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The sermon is the pattern of being a hard worker, the pattern of being a hard worker. What I'm going to do is basically go through these 15 verses and we're going to see just a couple points from Jacob in his life where he's working very hard and then we're going to make applications with three points at the end of the sermon after I go through these verses. But let's just start at verse number one and it says, Then Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the east and he looked behold a well in the field and lo there are three flocks of sheep lying by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And neither were all the flocks gathered and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the sheep and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place. So Jacob is traveling and then they come to this well with water which obviously water is not as accessible back then as it is today. So basically you would go to a specific location to basically water the animals, get water for the people and things such as that. Verse four and Jacob said unto them my brethren whence be? They said of Haran are we? And he said unto them know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said we know him. Now remember basically Jacob is sent away to basically find a wife, right? And he's looking for Laban, he's looking for the relatives of his mom and then basically trying to marry up of those people. And so he asked about Laban and they said we know him. And he said unto him is he well? And they said he is well and behold Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep. And of course Rachel is the person that Jacob is going to basically fall in love with and Rachel his daughter the daughter of Laban is coming. Verse seven and he said Lord is yet high day and neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together. Water ye the sheep and go and feed them. And they said we cannot until all the flocks be gathered together until they roll the stone from the wall's mouth then we water the sheep. And what Jacob is basically saying in verse number seven is just like why are we sitting here doing nothing, right? Can't we do something? Why are we just sitting here and just talking and wasting time? I know in America there's always a joke about construction workers where basically you know you have one person working and then four people are basically holding a shovel. If only you could create a shovel that just stood up on its own and you wouldn't have to pay four people to just stand there doing nothing, right? But basically this is what's going on. They're just kind of sitting there doing nothing and they have an excuse in verse eight. They say well we can't do this until the flocks are gathered together. And it says till they roll the stone from the wall's mouth. What they're basically saying is it's somebody's job to roll this stone away, right? And the question would be who cares? Why don't you just do it yourself, right? You're sitting there and waiting instead of waiting for somebody who maybe is late to do their job or whatever to roll the stone away. Why not just do it yourself, right? I mean it's not like you have to wait for them to do it. You can roll the stone away and he's asking them this because he's just sitting here and he's like why are we doing nothing, right? And some examples and applications you can make from this is you know what, if you work at a company, you know every once in a while you'll have basically the opportunity where you can do somebody else's job for them because you have dead time or whatever or there's something that needs to be done whether it's like you know print something for them or copy it and they even if they don't ask. And the thing is instead of just sitting there doing nothing why not just help out? You say well I'm not going to do that because it's not my job. I'm not paid for it. Who cares, right? It's like why have the attitude well I'm not going to do it because it's not my responsibility. In this example there is no reason why they do not roll away the stone because they're sitting there. They're fully capable of doing it. It is a bad attitude to say well it's not my job. I'm not getting paid for it so I'm not going to do it. That is a bad attitude to have. And in marriage you can have this as well where basically you know in general there's going to be kind of defined roles of things that you do but here's the thing. As a husband if I have extra free time it's not that big of a deal to me to just kind of help out my wife with something whether it be to help out with the dishes help out with the kids. It's just like to me I'm just like if I have extra free time and I'm able to and it's going to help her why not, right? For me personally and you know not everybody sees it exactly like I do in this way but let me say that I believe that all men should know how to change diapers and things such as that. I mean it's just not that I'm going to be the one doing it all the time and not that I enjoy doing it but I do know how to do it. I don't enjoy it. I never like it when those moments come up but let me just say this especially once you have like three kids it's pretty difficult because sometimes there's multiple kids that need attention at the same time and it's just like I'm not going to be like so old-fashioned where it's like wow that's not my job to help so I refuse to help. It's like you know what? I do believe that yes undefined roles and old-fashioned roles but I also believe we can go to too big of extremes to that. And some of the examples you can look at is and I think we're going to look at it later but with the virtuous woman some of the things she does in Proverbs 31 are men's work when you really look at it and it's not that she's you know basically you know becoming a man or whatever but she has the opportunity to help her husband in some areas and a godly wife is going to do that and a godly guy would do the same thing as well. So yes I do believe in traditional roles but I do think we can go to too big of extremes with that. Okay and so in marriage or in companies there's these examples or what about with children? Sometimes you have multiple children and one child makes a mess and the other child doesn't. You tell the kids clean up the mess and here's the thing what does one of the kids say? I'm not the one who made the mess. And as a dad it's kind of like I really don't care who made the mess. What I care about is there's a mess and it