SPEAKER_05: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_05: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_06: Pray with me.
SPEAKER_06: God, the reason the battle belongs to you is because there is already victory.
SPEAKER_06: Lord, you've won the war.
SPEAKER_06: You've won the war over death and the grave over sin.
SPEAKER_06: You've won the war over hell and the devil and his schemes.
SPEAKER_06: And instead, God, what you've done with all of that is you've given us victory in you, victory in the blood.
SPEAKER_06: You've given us eternal life.
SPEAKER_06: But Lord, before that eternal life, we have an invitation to an abundant life.
SPEAKER_06: One that we get to live out the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_06: How in the world do we see the way you see?
SPEAKER_06: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_06: Where we look beyond ashes, we look beyond the suffering of the cross, and we we see the empty tomb, we see the beauty.
SPEAKER_06: The way we do that, God, is we firmly believe in our hearts that you're in charge, and we believe that you've got something better in mind than what we could ever ask or imagine.
SPEAKER_06: So, God, bring that to fruition, including right now this morning.
SPEAKER_06: Speak to me and through me.
SPEAKER_06: Release your Holy Spirit to move in and among us, for it's in your name, Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_06: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_06: My name is Wade Burgess.
SPEAKER_06: I'm the executive pastor here, and today is a little bit unique.
SPEAKER_06: You know, normally when Neil comes up, he is armed only with the Bible.
SPEAKER_06: For me, I've got a full entourage today.
SPEAKER_06: I've got various helpers and things, but if you'll uh not be distracted by them for only a moment, they're getting set up for uh I'm gonna talk with you for just a few minutes today, and then I'm gonna invite some people up with me, and we are going to discuss how do we take our faith to work.
SPEAKER_06: Now, let me say this about the word work.
SPEAKER_06: What I mean by that is whatever it is that you're called to do, whether that's to be a student or a grandparent, a volunteer, a stay-at-home parent, whether that's a CEO or whatever it is, the term work today will be that idea of your calling.
SPEAKER_06: How do we do that in such a way that the world understands our belief?
SPEAKER_06: And how do we demonstrate Christ in doing so?
SPEAKER_06: Now, whatever I talk to you about today, and whatever our panel uh discusses today, all of that is really just a goal to encourage you, and it's to encourage you with this.
SPEAKER_06: There is nothing more likely to have an individual, intimate impact like a witness.
SPEAKER_06: The idea of apologetics where you are making an argument for what you believe.
SPEAKER_06: There will never be a good enough argument.
SPEAKER_06: There will never be enough facts or anything else that someone cannot dispute less than they can dispute your experience.
SPEAKER_06: And so that's our goal today.
SPEAKER_06: Now, as part of this, I'm going to use a book called The Gospel at Work.
SPEAKER_06: It's by Traeger and Gilbert.
SPEAKER_06: It's a great book.
SPEAKER_06: I would recommend that if you want to know more about this idea of, hey, how do I take my faith to work?
SPEAKER_06: And there's some other good ones too.
SPEAKER_06: There's wisdom at work, there's taking your faith to work.
SPEAKER_06: All three of those I would recommend to you, but none would I recommend more than the Bible and what it has to say about God, his intent for work, why he designed us for it, and what he wants us to get out of it.
SPEAKER_06: Let's start in Genesis.
SPEAKER_06: Genesis chapter two.
SPEAKER_06: This is really the very beginning.
SPEAKER_06: God has created the world, He set the forms of the earth, He's created man and animal.
SPEAKER_06: And this is what it says early on, Genesis chapter 2, verse 15, says, The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
SPEAKER_06: God created work.
SPEAKER_06: Now it didn't become the four-letter word, we know it today, until sin entered in.
SPEAKER_06: Sin has consequences.
SPEAKER_06: Just one chapter over, we understand what that looks like when God tells Adam this, as Adam and Eve have decided we're going to pursue our selfish desire.
SPEAKER_06: We're not going to listen to what God commanded us.
SPEAKER_06: Genesis 3:17, God said to Adam, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it.
SPEAKER_06: Cursed is the ground because of you.
SPEAKER_06: In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
SPEAKER_06: Work that was meant to be fulfilling is now frustrating.
SPEAKER_06: Work that was meant to have a purpose is now sometimes feeling pointless to us because of sin.
