SPEAKER_02: Hi there and welcome to the Garden Church Podcast.
SPEAKER_02: We're excited that you've tuned in to hear a message from one of our team.
SPEAKER_02: I know that you'll be encouraged in your faith and challenged to live for God.
SPEAKER_02: We pray that you'll encounter Jesus in new and fresh ways as you listen to this podcast.
SPEAKER_02: God has got something great for you.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to continue a series that we begun a couple of weeks ago called Glory to Him.
SPEAKER_00: Glory to Him.
SPEAKER_00: And it really has been us reflecting, digging into the Word about how God wants to be glorified through our work.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've heard a little bit about the theology of work, how God is a worker himself, how God made work to be a blessing, and God can be glorified in our work.
SPEAKER_00: And we heard an incredible message a couple of weeks ago about how we can connecting God to our work, working with God, working through God, and for God.
SPEAKER_00: I loved that thought that our work is partnering with God to take the world somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: I've been reflecting on that the last couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_00: And so our series has really been based around this scripture in 1 Corinthians 10, 31.
SPEAKER_00: And it says, yes, it's the word.
SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
SPEAKER_00: It says, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: What a powerful scripture there.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: So today I want to take it a little, we're going to dig in again under this theme of glory to him.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to speak about how we can bring him glory through our work.
SPEAKER_00: How we can bring God glory through our work.
SPEAKER_00: And or another title for this message might be how to do a good job.
SPEAKER_00: How to do a good job.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're going to get practical today, but profound, hopefully, because it's um everything is beautiful and from the word.
SPEAKER_00: How to do a good job.
SPEAKER_00: Have we got that next?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: How to do a good job and bring him glory.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So we are all workers, no matter who we are.
SPEAKER_00: We have been given a God-given purpose to do things here on earth to bring him glory.
SPEAKER_00: And so when I reflect on my work journey, I think it probably, you know, began back even before I was a primary school student student doing some chores for my mum and dad at home.
SPEAKER_00: Who loves doing chores out there?
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then, you know, I was a primary school student and I would have had my school work that I did, and then going on to be a high school student.
SPEAKER_00: Then I was a university student.
SPEAKER_00: So at that time, you know, my work was to study and um to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, at in high school, though, I got my first paid job, and that was at a great institution called the Cut Price Supermarket at Mansfield.
SPEAKER_00: And so there I learned how to do stock take.
SPEAKER_00: I learned how to back then, guys, there was no scanning of goods.
SPEAKER_00: It was all um all had a ticket on it, and so I used to be really good at putting all the tickets on all the wheat mix boxes.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I knew how to open a box and go and then stack the shelves.
SPEAKER_00: I was a checkout chick.
SPEAKER_00: I could slice you a mean slice of um champagne ham from the deli.
SPEAKER_00: I could cook a mean barbecue chicken.
SPEAKER_00: They had the best barbecued chickens.
SPEAKER_00: It was really a job of it all.
SPEAKER_00: So that was my first paid job.
SPEAKER_00: And then I wonder if you're just reflecting on a little bit of your work journey and your work life.
SPEAKER_00: I have in in the over the course of my life, I have been a wife.
SPEAKER_00: I see that as an important part of my work.
SPEAKER_00: I have become a mum, and that has been I've been a full-time mum at times, and um, well, still am really.
SPEAKER_00: And um I have been a volunteer.
SPEAKER_00: Who here has been volunteered in different community organizations?
SPEAKER_00: That is an incredible part of work.
SPEAKER_00: I recently volunteered in the netball canteen, and the average transaction was around 50 cents for that particular for that particular role.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I have been in different ministry work, paid, unpaid in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And so I wonder at what your life has looked like because all of it really is considered um our endeavor in life.
SPEAKER_00: Our work in life takes on many different forms.
SPEAKER_00: You may even, I can look ahead to my life and see a day when maybe paid work is not no longer there.
SPEAKER_00: We call it retirement here in Australia.
SPEAKER_00: But I believe for those of you out there who may be, you know, under that banner or in that season of life, your work has not stopped because you are still being grandparents or you are still involved in serving our community, serving in our church here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you are a small group host.
