Good morning. Do it again. Good morning. All right. Before we get started this morning, I want to add something that I'm going to give to you free of charge. I'm very thankful to be up here and to be able to do this, to be able to present this. I'm also very thankful for my parents to be involved, to the example that they've been, for them to encourage us in this ministry. And if you're a young individual or not so young individual, when you're here today and your parents have brought you, they see the importance of this, they take you to church, they live an example, you need to glean wisdom from that. You need to appreciate that. That is an invaluable blessing from God. Don't take your parents for granted and the example that they're living in front of you. They're living a godly example. So, that was off topic. But I thought about that last night. That's very important. So as we gather here throughout the day, we're each going to be talking about something that we have some passion about. We're not just given topics this week that we want to talk about that was random. It's something that we all practice in our daily lives, something that we try to teach our families, something that we have experience with. Each session in this conference is intertwined. All of them affect one another. So this morning, we're going to kick things off with something that most of us don't like to do, something that most of us don't like to talk about, and that's work. The title of this session is Work, Does God Care? Does God care about this thing that most of us just complain about? We all know what work is, right? It's a four-letter word, or it's often put, I have to work. It's a drudgery. It's developed a stigma because of our motivation to work. With this, I'm going to focus on this morning is more day-to-day secular work. We're not going to so much talk about the spiritual aspect of it as far as witnessing and preaching, but I want to give you practical reasons why, how, and that God cares about our work. There is a feeling that work that we do Monday through Saturday is different than the work that we do on Sunday. And this shouldn't be the case. Our three points this morning are gonna be, does God care if we work? Does God care where we work? And does God care how we work? The answer is, yes, God does care. And we can stop there, but I wanna give you some context and some reasons. There's a lot in the Bible on this thing called work. As you'll hear throughout this conference, God does care about our daily lives. He doesn't just care for us on Sunday and on Wednesday like we might think of Him. Thankfully, God is concerned about our lives and the details of our lives. So point number one, does God care if we work? Well, let's start at the beginning. Even before the fall of man, God gave Adam work. Genesis 2 and verse 15 says, and the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. So if this was before the fall of man, then that means that work is not sin because sin did not exist before the fall. God created work. The sin with work is more at times than not our motivation and our reasons we want or we need to work. such as covetousness. Adam was placed in the garden to tend to it, not to just chill and to hang out and to talk to the animals and to eat, but he had a task to do, he had a work to do. Adam was created by God for a reason, and so were you. This reason could have been to be a blessing to your parents, to be a blessing to others, to witness, perhaps to be a parent yourself, to work, to add to society. However God calls you, you were not here and you were not created without reason. This applies to every color, every race, every man, every woman, every child. Think for just a minute, if we did not have work, if no one worked in this world, we would not have anything. There would be no security, there would be no police, there would be no one to put out your fire. There would be no food because there would be no farmers, there would be no houses because there would be no contractors. There would be no children being raised because raising children is work, so there would be no parents. We work because we have a purpose. How many of you have heard about someone retiring and then dying shortly thereafter? Brother George, this isn't directed towards you. But there was a study of Shell Oil employees, I found this off WebMD, and this study shows that people who retire at the age of 55 and live to be at least 65, die sooner than people who retire at 65. After age 65, the earlier retirees have a 37% higher risk of death than their counterparts that retired at 65. That's not all. People who retire at 55 are 89% more likely to die in 10 years after their retirement than those who retired at 65. Oregon State University goes on to reach to research and they have found that healthy adults who retired one year past 65 had an 11 percent higher risk or 11 percent lower risk of death for all causes even taken into account demographic lifestyle health issues. Even people who describe themselves as unhealthy were found to live longer if they keep working. We need a can't-stop, won't-stop attitude. That's something that we like to say at work, something that we have. We need a can't-stop, won't-stop attitude as long as you can do, as long as you can be productive, as long as you can make a difference. We need a can't-stop, won't-stop till it's done and it's done right. So Adam was created to keep the garden. Adam was created to do