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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you when thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou wakest it shall talk with thee for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life to keep thee from the evil woman from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman lest not after her beauty in thine heart neither let her take thee with her eyelids for by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread the adulterous will hunt for the precious life can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned so he that goeth into his neighbor's wife whosoever touched her shall not be innocent men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry but if he be found he shall restore sevenfold he shall give all the substance of his house but whoso committed adultery with a woman like it understanding he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul a wound and dishonor shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away for jealousy is the rage of a man therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance he will not regard any ransom neither will he rest content though that would give us many gifts bless the root of God's word let us pray Lord God in heaven we thank you Lord for the stage given to us a privilege to bless the Lord for this day please bless the preaching of your word Lord and the preacher of your day and we thank you Lord for the stage given to us in your name we pray Amen Alright we are here in Proverbs chapter 6 and this is going to be a Labor Day themed sermon since it is Labor Day weekend and the name of this sermon is Labor vs. Laziness Labor vs. Laziness So I want to make a comparison between two types of people the person who is a hard worker, my CPOG a laborer versus someone who is lazy who just doesn't do anything okay we're going to look at just three basic points not so complicated but the first point is this people that are hard workers people that are laborers they are successful at the things they do in life people that are lazy they are failures notice what it says in Proverbs 6 verse 4 give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eyelids deliver thyself as a rove from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler go to the ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise and so the Bible tells us to be like the ant and it says be wise don't be lazy don't be a sluggard be like the ant why? because ants are always working very hard you're never going to see an ant on the ground just kind of relaxing unless it's injured or something like that it's always moving around now one thing to note which I always talk about in this verse it says consider her ways because the worker ants are actually female so the Bible is actually ahead in terms of that sort of scientific knowledge long before the Bible was long before science caught up with it but the worker ants are actually female but what you see is that they're always working the Bible says that ant is given to us as an example of what we should do verse number 7 which having no guide overseer or ruler provided her meat in the summer and gathered her food in the harvest so here you've got the hard worker and what you're seeing is success they have food they provide for themselves they're good to go verse 9 the Bible says the person who's lazy is poor he's in poverty it says he's traveling because of the fact he can never hold down a job he's bouncing from location to location begging people for money and that's what you see with people that are lazy bouncing around, traveling around they can't figure things out in life so you've got two types of people the hard worker is successful and the lazy person is a failure and you know what, it highlights that the lazy person when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep it's like 9 in the morning hit the snooze button 930 hit the snooze button oh man, it's 1 pm man, I missed my job interview it started at 8, I'll just apply for a different job, right? Proverbs 13 now look, our natural tendency in our flesh is we want to be lazy we don't want to be hard workers naturally we want the easy way in life right? but success is found via hard work there is no easy way if you want to be successful you don't get good at something if you don't put in any effort or time people that work hard are successful people that are lazy are failures at whatever they do Proverbs 13 verse 11 wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished and so wealth gotten by vanity would be something like you know, winning the lottery or something like that, something that didn't require hard work and it says shall be diminished, shall be brought down you're going to lose that money but he that gathereth by labor shall increase and when you work hard and you make money, it's something that's going to stick with you, but if you're a lazy person and it happens to make money such as the lottery or something, it's going to be diminished I remember in my old job, you know, there was co-workers that were talking about people that win the lottery because on the front page of the newspaper so and so wins the lottery bankrupt in two years and they're like, how is that possible? you know, I didn't often say things at work because, you know what, I'm just getting paid to work and everything like that, but I just quoted that verse and just kind of went about my job and everyone looked around dumbfounded and someone said, that's like the most profound thing I've ever heard I said, well that's the Bible, right? and the Bible shows you that people that get money by vain methods and vain ways it's actually going to be diminished they're not going to hold on to it go to Proverbs 14 Proverbs 14 Proverbs 14 you say, why is that? because if you work hard for something, you realize the value of it if you don't work hard for something, you don't realize the value for it those in this world that just get everything from their parents and they don't have to work hard for anything, they don't see the value in anything right, they think it's nothing no big deal, it's like, hey, it's only you know, 10,000 pesos, dad it's like, that's a lot of money but since they didn't work for it they don't understand what that means but see, if you work really hard you have a tendency to be kind of very strict and stingy with your money, you say, why? because you work very hard for that right, those that gather by labor shall increase the Bible says, they're going to be wise with their money and not just blow it and lose it Proverbs 14 verse 23 in all labor there is profit if you work hard at something you're going to find success profit there is not necessarily referring to money, although that's a good application, but basically anytime you labor at something or work hard, you're going to get better at it, you're going to have success the Bible's saying, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury, penury is someone who's just very very poor, and you say, what is that saying the talk of the lips, it's referring to someone who talks about how hard of a worker they are they talk about all the things they're going to do, but they never do anything, now by default we tend to believe people when they say things so if somebody says, I'm going to do this in six months and do this and this and this you just kind of tend to believe them right, you want to give people the benefit of the doubt but then you see these same people that are always talking about how great they are and yet it's like, why do you have no success in anything in life right, but this is exactly what the Bible's saying there's people that actually work hard and there's people that talk about all these things that they're going to accomplish, and the person that's working hard is not always going to brag about all the stuff they're going to do, they're just going to do it they're just going to work hard and try to get successful, but the person who's lazy they will