SPEAKER_00: That is a wonderful work that you do for God's glory.
SPEAKER_00: So there are so many different parts of our lives that come under this banner of work, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to limit it just to your nine to five job.
SPEAKER_00: So we can bring glory to God through the way that we work in all the areas that God positions us throughout our life.
SPEAKER_00: He calls us to put our hands and our heart and our effort to these areas of our life.
SPEAKER_00: So, um, first of all, I want to give some just some practical advice here.
SPEAKER_00: This is the kindergarten guide to corporate success.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I often worked in an office job, so I can really relate to some of these this advice.
SPEAKER_00: So a project manager decided to ask his six-year-old son, Leo.
SPEAKER_00: I think we have a little picture up here too, for career advice on how to get promoted and be a good worker.
SPEAKER_00: Leo took the task incredibly seriously and laid out the ultimate blueprint for corporate survival.
SPEAKER_00: So, step one that Leo came up with was the fast typing illusion.
SPEAKER_00: So, first you have to hit the keyboard really, really fast without looking.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what words come out, even if it's just gobbledygook, if you make a lot of clicky noise, your boss thinks you are saving the world.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there's there's um hint one.
SPEAKER_00: And then step two is meeting dominance.
SPEAKER_00: When you're in a big meeting, you need to stand up, point at the whiteboard, and announce your great big idea, such as we need donuts in the lunchroom.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, announce your idea really, really loudly.
SPEAKER_00: Step three is strategic decorating, color code your spreadsheet in rainbow colours, and everyone will think you're really, really smart.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I think that one's true.
SPEAKER_00: Step four, advanced filing.
SPEAKER_00: If you have too much paperwork, just stack it in a giant tower, and once it falls over, it means your job is done.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so step five, the under desk power nap.
SPEAKER_00: I particularly like this one.
SPEAKER_00: Leo said, when your brain gets too hot from clicking the mouse, you have to hide under your desk with a pillow and a teddy bear.
SPEAKER_00: This is called focusing.
SPEAKER_00: Step six is radical transparency.
SPEAKER_00: If you want people to like your ideas, you have to yell them very loudly across the room.
SPEAKER_00: My best idea is that all officers should replace chairs with trampolines and pay people in chocolate frogs.
SPEAKER_00: So the father actually tried step one the next day, got in and did the smart clicky typing.
SPEAKER_00: His manager apparently walked past, saw his furious typing, and said, Wow, thanks for putting so much effort into that report.
SPEAKER_00: So Leo's method actually worked.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so some of you thought that was funny and some didn't.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, I had a flat, I had a laugh about that.
SPEAKER_00: How to do a good job and bring him glory.
SPEAKER_00: So, firstly, okay, we need to work wholeheartedly and with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: We can go off Leo's.
SPEAKER_00: These are from the Bible, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Work wholeheartedly and with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the Lord calls us to give our heart to what we do, to work wholeheartedly and with excellence?
SPEAKER_00: The idea of working wholeheartedly and with excellence comes from the very heart of God because He does whatever He does wholeheartedly and with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: And so He calls us in whatever we do, whatever endeavor we do, to do that wholeheartedly and with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: Our scripture that we are reading, that um we read from said, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: And how we become wholehearted in our work and do it with excellence, no matter what it is, it could be the most mundane task.
SPEAKER_00: You might say to me, Amy, I'm not really passionate about what I do during the week.
SPEAKER_00: It's just, you know, it's just a job to me.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how you take that from being just a job where you get paid to something that engages your heart is when you realize that everything we do is sacred unto the Lord, and everything can bring him glory, and then our heart becomes engaged in it because it's not just doing that task to get that pay packet, it is doing that work to bring glory to God through our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians 3, 23 to 24 says this whatever you do, work at it with all of your might.
SPEAKER_00: Does it say that?
SPEAKER_00: I want us to notice this.
SPEAKER_00: Work at it with all of your strength.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say that, it says, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
SPEAKER_00: Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
SPEAKER_00: So the Bible says here, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if you are a mom at home raising your children, put your whole heart into it.
SPEAKER_00: Work at it with all of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a bookkeeper and you're balancing those books, work wholeheartedly.
SPEAKER_00: Put your whole heart into it.
