Work is Awesome!

1 (4s): Good morning. Harvest Church family. How's everybody doing today? Yeah. Good to see your smiling faces here in the room and to everyone watching around campus and Work or wherever you're tuning in on the line. Welcome. We're so glad that you tuned in to join us and worship together. If you have some space while you stand, if you're able and join in preparing your hearts and your bodies for worship this morning, and to bring praise to his name today, let's take a moment and just invite his presence. Pray that you would fill our hearts with worship. 1 (44s): Thanks this morning that you would remind us of your faithfulness towards us, your goodness, and your mercies that follow us all the days of our lives has got. We know that when we catch a glimpse of you. And so we just bring you our hearts today and just bring a sacrifice of praise and lay it at the altar, ask you to meet us here in the mist. I love you, Lord and worship 0 (1m 22s): Jesus 1 (1m 31s): 0 (1m 36s): displace everything at the alter. 0 (9m 30s): This 1 (12m 23s): Yeah. There's anybody in this space here or anywhere on campus that feels like in the word of encouragement has to be a great time to just bring that. I know maybe you won't be able to hear it from different rooms, but let's just lift it at right where we're at. If a prayer or the Lord's put on your face. 0 (12m 37s): 1 (13m 46s): You know, you love to encourage us God to make us aware of your presence. 0 (13m 52s): 1 (14m 19s): Can you turn it? 0 (14m 23s): this morning. 1 (19m 60s): That's the experiencing of circumstances. It's difficult that you would meet them in how to show them more than when you work all things together for good. You help us to be patient. 0 (20m 12s): See the hand of the Lord in her life. You care for us. So deeply. 1 (20m 21s): The enemy would love us to believe that you've forgotten us, that you've abandoned us. And that's the furthest thing from the truth. Your word says that you never leave us. You never forsake us. And that your presence is always with us. And so we thank you for new mercies today. We just drink it. Every ounce that we need, fill our tank for this week, or we, you, we depend on you. We call upon you this morning for all that. We have need to come and heal every ache in our hearts and every pain in our body and every anxious thought, how would you wash it away? 1 (21m 4s): Bring peace to pass our understanding this morning. As we look to you, Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Thank you for your presence here with us. Would you continue to minister deeply to our hearts as we dive into your word this morning, as we continue in worship, love you. Pardon me? Thank you for these opportunities to come together as family to worship you and know you more. You love you give your more hearts in Jesus name. Amen. Well, this is the time that we love in the middle of service, where you get to meet somebody. If you haven't met somebody at, please say, hello, meet someone new. 1 (21m 48s): Those who are on campus. Take a moment and we'll be back in just a few minutes with them and how sense. 2 (21m 55s): So, and if you're joining us online, we're glad to have you as well. Looking forward to having back here in service and gathering through this way. Hey, we have, if you like to golf, got some exciting news for you. We have a golfing club starting up. It meets one Sunday per month, not during service after service. So the first gathering will be a Sunday, February 7th, and that we 1:00 PM at Cypress Ridge. And you can click on the connect link on the website or app to sign up for that. Just to give us a heads up on notice. If you're going to be coming, let's see we have midweek prayer. I want to remind you guys about that. So mid-week on Thursdays at 8:00 AM in the loft. 2 (22m 36s): We gather for prayer and it's a powerful time to join together and everyone is welcome. And then just a reminder that we're collecting lifeline bottles this week. So if you, if you filled up your bottle, a change or checks or cash or whatever, go, go drop those back off with them, bless them. And then also, Hey, just a great way to connect with our churches, the Harvest Church app, and that you can download it on your phone and that'll keep you posted on ways to connect with our church and the everything that's going on. So that's all I got. That's all I got was easy one this week. Yeah. So can you hear me now? 2 (23m 44s): Yeah, there we go. Hey, welcome. How 3 (23m 46s): Is everyone 4 (23m 49s): I'll start over. So, 3 (23m 51s): So we did have a Memorial service yesterday and it was, 4 (23m 54s): Was really, really, really good. 3 (23m 57s): Good. I'll tell you when you do a Memorial service or somebody who's given their whole life to Jesus, 4 (24m 2s): It's easy. It really is. 3 (24m 4s): It's, it's easy to talk about their lives. It's easy to talk about their impact because it was vast. This gal, Terry gainer died at 60 years old, but she so she's young, but she may have spent her whole life serving Jesus and impacting people for the kingdom. And so it was really a celebration of life. We got to talk about all of her impact and all of the stuff that she accomplished in her life. And it's it's, it should be an inspiration for all of us that man, we've got life to live for his kingdom, things to do for God. And, and he will use us when we allow him to use us. We're talking about Work today and I gotta be honest with you. When I started thinking about the topic of work in second Thessalonians, chapter three, I wasn't thrilled about it. 3 (24m 48s): I was like, Work what a boring topic, you know? W what am I going to say about work? And I thought, Hey, everybody is working. Everybody's got, everybody's got stuff going on. So before I get into that, I got a quick joke. You guys ready for a joke? What do you call it? Toothless 4 (25m 5s): Bear. A gummy bear. There we go. 3 (25m 9s): A gummy bear. Simon Hobbs gets five bucks for that one. Simon Hobbs also gave me this joke. 4 (25m 16s): Knock-knock interrupting bear, Bri interrupting, bear interrupted. 