talk about all these things they're going to accomplish and yet they don't accomplish anything right, go to Genesis 47 Genesis 47 when you meet people like that it's kind of like at the beginning you tend to believe them, as time goes by you start to realize, oh this person is just making excuses for everything right, they're just always talking about what they're going to do, they're never actually going to do anything right, Genesis 47 verse 6 and this is the story of Jacob and Joseph and everything after Joseph's been turned in by his brothers and they've come back and they're in Egypt notice what it says in Genesis 47 verse 6 the land of Egypt is before thee and the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell, and the land of Goshen let them dwell, and if thou knowest any men of intelligence is that what the Bible says there? any men of skill? is that what the Bible says? it says any men of activity among them then make them rulers over my cattle right, the Bible says that if you want someone to be a ruler, pick someone who works hard above being intelligent above being skilled but someone that actually works hard look, you meet people in life that are very intelligent and they just fail at everything, why? because they're lazy I know many people from my hometown that were very intelligent people, very lazy and they failed I knew someone from my high school he failed out of college because of video games right, failure very smart person, failed someone else who was probably the smartest person from my hometown, everybody would have said he's the smartest guy, he's a loser in life right, he refused to work he became a drug addict, why? because he's lazy, because his parents had lots of money, he had everything in life never learned how to work hard, right it doesn't matter how skilled you are if you never actually developed that skill look, if you're the most naturally skilled basketball player in the world but you've never practiced dribbling a ball you've never practiced doing a jump shot you're not going to be very good you say, why? you've got to actually work to develop that skill even if you have a natural ability if that's all you have and you never develop it you're just not going to be any good at it you have to actually work hard go to Joshua chapter 1 Joshua 1 what's interesting is in other versions they change to chapter 47 verse 6 and instead of saying men of activity it says men of special ability not just men of ability, but special ability, right and that's exactly the opposite of what the Bible's teaching the Bible's teaching, you want to put someone in charge pick someone who's a hard worker even if they don't have special ability okay, if they work hard they're going to be successful Joshua 1 verse 8 this book of the law thou shalt not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night now look, meditating on God's word day and night takes a lot of work it takes a lot of effort right, when you read the Bible it actually takes a lot of effort to pay attention and really focus on what you're seeing, write down notes, I mean, because you can read you know, a bunch of chapters really quickly and learn nothing, if you want but if you actually want to learn, you have to put aside distractions, sit down slowly read, take notes if you're confused, stop and think about things, it actually takes a lot of time and meditating on God's word day and night it's mentally actually draining to focus and think about God's word, you know, when you're trying to study a topic out in the Bible that's kind of complicated, you've got to really meditate and meditate and think about it I've got a topic right now I'm studying out that I'm a bit confused on and it's like, it's it's tiring, right, all day long I'm thinking about like, what is the answer to this? right, and when you meditate on God's word that is implying hard work that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success as I said, the person who works hard is going to be successful, the lazy person is going to be a failure, go to Matthew chapter 9 in your New Testament, Matthew 9 Matthew chapter 9 I mean, I'd say everybody in life would say they want to be successful but most people are not willing to put in the work and effort to actually be successful right, Matthew chapter 9 verse 36 Matthew 9 verse 36 but when he saw the multitudes this is Jesus speaking, you know, he sees all these multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered sheep having no shepherd then saith the unto his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous but the labors are few we mention labors, labor versus laziness because labor is the word for basically being a hard worker and what Jesus said is the labors are few there's a lot of work to do there's just few people actually doing it I mean, our church does a lot of soul winning but it's really just a small drop in the bucket when you consider all the unsaved people in Metro Manila and there's what, 13 million, am I correct in that, 13 million people in Metro Manila it's just like as many people as we get saved it's a really small percentage and it took a lot of work to get to that point and the reality is we could look out in 2022 and say hey, there's great multitudes but the labors are actually few there's just not enough people to reach all of these unsaved people and unfortunately it will always be that way, we're never going to have enough soul winners to reach all of this world because we need more people doing the work and most saved people refuse but the Bible's showing you that if you want success and want to get a lot of people saved, what do you need? You need labor. Now here's the thing if you're a soul winner you would say that soul winning is labor it's hard work it's not easy, right? Now, here in the Philippines it's a little bit different than where I'm from growing up and I was thinking about this recently because here in the Philippines to me it's more you know, tiring just mentally because you're preaching the gospel a lot in America you don't really preach the gospel a lot when you're going soul winning, right? Here, you know, if you go soul winning for a couple of hours you might preach the gospel three or four times just one right after another if you're going to a park or something like that it's not really like that in the United States at least not where I'm from in West Virginia in West Virginia, you know, you think of that verse you know, upon the mountains, you know, preaching the gospel because it's literally the mountain state and you're literally walking and walking and walking and you know, when you do soul winning marathons when you get done your feet have blisters all the time because you're not doing a lot of talking you're doing a lot of walking this is why, you know, if you live there you have to have shoes like this for your dress shoes that are comfortable because you're doing a lot of walking and if you don't you're going to destroy your feet, it's just the way it is, right? but either way, whether you're doing a lot of talking or walking, it's tiring soul winning is not an easy thing to do verse 38 pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors into his harvest and this ought to be our prayer request in 2022 praying that God will send us more labors to reach this area with the gospel turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians chapter 15 1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians chapter 15 1 Corinthians 15 you know what, honestly, I think a sermon like this is more important in today's world than it was thousands of years ago the reason why is because we have a lot of modern day conveniences I mean, thousands of years ago, if you were lazy you're just going to starve to death or die of you know, dehydration because for most people, they're working just to get water from a well right, you think of the stories in the Bible and we live, honestly, like kings in 2022 you can go to the grocery store and get anything you want it didn't used to be that