SPEAKER_06: That was not how God originally designed it.
SPEAKER_06: He didn't say, Hey, devil, what can you come up with that would aggravate the snot out of most people?
SPEAKER_06: Go.
SPEAKER_06: God designed it for us, and it's the consequence of sin that has made it what it is.
SPEAKER_06: But despite sin, God says, I still have the same purpose for you.
SPEAKER_06: The same thing I originally intended is now what I intend for you at work, and that is for you to demonstrate me and me get the glory.
SPEAKER_06: If we'll change our focus to that, then real purpose can come from the toil, real purpose can come out of the striving and from the labor.
SPEAKER_06: Now let me give you a warning about work.
SPEAKER_06: It can become an idol.
SPEAKER_06: An idol is simply anything that gets in the way of or we've put in front of God.
SPEAKER_06: How do you know when you're making work an idol?
SPEAKER_06: Number one, work is the primary source of your satisfaction.
SPEAKER_06: Work goes great, man, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_06: Everything is terrific.
SPEAKER_06: Work goes bad.
SPEAKER_06: Oh, this stinks.
SPEAKER_06: Life stinks.
SPEAKER_06: That's how you know.
SPEAKER_06: Hey, if I maybe put that in place, because what God would say is, do you not trust me?
SPEAKER_06: Do you not believe I am who I say I am?
SPEAKER_06: The second way you know that you're maybe making work an idol is that the goal of being the best you can be is to make a name for yourself instead of a name for God, instead of giving God the glory.
SPEAKER_06: And I think a lot of us do this very easily.
SPEAKER_06: You get a congratulations or you make a good grade, or the kids actually behave for 15 minutes while at home, whatever it is, and you're like, yes, I am finally in charge.
SPEAKER_06: Perhaps we should be saying, Yes, God, you're still coming through.
SPEAKER_06: God, you did that.
SPEAKER_06: Someone says, Boy, great job on that project.
SPEAKER_06: Hey, it was a lot of prayer and divine intervention.
SPEAKER_06: When we work as an act of worshiping God, because there's no need to do anything further than that, if the promotion comes and God's in it, we say yes.
SPEAKER_06: But the key reason for work is not our definition of success.
SPEAKER_06: Instead, it's how do we demonstrate what we believe?
SPEAKER_06: Churchleaders.com published an article and it was entitled this Three Things Your Congregate Should Know About a Christian Work Ethic.
SPEAKER_06: I wanted to share those three things with you.
SPEAKER_06: Number one, Christians work in security, not scarcity.
SPEAKER_06: Many work environments will either state directly or indirectly this idea of scarcity.
SPEAKER_06: I mean, think about it for a minute.
SPEAKER_06: You can't help a co-worker because if you do, well, that takes up time that you should have been doing your job, and then you know the coworker's not gonna give you any credit when they get credit for the work you helped them do, and then you're gonna get in trouble at work because you didn't do the work.
SPEAKER_06: You were supposed to.
SPEAKER_06: You see what I mean by scarcity?
SPEAKER_06: Or perhaps, you know, we've got to make one more sale.
SPEAKER_06: Well, I sold as many uh as I did last month.
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, but we need you to sell three more.
SPEAKER_06: Well, I did that.
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, well, we need you to sell six more.
SPEAKER_06: In the business I used to be in, somehow every time it was supposed to be budget plus three percent of last year.
SPEAKER_06: We're like, what do you want me to run over people for us to operate them on?
SPEAKER_06: Well, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_06: It's always more.
SPEAKER_06: It's always this idea of scarcity.
SPEAKER_06: We never have enough sales, enough product.
SPEAKER_06: The turnaround time is certainly not quick enough.
SPEAKER_06: We never have enough customers on and on and on.
SPEAKER_06: James, the brother of John, writes this in chapter four of his book that's in the Bible, and I'll summarize it.
SPEAKER_06: James is saying this.
SPEAKER_06: You know why there's quarrels and war?
SPEAKER_06: You know why you're fighting all the time?
SPEAKER_06: Because you want what you want when you want it.
SPEAKER_06: And by the way, the reason you're not getting what you're asking for is because you'd use it on yourself instead of someone else.
SPEAKER_06: This envy and greed, this idea of I'll never have enough.