3 (25m 27s): Can you make sure Simon Hobbs gets this $10 here? Sam bull five bucks per joke, five bucks per joke. That was the deal. So if, if you give me a joke that I use on a Sunday morning, then I'll give you a five bucks. Is that a fair deal? Cause I I've read all kinds of joke books and some of them are really bad. The ones that I want to tell on Sunday morning are really good. Like the one that Simon just told me Simon's about eight or so. So he's, there you go. He always comes up with a good joke for me. So as I thought about Work, I thought, what can I talk about Work? So I've been in full-time vocational ministry for a couple of decades. And before that I was in sales and marketing and I thought, you know what? Those are some of my best years. 3 (26m 9s): I mean, I've loved being in full-time vocational ministry as well, but when I'm thinking about impact, I mean, I think I've had some impact in full-time vocational ministry as well, but most of us aren't in full-time vocational ministry and we have the opportunity in the world to have an impact. And so I started thinking about my life and work and ministry, and I just about every day of my life in secular work, I had an opportunity to minister, to somebody in some way, whether praying for them or telling them about Jesus somehow some way 4 (26m 40s): God used me 3 (26m 42s): To do that. I didn't know how, in fact, my sales trainer, when I was 23 years old, I had a sale outside sales job. And the guy training me was also a Christian. And he would walk away from a meeting and I'd be in a conversation with somebody and we'd be talking about Jesus when he came back and he'd be like, how in the world do you always steer the conversation toward Jesus? I said, it's really easy. I, they asked me about my life. I tell them I went to Bible college and that just opens the door wide open. So I, they asked me about Bible college and they asked me about, you know, all of this stuff. And then somehow we just have the conversation turned towards Jesus. But I think when Jesus is our focus, the conversation can easily be turned toward him. And so over that, I was just thinking about it over the course of my life. 3 (27m 23s): And this isn't a, this isn't a Pat myself on the back, but this is just what God can do through us when we just are yielded to him. And when we're thinking about him in the course of our day and throughout our lives. And so I was thinking, I I've been able to tell, tell people about Jesus, straight people, gay people, contractors, architects, prisoners, you name it. Cause I, I had sales, a sales territory where I visited like five or six prisons and sold to the prisons prison industries. And so I'd go in and talk to people in prison industries. And I would tell them about Jesus and sell product as well. But I always tell them about 5 (27m 58s): Jesus. And 3 (28m 0s): It was just an open door of opportunity, especially people in prison. You've got a captive audience they're just there and they got to listen to the captive audience. I was a chaplain as well. And so I use that joke a lot. It it's, I guess it's getting old. So I'll stop using that joke. But the point is I thought about working at Work is Awesome Work is, is a open, open opportunity. It's an opportunity for us to share the gospel with people, to pray for people. I remember I was at Work a years ago and this guy, he was, he came to work really sick and not feeling good. I said, can I pray for you? And so I just, he said, okay. And I just prayed for him a simple little prayer and then just left it in the Lord's hands. And then just over the course of time, I remember another guy he had just, just been searching for the Lord and he can, he confided in me that his girlfriend had an abortion and he was just grieved over it. 3 (28m 53s): He was just grieved over this decision that they had made. And so we had, I had a chance to just administer the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of grace of God, to him and, and really powerful things happen. And that guy is still in church to this day. Powerful things happen when we avail ourselves to the work of Christ and it doesn't have to be heavy handed and it's not meant to be heavy handed. It's just meant to be out of the, out of the course of our lives. We're just meant to share our lives with people and part of our lives, a big part of our lives. If we're Christians, is that we man, we follow Jesus and Jesus has got stuff to say about stuff. So sermon title today Work is Awesome. So I went from saying, man, I don't want to talk about Work at all to this title that says Work is Awesome. 3 (29m 38s): Why is Work Awesome well, we were created to work. We're going to get into second Thessalonians, three chapter six, chapter three, verses six through 18 here, just in a few minutes, but we're going to take a few minutes to get to that, that chapter and verse there. Why is Work Awesome we were created to Work God has purpose for our work. We forgot to pray. Let's go and stand up and pray Lord, as we talk about Work today, we just want to avail ourselves to you. I know some of us need to be changed challenged in our area of work. Some of us need to be encouraged and some of us need to be informed. 