way in the Bible, they're trading salt and various things it's like, you have everything at your fingertips in 2022 in today's world, like none of us are really starving when you look at the history of the world and how things work but thousands of years ago, maybe this isn't as much needed because of the fact you have to work hard to survive and yet the Bible still focuses on this topic a lot how much more in 2022 when it is very easy to be lazy it is very easy in 2022 to be lazy and not be a hard worker that wasn't even possible really thousands of years ago for most people notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 15 this is Paul the Apostle speaking in verse 10, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10 for I am the least of the apostles that am not me to be called an apostle he's saying I'm not worthy of being called an apostle because, actually verse 9, not 10 verse 9, because I persecuted the church of God and Paul said I don't feel worthy to be an apostle because of how I lived my life before, verse 10 but by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I labor more abundantly than they all, yet not I but the grace of God which was with me I mean if you think of preeminent characters in the New Testament, you've got obviously Jesus Christ, perhaps John the Baptist, and other than John the Baptist you've got Paul the Apostle there's no one else that you would put above him in terms of what he accomplished and what he did and everything I mean he wrote half the New Testament half the books of the New Testament were written by Paul the Apostle we would say he started more churches did more soul winning, was it because he was intelligent? because here's the thing I think Paul actually was the most intelligent out of all the apostles and disciples when you're looking at him he was a very smart guy, very educated it wasn't his intelligence what he said is, I labored more abundantly he said when I came to people I didn't use wise words because I wanted their faith to stand in the things of God and not the wisdom of men it wasn't his intelligence it was the fact that he worked hard turn your Bible to Proverbs 12 by the way, Paul said his grace bestowed upon me was not in vain he's not referring to the fact that he got saved see when we preach the gospel to someone if they don't get saved, biblically speaking you could say that you know what the grace that was bestowed upon them was in vain because they didn't receive the gospel but if they get saved and don't do something with it it was actually in vain as well according to the Bible Paul said the reason it wasn't in vain is not just because I got saved but I labored I worked hard because when you think about all the work we do we get saved, we try to bring them to church and then they never actually do anything with it no, praise the Lord if they get saved we're happy, we're excited but you kind of think man, couldn't you actually do something? couldn't you come to church? I mean, we took our time to come to you preach the gospel to you we try to bring you to church and teach you the word of God and then you just don't want to do anything with it right? Why? Because the opposite of being a laborer being a hard worker is being lazy, that's what the Bible says no, of course we understand some people get saved maybe they have exceptions, they can't come to church we understand those things but a lot of people can come to church they just choose not to Proverbs 12 verse 27, let us look at the lazy person now we looked at the laborer what about the opposite, the lazy person? Proverbs 12 verse 27 the slothful man, which is the lazy person like a sloth roasteth not that which he took in hunting but the substance of a diligent man is precious see the Bible says if you're a diligent man or a hard worker and you have something it's very precious to you you take it very seriously, you don't want to lose it I mean, if you kill an animal you're going to eat it you're going to cook it, you're going to eat it you're not going to waste it but the lazy person, it says even if he gets something he's not even going to cook it he's just going to let it go to waste now look, I don't believe the Bible just saying this, I think this is literal and this goes back to the idea if you don't work hard for something, you waste it right? now turn your Bible to Proverbs 15 I'll give you a couple stories from my life of just someone, you know, from the US I knew that, you know, you think of this verse okay you know, when you go to college in America, you generally have roommates and you basically will split the rent while you're in college, so I had various roommates when I was in college one year I had these two guys as roommates and one of my roommates was like the laziest person ever and look, living with someone who's lazy is a nightmare it is awful right? and so when you're signing a lease at least at WVU basically when all of you sign the lease if one person doesn't pay their portion then you have to cover them otherwise you'll get fined a lot of money so one of my roommates just wasn't paying because you know, he didn't have the money, he wasn't working he's just sitting around on his computer all day so you know, he owed me like what would be the equivalent of like a hundred thousand pesos and I was just a college student you know, I didn't have like a lot of money at the time so basically all my money is to support my friend because he's not paying right? and he just wasn't getting a job just being very lazy and everything like that and just a couple examples one time, here's a guy who owes me money and his parents are sending him money now for a month to pay the rent but there's a due date to pay your rent you basically have to pay it the first day and if you're late by a day it was a fifty dollar fine two thousand five hundred pesos to be one day late and so you know we would all put in our portion of the payment and so I asked my friend you know, hey did you pay your rent it was just around lunch time he's like, not yet I was like, but you're gonna do it, right? and he's like, yeah and it was a fifteen minute walk fifteen minutes, okay he said, yeah, I don't really feel like it I was like, there's a fifty dollar fine if you don't pay it he's like, yeah, I'm just gonna do it tomorrow now look, if it was just his own money, fine but he owes me money it's like, pay it and give me fifty bucks so you start paying off if you have that extra money I told him, hey, write the check I will walk down and drop it off for you he refused to do it and he did it the next day and he had to pay fifty extra dollars I'm like, what is wrong with you? and it's just exactly like this verse that we read where it's like he roasteth not that which he took in hunting hey, fifty extra bucks, I'll just waste it to do what that was so important be on your computer and just goof off, right? another story I have rooming with him is, you know, he would never clean anything out, you know, we had the garbage can right outside of our house, never took out the trash never did the dishes so there'd be like dried spaghetti sauce on plates and things such as that and me, I'm a bit of a neat freak I can't stand to have like, you know dirty dishes and everything like that and it used to frustrate me but it's also because of the fact, if you have roommates the agreement is, I wash my dishes, you wash yours that's just, the way it works that was agreed upon it's common sense and everything he just wasn't doing it, he's like, I'll just do it later and it's like, weeks go by and there's like this blue mold that's coming on the plates, it's like and so my other roommate got so frustrated with him he came to me and said, you know what I'm gonna take a stand if he's not doing the dishes, I'm not gonna do them either I'm just like I'm gonna be arrested for murder I'm gonna murder my two roommates, right? as I literally, for the rest of the several months I was rooming, I pretty much did all the dishes because it's just like, I'm not gonna have