needs to be cleaned up and dad ain't going to do it because I'm teaching you kids that basically when you make a mess you got to clean it up right? And look I get it it can be frustrating if it's like somebody else did it but it's just like you know I have to clean it up but that's just the way it works. The reality is we need to have the pattern of being a hard worker. We're basically when we have the opportunity to step in and work hard it's like we take that opportunity. And see in this story you've got these men that are basically saying well we're sitting here and waiting it's like it's not our fault it's not our job to roll away the stones so that's the reason why we're waiting Jacob. Verse number nine and while he had spake with them Rachel came with her father's sheep for she kept them. And it came to pass when Jacob saw the daughter the Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the world's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. And there's a lot of things we can learn from this. One thing on a side point I do think there is something pretty specific as when he saw Rachel he rolls away the stone it's called impressing somebody that you find attractive. Right? And you know what? Every guy when they're single will go to great extremes to do foolish things to try to impress women. That's just the way it is and we see it here there's nothing new under the sun we see it with Jacob here. But I do believe he was planning to roll away that stone anyway. I don't think it's but I think there's kind of a dual application because it's specific when he saw Rachel. But you know I used to misunderstand this story because I used to think of it as like these other men were not able to move away the stone and Jacob was able but when you really think about it I'm sure Jacob being a hard worker was strong but he's not going to be stronger than like three or four men put together. Right? It's not a matter of that they were not able to do it it's that they chose not to do it. If one man can roll away the stone surely a group of men could roll it away because it's not like any of these people were like spending their time in a gym back then. I mean they got strong from hard work so three guys are going to be stronger than one guy or however many guys it is. Right? It's just like you know a group of guys are going to be able to roll away the stone. It's not that they were unable to do it it's that they were unwilling to do it because they said it is not my job. And then they basically get left it to somebody else and Jacob is like why are we sitting here? I don't want to sit here doing nothing and he just rolled it away himself. Verse number 11 and that's the first instance of Jacob working hard. Verse 11 and Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept. Now I think it goes without saying that when he kissed her this is basically like a normal greeting in that society. It's not like he grabbed her and then he's like oh I find her attractive let me just grab her and you know just you know it's just like a greeting and you know obviously in some societies they greeted by kissing and they do that today in some societies. I'm glad I do not live in one of those societies because to be honest I would find it weird to greet a guy and then just kiss on the cheek kissing the cheek but some cultures do that. To me the handshake or the fist bump is perfectly okay with me right but it goes without saying that in verse 11 when he kisses her it's just a normal greeting. It's the same greeting he would have given to a guy. Okay verse 12 and Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother and that he was Rebecca's son and she ran and told her father. It came to pass when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought and so once again he's kissing Jacob so obviously you're seeing it's a normal greeting and brought him to his house and he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him surely thou are my bone and my flesh. Now we're going to see later on with Laban I believe Laban has some character flaws when it comes to money but I'm not saying he's a horrible person either and you know he says that surely thou are my bone my flesh and what he's saying is that basically you know you're my relative. Okay you've come all this way you're in and in today's world if you're going to go visit a location you go to Expedia or TripAdvisor or whatever it's like let me find an Airbnb let me find a hotel let me see where the restaurants are. It's not like it was like that back then. You're traveling by faith you know largely you don't know what you're going to run into and so once he sees his nephew I mean he would have been a horrible person if he doesn't warmly greet him. If he's like oh that's cool I'll see you later it's like well where's he going to go you know what I mean it's like of course he should embrace him and he does you know he does a respectful thing. I don't believe Leven's a great guy he's going to show character flaws later I don't think he's a horrible person either though and it says there and he abode with him the space of a month and what the idea was is Leven said to Jacob you're here on this journey you're going out by faith doing this you're allowed to stay with me for free you'll have a place to stay you'll have food to eat basically Jacob is on a one month vacation right I mean and you know it makes sense you know he's seeing his uncle who's never met him and his uncle's like wow this is so exciting probably wants to hear stories about Rebecca right and he's like hey you know stay with me you know just spend time and visit and he's staying with him for a month then it says this in verse 15 and Leven said unto Jacob because thou are my brother shouldest thou therefore serve me for not now look he's there for a month and he's basically got an all expenses paid vacation for at least a time period right and he's there for a month and the next verse tells us Leven says to Jacob shouldest thou therefore serve me for not should you serve me and get nothing out of it what is Leven saying he's saying I gave you a place to stay you've been working for free for a month I didn't ask you to work you're serving me for not you're serving me and I'm not paying you and what you're seeing in that verse is that although Jacob had a place to stay and he didn't have to pay for anything he had food provided he didn't just sit there and do nothing for that month he was serving Leven he was working he was acting like one of his workers of course during this time