Hi, my name is Rick Bloodworth. This is the Common Sense Christian channel, and I wanted to tell you one of my favorite Zig Ziglar stories today. It's a true story to the best of my understanding, and it was an event that occurred a number of years ago, and it involved two men who both worked for the railroad. One of the men's name was Dave Anderson. He had worked for the railroad for over 20 years. He was a crew chief. One day he was out, it was a hot day, he was out working with his crew on the bed of the railroad track when a train came pulling up very slowly. And they were a little bit surprised when that train kind of ground to a halt. And there was a car on the back of it, clearly an executive's car, and it had air conditioning and a window. And a voice, a friendly voice came from out of that, that window out from out of that car. And, and it said, Dave, Dave Anderson, is that you? Well, Dave looked up real quick. He recognized the voice and he said, it sure is Jim. Good to see you. Well, the Jim he was referring to was actually Jim Murphy, the president of that railroad. And Jim invited him to come back into his car and visit for a while. And so he did while, while Dave's stunned crew just kind of stood outside wondering what was going on. And so they visited for over an hour in that air conditioned car. And, and finally, after they, they finished with their visit, the door opened, and Jim Murphy, the president of the company, shook Dave's hand very warmly, and off the train went. Well, the crew, they, they wanted to find out what was going on, so they surrounded Dave, and, and they said, How do you know Jim Murphy, the president of the company, and why did he invite you to come back and visit? And, and Dave told them, he said, Jim Murphy and I went to the to work on the exact same day, 23 years ago. Well, the men were kind of stunned about that, and finally one of the crew just asked him an obvious question. How is it that you're out here still working in the hot sun, while a guy who started on the same day as you did is now president of the railroad? And Dave Anderson just kind of thought about it for a moment and then very wistfully replied, Twenty three years ago, I went to work for 1. 75 an hour. On that same day, 23 years ago, Jim Murphy went to work for the railroad. Now, think about that for a moment and think about it as it applies to our Christian life. So many of us view God as just somebody who we talk to occasionally to ask for things. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, commanded us to pray to God, to ask Him, To give us our daily bread and yet it's very sad. Some people don't go beyond that. They don't go beyond just asking God for physical things, whether it's to supply our daily needs or whether it's in a time of, of of a health crisis or, or, or a sad time in our life or a difficult time in our life. So many people just treat God as, as someone who can give them something. if he is of a mind to do that. In Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20, the Apostle Paul writes this, Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to the power that is work, that is at work within us. Think about that. When we talk to God, we are talking to the one who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or even imagine. Now, I don't know about you, but I can ask some pretty big things, and I can imagine some pretty big things, and yet the Apostle Paul, through inspiration, says that God is able to do immeasurably more. than anything we could ask or imagine. Now, he's not somehow preaching a prosperity type of religion. We have a number of con men and con women involved with religion today, don't we? They wear the name of Christ. They claim to be Christians, but they also claim that, that Christianity is, is a way to gain. And they drive around in fancy cars and they live in fancy houses. They wear nice jewelry. And they encourage others to give to them so that God will allow them to become rich someday. Prosperity religion is an absolute apostasy. As opposed to what the Bible teaches. It's absolutely false. Religion is not a way to get rich and anybody that's using it as a tool to get rich or thinks they can use it as a tool to get rich, they just don't understand the word of God, nor do they understand the judgment that's coming because for these men and women who wear the name Christ, who are using it to get wealthy off of the donations of, of the gullible. Well, someday they will answer before God for them. And so this passage in Ephesians chapter three is not talking about us asking God for big things so that we can use them on our pleasures. He's talking about the fact that we're servants of God, and whatever we need, God will make sure that he provides it. When I worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken, I was a cook for five years. I don't remember ever having one of my bosses angry because I asked for more chicken to cook. They'd hired me to cook chicken because they sold that chicken for a profit, so they made sure that I had plenty of chicken to cook. You're a servant of God. I'm a servant of God, and he wants us to have everything that we need for that service. In Matthew 25, I suppose, one of the most familiar parables is contained in that book. It's, it's the Parable of the Talents, and it talks about to, to one. He gave a talent to another, two talents, to another five talents. Well, the Jews would've recognized