all this mold going on all the plates, it's like, you gotta be kidding me right? but look these, this, I'm talking about someone who's actually a saved person I mean, you can be a saved person and be lazy getting saved does not automatically make you a hard worker, you can be a saved person have the Holy Spirit inside of you and just be lazy as can be Proverbs 15 Proverbs 15 verse 19 Proverbs 15 verse 19 the Bible says the way of the slothful man is as an hedge of horns but the way of the righteous is made plain the idea is that if you're a lazy person you always find these obstacles to stop you oh, it's too difficult it's too hard I mean, if you're a hard worker, things just kinda line up and work out for you now part of it is just the fact that you're working hard, but the other aspect is I do believe that God's gonna bless you if you work hard, right? Turn your Bible to Proverbs 18 verse 9, we'll look at a few more places here Proverbs 18 verse 9 for the first point Proverbs 18 verse 9 and the Bible says in Proverbs 18 verse 9 he also that is slothful in his work so this is someone who's lazy to work his brother to him that is a great waster and what it's saying is the same type of person is the same type of person that wastes things and that goes back to the idea if you don't work hard for something you don't see the value of it look, we get reminded of this sometimes when we go soul winning when you go to some of these poor areas and sometimes there's people that don't have much but they have money to buy alcohol they have money to buy cigarettes and if they're smoking they're drinking and here's the reality I don't smoke, I don't drink but the reality is, if I did think about how expensive is this and if I'm paying 100 pesos today times by 365 it's like wow, that's a lot of money 36,500 pesos on cigarettes and alcohol to me I'd be like that's a lot to me that's a lot of money and yet there's people that don't have a lot and to them it's just like no big deal spending 25% of my money on alcohol no big deal 25% of my money on cigarettes, no big deal don't you see the value in the dollar? but here's the thing if you're a lazy person, you don't see the value in the dollar because he's brother to him that is a great waster turn your Bible to Proverbs 26 Proverbs 26 Proverbs 26 when you meet people that are lazy they are also going to waste stuff if they actually have it this is why, by the way, I'm not trying to go on too big of rabbit trails and it's a little bit different here in the Philippines but in the US, you know you don't have to work a day in your life the government will pay you not to work and they'll give you a place to live they'll give you money to buy food every month you literally do not have to work a day in your life right? but what's interesting is the same people that don't work and the government pays for their housing and they just get money from the government to pay for their food it's funny because we had somebody who fixed our locks at Verity Baptist in Sacramento and he told me, he's like yeah you know what all of our business at the homeless areas the people that are the government housing because they just destroy everything in those houses and he told me it's kind of strange to me, they get a free house and then they just destroy it, but doesn't that just prove the Bible right? they didn't work for it they got it for free and then they just destroyed it because they see no value in it because the government is just going to give them another house now if you're working it's like it doesn't work that way if I break a window, I've got to pay for it so I'm going to take value in that and not just get mad and break a window at my house but the idea is that someone who doesn't work hard is also someone who wastes, that's what the Bible teaches Proverbs 26 verse 13 the slothful man saith there is a lion in the way a lion in the streets so here's one of those great excuses by a lazy person, there's a lion this is like I don't know, the Jungle Book or the Wizard of Oz lions and tigers and bears oh my if I go out I might get killed by a lion there's a million things that might happen to you I mean it is possible that you can walk out after church and a lion's going to get you it is possible when we go summoning that a dog's going to attack you it's not likely, but it's happened before, I don't think it's happened at our church I know of people, it's happened in the US there's things that can take place in life, but are you going to let all those things stop you from succeeding? and the lazy person though the idea is they have a lot of excuses for why they cannot do anything their way is as a hedge of thorns but if you're a hard worker you don't look at the obstacles, you just work you just do it turn your Bible to Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4 you're turning there I'll also read you from Proverbs 26 where it said the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason what the Bible's saying is the lazy person has a lot of excuses and look, when you meet lazy people in life, you're going to hear a lot of excuses why they fail what's interesting is if somebody's a hard worker, they don't usually make excuses for when they fail they just say, yeah, I've got to do a better job, right? if I fail at something, my attitude's going to be like, I've got to do a better job I've got to get better, got to get smarter got to get stronger, whatever it is but the lazy person when they fail, wow, you don't understand my situation there's a lion in the streets right? I mean, how can I succeed? I might get attacked well, I mean, other people are succeeding right? A modern day example and it's been two years at this point but excuse, a year after it happened what's coronavirus season? so how can I succeed? It's coronavirus it's like, yeah, but you can't use that excuse forever and there's other people that figure it out it wasn't a convenient situation for any of us, but you just got to figure it out you got to just adjust you got to do something differently, you can't just use that as an excuse, because someone who's hard working would say, they wouldn't use that as an excuse they'd say, you know what, I've got to figure something out right? they would put the responsibility on themselves rather than making an excuse for why they're failing right? look, I'm not saying you can't have valid excuses in life, but here's the thing excuses don't fix anything instead of just making excuses, just figure it out that's just the way it is go to Ephesians 4 Ephesians chapter 4 point number one, laborers are successful hard workers are successful lazy people are failures you say, brother Stuckey okay, that might be true that's what the Bible teaches but, why is it that you're preaching against lazy people? I mean, they're not doing anything to you well, number one, because the Bible talks about it a lot number two, it is Labor Day weekend okay number three is this, point number two hard workers are concerned about other people, lazy people are concerned about themselves see, here's the thing, lazy people do affect me and they do affect you I wouldn't really care if all they affected is themselves right, the example I gave in America where they get everything for free and the government just pays, well why do you care they're just destroying the house well, here's the thing, nothing's free except salvation and even that wasn't really free because it was paid for by Jesus Christ just free for us right, paid for by the blood of Christ but here's the thing, nothing is free in life they don't have to pay for it it comes out of tax dollars of people that are working it's not free somebody's paying for it right, and here's the thing, when people that are lazy, the Bible teaches they're concerned only about themselves not about other people and as a result of not being concerned about other people they actually do affect other people Ephesians 4 verse 28 let him that stole steal no more now, when you're reading this verse I mean obviously there's