SPEAKER_06: We'll never have enough retirement.
SPEAKER_06: I mean, when do you retire?
SPEAKER_06: Well, I don't know, but I'll never have enough.
SPEAKER_06: Well, how much is enough?
SPEAKER_06: I'm not really sure.
SPEAKER_06: And so we go on and on with this idea of scarcity.
SPEAKER_06: Let me tell you what scarcity produces.
SPEAKER_06: It produces idols.
SPEAKER_06: It will produce idols that you will put in front of or in place of God.
SPEAKER_06: Security instead is a byproduct of our faith.
SPEAKER_06: If scarcity produces idols, then security is going to be a byproduct of our faith.
SPEAKER_06: What I believe in gives me security.
SPEAKER_06: The second thing they mentioned our congregate should know about a Christian work ethic is that Christians work ethically.
SPEAKER_06: Now, we should have a work ethic as Christians.
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_06: The Bible talks about that.
SPEAKER_06: The Bible says, you don't work, you don't eat.
SPEAKER_06: It's kind of the same thing my grandmother would say.
SPEAKER_06: She said, you know, the surest cure to hunger is to work.
SPEAKER_06: You have to have a work ethic if you're going to be a Christian at work.
SPEAKER_06: But here's what they're talking about.
SPEAKER_06: They're talking about working ethically.
SPEAKER_06: More people are watching you than you'll realize.
SPEAKER_06: In fact, I would argue more people are watching you than they realize.
SPEAKER_06: It's kind of like parenting.
SPEAKER_06: What you do speaks so loud, I can't hear what you're saying.
SPEAKER_06: That's the same way at work or at school or at home raising our kids.
SPEAKER_06: It's the same way when we treat our spouse.
SPEAKER_06: Now, son, don't treat your mother ugly, and then what am I doing?
SPEAKER_06: Well, dad, don't worry about it because I'm just watching you.
SPEAKER_06: Philippians chapter 2, verse 14 reads this Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.
SPEAKER_06: How are we going to be a light in the world if we look just like them?
SPEAKER_06: The idea of working ethically is not just the big decisions like, well, I promise not to embezzle.
SPEAKER_06: Oh, well yeah.
SPEAKER_06: Well, about 92% of the people you work with have already made that decision.
SPEAKER_06: So what's special about you, Christian?
SPEAKER_06: Ethics and working ethically is the little things.
SPEAKER_06: Perhaps you're a waitress and you go to your table and you say, Hey folks, I'm sorry that your food's not coming out.
SPEAKER_06: The kitchen got backed up, they're kind of slow back there.
SPEAKER_06: We're working through it.
SPEAKER_06: It's gonna be about another 10 minutes.
SPEAKER_06: When the truth is, and maybe you just tell them this, hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_06: I got busy, I forgot to turn in your ticket.
SPEAKER_06: You see how easy it is to maybe kind of cloud those ethics just a little bit.
SPEAKER_06: And by the way, it always starts small.
SPEAKER_06: It's never the big thing.
SPEAKER_06: It always starts small and then a little more and then a little more.
SPEAKER_06: As a mom, maybe, you know, you're you're trying to raise the kids, and perhaps just out of frustration, not necessarily to them, but in front of them, you're talking badly about your spouse.
SPEAKER_06: And you know what that does?
SPEAKER_06: That gives them permission to not only feel the same way, but to maybe say the same things.
SPEAKER_06: Ethics.
SPEAKER_06: It's the little things.
SPEAKER_06: It's the things we do when no one is looking, and it's certainly the things we do when they are looking.
SPEAKER_06: Ethics are needed in order to have that Christian ethical work.
SPEAKER_06: We have to have a good attitude.
SPEAKER_06: We got to work hard.
SPEAKER_06: We got to respect our coworkers and our supervisors, even when they don't, especially when they don't deserve it.
SPEAKER_06: Why?
SPEAKER_06: Because you could be the only Christian that your coworkers are gonna see.
SPEAKER_06: You could be the only Christian those students are going to see.
SPEAKER_06: And I promise you, if you're a stay-at-home parent, you are likely right now the only Christian your kids are going to see, unless you have on purpose and you should surround them with good influence.
