath and see what you're seeing is that he keeps mentioning abraham he refers to him as master master master master and look you can tell by the way he talks that he respects abraham because abraham's not around he could say whatever he wanted and abraham wouldn't know about it right there's no way that abraham would really know about it he could say whatever he wanted make himself look good he could subtly criticize abraham but he just constantly says my master my master my master and what you're seeing is that he treats abraham with respect he's reverential to abraham and even mentions that basically the son isaac has is given everything you know by abraham which is true but he's also in charge of everything so to speak at this point but he doesn't mention that as being him being significant he just talks about abraham as master verse 37 and my master made me swear saying thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the kane knights in whose land i dwell look usually when you're speaking you would just use the word the pronoun he he he and he does use it a little bit but in general you wouldn't say master more than once you would just say he right my master abraham and he told me to do this and the lord blessed him but he keeps saying my master because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and he looks at abraham as his master as his boss and he respected abraham right you're seeing someone who deeply deeply respects his boss abraham he says my master my master verse 38 but thou shall go into my father's house into my kindred and take a wife unto my son and i said unto my master her adventure the woman will not follow me so he says that over and over and over again go to malachi chapter one malachi one because here's the thing there's some employees that they're regardful of their boss their boss tells them to do something they do it when the boss is not around they criticize the boss they gossip about the boss they complain about the boss right that's not abraham's servant though right abraham's servant when abraham's not around he doesn't criticize him and look i'm sure there there would be things that he could think of that abraham didn't do correctly that he could criticize but he doesn't criticize him about anything he just speaks about him with authority just reverentially calling him my master my master so it's not just that he's doing what his master said he's treating him with respect reverentially looking at abraham malachi chapter one verse 10 malachi one verse 10 and it says who is there even among you that would shut the doors for not neither do you can no fire in mine altar for not i have no pleasure in you saith the lord of hosts neither will i accept an offering at your hand and here in verse 10 you have people that are refusing to serve god for not because here's the thing you know one way we can look at this sermon is even if you know outside of being an employee at a company we are servants of god right so we can make this application just to our lives as servants of god of basically being regardful what our boss says and being reverential treating god with respect and here in verse 10 you have these people and they're basically nobody is willing to do anything for not what does that mean it means nobody's willing to even open or shut the doors unless they get something out of it basically nobody wants to volunteer for anything is what you're seeing in malachi chapter one everyone's like well what's in it for me right and look that is the wrong mentality when you're part of a church i believe you ought to be part of a church that is right on doctrine that is going after the the right mission and things like that but it shouldn't just be like well you know what can this church do for me right you should have the attitude what can i do for this church make sure you find a church that you line up with doctrinally and you you have the same stand as them but then don't have the attitude what can i get out of this church and look there are people that have this sort of attitude they go to a church and they'll use the church and use the people at the church for their benefit that is not abraham's servant right it's not about you know what is it for me it's about what does abraham want and here in malachi one there's people that say you know they don't even want to open or shut the doors right they don't want to do anything right and look you know a church honestly could not function if nobody was willing to volunteer for anything it'd be very hard i mean just imagine is if i'm up here i do and look i do the song leading sometimes you know scripture reading preaching the sermons but it's like it's hard for me to take the offering while i'm also doing that right and it's just like there's there's various little things and as the church grows there's more volunteering and it just operates a lot more smoothly when people are getting on board with volunteering and jointly sharing in that here in verse 10 we see these people complaining they're saying what is it in it for me verse 11 for from the rising of the sun even on to the going down to the same my name shall be great among the gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered on my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heat and sayeth the lord of hosts but you have profaned it and that you say the table the lord is polluted and the fruit thereof even as meat is contemptible he said also behold what a weariness is it and what they're saying here in verse 13 is that serving god is so hard serving god is so tiring i'm so weary i'm weak in the flesh like god's asking so much of me just complaining you know people come and look this this is reality in 2022 where people will complain about you got to go to church every week everyone you got to read the bible every day you got to pray every day and then you're expecting us to go soul winning and get the sin out of our life and all these things like man what a weariness is it and people can develop this attitude where basically you know they're they're they're bitter about the rules that god has and let me just be honest as as a church i really don't have a whole lot of rules that i push on people in their lives i let you live your