work. Take note there that nowhere in there Did Adam negotiate a salary with God? He wasn't giving an allowance. He wasn't getting a salary for the work that he was done. Webster's defines work as to perform work or fulfill duties regularly for wages or for salary. But that's not a real accurate representation of work because many times we need to work and we're not getting wages or salaries. Adam wasn't giving a salary. Stay-at-home mothers aren't given a salary. The chores that you do at your home, you might not get a salary. Moving on to Exodus 20 in verse 9, six days shall thou labor and do all thy work. We're to work six days and rest on the seventh. God works six days and he rested on the seventh. God's giving this law for working because we must work But this was God's way to implement moderation. We're not to work the seven days. So what are some consequences for not working? 2 Thessalonians 3 in verse 10 tells us, for even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 1 Timothy 5 and verse 8. No work, no eat. What if your parents told you that? You do your chores. If you don't, you don't eat. Why don't we apply this in our homes? For adults, that's a fact. If I don't work, I don't earn any money. If I don't have any money, I don't get to eat. Now I know that my mother would feel sorry for me and she would feed me. But that is true. If we as adults don't eat, don't work, we don't earn money, we don't eat. Do we set that precedence with our children? Understanding that we paid for the food and we worked for the food that they're eating. Even low cost food, if you raise a garden, you have chickens, you hunt or you fish, all that requires work. All that requires some sort of funds to be able to fill your bellies. Social programs that give means to people of lower incomes, that still requires work. That requires working people paying their taxes to provide the money to support those that might eat the government cheese. How about that next verse? Worse than an unbeliever for providing, for not providing for your family in some means. These are very harsh statements. Worker, you starve. If you don't work, you're an infidel. You're worse than an unbeliever. I think God is making it clear that he has a strong opinion on work. I'll give you one more verse on this topic. Working is not sin, but not working can cause you to sin. Ephesians 4 in verse 28, let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the things which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Work so to not sin, but to rather be a blessing to others, to give to them that need. Just like I mentioned, paying your taxes supports others that need it. Paying your taxes gives you the roads that you drive on, the police that you have keeping peace, the firemen that you have. How about your tithes and your offerings? Do you have tithes and offerings without work? The Bible tells us to bring our tithes into the storehouse. What do we have to bring in if we don't labor? How do we support the members in need at our church and our community without working. I don't know that I've ever seen an EBT cards accepted here on the front door of a church. I think it's clear that God cares if we work. Moving on to point number two, does God care where you work? Does God care if our work keeps us out of his church? Does God care if our work causes us to sin? Does God care if our work keeps us from raising our children in the way that He has intended and instructed? Does God care if our energy is more spent on our work than working for Him? Does God care if our finances direct us more than we allow God to direct us in our lives? If the answers to any of these is yes, then the answer is yes, God cares about where we work. As I mentioned earlier, we are all created to His will and to His purpose. We are all here for a reason. We were put on this earth to work. Are you looking for what God has intended for you, for your work? Matthew 6 and verse 33 says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Have you prayed about the job that you have? Are you seeking God's will in your career? When praying, is God's will your desire? Have you asked the Lord for direction in your work? Or do you just assume, I'll figure it out, something will come up? Is your motivation to work, is it to serve God, or is it to fulfill your own earthly desires? Something I'd like for you to keep in mind and be able to leave with is we are not to worship our work, but to view our work as worship. We are not to worship our work, but view our work as worship. So therefore, our work should not deter from our commitment to God or hinder us from the instruction and direction found in his word. Working too much, putting work before God certainly can cause us to stray. Remember we read in Exodus 20 in verse 9 that we were to work six days and to rest on the seventh. We're to spend time in his house, we're to spend time with our families, we're to spend time resting. Where we work has a huge impact on our lives and it greatly influences how we worship and how we follow God. I'm very thankful for how God has worked in my work. I want to take a few minutes and tell you about God has moved in my career and has used my work to grow me closer to him. When my wife and I got married, we were living in Paris and I was working for Lexair Incorporated in Lexington. We were married for about a year and an opportunity arose for us to move to Ohio, to pack up, leave the family and move to Pickle, Ohio