many ways to steal but the main context is not really stealing by like ripping it out of somebody's hand it's more basically just getting freebies from everybody basically you're just bumming off people getting other people to pay your rent just always getting free meals and free food the Bible says, let him that stole steal no more but rather let him let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth what the Bible says is the person that's lazy, that's not laboring that's stealing if you're stealing from others, you're not concerned about other people instead, work hard that you may have to give to him that needeth so if you do have money you're going to have money to help others if they need it meaning you're concerned about other people hard workers are concerned about other people lazy people are concerned about themselves that's what the Bible teaches go to 1 Timothy chapter 5 1 Timothy chapter 5 1 Timothy 5 1 Timothy chapter 5 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 8 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 8 the Bible reads but if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith and is worsened in infidel this is a reference to a man providing for his family verse 9 let not a widow be taken to the number under three score years old three score meaning 60 years 60 years old having been the wife of one man well reported up for good works if she had brought up children if she had bled strangers if she had washed the saints fee if she had relieved the afflicted if she had diligently followed every good work speaking towards helping people out that are basically past the point of being able to provide for themselves and there are requirements though it's not just anybody who asks for money it's someone who is actually a godly person who has proven themselves right we have people that come to our church all the time they don't come for the service they just knock on the door afterwards can I have some money now here's the thing if you ever answer the door and I'm not there I'll just tell you what the answer is no you say brother Stuckey that's harsh they're not a member of our church it's like ask from your own church it's like well I don't go to church we'll start going to church and then maybe this verse could apply to you if you're a godly and helpful person at that church because like our church has helped people out at our church that we're in need but some random person I don't know and look sometimes they have the greatest story in the world I mean it sounds amazing that doesn't mean it's true it could be they've told that story thousands and thousands of times you say brother Stuckey you're being too harsh no you're being too naive and let me tell you something I used to be naive about people that asked for money as well okay I'm not saying there's never anybody in time of need what I'm saying is the Bible gives us a guideline that we help those that are actually at our church that you actually know about the situation not a random person or a family member because the first by default is the family would help that person according to the Bible then the church if they're actually a proven and godly person but I remember I was in college and there was this guy who was a homeless guy and he was asking me for money and I felt bad for him right because I thought to myself I've got clothing and a place to stay and there's this homeless guy doesn't have anything I felt really bad and I just reached into my wallet I can't remember if I gave him 10 or 20 dollars but I gave him a lot of money I felt bad for him I mean he had a nice story and where I grew up there weren't really homeless people because I grew up in a small town so this was kind of my first experience but I gave him money got out of class I saw the same guy just two hours after I talked to him bottle of booze in his hands I helped get a guy drunk and here's the reality if you're giving money to people that are actually unworthy you're actually making a problem you're not helping I mean I harmed that person by giving him money to keep up and look obviously I did it being naive I was ignorant about it but it's like you know what I wised up and I learned after that situation you can't just trust people when they ask for something you've got to actually know about the situation right and this is what the Bible teaches now the Bible is saying here though a woman who's a godly person who's of a certain age and can no longer take care of herself is what the Bible is talking about verse 11 but the younger widows refuse for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry because they have cast off their first faith and with all they learn to be idle wandering about from house to house and not only idle but toddlers also and busybodies speaking things which they ought not I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully what the Bible says is if a woman's of a certain age she's probably not going to be able to provide for herself especially if she's been married and you know now she's like 60 plus years old I mean it's going to be very difficult for her but the Bible says the younger widows on the other hand it's saying they should just work and provide for themselves and if they don't then they're going to be sitting around gossiping being a busybody meaning not concerned about other people you say hey brother Secchi what exactly do you mean? How about Ruth? We're talking about widows Ruth in the Bible had a tragic situation where her husband died and we don't know how old she was but she seems to be pretty young so what did she have to do? Well she had to work there's no alternative that's what she needed to do and you say well I don't think she should have done that she's the only woman called virtuous in the Bible the only woman ever called virtuous we got a chapter on the virtuous woman but the only woman that's ever called virtuous in the Bible was a woman who was working and providing for herself she was in that situation that's what she had to do and so what the Bible's saying is that you know what if someone has too much free time whether it's men or women they're going to be a problem she has free time this example in 1st Timothy 5 she's gossiping being a busybody and Paul says they need to get married bear children and guide the house why is that? because if you have kids it takes time and effort you don't have time to get into trouble and look it's true for men and women about being busy for example men later on in the sermon but whether you're a man or a woman you got to be busy and if you have too much free time on your hands you will get into trouble it's just what will take place turn your Bible to 1st Thessalonians 2 1st Thessalonians 2 look I'm not against people going on vacations and having free time I think that's good for all of us but you need a proper balance on all things sitting around on your phone for 10 hours a day that's not a proper balance that's called too much free time it's called being lazy and here's the thing in 2022 instead of going house to house to gossip it's just like group message it's only in a couple seconds you can gossip to 100 people at one time and the Bible is saying the cure is to actually be busy if you're busy you stay out of trouble if you're busy you do get concerned about other people whereas lazy people look at what she's doing she's gossiping she's only concerned about herself rather than the people that she's actually harming 1st Thessalonians 2 verse 9 1st Thessalonians 2 verse 9 and it says for you remember brethren this is Paul the Apostle speaking our labor or hard work and travail for laboring night and day because we would not be chargeable unto any of you we preached unto you the gospel of God and Paul said you know what we worked hard because we didn't want to be chargeable unto any of you and what he's saying is we didn't want to ask people for money right we wanted to provide our own way now this is pretty much the exact opposite of like a modern day missionary because literally