lives like you want to look i believe you should read the bible every day but you know what i i don't have like this thing on the wall where you gotta did you read the bible let's have like a check mark to prove that you read it or anything like that yeah i don't know whether you're reading the bible i don't know whether you're praying i mean it's up to you and the lord to do those things it's not like we have a lot of rules but i will preach what the bible says and what god wants us to do and at the end of the day it's our choice whether or not we're going to do that or not but don't develop this attitude oh it's so hard serving god he's asking for so much i mean jesus christ died and paid for all your sin so if he asks you to read the bible every day it's not asking that much he asks you to go to church every week he's not asking for that much right because we get this idea that we're here on earth to basically live out our own happiness and our dreams and everything that we want but that's actually not what the bible teaches your life is not about let me fulfill all the dreams that i want that's not what the bible teaches what the bible teaches is we are here meant to do what god wants now look i believe in having a proper balance on things i believe that you're able to go on vacations i believe that you're able to you know work harder your jobs and move up the ladder i'm not saying you basically have to give every single peso to church and just every single waking second i mean i believe in our church honestly there's actually a lot of free time because we pack it all in on saturday the events and everything so there is a lot of free time spend time with family hobbies or whatever you would like i don't think we really have that that much to be honest you know i don't think it's it's but here's the thing even if we had more i mean god demands our very best we're meant to be living sacrifices it's not about what we want it's about what god wants and sometimes that's in regards to sin where maybe we've we in our flesh desire something that's wrong and we got to deny our flesh but then other times things are not necessarily sinful but they're also not a benefit in your life and it's not what god wants you to focus all your time and energy into and look all of us as different people had various dreams growing up and through our lives and some of those dreams you got to put aside because there's things more important some of those things it's just like it's just not god's will for your life and it's not about us becoming famous in this life or being known as great in this world it's about doing what god says and look don't develop this attitude what a weariness is it serving god right go to matthew 25 matthew 25 matthew chapter 25 does it get tiring serving god well yes it gets tired tiring serving god but you know it also gets tiring just in life in general i mean if you quit going to church and never read the bible and never prayed it would not make your life better it would make it worse but you would still find yourself getting exhausted all the stresses of life all these things coming up it's not like church is holding you back from being happy i don't believe that because the bible says if you know these things happier ye if you do them so the bible says if you know what's right and you do what's right you're going to be happy and what i have personally found in my life is that when i'm doing what god says i am in a good mood i'm happy when i'm not really obeying god's will and basically just living out the desires of my flesh instead of the spiritual man you end up being depressed you're not happy serving god though will make you happy matthew 25 verse 24 this is the story of the three different people the talents the one town the five towns ten towns it says here in matthew 25 verse 24 then he which had received the one talent came and said lord i knew thee that thou art in hard man here's a man making an excuse for why he did not do what his boss said and what does he tell his boss you're a hard man you ask too much you're not a very nice boss i mean it's it's it's a subtle backhanded slap to his boss and look his boss you know is you know this is just a parable that's being given i mean in the parable he he seems to be like a bit harsh but here's the thing this man to his boss said you know what here's his excuse why didn't he produce anything i knew you're a hard man out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh he does not look at his boss with respect no reverential looking at his boss right he does not respect his boss out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh i knew thee the downward and hard man you are a difficult man to serve you're a tough boss you're not a very nice boss that's what he's saying he's saying you're asking too much basically you know you would expect so much raping without us not sown and gathering without us not strong look if that is true you don't have to tell your boss that maybe your boss is a hard man maybe he does rip people off and basically steals what other but why are you telling your boss hey you're just not that nice of a boss you're a hard man you're a difficult person to obey and i was afraid so you're making excuses you're a difficult boss a rude boss and so i was afraid because of your attitude that made me afraid and went and hid thy town in the earth lo there thou hast that is nine so basically i did nothing absolutely nothing but here's my excuse it's because you know you just have a bad attitude as a boss that's literally what he's saying right i mean he's just saying you're too tough so here you go take back what you gave me it's like can you imagine doing that at a company your boss gives you an assignment a week later he comes back expecting you to finish it and then you don't finish it it's like well i knew you were a hard man and if if i did something wrong you complain so here you go just do it yourself it's like are you kidding me i mean that talk about a rude servant talk about having no respect for his boss and this is just a parable but people like this exist in real life for sure people that have no respect respect whatsoever for your boss it's pretty amazing though when people would speak