SPEAKER_00: Not because you're doing it for the person you are doing those books for, because you are doing it for the Lord as worship unto him.
SPEAKER_00: And when you take that posture of your life when your whole heart is about bringing him glory and every single task is sacred, every single task is worship unto the Lord, then you become somebody who works wholeheartedly at whatever you do.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if you're asked to do the most mundane task, you do that wholeheartedly because you're not doing it just for the task, you're doing it as worship unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 6, verse 7 says this serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not people.
SPEAKER_00: I love this scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not people.
SPEAKER_00: I think of some of the things that the work that you are that some of you are engaged in, and it is such a dignified work when you care, particularly for people.
SPEAKER_00: And many of our jobs that we do involve the care of people, whether it be a carer for somebody, whether it be serving, whether it be in the medical field where you are caring for people.
SPEAKER_00: And this scripture is so foundational to how we are to serve people and serve others, no matter what we do in our work.
SPEAKER_00: It says, serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not people.
SPEAKER_00: So when you care for that person, when you take them to do their groceries, or when you care for someone, maybe you are in the medical profession and you have a client and you and you have somebody, you are actually to treat those people as though they were the Lord themselves, as though you were serving the Lord through serving that person.
SPEAKER_00: It's such a powerful way to live.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord calls us to work wholeheartedly, but he also calls us to work with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: And really, excellence comes when our heart is engaged.
SPEAKER_00: So when our heart is engaged in what we are doing, then all of a sudden it becomes important to us that that job is done well because it is a reflection of the Lord that we are doing the work for.
SPEAKER_00: If I was to do a sloppy job, then the Lord would he be glorified?
SPEAKER_00: Not as much.
SPEAKER_00: And so when our heart is engaged, it gives us a heart of excellence.
SPEAKER_00: I I think about this illustration because sometimes we think, you know, of our jobs and and and we think that a lot of our our calling as Christians in our workplace, and this is definitely true, is to share the love of Jesus and to shine his light wherever we go.
SPEAKER_00: And that is absolutely the truth.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes we can restrict that to, oh, it's just whenever I get the opportunity to speak to people about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that is a really big part of what we are to do in our worlds, no matter where we go.
SPEAKER_00: We are to share Jesus through our words and through and through sharing his love.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to just bring us to this revelation today because sometimes we forget that doing a job excellently is also bringing glory to God equally as much as sharing him when we are given the opportunity by sharing Jesus to our co-workers.
SPEAKER_00: So imagine if you know you um went to Gold Coast Airport um today and you were hopping on a plane and you found out that your pilot was a Christian and you were like, wow, my Jet Star pilot, his name may be Jimmy, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: There is a pilot here called Jimmy, and he works for Jet Star, and he is a great Christian, godly man.
SPEAKER_00: But imagine if, you know, you found out your pilot was a Christian, that would be amazing.
SPEAKER_00: But if you found out that he was a Christian and he wasn't a very good pilot, would you want to get on that plane?
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes we fall into this trap.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, but I'm a Christian and I'm just here to share about Jesus, but it doesn't matter whether I do such a good job.
SPEAKER_00: No, the Bible actually says that as Christians, we are to do things with excellence because our heart is engaged.
SPEAKER_00: I would want my pilot to be the best pilot there was, but also be a Christian and love the Lord, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So I love this quote from Timothy Keller.
SPEAKER_00: It says, one of the main ways that you love others in your work is through the ministry of competence.
SPEAKER_00: That means doing a job correctly, doing it right, doing it well, being competent in what you do.
SPEAKER_00: If God's purpose for your job is that you serve the human community, then the way to serve God best is to do the job as well as it can be done.
SPEAKER_00: What a great quote, hey.
SPEAKER_00: Do the job as well as it can be done.
SPEAKER_00: So that means when you are a surgeon and you you study for, I think it would take probably 10 years to study to be a surgeon, and you you become so great at what you do, you are giving God glory by being an excellent surgeon.
SPEAKER_00: You when you when you put your mind as a student to study well and to become good at what you do, you are doing a good endeavor and you are giving God glory through your excellence.