period you know what you're seeing is that when you would work at a company or whatever you would often live at their big lot or whatever and then work for them full time and their owner would pay for your food and your stay and so Jacob is getting that anyway without having to work but he has the attitude you know what I don't want something for free it's like I feel obligated as I'm getting a place to stay I want to chip in and help and what you're seeing is Jacob is a hard worker and he says shouldest thou therefore serve me for not tell me what shall thy wages be imagine you worked at a job for a month and you did such a good job that your boss is like you know what I want to make sure that you stay at this company what do I need to pay you to get you to stay right usually you don't have that bargaining power as an employee because realize Jacob doesn't necessarily have a long-term plan Leven doesn't know if he's going to stay or not but Leven's seen over the course of the month hey this is a good worker I want Jacob to stay with me and he's like what shall thy wages be what do I have to pay you I want you to be one of my employees it's like you all have a place to stay you all have food to eat what do I have to pay you to get you to stay right what we're seeing is Jacob was a very hard worker I want to give you three points here in this sermon of basically being a hard worker three points now go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9 Ecclesiastes 9 I believe sermons like this are always helpful and edifying because all of us can work harder all of us can be reminded of things we know and I would say that in today's world people don't generally work that hard we live in a culture where honestly we don't have to work that many hours to provide our needs we don't have to spend you know time going to a well to get our water to make sure that we don't die I mean it's like things are a lot easier there's grocery stores and all these modern conveniences there is a lot less time we have a lot of leisure time we have a lot of time to do games and have fun and look there's nothing you know necessarily wrong with that I mean I think it's good to have fun and games I'm glad as a church we're able to have fun you know doing fellowship and stuff like that but we need to be reminded of the fact that we're kind of blessed to have extra free time and instead of getting this idea that we're just going to sit here and do nothing all the time realize that we could actually work and accomplish something Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10 what's in point number one is this we should work everywhere we should have a habit of working everywhere it says in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10 whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might and basically whenever you find something to do do it with all your strength I mean Jacob went to the stone and it's like I found something to do literally with his hands and it's like all right I'm going to roll that stone away you say why? because it was something needed to be done and he just decided to do it himself for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whether thou goest and the idea is that you know when we pass away we're not going to be able to accomplish any work we might as well do it now while we're alive go to Proverbs 31 Proverbs 31 Proverbs chapter 31 you know I'm one of these people and I don't know I guess people might consider this weird or whatever but sometimes I'm at public places and I'll see like a trash can or whatever and there's trash on the ground near the trash can but it's not in the trash can and you know sometimes I will just like spend you know a couple minutes and pick up the stuff right around it I mean it drives me crazy why don't you just throw it in the trash can and you say why would you do that brother Stuckey? well if I have a couple free minutes doing nothing I might as well right I mean why just sit there and do nothing I mean if I for you know you're waiting for somebody to come you got five free minutes I mean accomplish something if you can look sometimes there might be nothing to do we understand that but if you find something to do do it right I mean you don't have to just sit here doing nothing if there's something to accomplish let's do it right we should work everywhere that we go it says in Proverbs 31 verse 12 referring to the virtuous woman she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life she seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands she is like the merchant ship she bringeth her food from afar and so here's the example of the woman who's basically going to a distance to make sure she gets the proper deals and the best prices on food she bringeth her food from afar the bible says she riseth also out as yet night and giveth meat to her household and a portion to her maidens and so look the template for a godly woman of what she should strive to be is basically waking up early in order to provide food for a household it says in verse 16 she considerth a field and buyeth it with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard and it says she considerth a field and she buyeth it now I don't believe that she's buying this field this is just obviously an example of a woman I don't believe she's buying this field and not telling her husband about it I obviously believe that the husband at the end of the day is the head of the home so he's going to be aware of this but the idea would be if the husband's out working all day and basically you're trying to you know get a lot or get something it's like she might have the time to basically look at the field consider prices talk to him about it or whatever and she can put in that time and effort okay and I do believe this kind of crosses over with roles where she's helping out her husband with the fruit of her hand she planteth a vineyard now technically you might consider that you know man's work but once again I think we can go a little bit overboard saying man's work and woman's work or husband's work and wife's work because basically if she has extra time why not plant a vineyard right I mean if you got a backyard and you got you know grass and an area to do it it's like why not if you have the extra time why not do that right you know you're accomplishing something you're going to get food from it she girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms and what you're seeing is if you define this woman you would say she's a hard worker masipak