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So I want to do a sermon where we kind of look at Joseph and the book of Genesis and identify some traits of Joseph that will help every single man in this room this evening. And the title of my sermon tonight is skills to pay the bills, skills to pay the bills. And we see Joseph, he has a lot of skills to pay the bills, and we can identify seven different things from Joseph that I think is going to help every single man in this room. But notice in chapter number 39 verse 2 the Bible says 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. So we see Joseph here is a man who's very prosperous. The things that he does, he does well. They go well for him and the Bible tells us the reason why he's prosperous is because the Lord is with him. So when we think about skills, a lot of times we just think about tangible assets that we can add to the job. Well, I can type 60 words a minute, right? Or I can lift 50 pounds or whatever kind of tangible physical assets. But the most important thing, let me remind you, is that the Lord is with you. The Lord is the creator of heaven and earth. The Lord is the one with all wisdom and all knowledge and all power and all might. And if you want to be prosperous, you have to have the Lord with you. The Lord will prosper you. The Bible teaches this and emphasizes this point, but go if you would. Keep your finger here because we're going to keep going through Genesis, but go to Psalms chapter number 1, Psalms chapter number 1 in your Bible. A very important point that the Bible emphasizes constantly is letting the Lord prosper you, letting the Lord be with you. We see the children of Israel. They're given so many different commandments from God in the Old Testament and he makes it very clear to them, very abundant to them, if they follow his commandments, he will bless them, will he not? He's going to be one to prosper them. He's going to be the one to give them everything that they need, allow them to be in the land flowing with milk and honey, allowing them to have all of their cattle bring forth abundantly. They're not going to have diseases. If you want to be prospered, it's tied to following God's commandments. It's tied to having the Lord with you. It's tied to being a godly person. Look at Psalms chapter 1 verse 1. So what does the Bible say? The Bible is saying when you're doing that which is godly, when you actually love the Lord, when you're withdrawing yourself from wicked people, from ungodly things, when you delight in the law of the Lord, God is going to bless you. And he says, whatsoever you do, whatever you put your hand to, God is going to bless it. And when we look at the story of Joseph, Joseph is blessed wherever he goes. No matter what Joseph does, he does it with excellence and God is constantly with him. And when you get God's commandments deep inside your heart and you're following God's commandments, he's going to teach you how to be a prosperous worker, how to be a good worker, how to have the skills to pay the bills. When I look at people that constantly struggle with paying their bills, they constantly can't have a good job, they can't keep a good job, you know what's often a common denominator there? They're lacking in some of the areas of what the Bible says. There's a lot of things that they can improve on as a person. The people that are constantly in church and they're very godly men, they're very righteous, they're serving the Lord, these are often the guys that are also prospering really well at their jobs. You say, what's the connection? Well, I don't know of the exact connection, but the Bible tells us there's a connection, isn't there? There's a connection to serving God, to being a righteous person, and if we were going to understand that connection, it'd be identifying each one of those commandments and seeing how it's going to cause you to prosper. In fact, even in this world today, most of the people that are prospering, they're following the principles of what the Bible teaches when it comes to being a good worker. Go over to Psalms 37, Psalms 37, you say, ah, I just feel like being prosperous is just who you know. It is. Do you know the Lord? You know, everybody's like, oh, I can't get this job, you've got to know somebody. Well, you know, you need to know the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who you need to know. Why? Well, look at Psalms 37, verse 25. The Bible says, I have been young and am now old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. The Bible says that the homeless derelict is not a righteous person. I'm sorry to burst your bubble today, okay? But you know the righteous person, he's not forsaken. He's not the one on the street corner begging bread, and in the United States of America, you have no excuse, okay, if you can't get a job. You know, you have to blame yourself. You say, oh, I can't, it's so hard to get a job. Well, it sounds like you're not very righteous. It sounds like you're not following the principles of the Bible. And look, I'm not trying to be down on people. Obviously, people are in different circumstances. You know, obviously, you have to be someone that has some righteousness before even to be afforded that opportunity. I mean, if you're a felon today, it's hard to get a job. If you've got something on your record, and that's not right, I don't believe that we should hold grudges against people necessarily, but there's certain circumstances where it might be harder for someone to get a job. You know what? If you follow the principles of the Bible, you will find the job, and you will succeed. Joseph, he's not even trying to find a job, jobs just find him. He's just sold into slavery. He just winds up in a position where he needs to work, and you know what, everything he does prospers in his hand. Everything that he's doing. Go back to Genesis chapter 39. Go back. The most important thing you can do when it comes to your workplace is being a godly person. You say, what skill do I really need? Godliness. Loving the Lord. Loving the Word of God. I can't overemphasize that point, but we want to look at some other points this evening. So my number one point, the skill to pay the bill, having the Lord with you. How is the Lord going to be with you? You're following his commandments. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. Don't join a gang. Don't get an occupation that's sinful. You know, a lot of people, they'll get an occupation where the occupation in and of itself is sinful. I'm not going to become a blackjack dealer at a casino. That's not the Lord with me, okay? Now obviously, I'm not going to sit here and micromanage my company because frankly, all companies, you know what their goal is? To make money. And the love of money is the root of all evil. If we were to microanalyze every single company we work for, there's sin there, okay? You're not going to work for an employer where there isn't sin, where they're not doing things wrong. They're all unscrupulous. They're all chasing money, okay? But there are certain occupations where a Christian should just say no. I'm not going to work at the casino. I'm not going to lend money on usury. I'm not going to be involved in prostitution. I'm not going to be involved in filth and smut and all these debauchery things. I'm not going to sit here and serve you liquor, okay? There's certain lines that I'm not going to cross when it comes to the workplace. But obviously, hey, my company supports fags. Yeah, what company doesn't? Okay. My company gives money to Planned Parenthood. Okay. Well, what company doesn't? Unfortunately today, pretty much every company has some layer of sin to it. You just have to make a line in your own heart and decide, you know what? I'm not going to do X, Y, and Z. I'm not going to be involved in illegal, illicit activity or sinful activity, okay? But look at Genesis chapter 39. Let's get to our second point, verse 9. It says, 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? So this kind of goes tying into that point where I said, you know what? There's certain things that could be required of you or asked of you on the job that are just wrong, that are sinful. Now, what happens with Joseph? Well, Joseph, to give you a kind of an idea where we are in the story, Joseph was sold by his brethren into slavery, and Joseph goes down into Egypt, and