SPEAKER_00: When you choose to be a business person and you choose to become good at what you do, and you choose to um become competent in whatever area that the Lord has called you to do, you are giving God glory through that.
SPEAKER_00: When you choose to be a good parent and you and you um research how can I become a better parent?
SPEAKER_00: What does the word of God say?
SPEAKER_00: What does what does um what do people who know about these things say?
SPEAKER_00: When you do and you put your heart into it and you become excellent at it, you are giving God glory.
SPEAKER_00: When you are a carer of somebody and you care for them with such dignity and excellence, maybe they are somebody who has a disability, maybe they are somebody who can't do certain things for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: I feel the anointing of God, because many of you do this in your everyday life.
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you, when you put your heart into it and you do it with excellence, you give God great glory.
SPEAKER_00: When you take them to do their groceries, when you help them clean their house, you are giving God great glory by doing it with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever we do, we do it wholeheartedly and with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: So, how do we give God glory?
SPEAKER_00: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_00: We've got it up here, this next slide.
SPEAKER_00: How to do a good job.
SPEAKER_00: Firstly, work wholeheartedly and with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, work with integrity and diligence.
SPEAKER_00: Work with integrity and diligence.
SPEAKER_00: We're getting a bit crap practical here, everybody, today.
SPEAKER_00: So in today's world, we seem to really value and esteem how to get the job done the quickest it can be done.
SPEAKER_00: And take the quickest shortcuts.
SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, now in the age of AI, it's also could esteem just picking the easy way out, just picking the way out that gets the job done the quickest, without with the minimal effort and the least amount of um concentration even required.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible speaks a lot about these two words, integrity and diligence, and speaks about how as Christians we are to go about our work with integrity and diligence.
SPEAKER_00: It it speaks about what this does in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 25, 21 says, May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to reflect on that for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: So when we work with integrity and uprightness, you can expect the protection of God on your work.
SPEAKER_00: When you work with integrity, when you do things right, when you do things when nobody is watching, when nobody else sees but the Lord, he sees.
SPEAKER_00: When you do those little things that nobody else might ever know about, but when you choose to do them with integrity and uprightness, the Lord will protect you.
SPEAKER_00: And you can claim this as a promise over your life.
SPEAKER_00: When I work with integrity and uprightness, the Lord will protect me.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one, Proverbs 10, 9.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of these promises at times in your working life, they will be tested in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes in the short term, you're like, hang on, those people who are walking crooked paths, they seem to be getting ahead of me.
SPEAKER_00: They seem to be actually getting the promotion.
SPEAKER_00: The ones who seem to be taking the shortcuts, not being really honest, they seem to be the ones actually getting ahead.
SPEAKER_00: But these are the moments when you stand on God's word and you say this whoever walks in integrity walks securely.
SPEAKER_00: Because when you walk in integrity, the Lord will make your path straight, He will make your path secure.
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to quickly define what integrity is because it's not a word we hear a lot, right?
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time, maybe in a business or a you know, in a work, you know, I hope we would, but sometimes integrity, that word, and we're not even sure sometimes what it means.
SPEAKER_00: So it comes from the um the original um Hebrew word tom or its feminine word tuma, and the word comes from the root taman and or tan, and it's used as an adjective meaning blameless, upright, or innocent.
SPEAKER_00: Now, funnily enough, this is the very word that the Lord used to describe Job.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what Job had to go through?
SPEAKER_00: And this is how the Lord described him that he was upright, blameless, or innocent.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it means complete, finished, whole, or sound.
SPEAKER_00: Structural soundness, meaning your character has no cracks, holes, or hidden defects.
SPEAKER_00: When we think about a steel being structurally sound, it's that it's going to hold up the job.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be able to do the job.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we talk about integrity in our life, it means there's no cracks, holes, or hidden defects that will ultimately make the house all come tumbling down.
SPEAKER_00: So when we talk about integrity, it's so important in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Young people, to be an integrous person is so important.
SPEAKER_00: Don't think about it as something that you deal with when you're later on in life.
SPEAKER_00: Build integrity into your life in the earliest days of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, a really simple way of thinking about it is who you are when nobody's watching, what you do when nobody else is watching, being integrous, the things you do when nobody else sees.