all they do is go from church to church and beg for money right and Paul said I mean Paul had the exact opposite attitude he's like I don't want to be chargeable unto anyone I'd rather work and provide my own way for money all the time in our modern day you've got what's known as a deputation system and the modern system for sending out missionaries is you go around for two years and you beg people to give you money and you preach at various churches and you beg for money that's the exact opposite of Paul the Apostle now just think about this logically if you're trying to get money from somebody you're probably going to say something that they want to hear right you're not going to say anything that offends them so it takes place if somebody goes on deputation for two years begging for money and they get used to being like Joe Osteen for two years nothing negative is it a shock when they get done from their deputation they preach and act like a non-denominational church because that's what they've been like for two years all positive no negative now when it comes to preaching most of the Bible is actually negative the Bible is actually laws and commandments and do this right there's the sermons like patience there's the sermons on love and things like that but honestly it's mainly negative two-thirds rebuking one-thirds exhorting is basically the principle taught in the Bible and Paul said I don't want to be chargeable onto anybody we're not even just missionaries just think of churches in general with their firstfruits offering and all these other offerings at these Baptist churches and everything like that this is like the number one thing I hear at this church people start coming here and they're shocked that we're not charging them for things it's like man at my old church when we did events we had to pay for the food the pastor's like we love to have events but you've got to be willing to pay for it I mean literally this is the number one thing I hear people are shocked that we're not always asking for money and look I was just raised that I would feel guilty about asking for money for stuff if there's one thing I don't like preaching on I don't really like preaching on tithing and offering because I just don't like asking for stuff now I preach it from time to time because the Bible talks about it but we're never going to be a church that's just begging and begging and begging and yet isn't that like most Baptist churches and almost all churches here in the Philippines in 2022 but yet Paul said we worked hard so we wouldn't be chargeable to any of you verse 10 and what we're seeing here is Paul the apostle said you know what we worked hard why? because we're concerned about other people and not ourselves right? turn to Proverbs 21 Proverbs 21 now look there can be exceptions to stuff and look if you fall on hard times at our church and everything our church has provided and helped for people before in the past but you know what I've noticed is when there's people at our church that actually need something they're in a difficult situation usually if they're a hard worker and they have good character they're very shy to ask for anything they feel uncomfortable about it and usually when I hear it's actually somebody else at church lets me know like hey I think that person really needs help they're just really shy to ask for you know we've helped people before but what I've found is people that are actually lazy they have no problem asking for stuff as I said you know there can be exceptions and if you're in a really difficult situation and you're a hard worker and a godly person we're not against helping you out I'm not saying you can never ask for anything but I'm just saying the natural tendency is if you work hard you feel embarrassed right? you know to beg I am ashamed sort of attitude right? that's the way I would feel I feel like I'll just figure it out on my own if I don't have money to buy food I'll just find a way to get money tomorrow right? I'll just go without eating that's the normal attitude if you're a hard worker but that's not the attitude of everybody because not everybody is a hard worker okay? turn in your Bible to Proverbs 21 verse 25 Proverbs 21 verse 25 the desire of the soft will the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labor he coveteth greedily all the day long but the righteous giveth and spareth not so we're seeing the same thing the lazy person the slothful his desire kills or destroys him he covets he covets he covets he covets but the hard worker he giveth and spareth not he's not always desiring all these different things this goes back to the idea of when you work hard you understand how expensive things are you know there's things in life where I think that would be really nice but I would never pay that much money right? it's like maybe you look at a vacation like man that would be like the most beautiful vacation you know for me personally I think like the coolest thing to do on vacation even though I hate cold weather would actually go to Antarctica like on a cruise but that is so expensive I would never do that it's like you know what I'll just watch that on YouTube they say why I'm not paying 500,000 pesos for a cruise like save up for 10 years to go it's like I would never waste that much money right? I'm not against vacation but that's just a lot of money if you go to the whole family it's just like I'm gonna have to rob a bank or something right? but see the person who's a hard worker you know they're just happy just with basic things generally I mean there's nothing wrong with going on vacation and having some nice things but what's interesting is somebody who's lazy wants like the nicest things in life and it's just like how are you ever gonna afford that? and I think to myself you know and sometimes you meet people that are lazy and they'll go to expensive restaurants and you think to yourself man I would just eat at Mangy Nassal I like Mangy Nassal, Mangy Nassal is great but I'm just thinking yeah that restaurant would be nice but I'm not gonna pay like 500 pesos to eat I mean it's not that good right? maybe it was 200 pesos but you know honestly if you work hard you understand the value of a dollar you don't want to just part with that money but you know if you're lazy you don't understand what a dollar means you don't understand what a peso means you just think money grows on trees right? that's just the reality and that's what the Bible is teaching over and over again notice turn your Bible to 2 Samuel 12 and I want to give you an example of this of the lazy person being only concerned about themselves and the hard worker the laborer being concerned about other people 2 Samuel chapter 12 now I don't want you to misunderstand this because you know you can be a hard worker and yet that doesn't mean that every single second of your life you're working hard right? we all strive to be hard workers or we should but you know what there's times that I'm sitting around being lazy right? which is a bad thing because you end up getting into trouble you just waste your day and things like that but in the Bible we have a guy who I believe was a very hard worker named King David right? I think everyone would agree he's a hard worker but he did kind of have a lapse in his hard work at one point and it got him into a lot of trouble in his life 2 Samuel 12 verse 1 this is the chapter after you know he's been with Bathsheba and she's gotten pregnant and he's killed Uriah and all those events 2 Samuel 12 verse 1 and the Lord sent Nathan unto David and he came unto him and said unto him there are two men in one city the one rich and the other poor now in this parable that he's telling him the rich is King David the poor is Uriah okay verse 2 the rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds King David was rich he had a lot right? verse 3 but the poor man had nothing save one little Eulam now the Eulam here in this parable is referring to Bathsheba okay this is the one thing the parable is saying that