3 (30m 20s): And so Lord, I pray you would do all of the above in Jesus' name, that you would open up our hearts and minds. We, you would give us creative ways to minister in our work, but also give us a different perspective about work and just the value of Work got to remind us of truth in your word, what you say about work and what you expect from us about concerning our work. Lord God. So I pray Jesus that this wouldn't be just a conversation about work, but it would be a conversation about kingdom and work and how our work is meant to impact the kingdom. So I think everything is supposed to be about the kingdom. So your will be done in that regard. We pray in Jesus' name. 3 (31m 2s): Amen. Amen. You can be seated. So we were created to work. God has purpose for our work. And so we're talking about the practical benefits of Work, but God has more than practical things to say about Work. He's got more than practical things in mind and, you know, paying the mortgage, buying a car, raising kids, kids, all of those things are important. But when we think about what God might do with our resources, as we work our work time and we're in a job eight, 10, 12 hours a day, interacting with people eight and 12 hours a day, and that's opportunity to build relationships. I have relationships with men that I worked with going back to that guy who trained me in sales, going back to my sales manager over 20 years ago, I can, I can recount relationships with people that I'm still in contact with more than two decades later, because there was something besides just work that we had in common. 3 (32m 4s): We decided to share a life together. And one guy in particular is not a Christian, but we've shared life together. And I've shared the gospel with him over and over and over again. And I'm sure that before he passes one day, he is going to give his life to Jesus. That's my confidence. Why? I dunno, I just keep praying for him. I just keep believing for him. And I just keep talking with him and I keep loving on him, not with the motivation to see him save necessarily. But as a Christian, that's always part of the deal. We always want to see the people that we love come to faith in Jesus so that they can know Jesus, the way that we love Jesus, but we don't just love them for motivation. Otherwise, people see through that. So we've got to love people just because we love them. 3 (32m 44s): I have conversations with them with a sincere heart, not with a motivation to share the gospel, looking for an opening, but when the opening is there, we can lovingly do it and sincerely do it because God has opened the door. Does that make sense? Remember, sharing on job sites with, with contractors and, and builders and architects, and it didn't matter who it was. God, just, God, just, there was always an opportunity there that, you know, God used to, to, to give me the opportunity to share the gospel. People would ask for prayer. People would just ask all kinds of questions. 3 (33m 25s): And then out of that, see, we have to be willing to share the truth though. Like, like, you know, w we have to be willing to share our faith with people and not be afraid to do that because people are hungry for something of real truth. You know, I know that I was when I got saved and I'm still that way today. And here we go, God has purpose for our work. And we're going, we're going to be talking about the practical benefits, but also the spiritual side of work. Did you know that there was a spiritual side to Work? I just explained it. There's a spiritual side to work and it's Awesome God has little things in mind. If you attempt to talk to a dying man about sports or business, he is no longer interested. He now sees other things are more important. 3 (34m 9s): People who are dying recognize what we often forget that we are standing on the brink of another world. You know, you don't have to wait to die to have that perspective, to realize that we're standing on the brink of another world. You shouldn't have to be dying to have that perspective, right? You shouldn't be dying to, I mean, you can get it when you're dying, but you should get it now. Like when you're young and vibrant and can make, make something of your life. Often we think work is the result of the fall. Like, Hey, before the fall, there was, there was no Work. That was Work before the fall work is not the result. So the fall we were created for purpose, and part of that purpose is Work God modeled Work for us in the creation account, in his constant work, in the universe. 3 (34m 52s): So in the creation account, we see God worked 16 days. He created everything on the seventh day. He rested, but also in our day-to-day lives, we see the work of God in the universe. We see God sustaining the universe, God listening to our prayers, God working as he ministers to us in our lives in Genesis two, one and two in the English standard version, it says, thus, the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So there's a time or rest, but it's after the Work is done, right? 