SPEAKER_00: And this word Tam, you know, it means blameless, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to define that because Job 1.1 says here, there was a man in the land of Oz whose name was Job, and this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.
SPEAKER_00: That's what you do when you're integris.
SPEAKER_00: You fear God, you run away from evil.
SPEAKER_00: And so this word tan was applied to Job, right?
SPEAKER_00: But then in the New Testament, it there's a little shift.
SPEAKER_00: So in the New Testament, Jesus uses a similar word in Matthew 5.48, he uses the Greek word which mirrors tan, which is teleos, and it means he uses it in Matthew 5.48 when he says, be perfect, therefore, as my father is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a hard scripture to grasp because we know that we are imperfect, right?
SPEAKER_00: But when Jesus is using this mirroring word of tan, which means integrity, to act with integrity, to act with um, you know, be perfect, it means to be mature, fully grown, and whole.
SPEAKER_00: And so it is not referring to um perfection as in that we will never, you know, we will never make it.
SPEAKER_00: Mistake or we will never sin, but it means that our heart is wholeheartedly set after the Lord and it is whole in its in its um in its integrity towards the Lord, and that when we if this is if this is challenging you, it challenges me as well.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't mean that we act always perfectly, but rather that our heart is always set after the Lord and that we act with integrity towards the Lord, that there's no duplicity in us.
SPEAKER_00: And if you like me, you find that really challenging, I would encourage you to not let condemnation come on you right now.
SPEAKER_00: If you're reflecting on the way you have lived your life and you're like, I've lived with duplicity and I've not lived with integrity.
SPEAKER_00: Can I encourage you that the Lord so beautifully spoke even through the first part of our service today to come to him and just simply come to him?
SPEAKER_00: That's what we do every day when we realize, Lord, this part of my life is not right.
SPEAKER_00: I don't act with integrity.
SPEAKER_00: I take the easy way, I take the shortcut, I've not done the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you come before the Lord and say, Lord, change my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Give me a heart to want to please you and act with integrity in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And you see how the Lord begins to change your heart and begins to give you a will and desire to do things right.
SPEAKER_00: So Matthew 5, 48 mirrors this word about being integrous.
SPEAKER_00: And when when we have that scripture up there, be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: So that's Matthew 5.
SPEAKER_00: And then a little bit before Jesus says this, he talks about this extraordinary statement that we hear a lot, but people don't often know that it was Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This thought of going the extra mile.
SPEAKER_00: Go the extra mile.
SPEAKER_00: We hear that spoken about a lot.
SPEAKER_00: You be a good worker, go the extra mile, do more than what's expected of you.
SPEAKER_00: Do do even more than what your boss is asking you to do.
SPEAKER_00: If he is asking you to stay till three, you stay till 3.30.
SPEAKER_00: If he is asking you to, you know, arrive at seven, you make sure you're there at 6:45, ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: Um, those kind of things.
SPEAKER_00: But this is actually comes from Jesus setting out like this incredible new mandate for us as followers of him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I want you to act with integrity, but I also want you to act with diligence.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to go the extra mile for people.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be somebody who actually does more than what is expected.
SPEAKER_00: And in Matthew 5, 41, it says, if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So this is talking about being diligent.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible talks a lot about diligence.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just going to quickly define what diligence is.
SPEAKER_00: I know that this might be obvious to some, but to some of us it's like a good reminder, right, of what diligence is.
SPEAKER_00: So in Hebrew in the Old Testament, words like chirutz point to sharp, energetic industriousness and careful skill.
SPEAKER_00: In the Greek New Testament, words like spout mean earnestness, promptness, and eager haste to do what is right.
SPEAKER_00: So it is this idea that we are diligent in what we do.
SPEAKER_00: It is a godly idea.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 10 verse 4 says, lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.
SPEAKER_00: There's a promise for you in being diligent in what you do.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible speaks in Proverbs 4.23, it says this, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life.
SPEAKER_00: So the first way that we do a good job is to work wholeheartedly and with excellence.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, we're called to work with diligence and with integrity.
SPEAKER_00: And this scripture here, Proverbs 4.23, oh sorry, I'm still back at that one, it says, keep your heart with all diligence.
