(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

man it is great to be here I'm having a great time today was such a wonderful day enjoying all the natural beauty here in Georgia getting to just swim and run around and fellowship and spend time with everyone so I'm really glad that I made it out here and that I was able to spend a little more time this year than I was last year and tonight I'm preaching on the subject customer service customer service all right it's been going downhill lately all right but even if you're not in customer service tonight even if you're never gonna be in customer service obviously the biblical principles that I'm gonna be preaching tonight are gonna apply a little bit more broadly than that but look if you would at verse 17 there in Colossians chapter 3 it says and whatsoever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him look at verse 23 it says and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men now when it says to do it heartily it means do it from the heart put your heart in it right actually do it because of the fact that it matters it's important because you say well my job doesn't matter I'm just this customer service representative or you know I'm just working this menial job but you know what everything we do matters because everything that we do as Christians the Bible says we should do it as unto the Lord whatsoever we do whatever we say should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus we should give it our best we should do it heartily you know the famous verse in Ecclesiastes says whatsoever thy hand find it to do do it with thy might so anything that's worth doing it's worth doing right anything that's worth doing is worth doing well and putting your heart into it and giving it your best now let me show you a great example of customer service in the Bible okay go back to Genesis chapter 24 Genesis chapter 24 Genesis chapter number 24 what am I talking about customer service what kind of a title for a sermon is that well if you think about it you go to a restaurant you go to a store whatever the business that you're dealing with and you ask for help right you say hey this is what I would like I would like to buy this or I'm I'm looking for this or hey do you have this in another size or could you order this for me or hey is there any way that you could customize this for me and there are so many people who just they're not zealous about that job they just act like you're being a burden and they don't want to go the extra mile for you and actually help you out because they just don't seem like they're taking their job that seriously they're basically just looking at their watch they punch in they punch out and they're sort of just phoning it in and not really giving it their all now most of us have worked a starter job like that at some point maybe you went on to have a successful career and this that or the other but who here has ever worked at a fast-food restaurant put up your hands you've worked at a fast-food restaurant right or what about another kind of restaurant that wasn't a fast-food restaurant right who's worked in customer service in some way shape or form yeah so you can see all around the building most people have done that maybe as a stepping stone maybe they worked there their whole life or whatever but when you work these kind of jobs it's tempting to look at that and just say you know what I'm just making minimum wage it's a starter job it isn't really that important in fact I think I'm just not gonna show up today because my job is not that big of a deal maybe I'm gonna show up late I'm not really gonna give it my best but let me tell you something you need to be in the habit that everything you do in life you do it with excellence you do your best okay and this even starts when you're a kid even before you get that customer service job when you're a kid and you're just doing your schoolwork maybe it's a homeschool situation and you think well you know it's not even real school it's just homeschool so I'm not really gonna give it my best hey you know what why don't you do your best on your schoolwork even though your homeschooled because God in heaven looks down and he sees you doing something heartily he's gonna bless that even if it's just schoolwork even if it's just homeschool even if it's just the first grade second grade third grade give it your best why because the same kid who does his best when he's eight years old is gonna do his best when he's 18 years old and he's the one that God's gonna bless and he's gonna succeed because whatever he does he does it heartily and by the way when you do a mundane job heartily when you do a menial job or a low-paying job when you do it heartily God will reward that you will be rewarded for that God has promised to reward you for that in the book of Ephesians but we're not in Ephesians we're in Genesis 24 look down at your Bible in Genesis 24 verse 13 behold I stand here by the well of water and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water so who's talking well Abraham has sent his servant into a far country into Petan Aram in order to get a wife for his son Isaac and so he sent the servant and the servant is just kind of hanging out at this well and he's looking for a good match for Isaac he's looking for a young lady that's worthy of his master son Isaac because Isaac is a pretty important guy I mean first of all Abraham is spiritually an extremely important man he's a man of God and God has brought him to the promised land he's gonna found the nation of the chosen people I mean so Abraham is a very important person but not only that even just from a physical standpoint Abraham is a powerful man because he has 316 servants working for him okay so or maybe it's 314 don't quote me on that but anyway he has over 300 servants that are working for him I mean that's no joke right I mean this is a man that's a powerful man he's a wealthy man and so Isaac is the heir apparent and Isaac is gonna inherit all of these spiritual blessings he's gonna inherit all this wealth and so Isaac needs a wife Abraham does not want him to get a wife from the local Canaanite girls and so he's sending him to find a woman from Padan Aram to bring back as a wife and so this guy is just hanging out at the well and he's just kind of checking out the babes you know no I'm just kidding but anyway so it says in verse number 14 it says and let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say let down thy picture I pray thee that I may drink and she shall say drink and I will give thy camels drink also let the same be she that thou has appointed for thy servant Isaac and thereby shall I know that thou has showed kindness unto my master so he's basically looking for a sign from God he says you know I'm gonna ask a lady to give me water and if she gives me water and then she offers to just also give water to