3 (35m 34s): We have work to do. And I would challenge you to be asking the Lord what it is that he's got you to do. I've got a buddy of mine, who he was here today and he hangs out down at, and he's all the time because he's looking for God to open doors for him to ministry. He's got a semi-retired, he's got a job and that sort of thing, but he's down at Andrew. And he's because he's realized that God's created opportunities. Andrade is just a coffee shop down the street here, but he's realized that as he sits there, God brings people to him. And he's got an opportunity to pray for people and minister to people and to share the gospel with people. So he makes that part of his daily routine. Lord, 4 (36m 8s): Where do you want to use me? I want to be 3 (36m 11s): Available, Lord. That should be our attitude. And our perspective, God wants to work through us. God works. And God created man to Work Genesis two 15, the Lord, God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. So that was before the fall. So before the fall, God created people to work. He's created us to work. And then after the fall more Work we see in Genesis three 23, therefore the Lord sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. So throughout biblical history, God has given Work for his creation to accomplish. Have you stopped and asked the Lord, what is it that I'm here 4 (36m 53s): To do? Besides what 3 (36m 55s): I do for a living in the midst of what I do for a living, how do you want to use me in the midst of that? And outside of that, what do you want to do with my life? Work is how things get done. In fact, nothing can actually happen unless 4 (37m 9s): Work is done on, on 3 (37m 14s): Friday, I was at the office working and I ended up talking to a guy, Jim Autry, Jim usually sits right around there about second service. And Jim was here with Joanne and they were working in as volunteers around the property. And I said, you know what? I so appreciate your work around here. And they, they go around and they, they knocked cobwebs down off the building and they dust buildings and they cleaned buildings and they just do whatever is needed around the property. And he said, you know what? It's the most fun thing in the world to be here, working for God and just keeping the facility up. There is something that we can be doing with our work that points people to Jesus and glorifies. God, why has Work Awesome number one, work is enjoyable. 3 (37m 56s): If you notice that now work is work and sometimes it's not enjoyable, but some of my best memories in life is around Work. Whether it's vocational stuff or just work around the property. 4 (38m 10s): There's something very gratifying about Work. 3 (38m 13s): I just built a greenhouse a few months ago in my backyard, and it's not perfect, but it's the work of my 4 (38m 18s): Hands, right? 3 (38m 21s): When the rain, the, the roof kind of sags when it rains a little bit, cause it's a corrugated stuff, but so you have to pick it up and put the water, but you know, it's my 4 (38m 30s): Roof 3 (38m 32s): And it's my greenhouse. And I got to build that thing from suffering my property. And, and there's something very gratifying about it. When the grass is freshly cut, my son comes and cuts our grass. And when it's freshly cut, it's just this amazing looking yard because it's freshly cut. There's something gratifying about work. Work is enjoyable. Genesis one 31. After the creation, God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good. We're like, God we've been created in his image. So we look at the things that we have done, the ways that we have worked in the ways that we haven't been productive and we can be very happy with those things. And there was evening and there was morning. 3 (39m 12s): And the sixth day, God saw that he had what he had made. It was very, very good. We were meant to step back and look at our own lives and say, man, that was very good. I am so glad that God used me in this arena in this way, because I've had impact so that when you get to the end of your life and you expire and you get translated to heaven, people are going to be able to say that person like we did with Terry gainer yesterday, that person worked for God's kingdom. She worked in the church, she worked with women's ministries. She worked in human trafficking. She worked in all of these areas and arenas so that people might know Jesus so that she might point people to Jesus. 3 (39m 58s): So at the end of her, life is just easy. We just tick off all the stuff that she did. It was easy. It was like, she did this and this and this. And we talked about this and this and this. And it was just like, it was a celebration of her life because it's, it's appointed once for man to die. Then the judgment she was able to stand before the Lord. And I said, I, I promise you. She got before the Lord, she heard well done, good and faithful servant well done. And that's our desire. We want to hear that. We want to hear well done. Good and faithful, servant, Jolene. And I worked together here at the office and we ride together a couple of days a week. And at the end of every day we get home. We S we talk about work. And because she's in one office, I'm in another office. And we talk about our day at the end of the day. 3 (40m 40s): And the most enjoyable days is when we get something accomplished, when we get something significant accomplished, there are days when we're just doing, you know, to do stuff and that sort of thing. But our best days is when we get something to accomplish, I would say set out every day to get something accomplished, ask the Lord two questions, asking number one, what am I going to do today? And in that, what do you want to do today? What am I going to do? And what do you want to do through me? Just ask the Lord those questions when you get up in the morning and just watch how the Lord will sear conversations, whether it be at the market or with friends or at work, ask the Lord to steer the conversation so that you might pray for somebody, encourage somebody. And do you, the work that God has called you to do work is work, but it is enjoyable when we've got God on the throne of our lives. 