he becomes a servant of Potiphar, and Potiphar recognizes that Joseph's such a great worker that the Lord's with him, he allows him to be in charge of everything. Well, it gets to a point where Potiphar's wife notices Joseph and says, man, I like this Joseph guy. So she keeps trying to beckon him and call him and try to get him to lie with her. But he clearly says here in verse 9 that it would be a great wickedness and it would be sinning against God to lie with his master's wife, to commit adultery. And yes, single men, you can commit adultery. You don't have to be married to commit adultery. Only one person has to be married for it to be adultery, and it is a great wickedness for a man to commit adultery. And we see Joseph, he's principled in his heart. I'm going to always do that which is honest. I'm always going to do that which is upright. And you know what? God is going to make you to prosper when you have integrity, when you have principles, and when you say, you know what? I'm not going to sin against God. And today, there is a lot of jobs. There's a lot of opportunities where your boss will put you in a position where you could be sinning greatly against the Lord, and you don't even need to say no. I'm not going to sin against God. I'm not going to transgress against the commandments of God. Now look, if it's not a commandment of the Bible, I'm going to say yes, sir. I'm going to get it done. You know what? When there's something going on in my job that would involve me in doing something that's wicked, I'm going to say no every single time. Now he probably understood by saying no, she might get him in trouble. You know what? There's probably somebody at your coworker or somebody at your company that could possibly try to get you to do something illegal with them. And you realize by saying no, they might try to get you fired, they might have something against you. But you know what? You always need to stay principled on what the Bible says, having honesty. Flip backwards to chapter 31. Flip backwards to chapter 31. And in the short term, by being honest and upright, it can sometimes feel like it costs you. It can sometimes seem like a setback. But in the long run, God is going to be one to bless you for being honest, for being upright, and always doing that which is good. We see in Genesis chapter 31 a story about Jacob. And Jacob was serving for Laban, and the Bible says that Laban changed his wages ten times. But you know what? Jacob just kept being faithful. Jacob just kept doing that which is right and being honest with his employer even though his employer changed his wage. Have you ever had your boss tell you something and then it didn't happen? Been there, done that. Hey, you're going to get a raise in 12 months. You know, 24 months later, you're like, what's going on? There's all kinds of people that will tell you all kinds of things. They'll promise you the moon and then it doesn't happen. They change your wage. Your wages aren't exactly what you thought they were going to be. Hey, we're increasing our insurance premiums so your wage is less this year. That's happened to me. There's all kinds of different things that will happen to you in the workplace. And the question is, what should you do? Just keep being honest. Just keep working hard, doing that which is right. And in Genesis chapter 31, look at verse 12. This is God speaking to Jacob in a dream and he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring-streaked, speckled, and grizzled. For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. Laban had changed Jacob's wages ten times, but the Lord saw it. The Lord is not ignorant of all the trespasses your employer does to you. But you know what? When you're straightforward, when you're honest, even though he's changed your wages ten times, you know what? The Lord is going to end up recompensing you after the fact. The Lord is going to be the one that's going to help you out at the end of the day. And the Lord gave all of the flocks of Laban unto Jacob. All of them. He basically took everything. All the weak leftovers Laban had. Jacob goes with all the strong cattle. He gets everything. He spoils Laban. Why? Because God blessed him. You know why? Because he was a straightforward and honest person. Sometimes in the workplace, it may seem like you're not getting ahead by being honest, by being straightforward, by doing things that are right. God sees what you're doing and God says, You know what? This guy is straightforward and honest and I'm going to take care of him. I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor a seed-begging bread. And there's been times, even in my own life, where I was working for an employer and they promised me the moon for my wages, didn't happen. Then they promised me again, doesn't happen. Then they promised me again, doesn't happen. And I'm just sitting here like, The reason why I came to work for you is because I wanted that higher wage that I keep not getting. Eventually, they let me go. It wasn't based on anything really that I was doing. It's just they didn't want to work with me anymore. And I was really discouraged and I felt like, Man, I was trying to get this job so I could provide for my family. It was really kind of a hard point in my life, but I ended up interviewing for other positions and comes to find out the skill set that I had was worth double what I was being paid. So then I ended up getting a job getting more than double what I was paid. It was actually a blessing I got fired because if I hadn't got fired, I would have kept working for Laban. But then by leaving Laban, I ended up getting more money. But I kept doing that, which is right at the workplace. It wasn't like when they didn't give me that raise, I was like, Okay, I'm not going to work hard anymore. Some people, when they don't get that raise or they don't get that promised promotion or whatever, they kind of lay off on the job a little bit. They start stealing from the boss, not putting in the hours. Well, if he's not going to do this for me, then I'm not going to work hard. Then I'm not going to care. That's not the right attitude. No, you always be honest. You always be straightforward. You always do that which is right. God's going to notice and God's going to take care of you. Now with Joseph, it kind of takes a turn for the worse here because after he doesn't lie with Potiphar's wife, she ends up lying about him, falsely accusing him. He gets fired and thrown in jail. I'm sure that would have been easy for Joseph to have been kind of like, What's the point of being an honest worker? What's the point of being a... Look, I mean, it would have been easier for him to just lie with the wife, wouldn't he? Get the pleasure of sin for a moment and just to keep his job and to keep things going. Maybe he's like, It doesn't pay to be the honest guy. I just got fired. It doesn't seem like God's going to take care of me. Now I'm in jail. No, that's not Joseph's attitude. While he's in jail, you know what he does? He just keeps working hard. Go back to Genesis chapter 39. Let's look at verse number 20. Genesis 39 verse 20. It says, And Joseph's master took him and put him into 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 them, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. Notice that Joseph still kept the main thing, the main thing. The Lord is with them. Hey, where the Lord's with you, it's going to prosper. And we see Joseph continues to do that which is right. So my first point was what? You need the Lord with you, and whenever you have the Lord with you, it's going to prosper. Even though it might seem like a setback in the moment, God is going to take you down the right path. God is not going to forsake you. God's not going to leave you in that prison, Joseph, okay? Number two is that he's continually being honest, continually doing that which is right. But number three, he's always a hard worker. Notice that the keeper of the prison, he doesn't even know what Joseph's tasks are. Just like Potiphar, he says he doesn't know anything that's under his hand. He's such a great worker, everything's just so done well, he doesn't have to manage him. I hate being micromanaged at my job. I hate it that my boss doesn't constantly review my work and tell me not to do things this way and fix it. Well guess what? If he did it perfect every time, he wouldn't have to. We