the camels you know let that be the right person make sure that God if somebody does that that it would be the right one for Isaac so this guy's just looking for a sign because how does he know who to pick right he just got into town so the Bible says in verse 15 it came to pass before he had done speaking so he's just in the midst of finishing this prayer to the Lord that behold Rebecca came out who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah the wife of Nahor Abraham's brother with her picture upon her shoulder so he's praying this prayer and this woman shows up and she's got a water pitcher on her shoulder and the damsel was very fair to look upon a virgin neither had any man known her and she went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up so he sees this beautiful woman walk up and he thinks well this is a good place to start you know if I'm gonna start asking women for water this looks like an eligible candidate here so he ran to meet her it says in verse 17 and you know let me just stop right there you know the servant seems pretty zealous about his job too he's taking his job seriously he's praying about it and he's not a slacker right he sees that beautiful woman he didn't run over there and jump on that opportunity and so he runs over there and said let me I pray thee drink a little water of thy pitcher and she doesn't necessarily have to do that for him right but he's asking for a favor he said hey I just got into town may I have some of your water please out of your pitcher would you give me some water please and she said drink my lord and she hasted she's not like I guess but how many teenagers if you ask them for water is that how they react what are you serious hey give me a bottle of water you know it's just like oh okay I guess whatever you know but she's just like she hated you know this girl had some hustle you know if this if this girl we're doing customer service you know this is who you want to get to give you some service because she hated and so it says that so so he's running and she's hastening I like the movement in this in this chapter I like the speed this is my speed here she hated and let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him drink and when she had done giving him drink she said I'll draw water for thy camels also you know she doesn't even have to be asked she just volunteers that she's just going the extra mile and just offering to do something that wasn't even asked and by the way this isn't even a job for she's not even getting paid she's just doing this as a volunteer and it says I'll give water for thy camels also until they've done drinking and she hated and emptied her pitchers her pitcher into the trough and ran again under the well to draw water and drew for all his camels now camels drink a lot of water that's the whole point of a camel that's why a camel exists a camel exists as a big water container so it can because it can suck up a bunch of water and then it doesn't need to drink for a long time other animals you'd have to keep giving them water and keep taking ever but no no a camel gets a lot to drink at one time and then it can just go and so here he just said give me a little water out of the pitcher she'd already drawn water in the pitcher just give me a little of what you got she gives him a little of what she got then she dumps out everything she has into a trough then she goes to the well and fills up another one dumps it in the trough fills up another one dumps it in the trough fills up another one dumps it drop just giving all the camel's water going the extra mile doing her best any job that she's gonna do she's gonna do it with her might she's gonna do it heartily and you know we don't really know a whole lot about this character Rebecca in the Bible I mean we get some stories about her but I mean this is the this is the really greatest moment for Rebecca I think as far as just showing character and so it says that she hasted in verse 20 and emptied her pitcher into the trough and notice how many notice the repetition of the word hasted he already told us that she hasted in verse 18 but yet here it is again it's being emphasized being repeated because it's important and emptied her pitcher into the trough ran ran again under the well it says in verse 20 so she's not slowly doing this she's running running filling up the water dump it out run back for more and the man wondering at her held his peace I mean he is marveling at her he is wondering at her he's watching her in amazement why is he watching her in amazement just how good of a job she's doing and just how she's going the extra mile the man wondering at her held his peace to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not so he's not gonna tell her right away you're the one you know he's kind of just holding that back but he's wondering at her and he he believes hey this is it this is the one and it came to pass as the camels had done drinking that the man took a golden earring were in verse 22 of half a shekel weight and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold notice the reward that she get this is a serious what now how many minutes do you think she really spent working I mean it's it's less than an hour of work right she spends a few minutes working hard doing her best just a matter of minutes less than an hour I mean it's hard work probably took several minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes or whatever but it's not an hour but yet she's getting gold and things that are worth in our economy thousands of dollars like she's literally just handed for 15 minutes of work thousands of dollars of merchandise just upfront she hasn't even agreed to marry Isaac yet we you know she's gonna get way more than that but just immediately right then and there it says here's thousands of dollars of jewelry thanks for the water now here's the thing I guarantee you a lot of other women if they would have known hey if you get water for this guy he's gonna give you thousands of dollars worth of stuff but they had she had no way of knowing that did she she couldn't have predicted that and and you might say like well you know she saw that he's rich or but sometimes rich people can be stingy too sometimes rich people can be some of the biggest cheapskates so you that's not a guarantee of what kind of a tip you're gonna get or whatever at your job and so she is doing it from the hard she's doing it because she's a hard worker she's doing it because it's just the kind of person that she was and therefore God rewarded her because she just gets this jewelry right out of the gate and you know what if you do a good job I don't care what area of life it's in if you do your best if you work hard if you take it seriously you're going to get rewarded for doing that now go if you would to second Corinthians chapter one in the New Testament second Corinthians chapter one