3 (41m 30s): And when he's directing us, do you believe that? Is that possible? You say, well, I hate my job. I've had seasons in life where I've hated my job as well. And sometimes you just have to endure it. And then in the midst of that, God does some good stuff. But if you're in a terrible scenario with Work, maybe you need to shift your, your job because nobody needs to be miserable, doing something that they don't love to do. But maybe the Lord just wants to change your perspective and give you a fresh vision for what you 4 (41m 57s): Do. Ecclesiastes. 3 (41m 59s): Five 12 says people who work hard sleep well, isn't that true? Like you've finished up a hard day. You're like crash. You hit the bed. And you're so grateful for the hard work, but grateful for the nice bed to fall into. Why is Work awesome. Work is enjoyable. Find a way to enjoy what God has called you to do. Number two Work is how resources are gathered. So just an obvious statement. Work is our resources are gathered. Proverbs 12, 11 says whoever works, his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits, lack sense. 4 (42m 40s): A guy told 3 (42m 41s): His friend you're so lucky. Everything goes your way. And his friend said, you know, it's funny thing is the harder I work. The luckier I get, you know, hard work is part of the deal we have to get up. And I'll just tell you this, too. If you're going to be, if you're going to try to be a witness for Christ on the job site, you better work 4 (43m 1s): Really, really well. Like 3 (43m 3s): You can't be a Slav and try to witness for Jesus, because nobody wants to hear about Jesus from a Slav. Amen. So don't show up late. Don't be a slob. Do what you're told to do. And don't be telling people by Jesus when you're supposed to be doing your job. All right. So work hard and wait for the Lord to open up doors of opportunity. Christians, people of faith should be people in the Christian face should be the best workers out there. We should be more diligent, more vigilant, more, better informed. We should be doing what God has called us to do with our very best effort, putting God at first and everything and making, making, making excellence. 3 (43m 43s): Our goal. 4 (43m 46s): I read 3 (43m 46s): This quote, your destiny is not a matter of chance. It's a matter of 4 (43m 52s): Choice. So 3 (43m 53s): You get to choose how you spend your life. Am I going to spend my life honoring Jesus? Or am I going to spend my life just pursuing my own? 4 (44m 3s): Your suits? Work is part of our, the fabric of who we are. 3 (44m 12s): I had a friend, his name was Dave Fletcher. Dave passed away earlier this year, Dave Fletcher, his last name was Fletcher, you know, to Fletch's Fletcher those little feathers on the arrow. The end of an arrow, you know, and a Fletcher is someone who puts those fletches on arrow shafts. And so some were in my friend, Dave Fletcher's lineage, they were Fletchers. And so his name became Dave Fletcher. I know of another guy. His name is Stephen J preacher. This guy is not a preacher, but somewhere in this guy's lineage, most likely he had a preacher in his family. 3 (44m 52s): I was doing after the Memorial service yesterday, there was some guy here that I didn't know when he yelled out across the parking lot. Hey preacher, good job. Like, Oh, thanks. But were identified by the things that we do, right? Preacher's got some negative connotations, I guess, but we're all called to preach the gospel. We're all called to proclaim the gospel. And so if somebody calls us preacher, a Bible Thumper, those were my nicknames. When I was in business, people say, Hey, there's the Bible Thumper. I'm like, whatever. That's what I am. I guess I'm free. Sure. Whatever. Didn't matter, they could call me something else. That would have been a little more derogatory, but they let me, they, they call me that. 3 (45m 34s): So that was fine. So what, what, what would a, if someone, if you were to get a new name today, what would your name be? 4 (45m 44s): What would it be? 3 (45m 47s): So my name, my name is Steven Henry. What would, what would they call me now? Where they call me Steve and preacher, or they call me Steven jerk? What would they call me? I dunno, but make your work be synonymous with who you are, but let your work be the part of the fabric of who you are and watch what God will do. The apostle Paul was a hardworking servant of God and took seriously the responsibility of hard work. And he talks about it in this letter in second Thessalonians, chapter three, he talked about it in first Thessalonians as well. The topic of idleness laziness. He addresses it in both letters because obviously there was something going on in that Church some idleness going on and Paul spends a good amount of time. 3 (46m 32s): In second Thessalonians, chapter three, dealing with idleness. It matters to God, how we spend our time and it reflects on our character, how we spend our time and how we spend our lives. Second Thessalonians, chapter three, we're finally there verses six and following. And now dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord. Jesus Christ. Stay away from all believers who live idol lives and don't follow the traditions they received from us. 4 (47m 6s): Wow. 3 (47m 8s): Which is pretty strong language from the apostle Paul, right? He's saying he issues this command and he can't give this command any stronger than he did. We issue this command in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So following that type of introduction in this verse, you think Paul's got something serious 4 (47m 31s): To say, 3 (47m 32s): Yeah, he does. He's got something serious to say the command is given about as strong as it can be in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. What's the command. Stay away from all believers, stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don't follow the tradition they received 4 (47m 49s): From us. 3 (47m 52s): So again, Paul addressed the same issue and in his first book to this Church, and now just a short time later, he's hearing that the problem still persists and by God's grace, he wants to challenge it again. Maybe you're hearing this about this topic of Work a couple of times in your life. Maybe the Lord is trying to speak something to you about your diligence at work. Where is your, your, your, your witness at work? Maybe God's trying to communicate something to you. He loves us enough to communicate things more than once. Stay away from believers who live idle lives and don't follow the traditions they receive from us in Paul's first letter to the church. 