SPEAKER_00: So we are to apply diligence to our heart, to keep our heart with all diligence, for out of it flow everything.
SPEAKER_00: So I love how the Bible speaks right to the heart of the matter.
SPEAKER_00: I asked a couple of people in our church who I know are integrous people who do a good job, who work hard.
SPEAKER_00: And they shared two stories that I just want to share with you to encourage you about the power of being integrous and diligent in what you do, no matter what it is.
SPEAKER_00: You can apply this to anything that you do, any good endeavor that you are called to in your life.
SPEAKER_00: One spoke of that they were asked to do a job for a client, and the client asked them to bill the job to a different address to where they had actually performed the work.
SPEAKER_00: And the person declined to do that.
SPEAKER_00: They said, no, I will not do that.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the right thing to do.
SPEAKER_00: I will only bill it to the correct address that the work was done at.
SPEAKER_00: And so the client refused to pay that person for their work that they had done.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: They are a godly person and they said, you know what, God will take care of me.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
SPEAKER_00: And so they walked away, and the next month, they received a contract for 10 times the value of that work that they, in effect, gave up to keep their integrity and to do a job the way that the Lord had called them to do.
SPEAKER_00: Another person shared, I hope this is encouraging you about the power of integrity.
SPEAKER_00: Another person shared that they were importing goods into our country and they're working with an import agent.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and when they were importing the goods, the agent suggested a way of doing it that was not integrous.
SPEAKER_00: And so the person said, No, that's not the way I do business.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And they were able to share with this import agent that I'm a Christian, I do business the correct way, I work with integrity.
SPEAKER_00: And so they were able to share the Lord with this with this agent.
SPEAKER_00: And it was only a couple of months later that a large shipload full of goods came in and they were all faulty.
SPEAKER_00: And this had the power even to maybe send you know this person's business really under really this entire shipment being faulty.
SPEAKER_00: And it was this same import agent that said to the person from our church, look, I you'll never get them to take this shipment back.
SPEAKER_00: It never happens, you won't be able to do this.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, this person who was a Christian from our church said they were amazed when very quickly that situation was turned around, they decided to accept the shipment back.
SPEAKER_00: They gave them, you know, all of their shipment was able to be returned.
SPEAKER_00: And that same agent was able to see from their testimony how doing by doing things with integrity and diligence, how the Lord was able to take care of that person.
SPEAKER_00: So I wonder what God is even challenging you in today.
SPEAKER_00: Work with integrity and diligence because it gives God glory.
SPEAKER_00: So how do we bring glory to God?
SPEAKER_00: Firstly, we work wholeheartedly and we work wholeheartedly and with excellence and we work with integrity and diligence, and then lastly, we work joyfully and be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: I love this one.
SPEAKER_00: Work joyfully and be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that it is a gift of God to be able to enjoy your work and to be satisfied?
SPEAKER_00: And it's actually a promise from God that when you work as though it is for the Lord, when you work wholeheartedly and for Him, you actually then can enjoy your work.
SPEAKER_00: And you might be saying to me, Amy, if only you knew what I did, you would not be saying I could enjoy my work.
SPEAKER_00: Well, remember when we first began, I said, Well, it's not the task that actually brings you the joy.
SPEAKER_00: It is the fact that you realize that whatever task you are doing, you are doing it towards the Lord and it is sacred.
SPEAKER_00: And then you get this joy.
SPEAKER_00: I am serving the Lord through doing this.
SPEAKER_00: As I make this coffee, I am serving the Lord through this.
SPEAKER_00: And this joy comes into our life.
SPEAKER_00: It's also so profound that we can be satisfied in our work.
SPEAKER_00: We look around us and we see people climb the corporate ladder or they gain one level of success.
SPEAKER_00: But when they gain that one level, there's always then they're on the bottom rung of the next ladder of success, right?
SPEAKER_00: And this continually being unsatisfied, no matter what success you get, no matter what you do, but the blessing of the Lord when you work as towards Him is that you can enjoy your work and you can be satisfied in your work.