second Corinthians chapter one so I was talking to my son a little while back my son John and he worked a customer service job for a while at Hobby Lobby is that a place that exists out in this part of the country yeah okay so anyway it's probably if I started here and then like moved out to Arizona so anyway so my son he worked at Hobby Lobby for a while and we were talking about this and his job at Hobby Lobby is a customer service job and a lot of people would have looked at that job that he's doing is kind of a mundane a job kind of a starter job not necessarily a glamorous or super highly skilled job but he's helping the customers he's dealing with the customers and this is what my son told me and this is one of the things that made me think about this sermon was he told me he said you know dad he said even if you're doing the most mundane low-level job even if you're doing the most humble job the most undesirable job he said if you actually do it with everything you've got and just do the best you can possibly do and try to be like the best of anyone at that job even if it's just a really mundane job he said then it becomes something fulfilling and he said it actually becomes fun because a job that's an undesirable job but if you approach it like I'm gonna do this better than anyone I'm gonna give it everything I've got I'm gonna take it to a whole nother level of excellence he said then it's fun it's like a game it becomes enjoyable to do that so even the most humble job or dirty job or mundane job or undesirable job it becomes something beautiful when you do it with all that you've got giving it everything transforms the lamest job into something great and something beautiful and so you know my son he gave me you know we were talking about this and and I I said give me an example of something that you did at this job you know where you went the extra mile and you know we were talking about different examples but but the one example that I remember was he said that this this old lady came in and you know those little carts that you drive around the grocery store where you can kind of drive around well this lady wanted one of those you know she showed up and she wanted to drive around because she had a hard time walking and so she asked for one and he told the lady he said well this is what we have all we have is a wheelchair you know and basically you know you you do it yourself with the wheelchair right you do with your hands and it's not a little joystick you actually have to powered by Armstrong right so then she said oh man you know is this all you've got because you know the I don't want to push myself around and this is gonna be hard for me or whatever and so my son told her he said hey look I tell you what he said why don't you get in this wheelchair and I will push you around the store and he said I don't care how long it takes like however much you want to shop like don't worry about it I will do it and she's like really and he's just like yeah and so he literally just the woman just took her sweet time and shop and he just he was just driving around the store and he just pushed her around the store in the wheelchair because he it's like give the customer what they want and I guarantee you that she probably bought more stuff she probably liked that experience she's probably coming back to Hobby Lobby and you know it's so great these companies they spend so much money on advertising and the average person has to see a company advertise like seven times before they will act on that advertisement you know you keep seeing you cry experiences where you keep seeing ads for something and then finally they wear you down and you're like I'm gonna go buy one of those yeah I gotta go check that out because the first six times you know you don't necessarily act but these companies they spend millions of dollars advertising and advertising and advertising but you know just one bad customer service experience can really burn somebody and then they don't want to come back and then they go around tell all their friends about the bad experience that they had and then they get up in a sermon especially if they burn a pastor sometimes when I get burned in customer service is like you know listen Fox rent a car you mess with the wrong person Fox rent a car because you know let me tell you something don't ever rent a car from Fox rent a car you know I showed up I showed up at an airport a few weeks ago and it's like midnight and I go to pick up my rental car from Fox rent a car that I had booked online like 15 hours earlier I show up and they're just like oh you booked this today we're not gonna honor this it took me like 45 minutes waiting for the shuttle to Fox rent a car taking the shuttle to Fox rent a car waiting in line at Fox rent a car to get up to the counter and they're just like we don't have enough cars so we're just not gonna honor this and I'm like what then they did the same thing to another guy right in front of me and then that guy said I booked this two days ago and they're saying it's too recent it's like what in the world so then we all like several of us like piled into an Uber because we were all stranded I'm like it's the middle of the night I'm here so then I go on Travelocity to book another rental car and guess what's coming up with all the hot deals Fox hey you can books with Fox they're not honoring any of it but yet it's all advertising that they have cars available they get a bunch of people down there and then the people who got the cheap deal they just tell them no and they're only honoring the people who are paying more you know because some people booked a higher level or whatever but I mean what what kind of a way to do business is that you know book me a rental car and then even when we're all being turned away they're still selling more it makes no sense so we had to you know go to another part of the area to go get another rental car it wasted like two hours you know and so that's a horrible way to do business right and it's like I'm never and I travel I'm never gonna rent a car from Fox rent a car because you can't trust it and here I am you know I'm preaching it to you and and this is bad publicity for them you know maybe all the sodomites will just like go to Fox rent a car just to punish me or something but I don't know how that punishes me but but the point is like you know a good customer experience customer service experience can do the opposite where I'll go and tell all my friends how great it was you know everybody knows what Mexican restaurant I like to eat at all the time where do I like to eat exactly but let me tell you the first time I ever walked into a Chipotle in my life you want to know why I'm such a diehard Chipotle guy the first time I walked into a Chipotle in my life I walked in with my family and I said hey it's our first time in we've never been in before you know what do we do we