right and everywhere she's going in all areas she is working hard go to verse 27 verse 27 verse 27 she looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness so basically what she's doing is she's working hard to provide for her family and take care of them and eateth not the bread of idleness and what that's symbolically stating is she's not sitting around doing nothing right in our modern day it's an epidemic of it's it's the social media generation and any one of us can get sucked into this thing but there will be people that will literally be on their cell phones for like five hours a day and just be on Facebook for hours and social media for hours and hours accomplishing nothing now here's the thing obviously people are in different situations but let me just say this that in Proverbs 31 you have very traditional roles that are being linked especially during that time period and you're seeing a stay-at-home mom here's the thing if you're a stay-at-home mom that does not mean you just stay at home and do nothing it's not like well you know what I'm going to be godly so I'm not going to go out and work so I'm just going to sit at home and just do nothing and be on my phone all day well that kind of defeats the purpose the purpose is there's a lot of work to accomplish and you can be a great help to getting that stuff done but whether you're a husband or a wife you should work hard husbands go out they work their jobs work hard at that job wives you know what work hard whether it's a secular job or at home raising the kids whatever your hand finds to do do it with your mics whatever it is you know work hard or whatever you do don't develop this attitude it's like oh man I got to do more stuff you know it's just like life is about hard work you accomplish nothing unless you work hard that's just the way it is look at verse 31 give her the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates let her own works praise her basically when you work hard there's going to be accomplishments people are going to see it and she's going to get praised why? not because she's the most beautiful woman in the world not because you know she's the smartest but she works hard and you can see the proof is in the pudding as they say right? and look whether you're a husband a wife your parents children you know wherever you go work hard how about a church? you know church sometimes there's stuff to do right we get done with the services and you know we don't have a whole lot to do at our church but there's still some basic stuff basically setting up the tables bringing them down cleaning up basic stuff you don't want to have this attitude well it's not my job I mean why would you have that attitude? right it's like who cares whose job it is it's like all of us can chip in and make things a lot easier it's just like why not? and you know the reality is when we do events you know because we do like to do events here from time to time the events are great but the one bad thing about them is they cause a mess right? and look I get it you know I'm not saying everyone has to stick around so everything's perfect or whatever but I'm just saying you know we can all be willing to try to help out and at the very least I believe there should be this attitude that you know what I'll clean up my own mess you know what I mean? I've always had the attitude that basically or I was taught this as a kid that basically if you make a mess you clean it up and the idea leave a place better than when you came right? so if you make a mess you clean it up so for example you know if your kids make a mess it's like Zeph makes a mess if Christabel makes a mess if Ezra makes a mess or whatever it's like I should strive to have the ability to clean that up me and my wife and basically take care of our own kids because you don't want to just leave all the responsibility on one person that's not fair to people as a church we should be willing to chip in and here's the thing as our church grows if we don't have a volunteering mentality it's going to be a disaster you know we're not going to be doing as many activities and we won't be able to because there'll be so much stress just cleaning up basic stuff we want to develop a volunteer mentality while our church is small so when we get bigger that will basically just pass on to future people because look if you're new to a church you don't really know what to do you don't want to step on anyone's toes or whatever but if you see other people working and you're a hard worker your natural thing is hey is there anything that I can do to help? right? now sometimes the answer to that is going to be no but sometimes the answer is yeah you know what can you help me do this? and then basically as we get new people here people can just develop that volunteer mentality whether it's in your personal life or whatever it is it's like we should strive to work hard soul winning I mean that's something that we work hard right? go to malachi one malachi one malachi one number one we should strive to work everywhere wherever you are you know basically just be in this mindset is there something I can do to help? right? you know work everywhere right? but also number two be willing to work without getting credit towards be willing to work without getting credit don't have this attitude well what's in it for me? it's a bad attitude to have be willing to work without getting credit now malachi one last book of the old testament we're going to see the example which we can tie to church which I was just talking about it says in verse 10 malachi one verse 10 who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught neither do you kindle fire on my altar for naught and what the lord's rebuking them about is there's no one even willing to shut the doors unless they get credit for it for naught for no reason right? there's no one willing to kindle fire on my altar now of course we don't have an altar to kindle fire so you got to be realized it's not the direct thing but basically is there anyone among you that would be willing to set up chairs or basically stack them for naught where you're not getting credit you're not getting paid and the idea is you should be willing to volunteer even if you're not getting paid for it I mean this idea was just like you know what I'm not going to do it unless I get paid and I will say this that one thing I was told early on out here in the Philippines is in baptist churches specifically there can be this sort of mentality where basically if you volunteer for something