see Joseph, he doesn't need to manage this guy. This guy does it better than the boss was expecting. I mean he's just like, this is great, I just want to hire more Josephs because everything that Joseph does is just right, it's perfect, it's exactly how I want it. That's how you be a good worker. You say, why is he prospering? Well because he's doing everything right, because he's a hard worker and you know what's better than your career? Being a hard worker. Now I looked up different careers and this has been something that's always been interesting to me is what kind of career to get or what kind of work to get into. But whenever I was working after college, I got a job at a bank and I started quickly to realize that the way that somebody makes a lot of money in the banking industry is solely based on tenure and just how long they've been at the bank. It wasn't really based on skills or anything tangible, it was just be there for a really long time, then you kind of make good money. And that wasn't really something that interested me. I wanted to go to a business where I got my pay based on how hard I worked. And you know what? Not all professions are the same, okay? There's some professions where the more skilled you are and the more you do labor, the better pay you get. There's some jobs where everybody gets the same raise every year. It's called being a public full teacher. You know the worst teacher gets the same raise, the best teacher pretty much every year? That's not a good system. That's not what I like. I like it when people are actually paid based according to their labor. So I wanted to try and identify, hey, maybe there's another career out there where if I work really hard, I can get a bigger bonus or I can provide more money for my family. Not because I'm laboring to be rich or anything, I just want to be able to provide good money for my family to have the things that they need for us to be comfortable, for me to be a good provider. If I'm going to be a provider, why not be the best provider I can possibly be? That's my opinion. The Bible teaches that we should do everything heartily as unto the Lord. Does the Lord want you to be a slack worker? Well, you know, I just want to be the worst worker possible. No, God wants you to be the best worker possible. And look, I don't think there's anything wrong with making good money at your job. Why not be a skilled worker? Why not be someone that's very, you know, in demand that can make good money? Look, the more money I make, the less time I have to spend there. And the less time I have to spend there, the more time I can spend with my family and I can spend more time reading my Bible and going to church. So why not have a highly skilled position? You know, some people, they might work 80 hours a week and make the same amount of money as somebody working 40 hours a week. Let me tell you which job I want, the one working 40 hours a week. I don't see any point in having to work 80 hours a week. Now, some people have this stupid idea, they think the guy working 80 hours a week is more godly than the guy working 40. I like the guy working 40. Sounds like he's more skilled. Sounds like it's more based on what the Bible actually teaches. And then I can put more time and energy into my family and to church and the things that really matter. So why not be the most skilled worker possible? But when I was looking at different careers, I was trying to find one that would work, you know, well, not only in the sense of my skill, but also no matter where I went. Because you know, some some jobs, they are based on your skill. But if you decide to move, it doesn't move with you. You know, a job like a realtor, a realtor doesn't have any like tangible skills. They have a portfolio of clients that exists in a certain area. And if they move away from that area, it's like hitting the reset button. You know, a plumber, while you might have some, you know, clients, pretty much if you're a great plumber, you're a great plumber somewhere else, too. You know, if you're a good electrician, you're a good electrician somewhere else. Hey, if you're a good, you know, carpenter, you're a good carpenter somewhere else. And obviously some professions still have a client base. So there's that kind of an aspect. So like a mechanic, electrician, a plumber, they still have their clients and referrals. But at the end of the day, they can transfer those skills to a lot of different places, can't they? I mean, if you're a master electrician, if you're a master plumber, you can pretty much move and it's not going to be that big a deal. You could lose your job and you could find another job working pretty quickly, couldn't you? But there's some jobs where it'd be very difficult. Now, I was looking at either even better positions than that. Okay. An accountant or an engineer. They don't even have a client base that sometimes they necessarily have to worry about. Sometimes an accountant does. But these type of jobs, highly skilled jobs, where I could go anywhere and I can do this type of work. That sounds great. Why? Because it's not the where of God's will that's important, it's the what of God's will. And if I want to serve God, I want to have a position where I can have a highly skilled position and I can go wherever I need to go and I can get the things done. Then I decided, what about software? You know, IT, software, computer information systems, these jobs, really, you can be anywhere you want. If you're skilled at it, you will get a job. And in fact, a lot of this work is done remotely. You can live wherever you want and work these type of jobs. That sounds really good to me. I can work wherever I want, have a highly skilled position and do it. That sounds like a good career path. Now, is this the things that they're teaching in the public full system in college? Are they saying, let's identify certain careers, what kind of options they have, how they affect you positively? Notice, what do you want to do? Do you want to weave baskets and color and write poems, lesbian poetry? It's like, you literally will go to the college and you'll pick a worthless career. You know, I think careers should be based on skill. And, you know, the point of college was supposed to be to help you to get a good job. But a lot of people go to college with no job in mind. I think this is very foolish. I am not against higher level of education, trade schools or even college per se. But if you're not going there with a very specific purpose for a skilled position, I am always against it. It's wasting money. Now, look, there's some jobs that require some level of education. That sounds good. You know what? Being a plumber and electrician, you can go straight in the workforce, work for several years, become a master plumber or electrician and make better money than most people that get a college degree. Let's look at a couple other degrees before I talk about this point a little bit further. What about, you know, someone in the medical profession or a lawyer? Those would actually do have some location bearings on them because a lot of them require state, you know, legislative requirements, like you're only licensed to practice in this particular state or this particular area. So even though you get a good job there, it wouldn't necessarily afford you the opportunity to always move as easily. Some of them they are, but it definitely requires a lot of college, a lot of extra training. What about some other professions? Being a dentist, being a construction, being an optometrist, these are some professions that would be pretty easy to move around. Can they have their client base? But as I was looking at these different lists and trying to think about it, it's not that important what job you have. You know what's more important than what career you have? If you're a hard worker. Because I looked at Joseph and I said, now where is he succeeding at? The dungeon, the prison. That's not the greatest career. And in fact, I guarantee I could take the hardest worker and I could put him to where he does cleaning toilets. He mows lawns and he's going to make a lot of money. And I could take a really lazy jerk lawyer and he's not going to make any money. So you know what, your profession matters. Don't get me wrong, but at the end of the day, you know what's the most important factor when it comes to the career? Being a hard