don't know the ropes he said hey it's your first time in it's on the house and he just set me up with a burrito and set up my whole family and I'm just like yes I said you got a customer for life buddy and I've literally price spent and and you're gonna laugh at this but it's probably true because I used to travel a lot for work I used to travel for work a lot I I know for a fact I've spent over ten grand at Chipotle and I'd be it's that's conservative like that's a low ball that's a low ball and I've taken big church groups there and thrown down 300 bucks for like a huge church group and stuff you know what I mean that customer service that was the best cuz that was the best like $20 free meal that that Chipotle ever you know what probably what their cost was or whatever to do that I mean that $20 probably made them 20 grand literally you know but why and look I know you're not running a restaurant or anything my point is though when you do your best at things that's gonna come back around whatever you whatever you so you're gonna reap you know when you do a good job and when you're taking things seriously and especially when you do it in the name of Jesus and you're saying you know what I'm gonna do a good job because I'm a Christian I want to honor Christ I want God to be pleased with me I want to be good testimony I want the best worker on the job to be a Christian and I want to honor the Lord and honor Christ you know that's gonna come back to you when you do that you know we say say yes to people when they ask you to do something for them you know what I mean when people want something it's it's so easy to say no in customer service and well no sorry we don't do that no we don't have that now you know sorry we don't have electric wheelchair grandma you know you do it on your own you need a workout anyway or you know I mean it's so easy just to say no but but you know what why not push grandma around in the wheelchair and help her out that's right why not right she's she's a good customer push her around help her out give her what she needs it's gonna pay off for the company it makes everybody happy the customers always right all right so 2nd Corinthians chapter number 1 verse 17 I like this passage it says when I therefore was thus minded did I use lightness or the things that I purpose do I purpose according to the flesh that with me there should be yay yay and nay nay but as God is true our word toward you was not yay and nay for the Son of God Jesus Christ who was preached among you by us even by me and Sylvanus and Timotheus was not yay and nay but in him was yay not yes and no just yes for all the promises of God and him are yay and in him amen under the glory of God by us you know be a yes man is what I'm saying tonight be a yes man right give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away if any man compel thee to go a mile go with him twain somebody says go a mile with me you say sure I'll go a mile actually I'll go two miles with you now notice the word compel any man will compel thee to go a mile right so somebody's saying you have to go a mile you know instead of arguing say why do I have to do this and just oh man do I really have to walk with you for a mile do I really have to walk this mile why not just say sure and in fact let me go two miles oh you want water out of my vessel sure here you go in fact let me water your camels also be a person who says yes be a yay and an amen kind of a guy be a yes man who says yes to things you know it's so easy to say no and I've worked with people on jobs where they just always find a reason why they can't do what you want them to do there's always some obstacle that is stopping them from giving the customer what they want or giving you what they want and you know sometimes it's easier even to just do something extra for the customer than the energy that you're even putting into arguing with the customer about how this isn't my job this isn't included I don't really need to do this you know sometimes it's even easier to just do it than to even argue and then the customer is happy but you know what not only are you making the customer happy when you go above and beyond you're making yourself happy too because you know what when you do right in the sight of God by working hard and doing heartily God's gonna bless you and not only that it's like my son said you know it makes the job more fun you know it's more fun to do a good job than a bad job if you go to your job and just do the minimum and slack off and cut corners you're not gonna have as much fun at your job as if you try to do a good job you know if you see people at a job that are hustling they're usually smiling have you noticed that the people are hustling are smiling and they're having fun and when you see those workers that are just on the ball moving fast they're you know let's say waiters and waitresses you know when they're rushing the food out the tables you know usually when they're hustling they're also friendly they're happy they're in a good mood and then the people that are slow and dragging and taking a lot of breaks they're usually not that happy have you noticed that why because work makes you happy because doing your best gives you a sense of satisfaction in a job well done in a job done to the fullest right you know so my son was telling me about this we were having this conversation we were talking about this and so I had this in my mind so then a few days after I talked to my son about this I actually was a volunteer at an aid station at an athletic event it was a it was a super long ultra marathon a 250 mile running race okay so this is crazy long running race in Arizona and a guy who comes to our church sometimes was was participating in this thing so I thought oh man he's participating you know I could earn some some race credits by showing up at this thing so I show up at this aid station and I mean this is just a menial job that I'm doing like I'm making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I'm chopping up fruits and vegetables and you know runners are coming through and I'm basically serving them whatever they need as they come through this little aid station on this event and you know I just had this conversation with my son says in my mind and I was thinking like you know I want to do a good job I want to do my best well this guy comes through and he's like you know I don't know nine or ten hours into this thing you know this is like nine or ten hours this thing goes on for days and days so this guy shows up and he's he's he's he's nine or ten hours into the thing and the guy was kind of banged up like he had some blisters on his feet already and it was he still had you know a couple hundred miles to go okay and he showed up and he asked somebody he said hey do you guys have like a phone charging station because he needed to sit down for a minute eat some food and get his