you automatically get paid for it where basically you know you get paid a certain amount and people have this attitude where oh I'll do this because I'm going to get paid that's a bad attitude that's not how we operate and here's the thing we do a lot of activities we charge nothing we do activities we have fun we get food we get games we do a lot of things for free but here's the thing I believe in volunteering and being willing to do that without getting paid for it you say why because that's what we see in Malachi 1 verse 10 and just inside of your heart you shouldn't be have this attitude I will do something if I get something for it if not I'm not going to right and you know shutting the doors is the idea of just like kind of like closing up the church so opening the church closing the church basic stuff like that if we had a baptistry you could think of maybe setting up the baptistry putting water in it or whatever we have a big event with visitors or whatever just doing something simple and it's just like the idea and the problem in Malachi 1 is people wanting to get paid they wanted to get something out of it they said we're not going to do it unless we get something I have no pleasure in you say it the Lord of hosts neither will I accept an offering at your hand go to Matthew 9 Matthew chapter 9 Matthew 9 and look I'm not saying we have a problem with this at our church we're just going through Genesis 29 we're seeing hard work and how we can apply it and something for us to be reminded about with soul winning and we're working without getting any credit you know we don't get anything for going soul winning right we don't go soul winning to benefit ourselves we go soul winning to benefit other people it says in Matthew 9 verse 35 and Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they were fainting were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd then saved he unto his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous but the labors are few pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors into his harvest now why is it that there's few laborers willing to do the work I'm going to turn this off we got to because of the echo but why is it there's few people willing to do the work okay well because they don't get anything for it when we go soul winning and try to get people saved and give the gospel we don't get paid for it we don't get any credit and look it's like that at most churches where basically few people go soul winning now at our church it's not really like that we have the majority of people our church go regularly soul winning but at most baptist churches most people do not go soul winning but let's say at those baptist churches they set up a system where they said you know what we'll pay you 100 pesos per hour for soul winning there's probably a lot of people don't go soul winning why because they're getting something for it but what a bad attitude to say I'm not going to go soul winning because I get nothing out of it right it's like we should be willing to do it volunteering and saying I'm doing it without getting paid I mean you should look at and say hey you know what I was able to lead someone to the Lord that's a big enough reward to me right I'm excited when I get people saved and here's the thing that does not benefit me in my life right because it benefits them but here's the thing I'm already going to heaven I've done soul winning before and I've had people ask me this question like why do you do this like why are you out here talking to people about this and they basically say it in a way where it's like they feel like I'm doing it to help myself earn my way to heaven I say I'm going to heaven no matter what I do I'm not doing this for myself I'm doing it for other people and I said the reason why is I don't want people to burn in hell that's the reason why I don't want to see anybody go to hell that's why I go and talk to people about it I'm not doing it for something for myself I'm doing it for other people go to Matthew 20 Matthew 20 Matthew chapter 20 and Matthew 20 look at verse number 20 and mother of Zebedee's children with her sons and desiring a certain thing of them and he said unto her but it said on my right hand on my left to give but it should be given to them for whom it is prepared to my father and when the ten heard that they were moved with indignation against the two brethren but jesus called them onto him and said he knows that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them but it shall not be so among you and what jesus is saying in verse 25 is in this world those that are powerful flaunt their power but he said it's not so among you those that are great amongst us they don't basically just live this life of luxury where they're basically being served by everybody else he said it's the opposite in this world the powerful people are served by others but he says in verse 26 but it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant even as the son of man came not to be ministered onto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many and what jesus says is you know what i came here and i didn't come as a conquering king i came and i'm serving other people did that benefit jesus no it didn't i mean does it benefit to spend hours and hours and hours go without food go without sleep do fasting and all these things die for the sins of the world it didn't benefit him at all but it benefited other people and see our lives are meant not to be about us the question is how can we benefit other people and i'll tell you what when we develop this attitude to think that our lives are about us and we're meant to make ourselves happy and we're meant to be happy in our lives what takes place is we end up being miserable that's what takes place if you look at depressed and miserable people those are people that life is all about them they end up being miserable but if you do what the bible says and serve other people and work hard and say hey i'm not doing it to get paid i'm not doing it for a great reward i'm doing it just because i want to work hard and help other people what happens is you're happy people look at our lives as soul winners people serving god this is what 99 of the world thinks you guys live a pretty depressing life what do you do for fun we knock on people's doors and ask them about jesus it's like why would you do that it sounds depressing doesn't sound like a lot of fun and they don't get it that when you make your life about other people it's like it's the greatest joy that you