SPEAKER_02: This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_02: For more information in our church, please visit grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_04: And uh this has been a special weekend in the life of our church.
SPEAKER_04: Our youth pastor, Aaron Cotton, got married right here on the stage yesterday.
SPEAKER_04: Uh many of you are here, you made the love of his life, Chloe Darnell.
SPEAKER_04: They're off on their honeymoon.
SPEAKER_04: Uh and if you were here, uh Aaron barely made it through the ceremony.
SPEAKER_04: Uh when they started playing You're Beautiful, that's what she came into.
SPEAKER_04: Uh he was doing good until the doors opened up and he saw her.
SPEAKER_04: And I heard Howard Coach tell my spirit, Down and Ghost Frasia, Down and Go Sprasia.
SPEAKER_04: And then I thought it was, I thought I was hearing noises.
SPEAKER_04: I heard him and he went and I was like, uh oh, this isn't good.
SPEAKER_04: And I looked over and he was I was like, dude, she's not even down the aisle yet.
SPEAKER_04: And then she got into the aisle where he could see her.
SPEAKER_04: It went, it was, I thought it it went to the ugly crowd.
SPEAKER_04: But anyway, but but here's the thing I did the pre-meral counseling five sessions with me for an hour and a half.
SPEAKER_04: It's like getting a phone booth with a gorilla.
SPEAKER_04: They had worked so hard to get to that point, and I knew I knew how hard they had worked to get to that point, and so I just kind of watched it unfold, kind of like, mm-hmm, go ahead and cry.
SPEAKER_04: I'd cry too if I was marrying somebody this beautiful.
SPEAKER_04: Uh but I tell you that to say, that's my privilege.
SPEAKER_04: Is it I get to know people?
SPEAKER_04: I don't want to just preach to you.
SPEAKER_04: I want to be your pastor, I want to hang out with you, I want to know you, I want to know the good of you, and I want to know the bad of you.
SPEAKER_04: It's not gonna change the way I think about you.
SPEAKER_04: That's my privilege of pastoring people.
SPEAKER_04: Is they just sometimes people call to say, hey man, I I need to confess my sin.
SPEAKER_04: Can we go to lunch?
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04: And if you got a lot of sin, we'll go to Starbucks after that.
SPEAKER_04: Uh uh, but but but knowing the backstory, why don't I tell you that?
SPEAKER_04: Because we're this is Labor Day, uh Labor Day Sunday, and what do preachers know about Labor Day?
SPEAKER_04: We only work one day a week.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we don't even really work on real jobs, and so I've asked some people, in addition, you're gonna hear and understand why I love this place and these people so much.
SPEAKER_04: All three services of people.
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and so if you're visiting today, you're gonna get an and you're gonna get exposed to what our church is about or what God's doing in our church because I I I I've selected different people for each service.
SPEAKER_04: There's a couple of folks that are doing all three services, but I sent them a list of questions about faith and work.
SPEAKER_04: And so basically, uh they're gonna preach the sermon today, and then I've asked my friend Wade Burgess if he would.
SPEAKER_04: He'll go last.
SPEAKER_04: He's gonna come and just kind of summarize and give us some takeaways to think about as it relates to faith and work.
SPEAKER_04: So I'm gonna ask my friend Tommy Hammer, who's gonna be first, if he would come and have a seat.
SPEAKER_04: And I I've already told him part of this answer, but tell us who you are, what you do, and for how long you've done it.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, my name is Tommy Hammer.
SPEAKER_03: I'm the founder and president of Hammer Printing and Graphics over in Stafford.
SPEAKER_03: And about two weeks ago I celebrated my 31st year doing business over.
SPEAKER_04: 31st?
SPEAKER_04: You can clap for that.
SPEAKER_04: All right, first question.
SPEAKER_04: Do you see your work?
SPEAKER_04: First of all, hold your microphone.
SPEAKER_04: Uh, I want them to hear you like eating an ice cream cone.
SPEAKER_04: Do you see your work?
SPEAKER_04: Oh man, Barry White's in the building.
SPEAKER_03: How about that, baby?
SPEAKER_03: How's that?
SPEAKER_03: Uh do you see your work as a calling?
SPEAKER_03: I think that's an interesting question.
SPEAKER_03: I I sort of see my life as a calling, but when I think about my work, I I think about it more as a commissioning.
SPEAKER_03: And let me explain what I mean by that.
SPEAKER_03: I I kind of look in the in the scriptures and I see um two examples in particular in Apostle Paul and in Joshua in the Old Testament, and both of those are men that were called to love God and be a relationship with God and serve God.
SPEAKER_03: But in both of those instances, it says specifically that they were um men who were commissioned to do unique things.
SPEAKER_03: And and so that word unique kind of resonates in me because uh just to tell you a little bit more about my business, I'm in addition to being the founder and president, I'm also the janitor, the salesman, the the uh estimator, the pressman.
SPEAKER_03: Uh I started running a press 42 years ago when I was in high school, and on 5 30 Friday afternoon I was still running a press.
SPEAKER_03: Uh not continuously, of course, but you kind of get the point.
SPEAKER_03: It kind of feels that way.
SPEAKER_03: It feels that way.
SPEAKER_03: And I was talking to Neil earlier this week.
SPEAKER_03: I said after 42 years of doing this, the the glamour of this has kind of gone away on the technical side.
SPEAKER_03: So um, but I say all that because in my industry, I work by myself.
SPEAKER_03: I'm the only person in hammer printing, it's been that way for about 15 years.
SPEAKER_03: And my wife Diana worked with me for a while, and then she went to work somewhere else so that we wouldn't have our whole income dependent on the decisions I was making.
SPEAKER_03: But um but since I work by myself in my industry, that's uh that either qualifies as real peculiar or real unique, and um probably in my case both, you know, both peculiar and unique.
SPEAKER_03: And so you don't see very many printing companies that are just one man.
SPEAKER_03: And so uh I see the uniqueness of the way God has brought me to that, and that's the thing that I kind of think about with the commissioning, that he's he's decided for some reason for Tommy Hammer to have him do his business this unique way.