and take a job with Hartzell Propeller. We prayed about it, we thought about it, we seeked wise counsel in regards to it, and so we went. But I want you to note that there wasn't ever a tug. There wasn't a light in the sky that said, are my will for you Wade and Kalen is to move to Ohio. There wasn't a drag, there wasn't a dream, but there was peace. There was no reason not to go, and we felt good about it. So we went, we packed up, and we moved to Piquo, Ohio. And I started working at Hartzell, and we had a couple of churches of mine up there, and we visited with them, and they weren't the right fit. So throughout my work at Hartzell, the Lord brought me across to a man named Jeff Hess. Jeff Hess was a deacon at First Baptist Church of Laura. And we began to talk, and we began to share the gospel with one another and talk about church, and he invited me to church. And when we went, it was almost instant that we knew this was the church that we were supposed to go to. We had no idea about this church. We had never heard about this church or this group of people at this church. But this is where the Lord wanted us to be. And the Lord led us to that church. And in doing so, the Lord used that church to draw my wife and I closer together. We were kind of in a rut. We were sort of just going along to get along when we lived down here. We hadn't left our parents and cleaved to one another like moving away caused us to do. That church grew us spiritually. There are people here today, the Karnses, the Clarks, that very well wouldn't be here today had God not taken us to Ohio and taken us to that church and allowed us to make these friends and these acquaintances that we know up there. They would not have been here, more than likely would not have been here today. So we continued to work. We enjoyed the church up there. We certainly loved the people that we met up there. Almost four years in, along came Branson. And it was difficult for the grandparents to have to cross that river into Egypt all the time to come visit their grandbaby. And we certainly didn't want to raise our child as a buckeye. We wanted our child to know that there is more than one lane on the interstate, not just the left lane. But I wasn't seeking to move. I wasn't seeking to leave Hart. So it wasn't on my heart that, man, we've got to be able to pack up and move and we need to get back to Kentucky. That wasn't a burden that I had. But one day my best friend calls me and he says, hey, you know, You can program computers and robots and machines. You think you can program HVAC equipment. Well, I've done tool and die for 14 years. I don't know anything about HVAC equipment. But maybe, you know, that's an opportunity to be able to get back to Kentucky. So we have a phone interview and we talk to them and long story short, the Lord works it out till we're able to move back to Kentucky. We weren't seeking to move back, but you give opportunity to move back. The job that I had at Hartsell was rather stressful, and it did require a lot of hours for me to be away. And God provided a job that brought me back to Kentucky. God provided me a job that paid me more than I made in Ohio. And I worked less than I was when I was in Ohio. God provided me with a job where I'm surrounded by Christian people, a company to work for that is run by Christian people. God provided us when we moved back to locate us close to my parents and to her parents within 15 minutes of both grandparents. No longer did they have to cross that river into Egypt. They get to go 15 minutes up the road to visit their grandkids. When God brought us back to Kentucky, he brought us here The Faith Baptist Church, where we've been very thankful to call ourselves members here. In being at Ivy, shortly after a few years after I've been there, one of our members here, Cody Honnebach, was looking for a job, needed an opportunity. Why don't you come interview at Ivy? Little did I know that he would be hired at Ivy. He would get to work at Ivy. He would get to move up into management. And now I get to spend a lot of time with my best friend, with other Christian men and women, at a place that I work. I get to be right down the hall with one of the fellows that I have at my church, one of my fellow church members. You can't convince me that God doesn't care where I work. I can also tell you about two other members here, another family here, the Harris's. Joey and Kelly, their motivation was in the right spot. Their desire was to serve God. They wanted to adopt. They wanted to get situated to where Kelly could stay at home. But there were struggles. There were things that they didn't know how would work out. He was a fireman. He is a fireman. Most firemen don't get to work. A typical job, nine to five, be home on the weekends. Kelly being a professional woman as well. But they continued to seek God's will. They knew God would provide. And boy, did he ever open doors that allows them now to be faithful, more faithful here, to be more involved, get him in an office position, a higher ranking, where he gets to be home every night. with his children. He gets to be at church on Sunday. He didn't see that happening, but God's seen that happening. God also allowed Kelly to be able to take a part-time position. Nobody at IBM gets to work part-time, but she does. She does because God cares about our work. God cares about our work. God cares where we work. I would not have picked my path for me and my family And I'm