can have because what takes place is if you focus too much on yourself the problem is none of us are really all that special we think we are but we make our lives about ourselves and then all of a sudden you get this solomon sort of feeling where it's like man i'm miserable because your whole life i i hated life because it's all about me now here's the thing serving other people while you're doing it and it's difficult and it's hard in that moment sometimes you feel like man i just want to rest or relax but when you get done you're like man i'm really thankful i did that isn't that true i mean i'll be honest with you sometimes while i'm going so winning i'm not always enjoying it you're tired you're exhausted we do these so many marathons and it's a challenge to get to the end and keep going faithfully but here's the thing whenever you get done and you can walk back at the end of the day and say hey i gave eight people the gospel and three got saved it's like you're excited it's like praise the lord i was able to give the gospel and get people saved and you know what you end up being very happy because you worked hard and your life was about other people instead of yourself and this is why so many people get frustrated in life whether it be you know husbands wives moms dads or whatever they make their lives about them and they see all the things that they don't get to do and everything and they feel miserable but if they would pour their heart and soul into other people then they would realize actually you know what this is what life's all about about benefiting other people and not myself go to ephesians chapter six ephesians six there are a lot of religions that basically teach this either directly or basically indirectly where basically life is about being happy and the biggest religion i can think of that is like that is buddhism buddhism is all about being happy now they don't do it in a way of like a sinful happy where just basically do drugs and everything like but basically they say let's get rid of all suffering let's get rid of all fear let's get rid of all these things and that way we can be happy you say what's the problem with that the problem with it is it's a false philosophy as i preached earlier this idea that your life is about being happy i do believe that if you serve god you'll be happy but if you make your life about being happy you will be miserable if the only thing you ever do is just say whatsoever mine eyes desire i kept not from them you will be a miserable miserable person just like solomon and you're going to realize one day i hated life and solomon was wise enough to realize why but i think a lot of people they hate their lives they're miserable and they don't know why and it's like you know what it's because you're making your life about you what's funny about that religion buddhism it's the religion that basically wants to be happy and get rid of suffering and all these things it's the religion that focuses completely on yourself you you can't find a more miserable religion you're going to make yourself miserable i mean the buddha the famous buddha leaves his wife and his son and just lose the family you know what you call that a derelict father you call that a loser a father who willingly became a homeless vagabond in order to basically search for his own enlightenment what do you call that you call it making your whole life about yourself you know what's going to happen you're going to be miserable why when you focus on yourself it makes you miserable and yet jesus taught that if you focus on other people and help them out i mean the bible says if you know these things happier you if you do them but the direct context context is about serving other people in that chapter and basically when you serve other people and live for them it is going to result in happiness but if you search after happiness and just worry about yourself you're going to be miserable the exact opposite will end up happening which is why that's probably the most depressing religion in the world and yet they're searching after happiness why because you're focusing on yourself you're doing the exact opposite of what you need to do if you want to be happy go to your bible to ephesians 6 ephesians 6. Ephesians 6 verse 5 servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto christ not with i service as men pleasers but as the servants of christ doing the will of god from the heart not with i service it's it's not really a common expression or way we would phrase it today but the idea is basically you don't just work when eyes are upon you but basically you realize my boss is the lord his eyes are always upon me right and most people in a secular job what they'll do is they'll work hard if they're being watched or they'll work hard if they have to accomplish something where basically they're going to get credit or be checked at the end but if they can get away with doing nothing and nobody sees and nobody knows what are they going to do they're going to be lazy and what the bible says is as servants even if you're not getting paid not with i service but you're the servants of christ and from the heart you want to obey what god says and do rights you'll just naturally want to work hard you say but i'm not getting credit well not with i service you should be willing to work without getting any credits you should be willing to work everywhere you should be willing to work without getting any credits turn your bible well to ephesians 6 verse 7 you say brother stuckey why would i want to do that though work everywhere work without getting credit number one because god commands you that's what the bible says number two it's going to make you happy but number three if that's not if those are not good enough reasons which they should be because you get wages you get paid for the work you do you say brother stuckey i thought that you said you work without getting credit no no here's what i mean you work without the mentality where i'm only going to do this if i get paid for it but your boss is not your secular boss your boss is the lord and at the end of the day god promises that in all work there is profit so here's the thing you're not technically working without getting anything out of it i mean if you have five free minutes and you pick up some trash and throw it in the garbage can why would i do that what's the benefit for me well actually actually you will get benefit from it actually you will because in all labor there's profits now that does not always mean a financial profit i