that, that phrase talent, because a talent was a specific amount of money, it was equivalent to 3000. days wages. So equivalent to about 10 years labor. The Jews took off the Sabbath day and they took off religious holidays. So they would work about 300 days a year. And so 3000 talents was essentially the resources that you would get or the pay you would get for working 10 years. And God essentially in this parable is giving each man enough resources to serve him, one for 10 years, one for 20 years, another for 50 years. Well, in Luke chapter 19, instead of using talents, Jesus uses the example of the master giving out minas. It's very likely that he was talking to a different group of people that, who, who used minas and would have been more familiar with minas rather than talents, and so that's why he used it. But in this particular parable, one of the men comes back and, and, and he, instead of giving back five, five minas, he gives back 10. And the master says, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been, we've been faithful in small things. I'll put you in charge of 10 cities. I'm not sure what heaven's going to be like, but I can, I can pretty well guarantee you. It's not just a bunch of, of people with angel wings floating around on clouds doing with harps doing nothing all day, but playing those harps. We're going to have important things to do in service to the master. And it's our service here while we're on earth. that will allow us to continue to serve Him for all eternity. The question is, are we serving God for 1. 75 an hour, or are we serving God? Are we going to work for next to nothing, or are we going to work for the Master? And by the way, God and Christ are worth that effort, every effort we can give. When you think that God loved us enough that he created us, when you think that God so loved the world that he allowed his son to die for our sins when we failed him, and when you think that Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to make that ultimate sacrifice, then you realize what a privilege and an honor it is. To be able to, to have God's grace extended to us in such a way that, that he doesn't wipe us out because of our sins, but he provides a way back to him so that our sins can be forgiven. Such love and such a wonderful second chance is worthy of our service to God and to Christ. The question is, do we see it? Or are we serving them for the things that we can get? So often, when we think about asking God for our daily bread, that's, that's about where it stops, isn't it? We serve them so that we can get daily bread. We serve them so that we can have our daily needs taken care of. We serve them so that we can go to them and ask them for special favors when maybe we're sick or we're going through a difficult time or Where we're, we're, we're sorrowful for, for, for an event that's occurred in our life and we need his help. We think about our service to God essentially being going to work for him for 1. 75 an hour instead of going to work. For the master. The things that we get here now, while we're on earth are certainly to be used in part for our enjoyment there. They are to be used in his service. It's true, but he gives us so many beautiful things and these gifts ought to be enjoyed. But not to the point where we think that's the reason that we're serving him, so that we can get stuff. So that we can get what we want. So many people just use God as, as a means to some end that they hope to achieve. Rather than recognizing the fact that they serve the creator of the universe. Who wants to serve. them to be with him in heaven for all eternity, in a place where there's no sorrow, where there's no tears, where there's no death or dying. Such gifts, I believe, deserve a wholehearted service towards him. The question is, do we see it? Or are we working for crumbs instead of working for the master? In our example, Dave Anderson was wistful. He was He was had some regrets in life because he didn't see the opportunity that, that Jim Murphy, his good friend, saw. And so Dave Anderson made enough to get by, but Jim Murphy was successful beyond most people's ability to imagine. God is able to give us immeasurably more. Then we ask her, imagine, but these gifts are to be used in his service. We can still enjoy them. Of course, he's put us in a beautiful world, but the focal point of our life needs to be our service to God. And if we'll do that, if we all go to work for the master, instead of going to work for our daily bread, I think we're going to find that God provides us with plenty of days of bread for us to get by. Amen. But he certainly wants us to see the big picture and to be using anything that he gives us in his service. If we do, we're going to have a happy life and we're going to have a beautiful eternity. The question again is, do we see it? Are you working for 1. 75 an hour? Are you working for the master because you love him and wouldn't want to do anything else? It's a fair question and it's something that's worthy of our consideration. Well, that's it today. I realized this was a shorter one, but hopefully it'll give you something to think about through the week and something to think about in your own service to God. And if you're like me and adjustments can stand to be made in your focus and in your attitude, we'll then make those adjustments and then get to the wonderful, satisfying service of working for the master. We'll see you next time.