blisters tended to and so he said like do you guys have like a phone charging station or anything and they're just like no that you know there's no charging station there's nothing like that but I heard the guy said hey man I said look what kind of phone do you have is it an iPhone he said yeah I said well look my car is parked like a hundred feet away I said give me your phone and I'm gonna just turn on my car and just plug it into the car charger and then just tell me when you're ready to go and and he's just like oh man great you know what I mean so it's like I plugged it into my car charger but it's like it's it's a lot easier just to say like no there's no outlet there's no charger you know here's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but the point is like you know I just figured like this guy's this guy's going through torture right now like this guy's in pain like this guy's feet are on fire right now let the man have a working phone you know get he needs some entertainment on the trail or something you know whatever he's using his phone for I mean good stinking night but but what but isn't it easy to just say no to people just like nope sorry don't have it now don't have it and so many workers you go to stores and you ask them hey do you have this in stock they don't even want to check you know go if you would to Luke chapter 16 so be a yes man you know find a way to do it right find a way to to get it done so Luke chapter 16 Luke chapter number 16 verse 10 it says this he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much if therefore you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to your trust the true riches and if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's who shall give you that which is your own and so this is a mentality I see a lot in customer service of like well who care you know oh that customers never coming back well who cares there's no skin off my back I'm still getting paid you know because a lot of customers will say you know you're treating me bad right now I'm never coming back and the workers are just like fine I'm never coming back I'm gonna tell my friends how bad this store is fine you know I saw this video that was being passed around on Facebook I don't know if it was a I think it might have been originally like a tick-tock thing which would explain it's it's it's it's lowness but it was just like this guy it was this guy saying things along the lines of like oh you're never gonna come back to the store well so what I don't care I'm getting paid by the hour he was just like he was ranting about how bad customers are and how bad it is to be in customer service so this guy just has hundreds of thousands of people just eating this up online like oh yeah customers are so annoying and blah blah blah and he's just talking about how you know they tell him they're never coming back and he doesn't care and whatever but I'm thinking to myself you know what you ought to care because that company is actually paying your salary or paying your hourly rate and you know what if they fail that's you failing but you're like oh it's a huge company it doesn't matter well you know what there be higher than they God up in heaven he sees you doing a sloppy job and you know it's unethical you know if I work for so-and-so the company for me to just say well I don't care whether this company succeeds or not that's unethical because I work for them I'm supposed to be serving them and helping them succeed you know I think it's unethical to work for a company and then go around telling people oh don't ever don't ever shop at the store I work at I would never shop there oh I work at that grocery store I would never shop that you know what that's wrong for you to sit there and take a paycheck from you know whatever the place let's say it's Panera or whatever and then tell people hey I would never eat a Panera don't eat a Panera you know wildflower bread companies better or something you know that's not right they're paying you you work for them you represent them and you say well they really are just that bad then don't work there yeah then work for a company that you believe in work for a company that you can recommend or at least be neutral about but how dare you take a paycheck from somebody and then turn around and stab them in the back biting the hand that feeds you it's unethical it's not right okay if you keep the fruit tree if you keep the fig tree you eat the fruit thereof and you are blessed by that company that you're working for and it's over you wouldn't even think this is controversial but I've posted things like this online where I said hey you shouldn't complain about the company that you work for and you shouldn't publicly talk bad about the company that you work for because they're paying you and it's unethical and people are just biting my all those little liberals and commies are just biting my head off about how bad businesses are or something you know what let's say the business is bad let's say the business is unethical then go somewhere else but let's say you have to work there and the business is dishonest and they're unethical you know what you keep your mouth shut and do a good job and God in heaven will bless you even if your boss ripped you off because Jacob worked for a crooked boss and let me explain to you something about Jacob Jacob is Rebecca's son so guess what Rebecca is this great worker guess who the greatest worker that you'd point to in the Old Testament is is Jacob like whenever I want to preach sermons about being a good worker I point to Jacob this is his mom that we just read about Rebecca Rebecca taught him to work hard and taught him to be a good worker and Jacob worked for a crooked boss who changed his wages ten times and lied to him and tricked him and yet when Jacob worked for Laban God said I see what's going on Jacob and God rewarded Jacob to the point where Jacob ended up way wealthier than Laban did Jacob ended up with all the wealth of Laban through God's doing and so whatsoever good thing any man do it the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free and so if you're faithful in the least you'll be faithful and much so don't tell me like well when I get my first serious job that's when I'm gonna apply myself you know right now I'm just working at Hobby Lobby right now I'm at Chick-fil-a right now I'm at In-N-Out Burger you know right now I'm at the grocery store but you know when I get into a more serious job that's when I'm gonna apply myself you're wrong you won't well you know I'm in homeschool but you know when I get into the workforce I'll apply myself you know what no you won't because if you're not faithful in that which is least you're not gonna be faithful in much and this is the part I love about this verse is where it says that if you're not faithful what verse my Luke 16 12 if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's