SPEAKER_06: The third thing churchleaders.com gave for our congregates to know about a Christian work ethic is this Christians work to be a blessing.
SPEAKER_06: Now, that doesn't necessarily mean, hey, you need to work and make a bunch of money so you can give it all away.
SPEAKER_06: It might be.
SPEAKER_06: But I think what it means is this is that we are working beyond the actual means.
SPEAKER_06: It's not an end, it is a means to an end.
SPEAKER_06: What do I mean?
SPEAKER_06: Well, let's pretend that you're a stay-at-home mom and you're making breakfast for the family.
SPEAKER_06: Are you making breakfast?
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
SPEAKER_06: Are you giving them nourishment?
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
SPEAKER_06: But you know what else you're doing?
SPEAKER_06: You're showing what priority looks like.
SPEAKER_06: You're showing what sacrifice looks like.
SPEAKER_06: Maybe there's a coworker that's stressed, and oh man, every time you talk to him, they're stressed, and they're like, I don't know how we're gonna make it through this meeting.
SPEAKER_06: I mean, they're gonna kill us in this meeting.
SPEAKER_06: There's no way we're gonna make this sale.
SPEAKER_06: I don't know what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_06: And instead, they look over at you and they've seen you bothered before, but they also see you at an even keel and says, hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_06: It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it does.
SPEAKER_06: I got to feed my family.
SPEAKER_06: Oh man, I believe in a God that knows our every need and he's got more than enough to supply.
SPEAKER_06: That's what I think being a blessing at work looks like.
SPEAKER_06: Asking them, how can I pray for you?
SPEAKER_06: Perhaps you're across the street at Austin High School on Tuesday and you look at a fellow student and you just say to them, Hey, you look like you're stressed.
SPEAKER_06: Can I pray with you?
SPEAKER_06: Now, I've not taken a poll on this.
SPEAKER_06: This is just a hypothesis.
SPEAKER_06: I've never met an atheist that didn't say yes to prayer.
SPEAKER_06: Have you ever met anybody that if you offered to pray with them, they just said, No, no thanks.
SPEAKER_06: To be a blessing at work.
SPEAKER_06: Acts 20, verse 35 reads this In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak.
SPEAKER_06: And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, It is more blessed to give than receive.
SPEAKER_06: So, how do you ensure you're going to be a blessing at work?
SPEAKER_06: Well, it's two very easy things that you need to do consistently.
SPEAKER_06: Number one, you need to pray.
SPEAKER_06: You need to be praying, God, make me a blessing here.
SPEAKER_06: God, when I get out of my vehicle on Tuesday, when I get home tonight, whatever it is, God, let me be a blessing to this place.
SPEAKER_06: Whatever that is, I trust you.
SPEAKER_06: And we need to have our soul fed with the word.
SPEAKER_06: We need to spend time in the Bible so we understand what is it that God is calling me to?
SPEAKER_06: When we do that, there's freedom.
SPEAKER_06: There's freedom in the right priorities, there's freedom in working as if for Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: The first freedom is that you get to worship God through your work.
SPEAKER_06: You get to demonstrate your belief, and you get to demonstrate the belief of how mighty God is.
SPEAKER_06: The second freedom we get is if working for Christ is that it gives us freedom to serve others.
SPEAKER_06: Why does it give us freedom to serve others?
SPEAKER_06: Because really it's this we trust God, therefore we get to rest as well.
SPEAKER_06: We don't have to work from can to cane all the time.
SPEAKER_06: I remember I used to try to work from, you know, to midnight or one o'clock, and then I'd get to work at eight, and man, the work, how is that how between 1 a.m.
SPEAKER_06: and 8 a.m.
SPEAKER_06: did more work come in?
SPEAKER_06: I do not understand this.
SPEAKER_06: Are we hiring people to send me emails?
SPEAKER_06: What are we doing?
SPEAKER_06: And so I would work and work and work, and it kept seeming like I never got on top of it.
SPEAKER_06: And then finally I realized with a little help from my wife's uh gentle encouragement, um, that hey, you don't need to keep working like that.
SPEAKER_06: And so you know what I did?
SPEAKER_06: I stopped work at between five and six o'clock every day.
SPEAKER_06: And you know what I found out?
SPEAKER_06: There wasn't any more work when I got there at eight.