3 (48m 34s): First Thessalonians five 14, the church was directed to admonish the idol. So here he's saying, stay away from them. And we're going to hear more than he said in the first letter he said, but it Mohnish them. I bring correction to them. You think, well, it's not a big deal, right? If somebody is lazy, it's a big deal. Actually. Why? Because God's created us for purpose, for good works to be accomplished in the earth. And so when we're as Christians not busy doing what God has called us to do, it's a big deal because we're wasting our lives. We're wasting our influence. We're wasting our, our impact here in the, in the earth. And Paul knew all about that because he spent the first part of his life, persecuting God's followers, the church, and then God got ahold of his life and radically saved him. 3 (49m 20s): And now he's spending the rest of his life, making sure that people know Jesus and know the truth about it. 4 (49m 25s): God, 3 (49m 28s): This issue of idleness continues to be a problem because Paul spends a large portion of this is a pistol focused on it. And in fact, next to the second, coming in this epistle, Paul spends more time on this topic than anything else. Anything what's the big deal Paul, get over it. It's a big deal. Apparently the Holy spirit through the function of God, through this, through this inspiration of the Holy spirit of God, speaking something through Paul about idleness, there is something to be said here, that something to be listened to, what does it mean to be idle? Basically, we're going to see from the context of this and the text here, that it means those who refuse to work 4 (50m 12s): For 3 (50m 12s): Seven for you know, that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you. 4 (50m 20s): Paul 3 (50m 20s): Was not idle. When he was preaching the gospel, he was a tentmaker. He was busy earning an income. He was preaching the gospel, whatever idleness is, Paul wasn't it. Paul was a tent maker, a church planter, an evangelist, a missionary. He was busy doing what God had called him. 6 (50m 41s): Do you do 3 (50m 44s): There's eight. Paul said we never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night. So we would not be a burden to any of 6 (50m 53s): You. So he's communicating 3 (50m 56s): Something of the urgency to get busy, to be productive. If you pay your way, you're probably not being idle, but if you're a burden to someone else, you might be idle. And God is challenging that in your life, Paul said, we certainly have the right to ask you to feed us. But we wanted to give you an example to follow knowing that this Church struggle with idleness, that there are people within the church who struggle with idleness, with laziness, with, with the lack of desire to Work Paul and his companions decided to work, to set an example so that these believers, these Christians might know how to live their lives. 6 (51m 35s): Paul had every right to accept PayPal 3 (51m 38s): For his ministry. We know that because he wrote in first Timothy five, 17, and 18, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching for the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages. And then he wrote again in first Corinthians nine 14 in the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. So Paul put his rights aside so that he might be an example to those who are watching him, wonder where we might need to put our rights aside so that we might be an example to people around us. 3 (52m 20s): Maybe it's in the area of work where you're saying, man, I'm here to work. I'm going to compartmentalize my life. I can, I'm exercising my right just to work and not be, not shine. My light here in this place of my employment. 6 (52m 34s): You can 3 (52m 36s): Exercise that, right, I guess, but you're wasting your life. If you don't share the gospel while you're at work, you got eight, 10, 12 hours a day to work and do the things that you do to earn a living. And you're, you're, you're wasting those 20 or 30 or 40 years that you have on the workforce. If you're not being salt and light, the way that God would ask you to be salt and light. I know it's a direct statement to say, you're wasting your life because you're, 6 (53m 5s): We're not created as 3 (53m 6s): Christians. We're not, our design is not just a buy a house and secure retirement and to have nice vacations and nice stuff. That's not what we're here to do. Mess part of what, you know, we might experience, you know, and, and, and my gain as we live and work and that sort of thing. But ultimately all of those things, if they're not done for the kingdom, they're like wood, hay, and stubble. They're going to be burned up. And when we stand before the Lord and he says, what did you do for me? And you say, well, I bought a nice house. That's going to burn up. He doesn't care about that. Well, I took care of my family. Okay, well, that's got some merit to