do believe many times god can bless you financially but there's many things that are far more important than money far more important than money but the bottom line is in all labor there's profit what it says in verse 7 is this with good will doing service as the lord and not to men knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall i receive of the lord whether he be monder free it's like why would i work if the the eyes of the boss are not upon me because of the fact you're going to receive of the lord the bible says you're going to receive of the lord if you do it without doing it to get credit but just working hard god sees what you do even if you spend an extra hour that you didn't get paid for at your job you will get paid for that eventually you're going to get it it might not be in in a week it might be six months down the road you might never know because it's not in your paycheck god's going to make sure that you get what you deserve or he's going to give you something more valuable than money but make no mistake about it you're going to get something you're going to get a reward from god as a result go to genesis 47 genesis 47 i mean sometimes we see things and we just we just we just don't fully see the whole picture of how god can bless us and everything and i think back to the job i had in maryland for several years where you know based on the exact work i did i was extremely underpaid because pretty much anywhere else in the united states i would have made a lot more money some places twice as much money as i was making but i one of my requirements for where i was working or what company i work for is i got to be near a good church and you know what a lot of you can relate to that when you make that sort of and you know could be the fact that hey i want to be with a job where i can actually work and be a part of church sometimes you make financial sacrifices when you do that but i think back in my life and i can see the ways that god blessed me one of the ways is the surgery i had on my knee i ran into this stipulation where basically i didn't have surgery immediately and then i was worried it would not be covered because it would be listed under a pre-existing condition and depending on what company you have and what their insurance is it might not be covered and the new company i went to because basically i transitioned to a different job it's like i was in a difficult situation like great i have a torn acl but it's i'm at a different job now but in in most situations that's not going to be paid but even though i didn't get paid a ton of money compared to other and look my needs were provided i'm not complaining or whatever i mean i made money to provide my needs i'm just saying in other locations i would have made more but even though i didn't make as much money under the insurance plan every cent was covered for my surgery whereas in other companies it would have cost me out of pocket fifty thousand dollars i just wouldn't have had the surgery i would like i'll have to live with this because i'm not going to pay that much money i can't pay that much money and so even though i didn't get paid as much as it would at other companies for the work i was doing well i got saved fifty thousand dollars right so it's like what a blessing that is and i can think back to where basically you know i made sacrifices to decide to go in the ministry where basically said i'm throwing my career away because i got to get trained for the ministry i want to go to a church where i can be trained to be a pastor and you know those are financial sacrifices and yet i look at the timing of when we bought and sold our house and things such as that and god just worked things out where it's like we have very much been taken care of and it's just like there's just something about when you serve god god takes care of you you know what i mean i'm not saying and look my family we're not rich and i'm not saying you're going to be rich but you know what god provides the needs of those that work hard and love him it's just the way it works out things just happen to work out and you know you can't always put your finger on it but if you really stop and think about it and realize what the bible says what you'll see is people that love god and work hard god will provide for them genesis 47 verse 5 and pharaoh spake unto joseph saying thy father and thy brethren are coming to thee the land of egypt is before thee and the best of the land make thy father and brethren dwell in the land of goshen let them dwell and if they'll notice any men of activity among them then make them rulers over my cattle you know what pharaoh says is you know what joseph here are the people i want to be the rulers those that work hard those that are men of activity this is something i've i've learned in the ministry and it was something i was told ahead of time but something i relearned as it went into the ministry and what i was told is that when you pick people for assignments this is especially as the church grows people to volunteer and stuff you don't necessarily pick the most talented person for the job you pick the most faithful our natural inclination is to pick the most talented it's not actually the right thing to do and sometimes you regret it and what i was told is basically that you know specifically with song leaders is what i was told because that's specifically something where you can see a sort of skill where basically certain people are very skilled at being song leaders but it's like many of the people that can be picked they don't end up being the most faithful the people that you can really trust the most more important than being the most talented is actually being faithful actually that you do what is asked of you and look of course you know what if people are leading the music you want people that know what they're doing and you can grow and and and develop in that ability but the idea is you know you don't want to pick someone who's basically very talented but they don't actually go with the program and just kind of do their own thing you pick those that are faithful and here it's not about ability it's picking those that are men of activity those that work hard go to hebrews 11 we'll look at two more places hebrews 11 hebrews 11 verse 6 brother stucky what's the point of being a hard worker well i mean it's going to benefit you you're going to actually accomplish something you say well what am i getting for it i do something but what does it do for me well i mean at the end of the day you're actually