sure Joey and Kelly didn't see their path for their family, but thankfully God seen that path and made provisions there. Point number three, the last one. This is probably one of the most important ones to me. Does God care how we work? When God blesses you with a job, now what? Is he done caring? How do we honor this blessing that God's given us? Is it by being late, cheating our time, stealing from the company? No, no, let's talk a little bit about what God has to say about how we work. Ephesians 6, starting in verse 5, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of heart as unto Christ, not with eye service as man pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, doing service as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bound or free." This instruction is reiterated in Colossians Chapter 3 in verse 22, starting in verse 22, servants obey in all things your master according to the flesh, not with eye service as man-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God, and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. We are to obey our masters, our parents, our employers, as unto the Lord, because in doing so, we're obeying God's commandment. This is an unnatural feeling. This is an unnatural desire for us to do in the flesh. Our pride does not want us to be submissive, to be obedient. Ergo, why God has put this instruction in multiple times throughout his word. First Corinthians 10 and verse 31, Brother Brandon read this last night. This is a verse that we keep on our refrigerator. This is a verse that I have on the door in my office. This is a verse that I try to keep in my mind all the time, no matter what I'm doing, I want this in my mind, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Take note of that small word, all. That doesn't mean most, that doesn't mean some things, that doesn't mean do what you're getting paid for, that doesn't mean the simple things or the difficult things. He said all, period, everything. Galatians 6, 9, and let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Does God care how we work? We are to work as for the Lord with integrity, honesty, resolve, diligence, distinctiveness, excellence, and accountability. I would be remiss if I didn't throw in here, we are to do 100%. That is something that we talk about at our home quite often. Something that I aggravate my wife about quite often. When something doesn't seem to be done Fully, it's a 70%, 70%. We're not to do 70%. A 70%-er, an example of a 70%-er would be, well, you know, 70% of people wouldn't notice that imperfection, won't notice this. But a 100%-er would do everything that he or she can to make something perfect, that there isn't an imperfection to be found. Walking over a piece of trash in the parking lot as you're coming into church or walking around it, not picking it up but seeing it as you continue to walk in, that's a 70 percenter. A 100 percenter would pick it up, bring it in and throw it away. Getting ready for this conference, we needed to have a data line run back there in the sound room. And so we ran the data, I ran the data line, me and Cody ran it. And in doing so, it gave us an opportunity to move some electronics around that had to sit out and be on wireless. It wasn't something that I had to do. It wasn't necessarily something that I needed to do. Everything would have worked just the same had I run the data line and left it alone. But I seen an opportunity. I seen something that needed to be done. I had the ability. I had the tools, so I took the time And I gave the effort. I didn't just do my job. Nowhere in the word of God does it talk about working like a union. We don't have to just do our job in fear that the union will get after us. When the Lord lays something on your heart, you see something that needs to be done, maybe think about that. Maybe not ignore something that you see that needs to be done. My coworker, Wrote this on my whiteboard this week. He had no idea that I was doing this speech, that we were giving this session, but I thought it was clever, and I liked it, and I wanted to add it. This is the world's view of giving your employer 100%. Yep. 12% on Monday, 23% on Tuesday, 40% on Wednesday, 20% on Thursday, and 5% on Friday, and that's 100% effort. Well, that's not the case. That's not even a 70% effort. None of those days hit 50%. We need to be doing 100%. Moving on, Proverbs 22 and 29 says, seekest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men. Companies are seeking diligent employees. When Timmy was recommended to Ivy, he wasn't recommended to Ivy, because he was lazy. He was recommended because the man that recommended him knew that he was a hard worker, knew that he was skilled. The man that recommended him had no problem putting his personal name on the line to recommend Timmy to Abbey. When I was recommended by Timmy, Timmy knew my demeanor, knew my work ethic, knew my abilities, and so he recommended me at Abbey. When I recommended Cody to Ivy, I knew that Cody wasn't a Gilbert. I knew that he was faithful at church. I knew that he was a hard worker. I was willing to put my name on the line to recommend him for a job. And the constant there with this is that we were hardworking, honest, and diligent workers. How you work reflects your walk with God. When working at Hartzell, the plant manager there was a lost man, and he had a conversation with Jeff one day, talking about, I like hiring people like you and Wade. And Jeff asked him, said, what do you mean? He said, well, I like hiring people that are honest, people that I can trust, people that work hard. And Brother Jeff, always trying to be a witness, said, So you like hiring people that are saved, Christians. No, no, no, no, no. No, Bob said, I don't mean religious people. I just mean good, hardworking, honest people. And Jeff tried to convince him that you don't have those attributes naturally of honesty, diligence, and integrity. Those attributes are something that God puts in in the new heart. Those are not something that you have easily without God. When we think about someone in the Bible with diligence, a man resolved for God, I often think of Joseph. This is a man that was thrown in a pit by his brothers. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. He was bought by Potiphar. But he continued to work, and he worked diligently for Potiphar, and he earned favor in the sight of Potiphar. He was Potiphar's right-hand man. He had free reign of all that Potiphar had until he was falsely accused. He was thrown in jail. He could have sit in the corner of jail and wallowed and sorrowed and cried, but he saw favor in the sight of the jailer. He continued to work. He continued to be diligent. There he was stuck in jail for two years, forgotten about, until Pharaoh had a dream, and Pharaoh called on Joseph. And many times we might have had the attitude of, you know what? Let Pharaoh figure it out himself. They've let me wallow down here in this jail for two years. He can figure it out on his own. But Joseph didn't have that attitude. Joseph continued to work as for working for Christ, and it turns out that Joseph gets to live the rest of his life along with his family in comfort. Genesis 39 in verse 3 talks about Joseph. It says, Every master of Joseph saw God in Joseph and saw God in the effort that Joseph gave. I think I can say safely that Joseph worked as Christ. He had a Christ-like work ethic. Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 10, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whether thou goest. We need to give 100%, no matter what we find ourselves doing, just as Joseph did. There's also joy in working. as God would have us to do. Ecclesiastes 2, verse 24, there is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw that it was from the hand of God. Psalm 128, verse 2, for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. One more, Proverbs 12 and verse 14, a man shall be satisfied with good by the fruits of his mouth and the recompense of a man's hand shall be rendered unto him. There is great joy in the rewards of working. When I go a hunt and the Lord provides a deer and I get to bring that home, we butcher it, we clean it, we put it in the freezer, we provide it for the family, there's a primal reward to that. Whether you fish. How about when you grow a garden? And to go out there and to pick the fruits from that garden that you've worked and that you've lavered and your wife cans it and she preserves it and puts it up and then in the middle of the winter you still get to eat the green beans and the stuff from all that. There's a lot of reward in that. I guess unless your brother Joe and then he has all the canning. When I took the opportunity to redo the wiring and the sound ring, that wasn't for anyone, that wasn't for praise, that was just for the satisfaction of doing a good job, seeing something that needed to be done, and just doing it. And I didn't add this to this session to tell you, look at how well I work, but I wanted to share with you this. When Brother Nathan said to me how terrific that looked. That brought joy to me. That affirmation of a job well done was a blessing to me. And not only was taking that extra step a blessing to me, it was a blessing to him and others that utilize that space. Many times if something's laid on our heart and we see something to do when we pass it up, there might be a blessing that's down the road that we don't know, that we might miss out on. So what is the other side of this? How does God not want us to work? Because he does care about how we work. How about being slothful? Proverbs 18 and verse 9, he also that is slothful in his work, his brother to him that is a great waster. 2 Thessalonians 3 and verse 11, for we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. How about being a sluggard? In Proverbs 13 and verse 4, the soul of a sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Do you desire to be called these attributes, slothful, sluggard, a busybody? Parents, it's our responsibility to teach and more so show our children how to work. I don't desire for my children to have those attributes. I don't want them to be known as slothful or busybodies. It is our good work as parents to teach our children according to God's Word. If we were to look back in 1 Timothy 4 and verse 11, it says, teach these things, command and teach. In this section of Timothy, it goes on, to give direction in many areas, including work that we read in chapter five and verse eight. If you work where you work and how you work will affect your family and will affect your life. Lastly, I want to leave you with this thought. Our work says something about who God is to us, his design, his order and his purpose. May the way in which we work and the work itself point to Jesus Christ for whom all work is about. That's it. I appreciate you all's attention. The next sessions are going to be split. They're going to start