who shall give you that which is your own so if you can't be faithful as an employee doing a humble job you think you're gonna run your own company someday no way or how about this you're a slacker as a church member but you're gonna pastor someday right you know no that's not how it works okay you've got to be faithful serving in a church before you are actually gonna be overseeing that church or overseeing any church and this is why we even have the idea of ordination in Scripture because the whole point of ordination is that somebody's just found faithful as a follower before they're made a leader and you have these people who wash up in every church that they go to they they have clashes with people they wash up they can't succeed they can't thrive and the pastor won't ordain them the church doesn't want to ordain them but then they just go out and say well I'm gonna be a pastor anyway it just turns out that every pastor I've worked with is bad every church I've ever gone to is bad so I'm just gonna go be it's like nobody you need to be able to make it as a church member before you can ever be a pastor long before I was a pastor I was humbly plugging away at Regency Baptist Church and I was going to church I was getting along with everybody I was soul winning and I was just doing what I was supposed to do and I didn't fight against anything you know there were things that the pastor preached that I didn't agree with there were doctrines of the church that I didn't agree with and you know what I never fought any of those things I never spoke out about any of those things I got on board and was a team player and I followed the leader you know and when I went off to Bible College I did the same thing I followed the rules I've got excited about the program I didn't you know cause trouble or try to change things or or try to usurp the authority of the pastor or something because I knew a better way you know I just I just got on the program and I just I just did the program now eventually when I was at that Bible College you know I got to the point where I could not continue because of the fact that the pastor was preaching some damnable heresy and then he turned out of course to be a wicked person and and when went to federal prison for like a decade ok and so I had every reason to leave but you know when that happened I left but I was on but until I left I was on board I was with the program until I said you know what I can't go here anymore the pastor's preaching heresy I'm out of here and I left ok but but here's the thing though I made it in that ministry I made it in my home church at Regency Baptist Church and by the way Pastor Nichols and Regency Baptist Church that's who sent me to Phoenix to go start the church in Phoenix and they were all excited about me going there they gave me a vote of confidence they were posting in the bulletin all of the updates about how things were great and how things were going and everything like that and I got along with everybody at that church you know and that's why God allowed me the privilege of being a pastor because of the fact that I was a faithful church member I met the qualifications I was sent to go start the church and so I'm not just like every church is bad so I'm gonna go start my own church you see the difference yeah but I'm telling you I can think of a bunch of examples in the last 10 years of guys who said every church in my area is bad so I'm just gonna start a church I've seen guys go from not attending church even anywhere at all like literally not even attending just listening to preaching online and starting a church so they won't even attend church anywhere but then they're gonna go found a new church because no church is good enough folks that's garbage okay and you know what in fact let me just make this point well since we're here this wasn't really I'm part of my plan for the sermon but it's probably good to just make this point right now because I know a lot of you are not from Atlanta and you're not from stronghold don't we have people here from all over the place like South Carolina Alabama North Carolina Georgia different parts okay let me just say this you need to get plugged into a local church in your area and quit saying that there's no good church in your area because guess what there is yeah well it's not exactly like you know stronghold or what look I think stronghold Baptist is a great church I think it's an awesome church I think it's an outstanding church it's a phenomenal church but it is not the only Bible believing church in this part of the country okay and you know we got pastor Williams here he passed an awesome church I don't even know where that where is that located geographically so yeah half hour north of here but you know what the hey these two guys are here and these are some great examples of pastors but are these the only right pastors in this whole region no they're not so don't get this cold like mentality of like well only our friends if they don't hang out with us then you know why aren't they at this camping trip I mean you know look my friend I guarantee you that there are all kinds of Baptist churches that are serving the Lord they're saved they love Jesus Christ they're praying to the same God that you and I are praying to every night they're reading the same King James Bible that you and I are reading every morning and you know what do they believe everything exactly like we do know do they do everything exactly like we do know but they still love the Lord they still walk with God God's still using them and you know what if I didn't exist and a pastor birds didn't exist and a pastor Shelley didn't exist and pastor Williams didn't exist do you know that Christianity would just march forward without us now I think it's better with us I like Christianity better with us but let me tell you something Christianity existed before we were born and it will exist long after we're gone and there are all kinds of churches out there that are preaching the Word of God and no they're not necessarily perfect but guess what my church isn't perfect either and stronghold Baptist isn't perfect either guess what we're all human we all have blind spots none of us has everything right okay we're doing the best that we can we're serving the Lord we're preaching it as straight as we can see it in the Word of God but I'm here to tell you that you need to quit lying to yourself and saying that there is no church in your area that you can attend okay and by the way when you go to a church in your area sit down and shut up and learn something and get on board with the program oh man my pastors are so wrong on Israel Israel is on the other side of the world who cares like how does that affect you is he trying to send you to Israel you know who cares guess what he thinks about Israel right I mean that's not the biggest issue now look I want to