it. 3 (53m 47s): Did you make sure your family knew Jesus? Did you model Jesus to your family? Did you model Jesus to your employers, to your employees, to your friends in your life? And all of that stuff is what's going to survive the fires of judgments. When it's all said and done, we're all going to stand before the Lord and give an account for our lives. And so how are you spending your life? You don't want to, you don't want to waste your life. 4 (54m 11s): Paul 3 (54m 12s): And his comrades had the right to expect support from their ministry work, but they wanted to be an example to this church. So they work to cover their own 4 (54m 20s): Needs. Paul 3 (54m 22s): Did whatever he could to eliminate stumbling blocks to those who needed to hear the gospel. He did whatever he could to eliminate things that might trip people up so that they might hear the gospel and live their lives for the gospel. He said, even while we were with you, we gave you this command. Those unwilling to work will not get to eat. That's pretty straight forward. You don't work. You don't eat. Work us. Our resources are gathered and those unwilling to work will not get to eat. I don't want to step on any toes, probably too late for that. I don't want to step on any toes out there. 3 (55m 2s): And I don't want, I don't know everybody's circumstances, but if you are able to work, you should be working. 4 (55m 9s): God's 3 (55m 9s): Got stuff for you to do. If you're able to do it, get out there and do it. Why is Work Awesome Work keeps you out of trouble. Number three, people with too much idle time, get themselves into trouble. Idle hands are the devil's playground. Something like that. 4 (55m 31s): Seriously, man, we need to be busy doing work. 3 (55m 33s): God has called us to do living full lives in Jesus, doing what he's asked us to do. What has God asked you to do? Maybe you're retired and you're like, I don't really need to work. 4 (55m 44s): So what 3 (55m 44s): Do I do? Well, ask the Lord. What is, you know, what is, what does God want me to do? What does God wants you to do with your, with your season in life? 4 (55m 55s): Verse 11 yet 3 (55m 58s): We are, some of you are living idle lives. Number three, again, Work keeps you out of trouble. Yet. We hear some of your living idolized refusing to work and meddling and other people's business. 4 (56m 10s): The problem 3 (56m 11s): Was someone who refuses to Work is not just laziness. The problem is that they get into other people's business. 4 (56m 17s): Yes. And that's just a bad idea. There's a proverb. 26, 17 3 (56m 24s): Proverbs 26, 17, whoever metals in a quarrel, not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears. You know what happens when you take a passing dog by the ears you get growled at and barked at and bitten, right? 4 (56m 42s): God 3 (56m 42s): Has created us to be busy in his kingdom. There's a time for rest. That's what the Sabbath day is all about. I'm getting, I'm leaving this afternoon to go on a two-day prayer retreat. There is a time for that. But even that's, Work even that's Work because you go and you pray and you press into the Lord. And you're asking for wisdom and clarity. I do this every year, a couple of times a year, I say, Lord, what do you want to do for this year? What do you want to do in my life? You know what? What's in store for me, what's in store for my family. What's in store for Harvest Church. And, and sometimes I get great clarity. And other times I don't last year, I didn't get any clarity at all when I did this and then COVID hit. And I'm like, no wonder who could have foresaw that, you know? 3 (57m 24s): And, but I'm expecting God to say something because I'm, I'm carving out some time, Saint Lord, I just want to hear from you so that I spend this year 20, 21 doing the stuff that you've called me 4 (57m 37s): To do, you know, 3 (57m 39s): We could coast all of us could coast along. Church has got plenty of people, plenty of money. I could coast. 4 (57m 46s): And we could just keep doing this, the business of Church or we can press in and say, God, what, what is it that you want to do this year? Maybe you've got plenty of, 3 (58m 1s): Plenty of resource and plenty of time you're in. You can just coast you, you can just coast, 4 (58m 6s): But you're wasting your life. If you're not intentionally thinking about what God's called you to do. So I'm gonna to 3 (58m 12s): Get away. And I encourage you to do the same thing from time to time, just to get away. Even if it's for a day that you're just walking on the beach, you're going on a hike. And you're saying, Lord, my life is yours. What do you want to do with my life? I don't want to spend my life pursuing things. I'm going to be 52 in it, 4 (58m 27s): April. So I'm still a kid. I got time. I got time. And so I, 3 (58m 35s): I figured I got 25 good years left in me. You laugh, maybe it's 35 years. I don't know. I don't know, but I don't want to spend the next year or five or 10 years, 30 years wasting it. I want to be busy. I want to have fun. I think part of what God's called us to do is to have fun as well and enjoy life. But man, part of that is Work part of, I think in heaven, when we get to heaven, there is going to be a kingdom where we're working and enjoying God's God's blessing in a uncorrupted experience in existence. There's going to be work for us to do there as well. So work is not just part of the curse. Work is part of God's design forever, forever, forever. 