worker. And if you work really hard in whatever profession you have, you can succeed and you can make good money in that profession. You know what, you can't fix apathy. And the people that get ahead either do it by cheating or by hard work. But we already talked about point two, we need to be honest, all right? So if you actually want to do it the right way, you need to be a very hard worker. Better than all the other workers around. Look, they didn't put anybody else in charge, they put Joseph in charge. Why? Because he was such a hard worker. Everything that he was doing, he was doing it well, that's why he's constantly getting promoted. Look, a career cannot fix lazy. Not all, careers are not all equal, don't get me wrong. I think there's better careers than others, okay? But at the end of the day, you know what, I could take somebody into the worst career that's a hard worker and they can succeed. They can do great things. You can always own your own business, especially in America today. You can own your own lawn care business and make tons of money. And look, the point is not to make tons of money, the point is just to be a good provider. And why not be the best provider that you can possibly be? And for me, wanting to be a pastor, wanting to seek God, wanting to do that, I decided I want to have a career where no matter where I go, I'm going to be employed. Because it's based on me having skills. You know, you can go through college and leave college and have no skills. It's called get a management degree, all right, I got one. Get a business management degree. You know what skills I had? None. No one's going to put you in charge of anything. I got a management degree, I'm ready to be a manager. Of what? Well, what experience do you have? You know, I played golf in college, okay, great. They're not going to put you in charge of anything. You know they put in charge of stuff, people that have experience, people that are good at doing things. The guy that doesn't have a management degree, that just has five years experience on the job, you know he's going to be the manager and he's going to tell me this punk that got a college degree with no skills how to do the job. So it's more important to be a good worker, to be a hard worker, and if you're going to get any kind of education, you need to decide, am I getting skill? Think about your job. Does your job really have skill? Or is your job something that someone could do two weeks off the street? If that's the case, if I could find somebody off the street and in two weeks they can be doing your job, you do not have a skilled position. And guess what, you're not going to make good money and you better hold on tight to that job if you're in that situation because it's a dangerous, precarious situation to put yourself in. If you look at yourself and you say, you know what, it's hard for someone to do my profession. It'd be hard for someone to get in here and do this, you know what, that is a position that you need to work towards or go towards because that's how you're going to make money. That's what's going to separate you from the young punk that just graduated college. That's what's going to separate you from the 18-year-old that just graduated high school is someone can't do my job in two weeks. And you know what, someone can't be a senior software developer after two weeks. Let me just wake you up, okay? Someone can't be an accountant after two weeks. Someone can't just build a house after two weeks. Someone can't plumb an entire house or do the electrical work for a major construction project after two weeks. These are jobs that take time and experience and effort and hard work and it's not about exactly what career, but you need to find a career where someone can't just do it two weeks off, you know, the spot. I remember talking to this one guy and he's like, what do you do? Well, I've been a bug zapper for five years and it's hard to provide. And I'm thinking, yeah, I could get an 18-year-old off the street and he could be doing your job in two weeks. You just wasted five years of your life. Sorry to be honest. And look, if you're in that situation, I'm not trying to pick on you. I'm actually trying to help you to realize that you should not waste your time in a job that's meaningless, that has no skill, that's not taking you anywhere. If the job that you're working at or working towards has no skill, pick something with some skill. Pick something where, hey, in five years from now, I'm going to be different than the guy off the street, okay? That's how you recognize it's a good career. But at the end of the day, a career can't fix lazy and you know what, I'd rather take a hard worker over the best career, okay? So don't get me wrong with this point. Go back to Genesis chapter 41. You know what, even David, when David leaves the children of Israel, he goes into the Philistines for a short space and he works for Achish. He's working for his enemies, but you know what? He's put in charge. Why? Because hard workers are always promoted, hard workers are always put in the front lines, hard workers are always going to succeed, and when the Lord's with you and when you're honest and when you're a hard worker, you're going to be blessed, end of the story. I don't care what career you have, I don't care what position you're in, that's how you get promoted. So there's people that are constantly, oh, I can't find a job and no one wants to hire me and people keep firing me. Let me be honest with you, you're failing in some of these points. I guarantee it. And look, we can all fall on hard times. I've been let go of positions. I'm not saying just because you get let go of a position that makes you a bad person or whatever, but I guarantee, even myself, there were some things I could work on. I could have done better. And I would not look at that and say, well, I just think I'm the best worker ever. I just look at it and say, where can I do better? How can I, on the next job, the next opportunity, do more? Have more skill, be a harder worker, be more honest, and make sure that the Lord is with me. Let's look at my fourth point, Genesis chapter 41, verse number 9. Then spake the chief butler and a Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day. Pharaoh was wrought with his servants, and put me in war in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker. And we dreamed a dream in one night, and, or I and he, we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. And there was there with us a young man, and Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. To each man according to his dream he did interpret, and it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was. He restored unto mine office, and him he hanged, then Pharaoh sinned and called Joseph. Now the first three points, in my opinion, are pretty much the most important, but we're going to talk about some other skills to pay the bills. Look, if the Lord's with you, you're honest, hardworking, you're going to do great. But here's some other good things to add to your repertoire of skills, is having good references. We see that Joseph, when he was in the prison, he has two other guys come into the prison, and he interprets their dreams for them, and he tells the butler, like, hey, don't forget me, man. He forgets him, all right? But then a situation comes along, where he's like, oh, yeah, there was this one guy. And look, I've heard all kinds of different stories. I've been in so many circumstances, where I've been on the job, and somebody says, you know what, I know somebody, they're really good at this. And then they end up getting a job. Don't discount this. You know how people get good jobs from good references. You know how people get jobs from other clients? Good references. When you do a great job, when you're a hard worker, when you're excellent at your craft and your skill, people will take notice, and those good references will carry you in all kinds of places you didn't realize you were going to get to. Those good references are so important. And that's why it's also important, no matter what job you're at, to always leave on a good note. You know, some people, they just kind of, like, tarnish their reputation at a company on their way out. That is bad. You know why? Because as soon as you try to go to another job, they're going to say, hey, can I talk to your former boss? You