be right about Israel I want to preach right about Israel but you know what if somebody's mixed up on Israel you know what I don't even care to be honest because guess what you know many of us were mixed up on Israel in the past I mean if you would have talked to me when I was 23 years old I would have been wrong on Israel so what right we live we learn we grow and I don't care if that guy goes to the grave with the wrong view of Israel that's not the most important thing okay the most important and by the way whenever we have church members that are just obsessed with that one issue or any one issue they turn out not to be a blessing yeah you know the ones are just all they care about is this issue of the Jews or all they care about is this is one issue of you know Bible prophecy or the New World Order so whenever you have these people there's only into that one thing they never pan out as a church member you want to know why because actual mature Christians love the entire Bible they're not just into that one thing they're into all of it they like all of it they like everything about the Word of God they like the gospel they like oh so here's the so so I see a guy like me who's not a one-issue guy I'm not a one-issue guy okay I like all the stuff that that we find in the Word of God and so because I'm not a one-issue guy I can walk into an independent Baptist Church that's kind of a different stripe independent Baptist Church and I can still have a good time and I can enjoy the service and I can get something out of it because I'm just looking at all the things I like I'm not trying to pick it apart and you know a lot of you you know why you can't find a church because this is how you look for a church instead of actually visiting the church and seeing what it's even like you pick up the phone and you call the church and just start grilling them to see if they meet your exact mold of the new IFB you know and just you're grilling them about these real specific doctrines that we're right about that maybe other people are wrong about that's not the way to look for a church my friend hang the phone call or you're going on their website scouring their website trying to find something that isn't right you know by the way a lot of these statement of faiths are copied and pasted anyway yeah so that's not really even the best way to figure out what's going on here's the best way to figure out what's going on you show up at the church and here's what I tell people if you don't have a job let's say you're unemployed then your job is finding a job yeah amen so if you're unemployed you should spend eight hours a day if you're gonna work eight hours a day when you get the job spend eight hours a day looking for a job good because your job is looking for a job so if you're unemployed you look for a job 40 hours a week you know what people who spend 40 hours a week looking for a job they get a job they find something people who spend an hour and a half each morning at Starbucks looking for a job online while they drink their $5 coffee they don't find a job like the guy who goes out and spends 40 hours getting a job well guess what now let's apply that to church if you don't have a church then guess what your job is on Sunday morning Sunday night and Wednesday night finding a church if I didn't have a church that I was a member of if I didn't go to a church regularly here's what I would do I would be trying a different church every Sunday and trying different church on with I would keep trying a different church until I find it one that's a blessing to be right you say oh I don't have a church in my area okay so which one are you trying this Sunday what are you trying this night well I mean I looked online no no which church are you visiting this Sunday and there are all kinds of websites that list King James Bible Baptist churches there's tons of them okay show up to the church get a feel for the church listen to the preaching meet the people figure out what's going on and don't go into it expecting it to be perfect or or you know just everything the way you want to be you know just get in there and see like look are these people saved is it the King James are the people saved and am I learning something from the sermon am I getting something out of the preaching you know and you know what that's way better even if it's not necessarily a superstar of a church it's way better than sitting on your butt at home and and listening to my preaching or pastor Burzis preaching you know we want you to listen to our preaching but we don't want you sitting on your butt at home listening to our preaching when you should be a church you should be physically in a congregation listening to the sermon in person life now if you want to come home and and and turn on a little faithful word hey I'm for you but let me tell you something you need to go to church go to church you're not living in Cambodia right now this is not Tim Buck 2 where you're having a hard time finding a church because it's Morocco and everybody's Muslim or something but I bet you I'd probably even find a church to go to in Morocco but you're in Georgia and you can't find a church you're in Alabama and you can't find a Baptist Church to go to that's absurd you could spend the entire next year going to a different church every single service and never repeat the same Baptist Church you tell me oh they're all bad nobody's saved you're an idiot if you really think that 99% of Baptist churches are unsaved you're a cult seriously where did you get that look I go soul winning every week explain this I go so winning every week in Arizona and virtually every time I go so winning I run into people that are already saved and you're not gonna believe this but they don't go to my church so but but then these people come to me every church in my area is unsaved every pastor in my areas of it or what about what about the McPhail said every pastor in the whole they think every pastor in the whole country is a reprobate or something that's what they decided like we're thinking now that every pastor in this whole city is a reprobate it's like a giant city of millions of people I mean that's it folks that's stupid yeah that's not true that's wrong okay what does that have to do with customer service though I'm looking at these notes I'm like oh yeah it well I had to do with Luke 16 because you got to be faithful in another man's before you can be faithful in your own you know before you are gonna be a pastor someday you'd better succeed in a local church I don't want to see you succeed at a local church I want to see you be a blessing I want to see you thrive I want to see you grow I want to see you a mover and a shaker in that church where the people in that church say he's a blessing right okay but how about this well you know I'm going to the old IFP church right now and you know I don't get along with anybody and