3 (59m 17s): So God's got good stuff in store for us. Let's let's warm up to the idea of work. Not just try to get out of it by saying, Hey, I got to retire by the time I'm 60. If you want to retire by the time you're 60. Great for yourself up to go. Do kingdom work, maybe go on a mission strip or gets involved in Church or park yourself at Andrew Annie's and work with Mark and start leading people to Jesus, whatever it is, do something for God. 4 (59m 40s): Amen. All right, I'll start parking on that. I probably 3 (59m 44s): Won't actually, I'll be hard on that for the rest of my 4 (59m 46s): Life. 3 (59m 49s): It's been my, my heart's desire for my whole life 4 (59m 52s): Life to see people empowered, 3 (59m 56s): Powered, and equipped to do God's kingdom work. Since I don't know why, but God put that into me when I was young and I've been doing it ever since. I've been trying to help people understand their man. They've got kingdom 4 (1h 0m 6s): Value. There's stuff that you can do that I cannot do. There's people that you're exposed to, that I'm not exposed to. This is why God created the church so that we can impact the whole world, the whole world, your friends who are 3 (1h 0m 21s): Or angry that you're a Christian or angry that you're about your faith. They need Jesus. Pray 4 (1h 0m 27s): For them. People who don't even 3 (1h 0m 29s): Know that you're a Christian. You don't want to get you into your life and have people sit at your funeral and say, man, I didn't even know that guy was 4 (1h 0m 33s): Christian. What a tragedy? That would be all right, here we go. What should the idle do? What should the idol do? We can 3 (1h 0m 45s): And such people and urge them in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ to settle down and work, to earn their own living. And that's pretty straightforward. Settle down and work to earn their own living. As for the rest of you. Dear brothers and sisters never get tired of doing good. Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter, stay away from them. So they will be ashamed. Wow. Paul wants us to shame 4 (1h 1m 8s): People. That's not, that's not politically correct, is it? But it's not for the sake. 3 (1h 1m 16s): You're shaming people. It's out of brotherly love. We're saying, man, quit being lazy. Quit wasting your life. Do something for God work to earn your living, but also do stuff that God has called you to do. He said, don't think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother. 4 (1h 1m 35s): Is there a sister? So it's not, what is it 3 (1h 1m 38s): Judgment in our hearts that we, that Paul asked us to do this, but we're, we're, we're pleading in Jesus' name, pleading in Jesus' name. Use your life, bring God. That's the plead. That's the heart of it. 4 (1h 1m 51s): Paul Paul is fine. 3 (1h 1m 54s): Animal greetings, verse 16. And then we're wrapped up with this verse 16 and 17. Then we're wrapped up in verse 18. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times. And in every situation you will have God's peace when you're doing it. 4 (1h 2m 8s): God's will. That just occurred to me, 3 (1h 2m 17s): Occurred to me in the past, but I didn't think about it when I was prepping this message you want to have God's peace do God's will you want to be grumpy and miserable? Don't do God's will. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times. And in every situation the Lord be with you all verse 17. Here is my greeting in my own handwriting. Paul, I do this in all my letters to prove they are from me. You remember this Church was believing information because they got a false letter from someone who claiming to be Paul about the second coming that they had missed it. So Paul saying, Hey, in my own handwriting, I write this letter, may the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you all. So Paul says some hard things and I've said some hard things, but he wraps it up. 3 (1h 2m 60s): May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all that's God's desire is that we would experience his grace as we get challenged in our faith. Because if we're challenged without grace, then we're just beat up. But if we're challenged with grace, then we have the opportunity to step up and to do what God has called us to do. So my prayer for you is that she'd be graced in Jesus' name, that you'd be graced and that you'd step up in Jesus' name and do the things that God has called you to do. Amen. Amen. Worship team. Come on out. Let's go ahead and stand up. We're going to pray and seeing and worship. 3 (1h 3m 41s): Lord. This has been practical stuff and meddling stuff. It's been difficult to hear some of it, Lord God, but I pray that as we've listened God, that you've have spoken something to our souls, to our lives that bring about transformation and change. God help us to live with you on the throne with you as our focus. So we might do what you've called us to do. And at the end of it all, or we'd hear well done. Good and faithful servant. Thank you, Lord. That's what we want to hear. So bless us. We pray as we worship, we love you in Jesus name. Amen. 0 (1h 4m 21s): 1 (1h 15m 47s): Can we give you praise today? I pray that Julie would just go hearts our day as we go about our week and she would remind us the joy of our salvation and it ring true in our hearts and our lives to see you love you, Lord. Thank you for being with us this morning. We give you our hearts, give you every breath. Our very lives pray that you keep everyone safe and healthy until we gathered together again. And Jesus, you then, if there's anyone who could use someone to come alongside you and pray, please feel free to come on up. We'll have some folks that would love to pray with you this morning. 1 (1h 16m 28s): Make sure you say hello, Sharon need let's be the church. Be there for each other. Have a wonderful day, have a wonderful week. We'll see you next Sunday.