like this to their boss it's one thing to think it but here's the thing if you think something it usually will end up coming out that's just reality verse 26 his lord answered said unto him thou wicked and slothful servants thou knewest that i reap where i showed not and gather where i am not strong thou oughtest therefore to put my money to the exchangers and then at my coming i should have received mine own with usury take therefore the talent from him and give it on to him which hath 10 talents and look what he says is right his servant is wicked and slothful he's certainly slothful certainly lazy certainly disrespectful the boss doesn't seem to be the greatest guy in the story but here's the thing he's right this servant is lazy right this servant does not regard his boss this servant has no reverence for his boss he does not respect his boss go back to genesis 24 genesis 24 as a result of not being regardful of his boss or having reverence for his boss he's a bad employee in the parable right he's a bad employee and so you need to regard what your boss says your boss tells you to do something you do it treat your boss with respect and look i've worked at offices where when the boss is not around people criticize the management they complain about the management they gossip about the management they complain and say all these things and they don't do that when the boss is around but when the boss is gone they show they have very little reverence for their boss point number one to be a good employee be regardful of your boss point two be reverential of your boss point three be righteous be righteous if you want to be a good employee you need to be righteous you need to be a godly person and i'm not just stating in a spiritual sense i'm saying to be a good employee at your job one of the key things is to be righteous verse 40 and he said unto me the lord before whom i walk will send his angel with you and prosper thy way and now shall take a wife for my son of my kindred and on my father's house then thou shall be clear from this my oath when thou comest to my kindred and if they give not thee one thou shall be clear from my oath and i came this day under the well and said oh lord god my master abraham if now thou do prosper my way which i go you see in these verses he mentions the lord he mentions the lord now in our modern day and probably back then too a lot of people would probably mention god but they just kind of mention it it's not like they actually are godly people because in today's world a lot of people would say that they're spiritual or they're religious or they believe in god and they'll mention god and talk like they really love him or whatever when they really don't but here's the thing this man's mentioning the lord yet earlier we saw that when he prayed he prayed in his heart and basically prayed and talked to god in his heart so it's not just this guy saying this to other people that you know the lord god the lord god because a lot of people are like that but in their personal lives it's not like they're reading the bible in their personal lives it's not like they're praying this servant is different though because he mentions the lord publicly but privately in his heart he was actually praying to the lord he was a righteous person look at verse 43 behold i stand by the well of water and it shall come to pass when the virgin cometh forth to draw water and i say to her give me i pray thee a little water of thy pitcher to drink and she say to me both drink thou and i also draw for thy camels let the same be the woman whom the lord hath appointed out for my master's son once again he mentions the lord and before he had done speaking in my heart so he says speaking in his heart so once again you know he prayed to the lord in his heart okay behold rebecca came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder and she went down into the well and drew water and i said unto her let me drink i pray thee and she made haste and let down her pitcher from her shoulder and said drink and i will give thy camels drink also so i drank and she made the camels drink also and i asked her and said whose daughter art thou and she said the daughter of bethel nay her son whom milka bear on to him and i put the earring upon her face and the braces upon her hands and i bowed down my head and worshiped the lord and blessed the lord god of my master abraham which had led me in the right way to making to take my master's brother's daughter onto his son so he says that he worshiped the lord but these are not just vain words he actually did when god answered his prayer request you know he he talked about the lord he thought about the lord he's a righteous person verse 49 look obviously when i say a righteous person we know there is none righteous no not one but the word righteous is also used in terms of someone who is striving to serve god striving to be godly so even though he's not a hundred percent righteous compared to other people though you know he's a pretty decent guy verse 49 and now if you will deal kindly and surely with my master tell me and if not tell me that i may turn to the right hand or the left then laven and bethel answered and said the thing proceeded from the lord we cannot speak unto thee bad or good and that's one reason why to mention the lord because as he mentions the lord they're like well because this is what god says we can't really deny what was said right behold rebecca is before thee take her and go and let her be thy master son's wife as the lord hath spoken and it came to pass that when abraham's servant heard their words he worshiped the lord bowing himself to the earth now here's the thing verse 52 it's not the servant saying that he's worshiping the lord it's the narrator saying that the servant worshiped the lord there's no doubt in verse 52 that the servant is worshiping the lord because the narrator is never wrong okay sometimes people could say something that's not true but when the narrator of the bible is stating that he worshiped the lord he worshiped the lord it's not just the servant saying he worshiped it's the narrator saying about the servant that he worshiped the lord bowing himself to the earth and the servant brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and gave them to rebecca he gave also to her brother and her mother precious things now turn to proverbs 6 proverbs chapter 6 proverbs 6 now we actually already looked at verses 54 through 56 so we're going to look at a few more places just four more scriptures will be done but here's the thing you would say well brother stuckey i understand being regardful of your boss is important to being a good employee because you got to do what he says and if you don't you're not making yourself a good servant being respectful of your boss i mean that makes sense you know you know not gossiping about him not saying anything bad you know but why is being righteous what does it have to do with being a good employee because you might have the attitude as i go to my job for my old job i was on microsoft excel all day what does being righteous have to do with doing math equations okay well here's the thing all of us that are saved have a flesh and a spirit the flesh is sinful the flesh does wrong the spiritual man wants to do right and one of the big motivations to try to work hard and be a good employee is simply because the bible tells you to do it right and as a righteous person someone who's striving to live for god if you're being lazy you feel guilty about it so being a righteous person because here's the thing probably most people at a job that clock in late and leave early and take long breaks they don't really feel a lot of guilt about it they do it they know it's wrong but they're like well everybody else is doing it now as a bible believing christian that knows the word of god maybe you follow the crowd but you know you're going to have that thing on the inside that makes you feel really guilty about doing that because you know what the bible says right you know god commands you to work hard and being a righteous person is actually going to cause you to be a good employee to work hard to want to do a good job because we realize our boss is our boss up in heaven and god demands our very best proverbs 6 verse 6 go to the ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise which having no guide overseer ruler provided her meat in the summer and gathered her food in the harvest look verses like this motivates you as a bible believing christian to work hard go to the ant thou sluggard as a bible believing christian this is a verse we know this is a verse i often preach from all of us have heard this preaching in churches before we know what the bible says you know your average employee that goes to the office it's not like they really know this verse go to the ant thou sluggard it's not like they think about this verse but us we would think about this verse we know this verse and see knowing what the word of god says knowing what god says and reading god's word it makes you feel guilty if you're not doing your best you read about people like abraham's servant in genesis 24 and it caused you to think man i don't know if i'd be as good as he was as an employee i need to do better right when i read genesis 24 that's what i think i'm thinking man that servant is a righteous guy a good guy a hard worker i need to do better i need to work harder i need to be like the ants go to go to ephesians chapter six ephesians six ephesians chapter six ephesians six we'll look at a few more places ephesians chapter six ephesians chapter six verse five servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as on to christ and see here's another famous scripture and what the bible says is as servants obey your masters and see here's the thing all of us have a flesh all of us are sinners anyway probably all of us have had bosses that aren't the greatest bosses aren't the nicest bosses and in your flesh you don't want to work hard for them he's not nice to me other people aren't working hard but here's the thing knowing this scripture service be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling it's like that cuts to the heart it makes you want to work hard it makes you want to regard your boss it makes you want to be reverential of your boss because god commands you to do it right and look i believe this also this is what i try to teach my kids i'm not saying i'm perfect at it but one thing i try to teach my kids when we're trying to get our kids to obey and sometimes they they don't want to and i was like you know you obey because god told you to children obey your parents in the lord it's not about whether you know you want to listen to me or not what does god say because i want to defer to god and get them to really realize this is your ultimate boss right here and you do what god says no matter what and so the bible tells us be obedient to them that are masters not with eye services men pleasers but as the servants of christ doing the will of god from the heart not with eye service means basically it's not that you just work hard when eyes are looking upon you you always work hard and look it is very very tempting in an office setting if the other employees are not working hard it is very easy to be lazy yourself everybody else is just goofing off on their cell phones everybody else is just you know you taking all these long breaks it is tempting in your flesh to do likewise they don't have to work hard why do i have to work hard because god told you to and see being righteous actually will make you a better employee it says in verse 7 with good will doing service ask the lord and not to men so realize the lord is your ultimate boss knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the lord whether he be bond or free so here's the thing don't have this attitude i'm obeying nobody else's is what is in it for me because the bible says you will receive of the lord you will receive of the lord now that doesn't mean that that day you're going to get that extra money but god says he's going to bless you if you do what he says work hard because god told you to work hard and at the end of the day god is going to bless you as a result of that okay i'm not saying he's going to make you rich but i do believe that he can help you out financially prevent problems from coming in your life i mean he can help you out if you're working hard and doing what he says because you're