SPEAKER_03: And and what I found in that uh as I kind of step back and think about how my faith interacts with my work, I think God has led me through this uh uniqueness to see sort of uh a uh panorama of how he wants to work in my life and and through me and others.
SPEAKER_03: I've had some great opportunities in my business to share my faith and to learn stewardship principles and and things of that nature.
SPEAKER_03: But when I think about um when I think about the calling, I think about calling being more on my life in total.
SPEAKER_03: But I think God has commissioned me in this specific way to do this specific job.
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
SPEAKER_04: Quick second question, uh, what role does your faith play when things are not going well at work?
SPEAKER_04: I mean, you're kind of self-employed, for lack of a better phrase, and that's pretty, and I mean you kind of eat what you kill, what comes in the door, what you can sell.
SPEAKER_04: As feaster family, we have a lot of people in sales in our church.
SPEAKER_04: When things are not going well, uh what is what role does your faith play?
SPEAKER_03: Well, you've just defined about 90% of my time in business.
SPEAKER_02: We'll have a special moment of prayer for Tommy after the service.
SPEAKER_02: You'll be down front.
SPEAKER_02: I will be out in the lobby with business cards if anybody needs some prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Um for all your pretty needs, birthday parties, barmitzfas.
SPEAKER_02: You did say there was gonna be a slide up or something.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, the slide-oh, yeah, put that slide up.
SPEAKER_03: Um I think I think the thing that that I noticed when and I've had I I I'm like a lot of small businessmen in this up and down economy, and the challenges that go with that, I've had my fair share of times of stress and anxiety, and and uh there was one time in particular when I just was pretty sure we weren't gonna make it, but God you know brought us through that.
SPEAKER_03: But one of the things that I I find my faith kind of drawing me back to during those times is is sort of a reassessment, a self-examination, if you will.
SPEAKER_03: I I love the the verse, I think it's Proverbs 16, 3 that says, Commit your ways to the Lord and He will establish your plans.
SPEAKER_03: And so he knows that I have if I'm gonna be a good diligent businessman, I'm gonna have plans, but he wants to make sure that our plans are in sync.
SPEAKER_03: And so when I when I'm struggling, one of the things that I I find myself doing over and over is just going to God in prayer and just um asking him, okay, am I am I too much on Tommy's agenda and not enough on God's, or have I missed something, or have I sinned in some way, or treated somebody in in a wrong or unfair way?
SPEAKER_03: And uh, and I always I've I've begun, I guess as I've gotten older, I've kind of begun to pray this prayer.
SPEAKER_03: I've I think it kind of I drew it kind of out of Jesus' Upper Discourse, I think is where it is where Jesus tells the disciples, From here on out, I won't speak to you in parables, but I'm gonna speak to you plainly.
SPEAKER_03: And so I had this prayer that I call the plain the plain prayer, and it's it's basically this is God speak to me plainly.
SPEAKER_03: You know, because so much of business when you have struggles, there can be 20 or 30 things going on at one time, but I want God to cut through all of that and just speak to my heart and tell me, am I just going through a business cycle that everyone else is going through, or or am I struggling with something else that's impeding what God wants to do in my life?
SPEAKER_03: So I think I think just that self-examination is sort of the thing that that I keep coming back to when times are tough.
SPEAKER_04: Okay, I want to ask, I want to get off.
SPEAKER_04: This is not a question I sent to you, but talking about when times are tough, we all kind of get I call it magical thinking, you know, is it karma?
SPEAKER_04: Is that you know I cut somebody off in traffic?
SPEAKER_04: Is that why this didn't bid didn't uh you told me in my office last week about a time when you you thought we're not gonna make it, and somebody gave your name to somebody else and said, Hey, Tom, you'll do a great job, and the the guy and you got the bid when the the bid was sent to you.
SPEAKER_04: Remember what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_04: You said you heard the can you talk about that?
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this was this was the one time that I thought we were really weren't gonna make it.
SPEAKER_03: We had a whole summer that was just awful.
SPEAKER_03: And at that time Dinah was working with me, so again, all of our income is dependent on that one business.
SPEAKER_03: And so it's right about the end, it's about this time, about the end of August, and I'm just I can't figure out what to do.
SPEAKER_03: And so I got this friend of mine in business called and said, Hey, this guy just came in looking for a printer.
SPEAKER_03: I gave him your name, he's got and sort of described the size of the job, and I thought, Oh, hallelujah, God, you've rescued me.
SPEAKER_03: And so I ran into the office, Diana's office, and I said, I think I think we're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_03: This thing's coming in.
SPEAKER_03: And as I was standing in there, I could hear the fax machine start to spit out this this uh bid.
SPEAKER_03: The guy was gonna send me a sample of the work and everything.
SPEAKER_03: And so I ran back in there and I got in there, and about half of the fact of the fax had come out, and when I looked at it, uh my my heart just fell because what I saw was this silhouette of a um stripper, and I knew that this was not the kind of business that I did, and so I just thought, well, what next?
SPEAKER_03: You know, and so I got on the phone, called this guy, and I said, Look, uh I got your thing, but I don't do this kind of work.
SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna endorse that kind of business.
SPEAKER_03: I'm a Christian, and and I just I can't be a part of that.
SPEAKER_03: And of course he just said, Thanks, bye, click hang up.
SPEAKER_03: And I was just sitting there thinking, what in the world does all this mean?
SPEAKER_03: And so this was, I think, a Friday.
SPEAKER_03: We came in on Monday, and Monday the phone started ringing and didn't stop, and in that month of September we did more business than we did in three months and in uh during the summer.
SPEAKER_03: And I just thought, you know, God's faithfulness when I'm thinking about my Christian principles and not thinking about business principles, because there's a lot of printers in this time.
SPEAKER_03: Somebody did that job, somebody printed that job, but but my principles wouldn't let me do it.
SPEAKER_03: I just thought God honored that faithfulness in me there, and that was one of those times he really drew us up out of the pit, if you will.
SPEAKER_04: Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_04: Last question.
SPEAKER_04: Talk about your faith, the role your faith plays when things are not going well.
SPEAKER_04: What about when things are going well?
SPEAKER_04: Can you speak briefly to that?
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's actually what I'm going through now because the last two and a half years have been the best years that we've had, and um and and I and I'm just really blessed.