don't want to burn your former boss. You want to say, absolutely, call them up right now. Just put them on the phone. And in fact, I myself, no matter what job I've had, I always finish it to the very end. In fact, I was working for a software company, and they had me checking in source code minutes before I left the company forever. Minutes. This is insane. Most companies, if you tell them, like, hey, we're not going to let you, you're turning in your two-week notice, they're like, see ya. We don't want you messing with our stuff anymore. You're kind of a hazardous person now. You could kind of cause damage. I mean, literally, up to the last minutes of my employment there, they're wanting me to check in code and do stuff for them and work for them. And I was more than happy to do it. I don't want to sit there as a lame duck for two weeks. Who's ever worked on a job and you're just like a lame duck for the last few weeks? It's kind of annoying. You know, whenever I'm on a job, I'm going to work as hard as I probably work harder. I work as hard as I possibly can those last few weeks. I want to leave on a great note. I want them to have a good reputation. They want them to look at me and have a good reputation with them. And that's a very important thing with your job. Why? Because later in life, you're going to want to have people that you can rely upon and put down on that reference marker and say, yeah, call this person. And they're like, yeah, he did a great job. He went up to the end. He was still working. We have a good relationship with him. I like it when I call someone and say, hey, can I use your reference and say, absolutely, no problem. Love, love to have you. I'll tell them, you know, your work ethic. And even you don't even know, maybe you end up working for them again in the future, calling people and saying, hey, would you ever hire me again? Or I'm looking for work. They're like, yeah, we'd love to have you back. You did such a good job. You never know. And the world is small today, especially the business world. These people talk. These people know each other. You do not want to leave on a bad foot. You want to have a good reference. What if Joseph had just been like, eh, this butler and Chief Baker, they're not my problem. Would he have ever had Pharaoh take notice of him? No. That's why it's important to always be faithful on the job and to build good references, no matter what they're doing to you. Look, even your boss, he wasn't that great of a boss, but you know what? He could be a good reference for you, at least. He can at least have respect for you. I had guys that were not the best as a boss to have. They were like tyrants. They were dictators. But you know what? They wanted to be a good reference for me. They liked my work ethic. They liked me working for them. So you know what? Even though you might not have the most favor towards your boss, he can still have a lot of favor towards you. Potiphar had favor towards Joseph. We see this dungeon master, he has favor towards Joseph. So it's important to have good references. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 3. The Bible emphasizes this. Now if you want to be a pastor, this is an important point. And in fact, a lot of people that have turned out to be heretics or losers or degenerates or fakes or phonies have failed at this point. So I take it very seriously. But it says in 1 Timothy chapter 3, in the qualifications of a bishop, it says in verse 7, Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into approach and the snare of the devil. The Bible says that a pastor should be one where even his secular workplace would say, This guy's a great worker. This guy's excellent on the job. This is someone we like. And we see all the godly men, they're constantly having good report with the heathen, with their unsaved bosses. Oh, Potiphar, he's not saved. He loves Joseph. He put him in charge. The dungeon master, he doesn't know Joseph from Adam. But he puts him in charge. Why? Because he's a great worker. And you know what? The example of a pastor is not just for a pastor. It's for everybody. Because the pastor, you know, some people look at the qualifications and they're like, oh, look, the qualifications are for everyone. Every man ought to strive for every single one of these qualifications. The bishop is the one who's doing them well. He's just good at it, okay? That's the one you say, hey, this guy's succeeding in all these areas. But you know what? Even if you don't want to be a pastor, you say, what's my example of this? All the qualifications of a bishop. Oh, he's married to one wife? That sounds like a good qualification. Oh, he has faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly? That sounds like a good qualification. Hey, he has a good report with them that are true or without. He's sober. You know, these are all good things. These are things for every man. The Bible's just saying you should pick out good guys to be pastors. You should pick out the guys that have it all together, that are doing the things that are right. And so if you want to be a pastor, according to the Bible, you should be succeeding in the workplace. You should be prosperous in the workplace. Your boss should like you at the workplace. Your boss should not want you to quit your job. He should be disappointed that you want to quit your job. He should say, I hope you keep working for me. That should be the type of person that you are. Go back to Genesis chapter 41. Don't underestimate having good references. Maybe the next guy I send out, I'm going to call his boss at work and see how he likes him. Hey, what do you think about this guy? Oh, he's always late. He's always causing problems. Look, the last job that I had, everybody at my company knew I was a pastor. I wasn't even hiding that. And they all loved me. I mean, not the faggot that tried to interview, but you know. But look, some people get this weird idea that if you go to one of our churches, everyone's going to hate you or something. Like you can't even succeed in the workplace. Look, I didn't even hide it. And they liked me. Now, I'm not saying every person, you know, I worked a lot of Mormons, so I'm sure they didn't like love me. Mormons kind of like fake like everyone, you know, they kind of like, oh, I love you, brother. They don't really love you. OK. But I'm just saying like, you can do godly things. You can be a godly person, even an adulterous and wicked generation, and people can still have respect for you. People can still like you. Now, look, I didn't go to workplace and cram everybody's sin down their throat. I didn't go around and say, oh, you're a false prophet and you're wicked as hell and you're an adulterer and you should be put to death. Look, I didn't do that. I'm nice. I'm courteous. I keep my mouth shut. I do my job. I just serve. That's what God's example is for us. I'm not going around trying to condemn everybody. And then, look, I have good references in my workplace. People like me. I can still hang out with them, even though I'm not of the world. I'm not so, oh, I'm so godly. I can't hang out with you people. Oh, you're so simple. Work is so terrible. Look, you're just so pious. I don't even like people like that. Look, I'm not trying to say that it should be your best friend, OK? You can succeed at the workplace. You can be kind. You can make relationships. You can have good references in the workplace. Genesis chapter 41, look at verse 33. So Joseph's been called before Pharaoh. He explains to him his dream. And this is what Joseph says unto Pharaoh in verse 33. Now therefore, let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Now, I like this because it points to the fact that Joseph is humble. You know what's a great skill to have on the job? Being humble. Now, Joseph, he could have just said, you found a guy. He's so discreet and so wise. You need to hire him. What did he say? You just need to find someone like this. He didn't point to anything but just the fact that you need this type of an individual. He wasn't talking about himself at all. And that's the most important fact about being humble. Just don't talk about yourself. If you want to be a humble person, don't gloat about yourself. Let another man praise thee, not thine own lips is what the Bible says. That's a true humble person. Now, some people have an idea of fake humility, and