Uriah really had you know he had a wife right? which he had bought up and nourished brought up and nourished and it grew up together with him and with his children it did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter now look obviously this is a parable you don't want to take things too literally it's just an example okay verse 4 and there came a traveler onto the rich man the Bible is saying here in this parable there's the poor man Uriah there's the rich man King David and a traveler comes around and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him so the Bible is saying here is in the parable there's this rich guy who has everything somebody comes from out of town he could easily give up one of his own lambs but he doesn't do it he takes from somebody else because he has the power to do that and what Nathan is rebuking David about is saying you know what you had everything in life and instead of being happy with what you had you take the one thing that this one man has so what you're seeing is that King David when he's doing this over this year he's only concerned about himself right he's not concerned about other people this was not common for King David because King David was a hard worker he did a lot of great things but in this story he's only concerned about himself and this is what you see when people are lazy they are not concerned about other people you say brother Stuckey why are you saying King David was lazy go to 2 Samuel 11 I'll prove it to you 2 Samuel 11 2 Samuel chapter 11 actually laziness is the root cause of David ended up committing adultery with Bathsheba and I'll prove it to you and honestly this should kind of scare us because we're looking at a safe person so realize that you know laziness can be a very dangerous thing take him to a sermon like this so you don't become a lazy person and allow bigger problems to happen in your life 2 Samuel 11 verse 1 and it came to pass after the year was expired at the time when kings go forth to battle the Bible's saying there's a time when kings will go and fight battles now this is hard for us to understand in 2022 because you're never going to have the leader of a country leading the charge in battle right but what the Bible's saying is that there was a time this is what they did where if you went off to war the king actually went it would probably stop a lot of the wars that get started if the leader has to actually go and fight in the battle right but at the time when kings go forth to battle it says that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Reba but David tarried still at Jerusalem so instead of going to battle like he was supposed to David just kind of was around Jerusalem not doing anything verse 2 and it came to pass in an evening tide that David rose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house now David is walking on a roof in the middle of the night David can't sleep that's why he's arising from off his bed what's the reason generally when you're having trouble sleeping it's when you haven't been doing much right I mean if you play video games for hours and go to bed you're probably going to have trouble sleeping right that's just kind of the way it works David was not doing anything he was being lazy and he can't sleep the Bible says the sleep of a neighboring man is sweet you know if you work really hard in a day and you're like tired like man I'm exhausted I need some sleep when your head hits the pillow you are out your head goes and you're like immediately right but if you're being lazy it's hard to sleep that's the way it works David is walking around on a roof why because he doesn't have anything to do during the day just sitting around on Twitter or Facebook or whatever they did in his day right and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon and the story keeps going from that but my point is this that laziness was actually the root cause of why David went down that road and committed those sins now turn to Proverbs 6 we'll look at two more places Proverbs 6 Proverbs 6 and that leads to our last point point number one was this hard workers laborers are successful lazy people are failures number two hard workers are concerned about other people lazy people are concerned about themselves number three hard workers or laborers are a blessing because they're concerned about other people lazy people are a problem and this is what you're going to see in life Proverbs 6 verse 11 so shall thy poverty come as one that travelth and I want as an armored man now we talked about this earlier but when it talks about traveling around you know and honestly I never really thought about this verse too much until I met people in real life and I'm like oh I get fully what the Bible is saying now right traveling around where you're just bouncing from job to job you're moving from place to place you always have these new plans that you're going to do and everything like that traveling around cause you can't figure anything out and then it says thy want as an armored man thy want or thy desire what you covet as an armored man when you're looking at an armored man in the Bible we're talking about taking up arms for battle what it's talking about is having a weapon in your hand and what the Bible is saying thy want as an armored man you're basically robbing or stealing people stealing from people with a weapon that can end up being the result because if you don't have anything you can't make it you're want as an armored man like a person robbing a 7-11 who desires to have that but they're not willing to work a job to actually be able to pay for that they just rob, they just steal thy want as an armored man cause the lazy person is a problem right, verse 12 a naughty person, a wicked man walketh with a froward mouth he winketh with his eyes, he speaks with his feet he teaches with his fingers frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually he soweth discord therefore shall his calamity come suddenly suddenly shall he be broken without remedy these things, six things, doth the Lord hey, a seven are an abomination unto him, and if you paid attention during the scripture reading throughout this chapter it's just talking about all these problems and sins the root cause is laziness that's what we're seeing all these things can be the result what are you seeing? lazy people are a problem they cause problems in other people's lives cause they're only concerned about themselves and if you're only concerned about yourself and you're too lazy to actually provide for yourself what are you going to do? what are you going to steal? just not care about anybody else go to one last place, 2 Thessalonians 3 2 Thessalonians 3 and Paul the Apostle, he speaks about this a lot but he talks about this in the book of Thessalonica and he kind of lets you know that even in a church setting if someone is a lazy person they will cause a lot of problems inside of church and let me just say this everyone we've had a problem with at our church and look, as far as I know, we don't have any problems with anybody at our church I don't have anything against any members of our church now but we have had people at our church that were a problem and people that had to get kicked out and if you want to think of one word that describes all of them lazy that would be the word I'd say they weren't hard workers people that have been in our church for a couple years you would say, you know what, that's true I thought they worked hard and then it turned out, it's like, no, they actually never worked they just talked about how hard they worked but that really is the big thing you'd say the people that were a problem they were lazy that's the big word you would use to describe them it says in 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 6 now we command you brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw yourself from every brother notice that walketh disorderly that causes problems and not after the tradition which he received of us and what the Bible says is I'm