SPEAKER_03: I've got a I'm I'm busy all the time.
SPEAKER_03: I'm working about 60 or 65 hours a week and just churning it out, and it's been great.
SPEAKER_03: But I find that that may be the most harrowing time, to be honest with you, because I find that you know I sort of have this analytical mind, and I'm always thinking, and I can't turn it off.
SPEAKER_03: And and so um I'm always thinking, okay, what do I have to do tomorrow?
SPEAKER_03: And and what do I need to do in terms of advertising and how do I market to this person?
SPEAKER_03: And and I find at that time, if I think about one word, that's my faith just sort of screams out to me, it's balance.
SPEAKER_03: And uh that it's a reminder that God wants me, even though he wants to provide for my family and to allow me to do things uh through this business for our community and for uh people of faith.
SPEAKER_03: I do a lot of printing for parachurch ministries and little churches that are startups and things like that.
SPEAKER_03: And it's a real blessing to do that.
SPEAKER_03: But um I find balance is the thing that he keeps whispering in my ear, and and uh and some of you know that I I teach Bible study here and have for a long time, and so sometimes it's easy for me to think, well, you know, I'll be studying on Saturday for my lesson, I'll do all my study then.
SPEAKER_03: But this year I started in January back onto a habit that I used to have a long time ago, and that is every morning before I start work, before I look at the first email or answer the first phone call, as I'm eating breakfast, I I get in the word, and I've been doing this one of these through the Bible in a year things, and I just find that it it fleshes out my day so much, keeps me focused on what's really important, even when I'm busy.
SPEAKER_03: And uh many of you know me, I'm not really a morning person.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if that's a surprise to many of my friends, kind of a night person, but and so I used to do a lot of my reading at night, but I I really made a a devoted effort on January 1st to get in and do that morning study.
SPEAKER_03: And when I do, I find that my day has that balance that's important.
SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of work that I need to get done, and I try and be diligent about that, but I have uh God speaking to me and working in me and working through me during that day also because of that commitment uh to balance in my life.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, thanks a lot, sir.
SPEAKER_04: Okay, tell us you you got it?
SPEAKER_01: I got it.
SPEAKER_04: Tell us who you are.
SPEAKER_04: Yours is a unique question.
SPEAKER_04: Tell us who you are, what you used to do, and what you do now.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: I probably don't need this.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone knows me knows I'm really loud, so I'll talk softly in it.
SPEAKER_01: Um I used to, for 12 years, I owned a private practice, counseling practice.
SPEAKER_01: I was a psychotherapist and did uh family and um and specifically children and severe um emotional disturbances.
SPEAKER_01: So I did that.
SPEAKER_01: Um two and a half years ago, I we made the decision that I was gonna stay at home when I had my first son and be a stay-at-home mom.
SPEAKER_01: So I've been doing that for two and a half years.
SPEAKER_04: So 12 years owned a private practice counseling facility, and then two and a half years stay-at-home mom.
SPEAKER_04: Right.
SPEAKER_04: Okay, that frames I want you to hear that because it's gonna frame the questions that that that I asked Sarah.
SPEAKER_04: Uh, first question uh what role did your faith play in the transition from career woman to stay-at-home mom?
SPEAKER_01: That was such a hard transition.
SPEAKER_01: I went from a career that I loved, that I was good at, and um that was very intellectual, very much different every day, to staying at home with a collecting infant who screamed all day, every day for four months, doing the dishes, very mundane, very routine.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I I found myself one morning very much just grumbling in my spirit and unloading the dishes.
SPEAKER_01: And also, anybody who knows me knows I hate doing the dishes.
SPEAKER_01: Worse than anything, I hate it.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm just complaining in my spirit, and I'm just like, what in the world?
SPEAKER_01: And I think my faith played the biggest role because um the Holy Spirit just I mean completely corrected me because I had a bad attitude that morning, and said, How dare you, how dare you complain you have a healthy child?
SPEAKER_01: There are women who would give anything to have a child, period, more or less a healthy child.
SPEAKER_01: And how dare you complain about picking up your husband's socks when you know just don't get crazy there, you know, when when there when there are women who would do anything to have a husband or have their husband back with them or have a child to look after.
SPEAKER_01: And so my faith played the biggest role in being open to the correction of the Holy Spirit and then doing something with that and saying, you know, you're right.
SPEAKER_01: I need to be thankful.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, heck, I have a dishwasher, I have food to eat, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And so, and so really um my own uh being willing for the Holy Spirit to correct me and to do something with that and to listen to um to the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So that was the biggest thing for me.
SPEAKER_04: Okay, anybody that that's ever done it knows it more than than men like me.
SPEAKER_04: I you know, but there's an anonymity to motherhood.
SPEAKER_04: How no one knows all you do, and you know on Labor Day, we we talk about people that go get a check.
SPEAKER_04: We don't talk much about women like you that don't have adult conversation all day.
SPEAKER_04: When your husband gets home, you're like, talk to me now, uh-huh, engage me.
SPEAKER_04: Um how does the gospel help you process the anonymity that comes with being a stay-at-home mom?
SPEAKER_01: And I think that was also hard having such a you know career that I loved before I stayed at home.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, when I was in a career, I mean you have I had a waiting list of mile on because I specialized in certain severe disorders, and um there's nobody to give you a pat on the back and say, Oh, you're great, you know, good job, and and nobody knows all the frustrations you have during the day.
SPEAKER_01: But um I go back to the scripture and I have to remind myself of that daily, of the scripture that says, do everything as unto the Lord, work hardly as unto the Lord, because ultimately that's all that matters.
SPEAKER_01: Really.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and I thought I was doing that, and I think I was to a certain level when I was out in the career world outside the home working.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I was doing that, and I would cover everything I did in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Oh, I'm doing this for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But when you don't have any feedback and you have a toddler who's screaming in your face, and you gotta be out the door in 10 minutes, and nobody's eating, and nobody's dressed, and you haven't had a shower, you're like, really, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: You know, and so I think for for me it was it's the reminder to my own self of ultimately I'm doing what I'm doing to please the Lord, and then hopefully my child will see that and learn about that principle as well.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the the biggest thing that I'm supposed to do is not only take care of him, but teach him about these principles uh in the word.