SPEAKER_06: God's math doesn't make sense in a lot of different ways, and I think that's one of them.
SPEAKER_06: If we work as if for Jesus, then we get to trust him.
SPEAKER_06: And what do we do with that?
SPEAKER_06: We get to rest in it.
SPEAKER_06: The final thing that I think the final freedom that we get for working as if for Jesus, it gives us a joy.
SPEAKER_06: It gives us a joy at work, and that's a great witness to have.
SPEAKER_06: When you come in with an attitude of I get to versus I got to, as Ernie Johnson would say, then that is a great gift and a great witness.
SPEAKER_06: Money is important, advancement in career is important, good grades is important, raising your kids, vitally important.
SPEAKER_06: But ultimately, your job in whatever you're called to, wherever you are, is to love God and to love others better.
SPEAKER_06: I've got some guests with me today.
SPEAKER_06: I'm gonna ask them to come up on stage and we're gonna talk about exactly this.
SPEAKER_06: How is work worship and how do we move from this idea of it being a necessary evil to something that can be a blessing?
SPEAKER_06: So, with the four of my guests, come on up and we'll uh we'll have you here.
SPEAKER_06: We'll just talk and discuss.
SPEAKER_06: You all are welcome to clap for him if you like, just to break the silence.
SPEAKER_06: So, coming on the stage right now is Mike and then Laura, Earl, and Jim.
SPEAKER_06: You guys have a seat there.
SPEAKER_06: Thanks for being here this morning.
SPEAKER_06: I'll be honest, Earl, I didn't think you were gonna make it.
SPEAKER_06: So uh thanks for thanks for coming and getting up early for us.
SPEAKER_06: I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_06: Uh Mike, tell the folks what you do for a living.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I've been in laws, law enforcement for about 15 years.
SPEAKER_00: I work at the Sugarland Police Department now as a criminal intelligence analyst.
SPEAKER_06: All right.
SPEAKER_06: With an emphasis on intelligence, am I right?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, big issue.
SPEAKER_00: All right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_06: Laura, what do you do?
SPEAKER_06: I am a stay-at-home mom.
SPEAKER_06: Uh hardest, yeah, the hardest job out there because I've met your kids.
SPEAKER_03: Uh Jim, what what what what do you do?
SPEAKER_03: Uh for most of my business uh life I've been an entrepreneur.
SPEAKER_03: Currently, I'm uh uh part of an ownership in a uh contracting company.
SPEAKER_06: All right.
SPEAKER_03: Earl, do you work?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm a banker, but you know, so we've let's assume yeah, it's kind of like work, but Okay.
SPEAKER_06: All right.
SPEAKER_06: Now Earl is a VP of Regions Bank.
SPEAKER_06: His uh territory extends from New Orleans, is that right?
SPEAKER_06: That's correct.
SPEAKER_06: All the way to Houston.
SPEAKER_06: And if you've looked around at any corner, you've either seen a CVS, a mattress store, or a Regions Bank.
SPEAKER_06: And most of those are due to Earl and his hard work and his team there.
SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
SPEAKER_06: Earl, how long have you Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_06: That's all the people looking for free money.
SPEAKER_02: Bankers are necessary.
SPEAKER_06: That's bankers are necessary.
SPEAKER_06: As far as I'm concerned.
SPEAKER_06: Is that why y'all open so early?
SPEAKER_06: I mean, uh anyway.
SPEAKER_06: Um Well, Jim, let me start with you, kind of our senior statesman, if you will.
SPEAKER_06: Um as a Christian, what is your objective when you go to work?
SPEAKER_06: Or maybe asked another way, um, what's your goal, kind of both daily and over the course of your career, based on your belief?
SPEAKER_03: Well, that wasn't the question you uh posed to me in your letter, but I can uh my perspective on work has uh changed.
SPEAKER_03: Uh most recently, I think, uh, unlike most of the people in this room, I only had Jesus enter my life in my 70s.
SPEAKER_03: So before that, work was an idol, just like you said earlier.
SPEAKER_03: Uh I had no retirement, it wasn't even in my brain.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I didn't even think about retirement.
SPEAKER_03: Uh when I hit 65, my life was turned upside down in many ways.
SPEAKER_03: And uh I thought about retirement, but when I did uh retire, it was just uh it was very short-lived.