I hate fake humility. It drives me up the wall, and you know what? It makes God angry too. Go if you would to Exodus chapter 4, Exodus chapter 4, flip forward in your Bible. What is fake humility? Fake humility is when you talk bad about yourself. Oh, I'm not that smart. I'm not that wise. I could never do it. I'm nobody important. You wouldn't want to hire me. This is fake humility. It's crap, and it is not a humble attitude. You know what people do by saying that? They're begging you to compliment them. Oh, no, you're great. No, you're wonderful. No, we do like you. That's what people are begging for whenever they talk down about themselves. A truly humble person just doesn't talk about themselves. My only exception to this would be in an interview when they actually ask you questions about yourself. Then you can actually open your mouth and just say the things that you've done. But even in the interview process, you know what? We designed questions to ask people about themselves to see if they were humble or not. Hey, what's your biggest failure? Well, there was this one time at work where there was this other guy, and he screwed everything up, and he ruined the project, and I had to come in. I had to help him. That was his biggest failure. You can see immediately this person is very prideful, very arrogant. They think more highly of themselves than they ought to think. A truly humble person, when asked that type of question, would say, well, there was this situation. I made a mistake, but I see that it was wrong now, and I'm going to try and work on it in the future. That's a truly humble person, and you know what? Even in the interview process, people can spot all day long people that are not humble. They might not be able to articulate it, but you can just tell. I can see someone. They're super prideful, and that's what I'm thinking, and other people are like, I didn't like that guy. I don't really know what it is, because he's a prideful jerk. People can just pick up on these type of things. When you're a humble person, people also pick up on those things. It's the intuition that God put inside you. We want to throw up in our mouth when someone's being so prideful about themselves. I'm so wonderful, and I'm so excellent, and everything I do is wonderful. Everybody starts trying to tear you down in their mind. They're thinking, you're not that great. You're not that wonderful. I don't even like you. That's what people are thinking about in their mind. Then when you tear yourself down, people are thinking, you're annoying. Why is it all about you? I was thinking about myself, because everybody's really just only thinking about themselves. Let me just wake you up, okay? Most people are just very self-conceited, okay? But even Moses, he's instructed by God to go out and lead the children out of Egypt, the children of Israel, and Moses starts talking bad about himself. Look at verse 10 in chapter 4. Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant. But I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb, or death, or the seeing, or the blind, have not I the Lord? Neither for go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, I send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled. Notice when God is telling Moses to go, Moses is like, I'm not a good guy to be sent. Why did God ask you then? You're basically saying, God, you shouldn't pick me. You're making a bad decision. That's not a good thing to tell God. Don't look at God and say, you're making a bad decision. Look, if God's picking you, he's picking you for a reason. Go and do the work. Whatever God sent you to do, I'm not that great of a soul winner. Well, God sent you anyways. Hey, I don't know if I'm the best husband or father. Well, are you married and have kids? Then guess what? God's picked you to be a husband and a father, because he's the one that opens and closes the womb anyways. So be the best father that you can possibly be. People constantly down talk themselves. That is not a good attribute. A good attribute, don't talk about yourself. But here's the thing, whenever Pharaoh talks to Joseph, he identifies that Joseph is the guy for the job. Go back to Genesis chapter number 41. Go back to Genesis chapter number 41 and look at verse number 37. And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the spirit of God is? Notice he recognized the fact that he's a godly person. Pharaoh's not a Christian. He notices that the Lord's with him. And that's a good thing. Look at verse 39. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, for as much as God has showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. Notice that Pharaoh looks at Joseph after he says, you need to find an discreet and wise person. He says, you're the guy. You're the man that we need. Now here's where humility comes into play. First of all, Joseph didn't talk about himself. You know what? As soon as Pharaoh asked him to do it, he doesn't. That's true humility. Having the confidence and understanding, you know what, if they're going to have me do it, I'm going to do it. What should Moses have done when God asked him? Done it. Not talk negatively about himself. So a truly humble person, he's going to do the job when he's called upon, when he's ready to do it. He's just not going to talk about himself. He's not going bragging about himself. He's not going to go up to his boss, hey boss, we need somebody to do this job that's really good at it. You know, I know a guy. No, you just say, hey, we need someone that's experienced and can do it and is going to do a good job. And then let your boss say, you're the guy. And then whenever he says, you're the guy, don't say, oh, I'm slow speech. You don't want to pick me. That's also not being humble. Being humble would be, I'm going to do it. I'm going to get it done. And Joseph just steps into the biggest role of his life. He was in charge of the prison. Now he's in charge of the greatest country on the planet, everything. That's a pretty big promotion. Oh, notice, he wasn't getting the promotions that he deserved, was he? In fact, he went down a step when he went to the jail, but God noticed and then God promoted him in due time. So notice it pays off to have the Lord with you. It pays off to be honest. It pays off to be hard working. It pays off to have that good reference. It pays off to be humble. My sixth point, the skill to pay the bill, is be indispensable. Notice they had to find somebody that was really discreet and wise, but where are we going to find that guy? It's Joseph. You want to have skills to pay the bills, be the only guy that can do the job. Be the only guy at the workplace. Look, there's people at companies, I've worked with them, where it's like, that's our guy. When we have this problem, we ask that guy. That's the guy. You know who they're not going to fire? That guy. There's certain people at companies, they're never going to fire. They're not going to touch with a 10-foot pole. You know why? He's indispensable. He's their guy. They can't replace him. They can't find anybody else. Why did Joseph get so promoted? He's indispensable. Look, when you're not indispensable, you're in danger of being fired. When they look at you and say, I can find an 18-year-old punk to do your job and he's going to give me less lip and I'm going to pay him less, you're in danger. When they look at you and they say, I can't find anybody to do this job. I mean, we're just trying to find anybody to fill this role. We can't get anybody. You're going to keep your job, even when they don't like you. Look, there's some people, they look at him like, I don't like this guy. He smells weird. He doesn't take a bath. He doesn't show up on time. He doesn't follow our dress code, but I can't fire him. He's indispensable. Look, in the software world, the people that make themselves indispensable, they can get away with murder at the company. I promise you. Look, there are certain software developers or people that have invested so much in this company, they know their system. They come in dressed wearing you don't know what, and they're just like, it doesn't matter. They don't care. The manager is not, they're like, you do whatever you want. They treat them like gods. I'm not joking. You can be at a position at your workplace where they're like, this guy, we can't let this guy go. He's just making us money, hand