SPEAKER_04: So next question.
SPEAKER_04: What is the biggest challenge to your faith in the role you're in now?
SPEAKER_04: What is the biggest challenge to your faith and how do you deal with that?
SPEAKER_01: I think for me the biggest challenge is what's in between my ears.
SPEAKER_01: Um I've talked to a lot of moms, I think, that can relate to that.
SPEAKER_04: Um what do you what do you mean when you say in between your ears?
SPEAKER_04: Because all the means.
SPEAKER_04: My thoughts.
SPEAKER_04: Huh?
SPEAKER_01: My thoughts.
unknown: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Thoughts, my thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think a lot of moms can probably relate to that, or a lot of women.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, men don't have women figured out, but God does.
SPEAKER_01: And so praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Because He has, you know, God has given us the scripture of, you know, take every thought captive and submit it into obedience to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Because I think, I mean, as a woman, we are very emotionally based.
SPEAKER_01: And so everything we do, our thoughts are intertwined with those emotions.
SPEAKER_01: So whether you're feeling something, it's gonna affect what you think, and whether you're thinking something, it's gonna affect how we feel.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's a big snowball, you know, and it's easy, I think, for women to get, especially moms who have been isolated, who are with little kids or older kids or teenagers, and that's a whole another story we know, um, is getting a hold of that and getting stopping that train when it wants to go derail.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think that's the biggest thing, whether it's worry, um, whether it's uh fear, whether it's frustration or anger or impatience or all of these things, is to take those thoughts and then God gives us that perspective, gives us his perspective, and helps us keep that under control.
SPEAKER_01: Because I think um if we don't do that, we don't have a chance.
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
SPEAKER_04: I want to ask you the last question I want to ask you, and it's not a question I gave you, it's just listening to you talk.
SPEAKER_04: For us men, when we come home, men that have mom wives that are stay-at-home moms that manage a household, and and uh when we come home and our wives have had one of those days, and she's just kind of mumbling under her breath in the kitchen, we we don't always know what to do.
SPEAKER_04: We're kind of like, do we approach her?
SPEAKER_04: Do we put our hand on her back?
SPEAKER_04: Do we say, hey, how was your day?
SPEAKER_04: Give us just a hey, this is what's helpful on those days, and we're just like the trains derailed, and I've been like, we have no idea how hard this is, and I resent the hound out of you.
SPEAKER_04: Not that y'all ever do that to us.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so the question is husbands.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, husbands, what what's how do we how do when we come home, we've been interacting with adults and you know, killing stuff and mounting it on the wall and and making fire.
SPEAKER_01: Just take the child, just take them.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_01: That does help.
SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, I think to validate your wives, I think that's the biggest thing that a lot of um mothers, especially stay-at-home moms, are looking for is validation that um that we're doing our best, regardless of if we screw up, regardless of whatever, we are doing the um the best that we can.
SPEAKER_01: Um it has been a long day, I guarantee you at the end of every day, no matter what's happened, and um you know, just to be supportive and to um, you know, just love on them.
SPEAKER_01: And that's really, you know, because when when my husband comes home and he works crazy hours and it's late and I'm exhausted, and I mean the sweetest things that he'll do is just just love on me and say, you know, tomorrow we'll be better.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, I can do this, I can do it another day, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And that that um just to validate those feelings and to validate you know what we're doing all day, I think is probably the biggest thing.
unknown: Okay.
SPEAKER_04: Thanks very much.
SPEAKER_04: Uh I'll tell you who this person is because I'm not gonna give him any questions.
SPEAKER_04: It uh this is Mark Brooker, also known as the guy that plays electric guitar in our worship band.
SPEAKER_04: Uh, to most of you.
SPEAKER_04: Um Uh Mark is uh I didn't didn't ask Mark to respond to questions as much because his role is different.
SPEAKER_04: He owns his own business, he's a majority owner in a business, and so that has a different perspective on it.
SPEAKER_04: So I just said, hey, I want you to talk about how the your faith and the gospel influences the way you operate as a majority owner in a business uh that that that that God's using.
SPEAKER_04: And so take a few minutes, Mark, and just talk to us about that.
SPEAKER_06: Okay, thanks.
SPEAKER_06: Um first of all, I appreciate the opportunity.
SPEAKER_06: Um I own a I'm the majority owner in a company called the Frontline Group, and and we've been around about 20 years and we do management consulting to the oil and gas business.
SPEAKER_06: And about 10 years ago, uh I had the opportunity to uh buy out all the partners and and go into a lot of debt, which I didn't exactly explain to my wife what that was gonna look like.
SPEAKER_06: Um and I and I remember praying, I said, God, you know, uh I want this business now to you know be aligned with you and serve you.
SPEAKER_06: And and uh so I'd like for you to bring the people that need to work here here and uh get the people out of here that that you know don't need to work here.
SPEAKER_06: And and so in the next couple of months after I'd signed this big note, we lost a million dollars worth of business with the people leaving that didn't need to be there.
SPEAKER_06: So I said, well, this is interesting.
SPEAKER_06: We're gonna put water on the wood here before we get the fire.
SPEAKER_06: So so it it was just uh interesting learning experience starting to take this over.
SPEAKER_06: And and so a couple of things I wanted to talk about were just the things that it takes, uh some thoughts on business management as a Christian.
unknown: Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_06: And the very first thing that that I think is critical is is being consistent with tithing.
SPEAKER_06: And and so this was a very interesting revelation.
SPEAKER_06: The more I've learned about it, the more I've done it is that is that tithing is kind of the basis for how you learn to manage a business.
SPEAKER_06: Um this may come as a surprise, it may not, uh, but most of the money that you receive as your paycheck is actually not your money, right?
SPEAKER_06: I mean, there's a hunk that goes to the feds, and then there's a hunk that goes to the mortgage company, and then your car payment, and then the school, and then HEB and all that.
SPEAKER_06: And so, you know, as you begin to learn to tithe, you begin to learn how money gets segmented that you're in charge of.
SPEAKER_06: And so there's two there's two lessons out of this.
SPEAKER_06: The first is becoming obedient to God.
