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

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