SPEAKER_00: You can come to the end of the day and say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I did this as unto you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I built that house, I built that table, I poured that concrete, I I did my accounting job, I served those people, I cared for those people, I did it as for you, so I can take joy in that and I can be satisfied at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians 3, 23 to 24.
SPEAKER_00: We we talked about the beginning of this scripture earlier.
SPEAKER_00: It said, Whatever you do, work in it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to focus on this second bit.
SPEAKER_00: Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
SPEAKER_00: So there is a reward for working as towards the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Lord, you Christ, you are serving.
SPEAKER_00: So you can know that no matter what you are doing, even if it's not a task that would normally bring you joy, you have a reward from the Lord if you do it as unto the Lord to bring him glory.
SPEAKER_00: And this scripture says you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to quickly speak about God's promises for those who work to bring him glory, just as we wrap up today.
SPEAKER_00: And Ben, you can come today.
SPEAKER_00: So, firstly, God's promises for those who work to bring him joy.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's have a look at this one.
SPEAKER_00: Firstly, it is joy in our work.
SPEAKER_00: Here are some scriptures that talk about the joy we can expect when we work as towards the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: How joyful are those who fear the Lord, all who follow his ways.
SPEAKER_00: That's Psalm 128.
SPEAKER_00: Joyful are people of integrity who follow the instructions of the Lord, Psalm 119.
SPEAKER_00: Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts, Psalm 119, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, joyful are those who live like this.
SPEAKER_00: Joyful indeed are those whose God is the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So this week when you're going about that task, you can know, you know what my inheritance is?
SPEAKER_00: My inheritance is joy because I'm doing this towards the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And also being happy, blessed, and satisfied in our work.
SPEAKER_00: That is a promise from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 5, 3 to 11, it goes through all these scriptures, but basically it is saying, happy or blessed are those who follow the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Happy and blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I like this one.
SPEAKER_00: A sluggard's appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: Like after a good meal where you're fully satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: When you do work God's way, you can be like, I am satisfied in my work.
SPEAKER_00: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
SPEAKER_00: So there are some powerful promises for working wholeheartedly with diligence and integrity.
SPEAKER_00: You can know the joy and the satisfaction of doing God's work.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't we stand together today as we finish?
SPEAKER_00: A little while ago, I probably was moaning to the Lord about something I was having to do.
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember.
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember really how this conversation with the Lord started.
SPEAKER_00: But I remember him just clearly saying it stuck in my mind.
SPEAKER_00: I wrote it in my journal, and I've been speaking it to myself ever since.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Amy, you will always be satisfied if you make my work your work.
SPEAKER_00: Amy, you will always be satisfied if you make my work your work.
SPEAKER_00: And really, no matter what we do, our work is the Lord's work.
SPEAKER_00: Through the the most mundane, simplest of tasks, through cooking a meal for loved ones, through making a home feel full of love and care, caring for children, caring for elderly, the elderly, to professions, to different callings and businesses, to volunteering in our community, to serving one another through our church in the various ways that we do.
SPEAKER_00: If you'll make the Lord's work your work, you'll always be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: What a promise from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So I would love us just to pray this prayer together as we finish up today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, make me wholehearted in bringing you glory in whatever I do.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, make me wholehearted in bringing you glory in whatever I do, whether it's studying, whether it's becoming excellent in a chosen field, whether it's caring for my loved ones with care and love and excellence, make me wholehearted in bringing you glory in whatever I do.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray, church, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Today, why don't you place your hand on your heart, church?
SPEAKER_00: If you agree with that prayer, Lord, I pray that you would give us a great revelation that whatever we do, it is all for your glory, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: No matter what we do, we serve you, Lord, ultimately.
SPEAKER_00: And whatever we do, we do it for your glory.
SPEAKER_00: And make us a people who are wholehearted in bringing you glory in whatever we do in your precious name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: How good was that message?
SPEAKER_01: I know that you would have been blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Garden Church is a flourishing, life-giving church based on the northern rivers of New South Wales.
SPEAKER_01: We have a passionate commitment to see you make a difference in your world.
SPEAKER_01: Thriving community, and most importantly, connect you to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Visit our website, gardenchurch.com for more details of ministries, and even some great resources to make for your life.
SPEAKER_01: Be blessed and be lucky.