SPEAKER_06: You know, Jesus said, render under Caesar, what's his, render under God, what's his.
SPEAKER_06: And he was talking about tithing.
SPEAKER_06: And so, you know, uh, he says, uh, this is what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_06: And so as you start to do that, you begin to learn how to be obedient to God.
SPEAKER_06: This is you know, this is like the first thing, but it's very hard for many people to get on top of that.
SPEAKER_06: Um and then the second thing is that you learn how to manage money like this.
SPEAKER_06: So you say, well, there's there's money I always have to lay aside for these things.
SPEAKER_06: And when I'm really being responsive to God, you know, I need to be able to be generous and I need to not live to the very end of my means all the time.
SPEAKER_06: And how am I gonna learn to do that?
SPEAKER_06: Now, let me give you some practical advice on tithing, because I've been we've been very good at it at parts of our lives, but we've been really lousy at it in other parts.
SPEAKER_06: We went through a pretty dry spell, and we had a kid in college and another couple of kids right behind them, and and we had kind of gotten out of the habit of tithing as a consistent habit, and it had become more like, well, let's give some gifts to God this week, and then next week we'll see where we sit.
SPEAKER_06: And so what I did uh heard a sermon on tithing and said, we we've got to get moved back into this and get consistent on this because uh for any number of reasons.
SPEAKER_06: But first of all, just being obedient to God.
SPEAKER_06: And so what I did was we we opened up two checking accounts, and usually when you get like electronic funds, you can actually direct, you can usually direct to two places with your paycheck.
SPEAKER_06: But we we as we brought our money into our in into our purview, we split it immediately on into the tithe, went into uh a separate checking account from our you know, household uh uh checking account.
SPEAKER_06: And it became really, really easy after that to start to manage our tithe.
SPEAKER_06: And what we found was that at first we kind of used the formula, and over time God has said, I want you to be more generous than that.
SPEAKER_06: And so, you know, we we never take money out of the tithing checking account and stick it in our general checking account, but we do find ourselves taking things out of our general account, especially as God has blessed us more and more.
SPEAKER_06: So this discipline begins to make you uh you know listen to the voice of God as He's directing you.
SPEAKER_06: And and when you're running a business and you're trying to run it as a Christian, you're gonna need that kind of discipline in hearing the voice of God.
SPEAKER_06: Now, here's why.
SPEAKER_06: Because we all say this, God, I want you to use my business, and I want, you know, and and we and we think about that, but we kind of always think in terms of my business and me were the center of things.
SPEAKER_06: We don't think so much about ourselves being our business being a pawn in a game that God's running and God's directing.
SPEAKER_06: And so let me let me give you let me give you an example, for instance.
SPEAKER_06: All right, so you remember that when Jesus had the triumphal entry, you remember he goes into Jerusalem and he sends the guys out to get the uh white colt.
SPEAKER_06: You remember that story?
SPEAKER_06: And says, talk to the owners and and and bring it back.
SPEAKER_06: Well, let's think about that in terms of today.
SPEAKER_06: So let's say that Jesus is gonna go into Houston tomorrow.
SPEAKER_06: And so he says, James, you and John, come here.
SPEAKER_06: I want you to run an errand for us.
SPEAKER_06: Uh he says, I look, I want you to go in in here into Richmond, and there's a there's a guy that's got a tinning company, his name's Gary Cooper, he's a friend of mine, and and uh we've talked before, and he's got this cream puff 1964 white caddy convertible, and that's what we're gonna use tomorrow.
SPEAKER_06: And he says, So I want you to go in there and and and get the car from Gary and bring it back.
SPEAKER_06: And James says, wait, wait, I know Gary, he won't even let his wife drive that car.
SPEAKER_06: He is not gonna loan us this car.
SPEAKER_06: And Jesus says, Wait, listen to me, guys.
SPEAKER_06: 3,000 years ago, my father decided that this is how tomorrow is gonna play out.
SPEAKER_06: And he wrote it down.
SPEAKER_06: And so he's been preparing Gary's business and Gary's heart for loaning us this car, and so it's gonna be just fine.
SPEAKER_06: He says, now, on second thought, John, you drive and don't squeal the tires.
SPEAKER_06: All right, so I think you can see that that your business might be intertwined in God's plan from not just when you started it, but from way before it was ever envisioned in your head.
SPEAKER_06: And so this tithing discipline starts to prepare you to manage your business in a similar way, of having ways to be generous and ways to follow God's leading when it's not exactly what HR says you ought to do, or it's exactly what you know your MBA class said for you to do.
SPEAKER_06: And so you begin to feel look out there and say, How can I be generous in places?
SPEAKER_06: And so when we get a resume from somebody kind of out of the blue, we'll say, you know, there might be an opportunity coming that we did not solicit this, but there may be some reason that we're getting this.
SPEAKER_06: We may be some reason some customer is calling us.
SPEAKER_06: And so just just like uh Tommy was talking about, you know, things come out of what appears to us to be left field, but they're really God's plan.
SPEAKER_06: And so as you've learned to manage your business and leave room all the time in that, not living to the end of that all the time, that's how you can be responsive to God's plan.
SPEAKER_06: Let me give you just a real quick thing on that, uh, an instance that's real, actually.
SPEAKER_06: Uh unfortunately, I don't think Gary's got a white Cadillac, which is too bad because they're really nice.
SPEAKER_06: Um so in a few years back, I was the uh we did a joint venture with Baker Hughes uh to provide drilling people around the world.
SPEAKER_06: They would find the jobs, we'd find the people.
SPEAKER_06: And this went on for a couple of years, and and and we were in a building up on 1960, and I used a little local attorney in that building, a guy named Jan Jersik, to do some contract work for us and some various things, and just kind of got to know him like that.
SPEAKER_06: Well, at the end of the two years that that uh Baker Hughes reorganized.
SPEAKER_06: I realize that most big companies don't do that, do they, right?
SPEAKER_06: Big all the time.
SPEAKER_06: Um and so they reorganized, and so we kind of disbanded this group, and I needed a little office to move into right there in the building, and so I moved in with Jan Jersik, this attorney.
SPEAKER_06: He had a couple desks in there, so I move in.