going to get wages for it but here's the thing if you do it with the mentality well i'm going to do this because i want god to give me something you might not get anything for it you got to do things with the right attitude you say brother stucky i don't know about that does it really matter no the attitude matters because the bible also talks about him making manifest the counsels of the heart and if people say i'm only going to go so many because i want to basically proclaim i get the most people saved the church you probably lost your reward because you're just doing it to get credit for man the attitude matters and so here's the thing you got to fix this on the heart and say hey i just want to work hard because there's something that needs to be done it's like i got the time i might as well do something i'm going to do what the bible says whatsoever thy hand find it to do do it with the might and look this is something that desperately needs to be taught to young kids because you just see it with young kids they don't naturally want to work hard this is something that kids do not naturally do i mean you tell your kids clean up the room how much do they really clean it up if you're not watching what they do they pick up like one thing or two things they don't pick up everything they don't make it spotless and you got to keep telling them you got to keep training them and telling them no no every single piece you want them to get to the point where basically if they're told to clean up the room they look around is there anything else that needs to be cleaned rather than having the attitude what's the least i have to do where basically dad doesn't complain doesn't get mad at me right kids just naturally do not work hard it's just the way it is and of course i think kids should be able to play and have fun but we also need to have a proper balance i don't think that we should just train our kids to act like kids till they're 18 and then say okay now get a real job we need to get them to that point where they're working hard ahead of time it says in hebrews 11 verse 6 without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him and if you want to please god you're going to believe on him but you're going to diligently seek him now you don't have to please god to be saved that's not synonymous in fact god is not pleased with everybody who is saved if you want to if you want to please god you must believe that he is you must believe on him but you also must diligently seek him and i'll tell you what most christians that are doing nothing for god god's not pleased with him he's not happy i mean think about it if you had kids that did nothing and didn't listen to you didn't listen to anything you said they disobeyed every single thing you said would you be pleased with them no now they'd still be your children but you're not pleased with them you still love them but you're not pleased with them it's the same thing with god if you believe on jesus and you don't seek him and obey him and do what he says god is not pleased with you you say well why would i do this so what's in it for me he's a rewarder that's what the bible says you get rewarded for the hard work you do another verse number 24 verse 24 verse 24 by faith moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of god than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of christ greater riches in the treasure in egypt for he had respect under the recompense of the reward moses said i'm willing to suffer in my life because there's a reward on the other side for my hard work here's the thing did moses live an easy life no he did not you know what would have been a lot easier staying in egypt being in royalty i mean i don't know if it is exactly like this but this is what you always see in these old you know films or documentaries of egypt it's like they got these giant feathers and somebody you know to the rich people they're basically just what is it pomade pie is what you say like a giant pomade pie and and just basically fanning you and everything and you're sitting there they're bringing you a pineapple and you're just sitting there in your chair doing absolutely nothing i don't know if it's exactly like that but i'm just saying moses being basically brought up by royalty he could have had a nice life and not had to work too hard and yet he's in the wilderness and he's working himself ragged i mean it comes to the point where his father-in-law says hey what are you doing it's like you're working day and night you got to do things a little bit wiser because you're going to run yourself into the ground and moses was running himself from the ground for nothing for other people why would he do that because he had respect and the recompense of the reward that he would get one day because he understood that you know what my hard work will benefit me even if i never see it in this lifetime even if i never have that fancy car fancy house even if i don't have all the things that other people have i realize i'm going to at the very least if not be rewarded here get the rewards in heaven where it's going to be worth it and you know i had this on my notes we're not going to turn there i think everyone's probably familiar with first corinthians 3 where basically you stand before the judgment seat of christ and the works that you do you're going to get rewarded but the idea is there that god is going to make manifest things that people are not aware of where basically you can do things and get no credit for it nobody knows about it and yet god says you know what i'm going to reward the openly i'm going to show the world all the great things that you did so look when it comes to working hard you're never doing it for nothing we should have the attitude and we should teach our kids the attitude we should be willing to work everywhere we go if our hand finds something to do we do it with i might even if it's not your responsibility so to speak we should be willing to work without getting credit it's like i'm not going to get paid for this who cares be willing to work without getting credit but here's the thing if you are willing to be a hard worker even if you don't get credit and nobody knows about it at the end of the day god sees everything you do and he is a rewarder to them that diligently seek him you seek him with your heart you dedicate your life to the lord you work hard dedicate your life to other people god is going to reward you one day for your efforts let's close in a word of prayer your heavenly father thank you for