I'm not really I only go Sunday mornings just kind of hold my nose and I don't go to Sunday night I don't go to Wednesday night and just I kind of just do the minimum and check the box but man when I get to one of these new IFP churches man I'm gonna be at every service I would be giving I'm gonna be involved I mean so listen if you're a pain in the neck at a lame church you're gonna be pain in the neck when you get to our church do right if you can't make it in the old IFP you're not gonna make it in the new IFP either and see you know if people love to come to these things and listen to hard preaching but you know the real hard preaching is what's hard for you cuz I could get up and say queer but you know nobody here's a queer and look hey maybe next year we'll do that you know I cuz I I like those sermons too but the point is you know I can get up and rip on the queers and and you know I love getting up and ripping on the queers but here's it because it needs it needs to be preached but at the same time it's real easy to get to get excited about that preaching because because we're all straight so it's just like yeah but sometimes the preaching hits a little closer to home you know like when you have this well like like you're going how about this I see people going online and saying yeah I go to an old IFP church they're right on salvation and they do soul winning but here's all things that they're wrong about let me type it publicly on the internet why would you do that like if you have a church that you're going to you just said the pastor's a good man and they're right on salvation and they're doing soul winning but the only problem is X Y and Z oh and let me tell you about the bad experience I had five weeks ago when this and that it's like why do you do that publicly like why are you publicly talking smack about your church is that what you think I want my church members to do well you know because you know what I've had guess what I've had people who came to faith forward Baptist Church but they didn't really like it that much and they were like they went there because they wanted something that was King James and they and they felt like the other churches were liberal right so they felt like the IFP churches were a little too liberal and watered down so they kind of held their nose and went to faithful word because they're but then they're online publicly saying well pastor Anderson's wrong on homos and pastor Anderson's wrong on this and pastor Anderson's it's just like shut up so if I don't want that doing but if I don't want people doing that to me like why would it why would I approve of it when people are doing that to their pastor because whatsoever things you would that man should do unto you do you even so to them that's the law and the prophets the golden rule and so be a faithful church member you say well you know my job is a menial job do it heartily say well my church is just okay it's just barely okay so at least I have somewhere to go to church you know what you go to that church heartily go there heartily get your heart in that church and by the way you know what let's say there there's a pastor that's totally wrong on end times or something that doesn't mean that he's dumb because I guarantee you that there's something that he knows more about than I know about so maybe like I could take him to school on prophecy but I wonder what he could take me to school on because you know what different people are experts on different things and different people are more knowledgeable about different things seriously go to your church and and and okay they're wrong on a B and C but what if they're just absolutely killing it on D E and F what if they're better than faithful word on H I and J you see what I'm saying yeah because guess what you can always learn something from other people instead of finding the problems with it so we could all say that our job is not important our church isn't important and we're waiting for something better and when we get older we'll do better and you know well this is elementary school when I get to junior high I'm gonna work hard no you not well it's just junior high when I get to high school that's when it's gonna be different no well you know I'm just a kid in school school works dumb when am I ever gonna use this math that I'm learning you know never gonna use this you know what you are gonna use is the work ethic that you're developing by actually doing your stupid math homework okay and you know what you're you know what you're doing when you're doing math you're getting a brain you're learning you're getting smarter who do you think smarter somebody who did all the math work or somebody who blew it all off and didn't do any of it huh who do you think smarter in general just just in general just be honest okay everything we learn makes us smarter you know and so the point is that instead of looking at like oh I gotta do my math why don't you do your math heartily and say you know what I want to be a smart person I don't want I don't want to be somebody who gets ripped off all the time because I can't do the math and look I had my mortgage company try to rip me off this week they call me up on the phone hey you want to refinance and whatever folks this refinance would have just put like tons of money in their pocket and it would have done nothing good for me they're just trying to just basically just rip me off cuz they think I'm stupid like interest like I'm paying like two point whatever percent you know they want to refi me to four percent and then they want to charge me closing costs and they want they want to charge me six grand to raise my interest rate but they're telling me like we're gonna put all this cash in your pocket it's good your payments gonna go down and blah blah blah but here's the thing though you know I can do the math of what they're saying I can do the math and I'm saying no but I guarantee you there are a lot of people who can't do the math they walk into the car dealer and the car dealers gonna rip them off and the mortgage companies gonna rip them off and you know what quit thinking that things don't matter everything you do matters and you say no pastor Anderson this really doesn't matter then quit doing it because anything that's worth doing is worth doing right give it your best at church at work studies whatever you do do it heartily do it with your might do it as unto Christ let's borrow that word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word Lord thank you for these examples of people like Rebecca and Jacob Lord and Lord help us to just every single day work hard and do our best Lord help us to serve other people with zeal help us to serve the customer with zeal or just help us to serve our fellow man with zeal help us to serve in the local church with zeal help us to give everything our best all the time Lord and in Jesus name we pray amen