SPEAKER_06: And a couple months into this, Jan comes to me and he says, Hey, um, you know, I I'm I'm struggling with something here.
SPEAKER_06: He said, We have a teenage son, and we took him out of the public schools because he was just a disaster.
SPEAKER_06: He's a disaster at school, he's a disaster at home, and we put him in St.
SPEAKER_06: Thomas, and we've done that for a year or two now, and it's not getting any better, and we're spending a ton of money going to St.
SPEAKER_06: Thomas, and there's a drive from the 1960 area down there.
SPEAKER_06: So we're gonna put him back into public school.
SPEAKER_06: You got any thoughts?
SPEAKER_06: And I said, Well, yeah, he's he goes to Side Creek, right?
SPEAKER_06: He's gonna go into Side Creek.
SPEAKER_06: And they said, Yeah, and we're we're we're trying to figure out how to keep him away from the kids he used to hang with, right?
SPEAKER_06: And I said, Well, I know I was I was involved as a volunteer leader with Young Life at the time, and so I said, Look, I know the leaders at Side Creek, they're great.
SPEAKER_06: Why don't you introduce your kid to them and get him started there, and that'll be a whole different group of kids than who he's been hanging with.
SPEAKER_06: And so we did that, and that was in the fall, and at Christmas at ski camp, the kid comes to Christ.
SPEAKER_06: And uh and over the next couple of months after that, the dad would come in and say, You couldn't believe how remarkable this change is in my son.
SPEAKER_06: You know, I mean, he's not giving us trouble, he's not giving trouble at school, he's making good grades, all these things that have come out of this, these positive from him coming to Christ.
SPEAKER_06: And, you know, as as I reflect on that, it's like, well, I wonder if that whole two years and Baker Hughes and us and all that stuff was actually so that he would come to Christ.
SPEAKER_06: The interesting thing is we all gravitate towards Romans 8.28, right?
SPEAKER_06: Uh, because it says, you know, things work for good for those that love God.
SPEAKER_06: But we kind of forget about the last half of that verse, which is according to his purposes.
SPEAKER_06: And so, you know, you find in your business that if you'll let God have his way in it, that there's all kinds of things that he's gonna use, uh, the prosperity and the community that you've built to serve his purposes.
SPEAKER_06: So that's what I got.
SPEAKER_04: Okay, one one quick question.
SPEAKER_04: Uh just just so everyone will know, this is not a paid political advertisement by the pastor.
SPEAKER_04: I didn't I didn't tell you what to talk about or anything.
SPEAKER_06: No, about the tithing?
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: No, okay, because I don't want people to go, oh great.
SPEAKER_04: Now look at the preacher.
SPEAKER_04: If you're new to our church, if you're new to our church, it's not actually somebody stopped me recently and said, Hey, you never preach on money.
SPEAKER_04: Uh and I said, I think these people understand where everything they have comes from, and they're good stewards of that, which is why we don't do that here a whole lot.
SPEAKER_04: And so if you're visiting today, just relax.
SPEAKER_04: We're not gonna dim the lights and pass out pledge cards, all right?
SPEAKER_04: Just relax.
SPEAKER_04: Thanks, Mark.
SPEAKER_04: Thanks a lot.
SPEAKER_04: Okay, um, tell us who you are, what you do, and for how long you've done it.
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, my name is Wade Burgess.
SPEAKER_05: Uh, I work in healthcare.
SPEAKER_05: Uh, been doing that for about 15, 16 years now.
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
SPEAKER_04: I just have a couple questions for you because I want you to kind of give us some takeaways uh to kind of to kind of frame and shape what we've heard this morning.
SPEAKER_04: First question is simply this what are some ways that you connect your Sunday faith and your Monday work?
SPEAKER_05: Uh I think the first way is being consistent, uh consistent in my attitude, consistent in the mood that I have.
SPEAKER_05: Um I I don't think I'm moody, but my wife says I am.
SPEAKER_05: And uh I think it's because I'm so consistent during the week that I've got to let it out on the weekend, and that's when she gets to see it.
SPEAKER_05: Um so so uh so so I I think the way I demonstrate my faith is by being consistent.
SPEAKER_05: I come in on Monday morning with the same attitude as I do on Friday morning, and when things go to heck in a handbasket, I'm the same way as I am when it all went well.
SPEAKER_05: And that's not to say um I don't I don't show some emotion or appreciation or or I I get down a little bit because I think that would be fake, and and certainly people read right through that.
SPEAKER_05: But what it is is a consistency of attitude that says I I'm an alien here, right?
SPEAKER_05: That this is not um what what is my everything.
SPEAKER_05: I know that there's something better waiting, and because of that, I've got a more consistent attitude at work.
SPEAKER_05: I think the second way I demonstrate that is by the way I treat people.
SPEAKER_05: Um we we had a young lady who was the um she was single, her mother uh was the only family she had, her mom had a stroke and this terrible medical issue, and she said, I need to be off.
SPEAKER_05: Now, our policy states that you're only supposed to use your extended sick leave for you.
SPEAKER_05: Um, but we also have a motto that says, our employees are our greatest assets.
SPEAKER_05: And so I thought, let's test that.
SPEAKER_05: And so what I did was I told her, I said, Why don't you use your extended sick leave for this time off that you need to care for your mom?
SPEAKER_05: Uh now I never got in trouble over that.
SPEAKER_05: I don't endorse doing things against your policy, but I am saying that I think by the way we treat people, it doesn't have to be that big either, right?
SPEAKER_05: It can be consistently treating people well.
SPEAKER_05: I think they recognize uh where where your faith lies.
SPEAKER_05: And then the third piece is being specific.
SPEAKER_05: I think we all uh well, me particularly, want to hide behind this.
SPEAKER_05: Well, they'll know I'm a Christian by the way I live, so let me go out and live it, and hopefully they'll know it.
SPEAKER_05: You know the adage, preach all the time and sometimes use words.
SPEAKER_05: My point is use words.
SPEAKER_05: Be specific in what you do, in the example you're setting.
SPEAKER_05: There's a lot of great people out there that don't know God, and they will not be any different than you are.