going to receive of the lord go to galatians chapter five two more places glations five at the end of the day promotion cometh neither from the east nor the west but promotion cometh from the lord the bible says glations five verse 22 and 23 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law and what this means is that when you're filled with the spirit and you're doing what god says and walking in the spirit the result is going to be love in your life joy and peace and long-suffering and the bible says the end of verse 23 against such there is no law because when you're walking in the spirit you're going to be a good person you're not going to be committing murder you're not going to be stealing from the company you're not going to be caulking in late you're not going to be leaving early you're not going to be taking long breaks against such there's no law i mean your your company's going to love you because you're a good worker right you're not causing any problems and look i've known people at at the company i used to work at that you know what they they weren't very righteous people anyway it caused problems sometimes they would just not show up to work maybe they were drunk probably it's what people talked about is probably what took place or there's you know someone in my old job that did not like me because i read the bible at work and i guess they found out what i believed or whatever didn't like me and they would always go to management and complain and say he shouldn't be allowed to have a bible you know it's like we shouldn't allow employees like that look management doesn't want to hear some person complaining all the time about all these different things right they want employees where you just show up you do what you're told you come in at the right time you leave at the right time you don't cheat the system you don't take breaks you just work hard they don't want the employee that's always complaining about stuff that person always complained that i was reading my bible at lunch time it's like look i'm sure management's like what is wrong with this woman why is she complaining and worried about somebody else because it's not like i was going to management complaining about other employees people talked about committing adultery at the office i didn't go and complain to management say why it's not my life i'm paid to work i went there and didn't cause any problems and see if you want to be a good employee you need to be righteous because you're going to be filled with the spirit and do what's right go to first peter two first peter two many people talk about getting drunk and all these different things here's the thing though even though i don't like hearing that personally it's like you know you can still have the attitude these people don't know any better probably not saved they haven't had the preaching of god's word and they're just living a sinful life like everybody else right and it's none of my business they can do what they want hopefully they'll get saved one day or i'll have an opportunity to preach the gospel to them but you know it didn't really affect me it's not like i was going to complain to management and in reality we should be the ones that are offended that we have to hear people talk about disturbing things but if you're trying to serve god you just ignore it and just work hard first peter two verse 18 we'll close up here servants be subject to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the forward and see you should serve your masters with all fear whether they're good and gentle or forward forward would be the sinful and probably all of us have had sinful bosses before because in today's world most people would probably fit what froward is not exactly following god's rules right because here's the thing in in a secular sense if you have just kind of a non-denominational christian whether they're saved or not they could very well be following basic things like not getting drunk not committing adultery they could be living a decent sort of life but you also have bosses that you know what probably are not at all are just froward and sinful and just doing all kinds of sin and the bible says we should serve them and be subject to them so whether or not they're good and gentle whether or not they're bible-believing christian they're bible-believing christian be thankful you have a bible-believing christian as your boss and just obey and do what they say be regardful be reverential and be righteous live a godly life if you have a froward boss still be regardful of your boss still be reverential toward your boss anyone still be righteous just because your boss is a sinner doesn't mean you get to like steal money from the company you know what i mean it's like just because everyone else is doing wrong doesn't make it okay for you to be doing wrong and look in this story i mean it's not a super complicated sermon but in genesis 24 we really do see when you look at those verses with his servant this was a good guy and it makes sense why abraham promoted him to being his right-hand man because this man is regardful of abraham it's all about abraham it's not what he wants he's reverential towards abraham he speaks about abraham with respect he doesn't say anything bad about him and he's also righteous he appears to love god obviously we don't know a whole lot about him but from this chapter i would say he seemed to be a pretty righteous person pretty regardful of his boss and a pretty reverential person towards his boss as well let's close in word of prayer your heavenly father thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see this topic of how to be a good employee and help all of us that have bosses to try to be good employees or children that have parents in authority over them or whatever relationship that we have an authority and you know even at the very least realize we're all servants of you and help us to be regardful of you and reverential towards you and be righteous and obey your commandments and do right god help us all to be good bosses and employees in our secular jobs or any authority we have but also with you as well and spiritually and just realize our lives are not about us it's about what our boss wants what you want