SPEAKER_03: Um when I reached my late 60s, and the Lord presented me with the love of my life, she should be in here somewhere.
SPEAKER_03: Um Mary was and gave her life to Christ very early in life uh when she was nine, as I recall, and uh that perspective that that she brought to me when I gave my life to Christ uh really turned everything upside down.
SPEAKER_03: Uh I still continue to work.
SPEAKER_03: I can still continue to invest in companies and and but it turned into helping younger men take their skills and help them monetize those skills into a business.
SPEAKER_03: Recently it became a ministry because I had the opportunity to help these men in their work, but also bring them to Christ in many ways.
SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, as the opportunity presented itself, I've learned that you don't push anybody into anything.
SPEAKER_03: Uh most of what you do is be an example in business, not only about how to make money.
SPEAKER_03: But how to be ethical and all the things that God would want you to do.
SPEAKER_03: To present, I mean to do these help these young men work for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
SPEAKER_06: Laura, on the opposite end of that stay-at-home mom, how do you find value in that?
SPEAKER_06: I mean, to some extent, just maybe a little bit.
SPEAKER_06: World, or you might feel the world says, well, you know, you're not out earning, you're not outdoing, contributing.
SPEAKER_06: So maybe there's a lesson there.
SPEAKER_06: How do you find value in that stay-at-home job?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll be really transparent with y'all.
SPEAKER_01: I did not have the most graceful transition to stay-at-home moming.
SPEAKER_01: Um I was eight months pregnant with our youngest, and COVID kind of smashed into our world, and uh I was unexpectedly without a job for the first time since I was like 15.
SPEAKER_01: And we were virtually schooling, which side note, we realized homeschooling was not in our future.
SPEAKER_01: So um I have a lot of respect for stay-at-home moms who also homeschool.
SPEAKER_01: That is not us.
SPEAKER_01: Um but uh I had kind of a major identity crisis.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I didn't really know who I was or what my purpose was without a paycheck.
SPEAKER_01: And uh so I started having some really honest conversations with the Lord over the last year and a half, and I feel like he graciously reminded me that uh he doesn't love me because of what I do, he loves me because of who he says I am.
SPEAKER_01: And um so that was pretty helpful and huge because I realized I had kind of made work an idol also without even knowing it.
SPEAKER_01: Um it was who I was, it was my identity.
SPEAKER_01: Um so I had to shift my perspective, and then um I feel like the Lord really brought into focus that I I knew this already, but that my ministry and my mission field was my children, was my home.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean it's the same for any parents, whether they're working outside of the home or in the home, but it just may look a little different.
SPEAKER_01: And so um my ministry mission field was inside my home.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, I have such a short window of time with my kids to show them who the Lord says they are before the world comes in and tries to tell them something different.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh I've I've tried to really focus on that and um be intentional in that.
SPEAKER_01: And it was kind of funny last night I was talking to our oldest, I was telling him that I was gonna be doing this today, and he goes, That's weird.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why they asked you instead of dad, you don't even have a job.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I instantly went back to my teenage self saying something similar to my mom, and I had to draw on all the strengths she must have had, not just slap me across the room.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I reminded him that uh I didn't just have a job, I had lots of jobs as a full-time stay-at-home mom.
SPEAKER_01: Um and I think a year and a half ago that probably would have really offended me, but uh I just kind of laughed about it last night because I know that's not where my identity is.
SPEAKER_01: And uh so yeah, it's it's really I'm entering into a more joyful season.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's kind of a joke around here.
SPEAKER_01: I used to work at the church, it was kind of a joke that I had a million different jobs, and I will say being a stay-at-home mom is the hardest job I've ever had, um, but also the most rewarding.
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
SPEAKER_06: Earl, now you're in a unique situation right now.
SPEAKER_06: Your uh last child just went to college.
SPEAKER_06: You and Marcy are kind of empty nesters uh for for the first time.
SPEAKER_06: How do you expect that empty nest?
SPEAKER_06: What do you expect it to hold for you and Marcy?
SPEAKER_06: And how are you prioritizing marriage over work?
SPEAKER_06: Because I think for some of us at this time it's, well, I don't need to go home as much anymore, right?
SPEAKER_06: I mean, there's no kids that I gotta go to.