over fist. He's always on time. He's doing everything right. I can't let this guy go. That's a skill that's going to help you pay the bill, being indispensable. When you look at yourself and you think, well, everybody at my job is better than me at this. You're in trouble. I could get somebody off the street to do my job better than me in two weeks. You're in trouble. That's not a skill to pay the bill. A skill to pay the bill is being indispensable. And you know how you get indispensable? Doing tasks that nobody else wants to do. There's going to be times at the workplace where tasks come up that are not in your job description. They're not in anyone's job description. And everybody looks at it and is like, I don't want to do that. You know, you say, I'll do it. I'll work on Thanksgiving Day. I'll stay up all night, you know, reprogramming this problem. I'll go and debug all this hard code that nobody wants to look at and has to deal with. I'll be the one to do it. And you know what happens? You end up becoming indispensable to your employer because he thinks, man, if I run into any problems, I only got one guy here that's willing to fix it. I can't let this guy go. I can't get rid of this guy. Every time I have a big issue, nobody wants to be the guy to snake the drain after someone clogged it. As it were. But you know what? The guy that's willing to do it? You're like, I'm not interested in him. Because then you have to snake the drain. You're like, I'm not interested in that. Look, your boss looks at the work that you do. And when you step up when nobody else wants to, you make yourself indispensable. Joseph's willing to just get his hands dirty. It doesn't matter the job. He's going to get it done. And notice he gets it done where his boss doesn't even have to worry about it. It's done. It's a done deal. He's indispensable. In a crisis situation, step up to the plate. It will take you places you didn't dream of. Look, I can't tell you again. I'm just trying to give you my personal experience of what we see in the Bible. When a crisis situation happens at work and you step in and you pay that bill, they're going to take care of you. They're going to be the ones to honor you. You say, why is it that people can't keep a job and can't make good money? Well, let me tell you, they're not indispensable. They're not honest. They're not hardworking. The Lord's not with them. They don't have any good references. It's like, well, who needs this guy? He's a dime a dozen. Look, that person's a dime a dozen in this world. Help, Lord, for the godly man sees it. It's hard to find people that have already met this list, but here's my last point, okay? Genesis chapter 41, look at verse 53. My last point is that we see Joseph has to stick with his job for at least 14 years. That is a long time. If you want to have a skill to pay the bill, you got to stick with your job. People that just constantly can't hold down a job, they're going to have a hard time making any good money. You know how you get to make where you make good money? You're at the same job for a long period of time. It takes what they say 10,000 hours to be an expert at anything. And I see some people are like, yeah, I tried being a plumber for six months, and then I tried being an electrician for six months, and then I tried doing construction for six months, and then I worked at Subway for six months, and then I lived in my mom's basement for six months, and then I got a call center job for two years. And then five years later, they're like, I still, the only jobs I can get pay 10 bucks an hour. And it's like, yeah, but if you just stuck with that first job, the plumbing job, after five years, you could now be a master plumber. You could actually make really good money. You know who makes good money? The people who stuck with a career. The people who stuck with the job that they had. The people that have lots of experience, that are very good and skilled at whatever task they have to do, and whatever occupation they have to do. And look, I'm not saying it's bad to necessarily change employers often, but if you're changing careers often, you're going to be in hot water. It's not going to, you're not going to pay off. You got to stick with something. We see that Joseph is successful because he stuck with it. What after the seven years of plenty, he just quit. Well, now they're in trouble. What after three years they quit? Look, he had to be faithful those seven years just to make sure they were going to survive the next seven years of famine. He had to constantly stick with it. And look, thank God that in today's workforce, you don't even have to wait 14 years to be able to be a good provider. Look, if you stick with any career for five years, working as hard as you possibly can, you will provide tons of money for your family. It's not even that hard. But then there's all these young people. They don't have a job. They don't make good money. They have all these financial problems. You know why? Because they don't just pick a career with skill and work at it for five years. They go to college and then try to get some lazy man's job out there, doing something that has no tangible skill set and they constantly change and they're constantly doing all these things and then they look at themselves and they're like, I can't make any money working at McDonald's. Yeah, you can't. Why don't you get some skills to pay the bills? Why don't you actually do the things that are on this list? And look, let's take McDonald's as an extreme. If you right out of high school start working at McDonald's and you apply all these principles after five years, you'll probably be the manager of the one. And managers there make pretty good money. You can be the manager of multiple. You can be the district manager. I mean look, it's not that hard to get past all the druggies there. Like the people that are working there just got out of jail. They can't even hardly think straight. Hopefully you'll get promoted a little bit quicker than them. Hopefully you can keep down the job. Look, they can't even find anybody that'll stay there. And look, I'm not recommending working at McDonald's, okay? I'm taking to an extreme to help you men to understand if you want to be a good provider, you need to have some skills to pay the bills. Why is it that people are not providing well, they got no skills? You can't tell, you can't show me somebody I'm extremely skilled. I can't find a job, lie. Dallas Fort Worth is ready to hire you, I guarantee it. This area in the United States of America, you will find a job quickly if you have the skills to pay the bills. Now let's go to a couple more places before we finish. Let's go to Genesis chapter 46, flip forward. You get paid good money for being skilled. If you're not skilled, you don't get paid good money. It's pretty much how it works. Now obviously there's exceptions to every rule. I'm speaking in generalities, obviously you could be a lazy cheat and elevate yourself in the workplace. You know what, God's not going to bless that and you're going to fall on your face hard in the future. You're going to be that chief baker who loses his head. You don't want to be him. You want to be like Joseph. Now Genesis chapter 46, look at verse 34, the Bible says, They ye shall say thy servant's trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now both we and also our fathers, that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination in the Egyptians. So whenever we look at Jacob, Israel, who's renamed to Israel, who's the father of Joseph, he's been a herdman his entire life. That sounds like somebody who's stuck with his career, huh? Now let's see what happens to him. Look at 47 verse 6, The land of Egypt is for thee, and the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell, and the land of Goshen let them dwell. And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. Does Jacob get rewarded for being someone who's stuck with his career? Yeah, he becomes the chief herdman in all of Egypt. Why? Because he's skilled at being a herdman. Look, when you're skilled at your position, you are going to be employed. People want to hire you. You know why? Because they care about making money, and if you're good at what you do, they want to hire you. You know why they don't want to hire people? Because they're lazy, because they're not honest, because they don't