SPEAKER_05: The difference is you get to use some words that maybe they've not heard.
SPEAKER_05: You get to say it in a way that they've not heard, phrased to them.
SPEAKER_05: So be specific in your witness.
SPEAKER_04: Okay, I want to ask you to clarify a little bit.
SPEAKER_04: You said you work in healthcare.
SPEAKER_04: That's what drug dealers say as well.
SPEAKER_04: Uh, could you give us a little more granularity around what it is you do so they'll have a frame of reference?
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_05: So so, like Sarah, I deal with colicky infants all the time.
SPEAKER_05: Uh they are disguised as adults and call themselves physicians.
SPEAKER_05: And so um so I'm I uh I I manage nurses and doctors, and there is no more hurting cats than than that.
SPEAKER_04: Okay, and I just want to give them a free review.
SPEAKER_04: Healthcare that's like that's nebulous and fuzzy, like go pick up a cloud.
SPEAKER_04: Um, last question, I want you to answer this and then and then give us some takeaways from from today.
SPEAKER_04: Uh we all have experienced frustration in our job.
SPEAKER_04: Uh how does the gospel uh influence the way you process this this the day-to-day?
SPEAKER_04: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_04: Or just it does does the gospel affect that, and if so, how?
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, uh work is more frustrating uh to me than a three-legged dog trying to bury a bone on a frozen pond.
SPEAKER_05: It is uh it is it is trying to talk logic to people that believe they're God and that they have all the answers.
SPEAKER_05: Um and and and there's some great ones out there, uh, but but there are some very difficult ones to deal with, and I mean uh physicians.
SPEAKER_05: And so working in an environment where the people you are taking care of are sick, and some of us are not well behaved when we don't feel good, and then you're working with the people that are taking care of them that for a long time they have been catered to, and so the the amount of frustration is um ramps up pretty quickly Monday about 8 a.m.
SPEAKER_05: And so uh I I think if if if I go to work and think it's going to be all perfect, I'm gonna be disgruntled and disappointed.
SPEAKER_05: And then that frustration leads, I think, into more frustration.
SPEAKER_05: And then I don't treat people the way I should, and then they're not gonna treat me the way I think they should, and all of that.
SPEAKER_05: And so, how do I deal with frustration?
SPEAKER_05: I I do it with a con try to with a consistency of God has a greater purpose than what I'm doing right now.
SPEAKER_05: Uh, one day I called my wife and I said, Hey, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_05: She said, I'm doing this and that.
SPEAKER_05: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_05: I said, Well, me and my two master's degrees are going down to get lunch for these doctors because I'm just a delivery boy right now.
SPEAKER_05: And so it's easy to get frustrated and think I should be all that.
SPEAKER_05: But you know, sometimes the demonstration of a servant leader is servant, right?
SPEAKER_05: And we all like to say that, I'm a servant leader, I'll do anything for the staff until you actually have to demonstrate it.
SPEAKER_05: And so I think to counter the frustration, it's just to remind I'm a servant in this.
SPEAKER_05: And I don't get to choose necessarily what I'm doing today, I get to choose how I'm doing it.
SPEAKER_05: And so that's how I think I battle that frustration.
SPEAKER_05: In terms of just a little bit of a wrap-up, you know, we'll spend about half our lives at work.
SPEAKER_05: And a lot of life happens at work.
SPEAKER_05: My son learned how to walk while I was at work.
SPEAKER_05: Uh he lost his first tooth, I was at work.
SPEAKER_05: He goes to school, I'm at work, right?
SPEAKER_05: And a lot of us, I think, feel that.
SPEAKER_05: And that's not bitter about, I know, I've got to be at work.
SPEAKER_05: We've got to pay for those teeth.
SPEAKER_05: But I've I've got to I've got to be there, and I'm called to that.
SPEAKER_05: But I want to give you some things to think about related to work.
SPEAKER_05: And the the first place I want to uh use as a source is the gospel.
SPEAKER_05: What does the gospel tell us about work?
SPEAKER_05: The first thing it tells us is that God cares about everything we do.
SPEAKER_05: I think it's an awesome thought that the God of the universe, the one that created everything, the one that holds it all together and knows how it's going to end, says, I care enough about you to care about everything you do.
SPEAKER_05: The second thing the gospel tells us is that if God cares about everything I do, then he cares about the products we make, the customers we service, the people I work with, all of that.
SPEAKER_05: God cares about all of that.
SPEAKER_05: That's what the gospel I think reminds us about as it relates to work.
SPEAKER_05: The third thing the gospel tells us is, well, it's good news, right?
SPEAKER_05: That's what the gospel means.
SPEAKER_05: But here's what I'm saying to that in relationship to work.
SPEAKER_05: When I go to work, uh for for me, it's um it I think Tommy mentioned this too.
SPEAKER_05: It's not good for me when things are going well.
SPEAKER_05: When things are going well, I kind of get the big head and I'm reminded that yes, things are going well, and we're doing very well, and that's because of me, because nobody else says that.
SPEAKER_05: So I say it for myself.
SPEAKER_05: And and I realize, you know what?
SPEAKER_05: I'm a worse sinner than I could ever imagine.
SPEAKER_05: And there's enough grace that I can never use up.
SPEAKER_05: And so the gospel is good news, and if I forget that, then I'm I'm less than what I ought to be at work.
SPEAKER_05: And so the gospel reminds me it has good news, and so that's what I need to be spreading to those I work with.
SPEAKER_05: And then finally, the the thing the gospel tells us is that it gives meaning to our work.
SPEAKER_05: I think it's interesting that um as much as sometimes we don't like work and think it's a four-letter word, you know it came before the fall, right?
SPEAKER_05: God designed work.
SPEAKER_05: Um He said after the fall it was going to be hard.
SPEAKER_05: But but God designed work for us and created a purpose in us to have that work.
SPEAKER_05: And so I think the gospel reminds us there is a meaning to our work.
SPEAKER_05: And if we take that attitude to work with us, then it looks like a whole different uh ball of wax for us.
SPEAKER_05: I'm not going to, I'm gonna help these rich doctors get richer.
SPEAKER_05: I'm I'm going maybe to speak into someone's life.