just going to talk about hard work here in this passage you know, what I found is someone who's a hard worker who's just busy with their life they never cause problems at our church I mean, they're just working hard they're happy to be here at church they're part of the church they're part of Soul Winning they never cause problems with other members at church they're just happy to be here, providing for their families I never have any problems with them but the people that do cause problems have all the free time in the world and what do we see? well you get into trouble when you have too much free time you're never going to have problems with people that are hard workers though that is what you see in the Bible verse 7 for yourselves know how you ought to follow us for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you neither did we eat any man's bread for naught but wrought with labor and travail night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you and Paul's saying, you know what? we worked because we didn't want to take other people's food and feed ourselves we worked and provided for ourselves verse 9 not because we have not power but to make ourselves an example or example unto you to follow us now look, Paul's saying in verse 9 you know there would be nothing wrong for us to actually get money you say why? because Paul was starting all these churches he brought many people to that church he taught them the word of God there's nothing wrong with somebody being full time and I've never been against somebody being full time in the ministry or being paid to be full time Paul's not against that Paul's saying there's nothing wrong with that there wouldn't be anything against that he's just said that's not what we did we worked and provided for ourselves then it says in verse 10 for even when we were with you this we commanded you that if any would not work neither should he you say brother Stuckey, I think you're being too harsh with this sermon well, if you're a hard worker you're probably not offended right now number 1 number 2 here's what he says in verse 10 and tell me I'm being too harsh Paul the Apostle says this this we commanded you that if you don't work you should starve to death isn't that what he says? right? isn't that neither should we eat? you should not be allowed to eat if you're not working? isn't that what he says? you should starve to death I'm being too harsh it's not like I've ever mentioned that until just now as I'm showing what Paul says that's what the Bible says look, obviously we understand if you've got one household one family, you're together we understand that but the Bible's saying, you know what, instead of taking from other people you've got to provide for yourself and Paul's talking about this like this is a terrible thing it's like we've heard that there are people among you that are doing this and they're refusing to work and he's saying it's a major sin now, I'll be honest with you and honestly, this really resonated with me not here in the Philippines but in the people that cause problems at Verity Baptist in Sacramento guess what the one word is you'd use to describe them? lazy right? I mean, the people that got kicked out of our church in Sacramento before you know, through the years that I was there you know, not a lot of people but some people were kicked out I mean, almost all of them didn't have any jobs right? and here's the thing, it's not like there's a lack of jobs in America in 2022 or 2018 or whatever the year was right? but here's the thing, lazy people just sitting around all the time getting into trouble here's the thing I do believe that one reason you can be kicked out of church is if you're refusing to work and taking from other people the Bible actually is saying this here because you're supposed to withdraw from these people it's kind of hard to withdraw if they're among you all the time now, here's the thing this sin ties into the sin of extortion because extortion is not just stealing via a gun or stealing by force but you can steal by guilt that is biblical as well so this ties together with that sin of extortion but Paul letting you know and here's the thing, it's good wisdom because these are people that cause problems the people in our church that have caused problems lazy is the word that you would use to describe them and if you've been with us at the beginning you know that's the case laziness is the big thing that you would use to describe them verse 11 we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly Paul's saying, you know, we've heard this it's a stain to the church we've heard there are people and look, the Thessalonians were a godly church and a good church but there are still some bad apples at the church and I'm not saying that they were reprobate that's not what I'm saying but I'm saying they cause problems, right? he said we hear that there's some which walk among you disorderly working not at all imagine that you don't work and you're a busy body isn't that what we saw in 1 Timothy 5? if you're not working you're concerned about yourself and you end up causing problems that's what the Bible teaches and look, in this example Paul's addressing them like they are saved people because he said in verse 6 withdraw yourself from every brother so he's saying these are people that we would say are saved we think they're saved but if they're unwilling to work and they're stealing from other people withdraw yourselves he's letting them know they've got to make a decision either decide to start providing for yourself quit stealing from other people at church is what he's saying and look, I'm just explaining to you these verses if you have a different interpretation then I'm very curious because I don't know what other interpretation you could have I mean, it's pretty plain and simple but this is what Paul the Apostle was saying you say, why is that? because lazy people are a problem it's actually good wisdom mentioned in the Bible so look, being a hard worker I mean, we're at Labor Day weekend here look, being a hard worker it's going to make you successful in life by default, I don't think any of us want to work hard in our natural flesh we want to be lazy we want the easy way I would love it if after the service you know, 10 million pesos rain down from the sky everybody would love that but you know, honestly that would probably be a terrible thing for any one of us because you'd end up being lazy you'd end up getting in trouble you'd probably end up wasting all of that money too based on what we see in the Bible the key to success in life when whatever area, whether it's money whether it's soul winning whatever it is, you want to get good at something it's hard work there are no shortcuts in life thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word on this topic and asking to help all of us, including myself and my family help us to be hard workers and not to be lazy, but actually do something with our lives and accomplish something, and not just sit around and ask you to just continue to bless our church, God we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen On first Heart is the shepherd's voice I hear Out in the desert dark and clear Calling the sheep who've got a string far from the shepherd's pull away bring them in bring them in bring them in bring them in bring them in bring them in bring them in from the fields of sin bring them in bring them in bring the one who wants to eat us who'll go and have this shepherd going out in the desert one day tomorrow glory, the last ones look to the Lord for He will serve all of the poor bring them in bring them in bring them in bring them in from the fields of sin bring them in bring them in bring the one who wants to eat us out in the desert in the desert now all the last things love and love are in the desert to me oh, find it where they may be to bring them in bring them in bring them in from the fields of sin bring them in bring them in bring them in bring the one who wants to eat us from the Bronx Amen