work hard, because they don't have any skills. And I'll tell you this, skills triumph over a college degree every day of the week. I work in the software industry, and you can get a job like this with no college degree if you're skilled. If you have the skills to do the job needed that I do, you can get hired in a second with no college degree. And then there's other jobs where, you know what, having a college degree is required and there's no skills with it. It's a flip-flop world. It's weird. You know, you'll get paid very little money. So don't think that a college degree is going to solve your problems, because it's not. And in fact, it might just add more problems to your life. I'll preach a whole sermon. That's a different topic, okay? I think college is one of the worst decisions I ever made. But in fact, even in my own self, the career that I had, if I had gone to college and just gone straight into working in the profession I have now, being a software developer, doing that kind of work, I would have been further ahead at the point that I was when I was working than I was by getting a college degree. Why? Because skill triumphs over labor, or over college. And in fact, after five, ten years of being graduated from college, they could care less. They just want to know what your work experience is. What projects have you worked on? What experience do you have in this? How knowledgeable are you? What are your references like? Look, if you have great references and you're highly skilled, they're going to hire you in a second. I don't care if you went to cloud college. I don't care if you went to Peter Ruckman's Bible college, Pensacola Bible college. They'll be like, what's that? You're like, you don't want to know. It's weird, okay? They won't care. They won't care if you were homeschooled. They won't care any of that. You know, some people are like, are you going to homeschool your kids? Yeah, I'm going to teach them that skill triumphs over this fake college junk. Because it does. There's so many good jobs out there where skill will pay the bills. I promise you that. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. We're almost finished this evening. Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. Say, this is just for the men. Yeah, it is, pretty much. But you know what? There's going to be a counterpart for the women, all right? You get excited for the future, okay? Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. Look at verse number eight. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. And the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. I'll be honest with you, when you get started down this path, it's not going to pay quickly. If you decide, you know what, I'm a young man, I don't have any skill, well, tomorrow you're not going to make big bucks. But you know what? It's better at the end. When you get that skill, and you've been working hard, and you've been following what the Bible says, and then you finally get to that position where now you're a skilled laborer, it's great. It's wonderful. It's great to finally meet completion to an idea. I looked at myself and I said, you know what? I'm going to change careers from banking into software, and I'm going to start at ground one, ground zero. But I knew that in five years, if I worked really hard, I would get to the place that I wanted. And it was great when I got there. But you know what? The first five years wasn't great. A lot of hard work, a lot of extra labor, a lot of extra hours. It takes a lot of time. And look, that's just one example, it could be longer. With Laben, it's a long time. With Joseph, sometimes it's a long time. I'm not promising you there's this pipe in the sky, pie in the sky five years, but I'm just saying a lot of positions have that. Plumbers have that, electricians have that, software industry is pretty much the same. But you know, once you get that really good skill, you can write your own ticket in a lot of professions. Now go to Proverbs 28, it's the last place I want to have you turn. Proverbs, go back, chapter number 28. At the end of the day, is this the most important thing? The answer is no. Now why preach a sermon on it then? Let's just only preach the gospel, right, because it's the most important thing. Well the Bible has a lot of information for us, and I find that the people who stick with church and constantly are going soul winning and are really righteous people overall in their life, they're really good in this area. The people that really struggle in these areas are the ones that aren't the ones that stick with it, don't continue going to church, and look, when you have a lot of financial problems, it causes a lot of problems in your life. Marriage problems, you've got all kinds of other issues, you're constantly worried about these things, so why not be a great provider? Why not be one that can do well? And the Bible makes it clear that it's the husband's job, it's the man's job to be a provider, to provide for his own. You're worse than an infidel if you don't, is what the Bible says. And look, there's a lot of commandments in the Bible. The Bible says to fear God and to keep his commandments, this is the whole duty of man. So it's not just soul winning. You can't just soul win 24 hours, seven days a week for the rest of your life. If you want to be a successful soul winner for the long term, you need to be a good provider. You need to follow all of God's commandments and do all the things that are right, and God uses hard workers. Even the Apostle Paul, who we could argue is possibly the greatest New Testament Christian. You know what? He made tents on the side. He was a hard worker. He provided for his own, and I didn't hold him back, and you know what, I bet he made some good tents. I bet I'd like one of those tents, because you know what, every one of God's men that he uses are hard workers. You show me the lazy prophet in the Bible. I mean, Elisha, he's plowing with his own oxen. I mean, he's getting down there in the trenches. I mean, these guys are hard workers. They are great workers. They're ones that are going to get the job done. God looked at them and said, I'm going to use that guy, because that guy is someone that's going to get the job done. You know what? Our biggest employer is God. You say, I want to be used greatly by God. Well, how are you doing at your job? Do you have the skills to pay the bills? Because when you look at this list, it's pretty much the same for just being a Godly Christian. It's pretty much just following all of God's commandments. The Bible says in Proverbs 28, verse 20, a faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. The Bible makes it clear that we should not labor to be rich. I'm not trying to teach here any kind of plan to get wealthy and to be super rich and have lots of money. If you follow my plan, that's really not going to take place. I'm just letting you have some skills to be able to pay your bills, to have a good, decent life, to be a solid provider. The Bible says, look, if you're trying to get rich quick, you're going to have all kinds of problems, but the faithful man, he's going to abound with blessings. Let me tell you something that comes with faithfulness, patience. It takes time. But you know what? It's good to set a goal and say, that's where I want to be in five years. That's where I want to be in 10 years. This is how I'm going to get to that position and then work towards that goal. Be a faithful person. Do it and work hard, and when you have the skills to pay the bills, your life is going to be easier. The way of transgressors is hard, is what the Bible says. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for this great example of Joseph. Thank you for showing us so many men that are willing to work so hard. Thank you for enabling us to have the skills to pay the bills. We know that all wealth and all power and all expertise comes from you, and I pray that we put you first, and that as you be with us as we go out, that we can also be mindful of all thy commandments so that you could just give us all kinds of skill and all kinds of knowledge. I pray that you would bless all the men in this church that want to work hard. You would bless them at their job, that you would prosper them, and that they would take heed unto all thy commandments. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.