SPEAKER_05: And by doing so, then my work has meaning.
SPEAKER_05: There's a few truths I think that that work has as well, and I wanted to give you those.
SPEAKER_05: Uh one, it's sacred.
SPEAKER_05: So if God calls us to it and God cares everything about what we do, then certainly that would make sense that it's a sacred calling.
SPEAKER_05: I want to read something to you.
SPEAKER_05: This uh this comes from the book Every Good Endeavor, written by uh Timothy Keller.
SPEAKER_05: And uh this is what it says about maybe work and calling and frustration.
SPEAKER_05: He says, just because you cannot realize your highest aspirations in work does not mean you've chosen wrongly.
SPEAKER_05: Or you're not called to your profession, or that you should spend your life looking for the perfect career that is devoid of frustration.
SPEAKER_05: That would be a fruitless search for anyone.
SPEAKER_05: You should expect to be regularly frustrated in your work, even though you may be in exactly the right vocation.
SPEAKER_05: It's a sacred calling for us, but it doesn't mean it's going to come without frustration.
SPEAKER_05: The second truth about work is that we need to engage the world.
SPEAKER_05: Sometimes I, you know, I visit with these physicians and employees and different ones, and then I'm trying to talk to them about different things, whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_05: And sometimes I get to specifically talk about my belief and what that looks like.
SPEAKER_05: And um and that's what I mean by engaging the world, but but also sometimes I worry, I don't know if they're listening, I don't know if this is getting through, or it makes sense.
SPEAKER_05: I think all of us could worry a little bit about are are the people.
SPEAKER_05: We work with listening.
SPEAKER_05: Let me caution you on this though.
SPEAKER_05: They are always watching.
SPEAKER_05: They're going to watch the way you interact with other people.
SPEAKER_05: They're going to watch the way you demonstrate that.
SPEAKER_05: By the way, I get calls sometimes from home, right?
SPEAKER_05: They're watching how I, yes, what is it?
SPEAKER_05: Or is it, hey, yeah, I got just a minute.
SPEAKER_05: Sure, I'll make time for you.
SPEAKER_05: Right?
SPEAKER_05: Sometimes it's those little simple things that are demonstrating what I really believe in.
SPEAKER_05: The other truth about work, I think, is that you have to bring meaning to work.
SPEAKER_05: I think you've, I told you you had to be on purpose about it.
SPEAKER_05: I think I think you've got to be able to express to those you work with there is something bigger here than us.
SPEAKER_05: And some people call that customer service, and hey, the customer's bigger, and some people call it whatever it is.
SPEAKER_05: I think you've got to bring that meaning to work.
SPEAKER_05: So if you believe that there is meaning in work, you've got to bring that to work and let them know, hey, we're here for a bigger purpose than that.
SPEAKER_05: But by the way, let me mention to you that I think uh I think we've forgotten, certainly in America we have, and I think in the workplace we have, we've separated, you know, state and church and work and my belief, and even the handbook says, don't bring religion to work and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_05: I think we've forgotten that sometimes we are called to be a martyr at work.
SPEAKER_05: I had a doctor the other day, he's in the lounge, he's eating his lunch, and I just, this voice just said, hey, ask him.
SPEAKER_05: Just ask him.
SPEAKER_05: And so I just said, hey, doc, what do you believe about God?
SPEAKER_05: And what do you, what kind of spirituality do you practice?
SPEAKER_05: And I thought just as that came out, uh-oh, this may be a problem if he calls HR.
SPEAKER_05: And then at that same time I thought, well, let him call HR.
SPEAKER_05: And that's not to be bold and brash, that's to say, hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_05: Jesus is still calling us to stand up for our faith right now, as he did when those words were first written.
SPEAKER_05: And this doctor said, Yeah, I believe there's a God I just don't worship him.
SPEAKER_05: I don't really believe in anything.
SPEAKER_05: And so we've got to bring our meaning to work.
SPEAKER_05: And finally, prayer is necessary.
SPEAKER_05: Tommy told you that he starts every day with this kind of prioritizing, and that's in the word first before I do anything.
SPEAKER_05: And I think we've got to bring prayer to work.
SPEAKER_05: And what I mean by that is it's not just a task list.
SPEAKER_05: And I get caught up in this, you know, on my way to work, I'm having my quiet time and I'm going, okay, God, at 8 o'clock I've got this, and at 10 o'clock I've got that.
SPEAKER_05: So if you can make that go well and this go well, and then you know later I've got to, hey, and if I could leave early at two, that'd be great.
SPEAKER_05: And then I've got this and that.
SPEAKER_05: And so I'm giving out my task list, right, as I pray.
SPEAKER_05: And I think we get caught up in that sometimes because um, if God cares about everything, he cares about us, and hey, let me remind him of the details that I want him to care about.
SPEAKER_05: I think we've also we've got to bring specific prayer to work that says, God, prepare me today for what you have for me.
SPEAKER_05: The prayer I've been praying lately is, who do you want me to love on your behalf?
SPEAKER_05: Because when I go into this place, it literally is going to be chaos.
SPEAKER_05: Prepare me for that.
SPEAKER_05: And if I walk in that constant communication, then I'm ready for that burning bush of whatever that looks like.
SPEAKER_05: And I'm ready to address that the way the gospel calls me to, not the way my mood or the way my anything else has me to.
SPEAKER_05: I'll ask that you stand and let me speak this blessing.
SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna ask you that you hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_05: Now, when you do this, that um some of us I think are, ooh, yeah, God, give me more, give me more.
SPEAKER_05: And then some of us, I think, think, um, God, I'm not sure I'm worthy of anything else.
SPEAKER_05: Here's how I want you to have this soul picture.
SPEAKER_05: You're coming to a consistently good and ever-giving dad.
SPEAKER_05: And you get to say, What's next for me, Daddy?
SPEAKER_05: So, with that, the owner of everything has given you responsibility of some things.
SPEAKER_05: He has created work for you, and he has created you for work.
SPEAKER_05: Therefore, work is worship.
SPEAKER_05: I want you to go to this week to that whatever it is that you call work and worship the one who owns it all.
SPEAKER_05: In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_05: Amen.
SPEAKER_05: You're dismissed.