SPEAKER_06: My wife, she'll be fine.
SPEAKER_06: I'll just work more.
SPEAKER_06: How do you prioritize marriage over work in this stage?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a great question because um it's something I started thinking about about four years ago.
SPEAKER_02: And I'll give a shameless plug for our D group, and it started with you, Wade, about four years ago.
SPEAKER_02: Really started to realize when my first son, my son, my oldest, he went to college, and I started to think this is getting real.
SPEAKER_02: You know, soon uh my wife and I have been together for 30 years.
SPEAKER_02: Soon my daughter's gonna go to college, and I had never been intentional about our marriage, quite frankly.
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, I started to learn who God was through our D group, and then I started to understand my identity is not in my performance at work.
SPEAKER_02: My identity was in who God sees me as in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Then I joined a group of guys in the stand on Monday nights, and that really resonated with me because I was talking a lot about insecurities and things at work, and I started to think more and more and more that when my daughter goes to school, which she did three weeks ago, um, it's just gonna be my wife and I.
SPEAKER_02: And I've learned that strong marriages are are built intentionally, and it's a hundred percent effort on both sides, and and I felt like I had to be the one that built that strong marriage because love alone doesn't sustain a strong marriage, it's it's putting each other first, and so I had to really start to think of ways that I was giving uh and pursuing my wife, and um and so the thought of being an empty nester, uh the reality of that, um, as it was as it was sort of ticking up and getting closer, um, I just started to find different ways to make her the priority.
SPEAKER_02: And getting home at five o'clock from work was painful.
SPEAKER_02: It really was.
SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, going to work early in the morning to make sure that I was home at five o'clock, and then to come home and I want to listen to my wife.
SPEAKER_02: She doesn't really care what my day was like at work.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, she cares about me, but me coming home and telling her how rough things were is not interesting to her.
SPEAKER_02: Let me come home and listen to her, and that has been really, really uh invigorating for us.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, our marriage has gotten so strong over the last couple of years because I'm intentional about trying to learn who she is, what she likes.
SPEAKER_02: Whereas, you know, for all those years, we were just raising kids.
SPEAKER_02: Every conversation was about kids.
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
SPEAKER_02: And now the conversation's about her, and and I'll listen to her, and and that has changed the perspective entirely.
SPEAKER_06: I appreciate you sharing that.
SPEAKER_06: Mike, when you and I had met, just to briefly prepare you for this, you had shared with me that you served in the military before the the police uh for law enforcement.
SPEAKER_06: And one of the things you said that the military had taught you is the difference between can and can't.
SPEAKER_06: Could you just unpack that for us for just a minute?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um when you're in boot camp and AIT and you have drill sergeants yelling at you and telling you to pack up, and you've got one minute to do this, and 30 seconds to shower, and um you got you know five minutes to run this mile or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: Me coming in initially, uh, you know, these are things that I wasn't used to doing.
SPEAKER_00: And uh over time you learn forcefully uh learn that uh these are things that can be done.
SPEAKER_00: Um you just have to step, you know, get outside of your mind and and make that happen.
SPEAKER_00: So once you start putting that belief of uh I can't do this, I can't achieve this, I can't get through this, um, and start looking approaching things with a positive attitude, with that I can attitude, then uh you you'd be amazed at what can get accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the gospel teaches us that you know all things are possible through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, me as a believer, I can't I have a hard time um saying, you know, I I can't make it through this, or this is too much for me, or um I can't, you know, meet this deadline or make this project.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, if I'm a believer and a believer of the gospel, the gospel says different.
SPEAKER_00: I've yet to read anywhere in the Bible where it says God can't.
SPEAKER_00: So I just keep that attitude that you know, if God can, then if it's for me, then I can as well.
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_06: Laura, working from home, okay?
SPEAKER_06: It's probably if I said, hey, how do you witness?
SPEAKER_06: You might say, Yeah, I don't.
SPEAKER_06: I just try to keep this house together.
SPEAKER_06: But how have you found opportunities or avenues to be an active witness for your belief?
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I actually it's been kind of cool.
SPEAKER_01: I think ever since we moved into our neighborhood, we really wanted to get to know our neighbors.
SPEAKER_01: Um and we would like take little gifts to new people that moved in, and it was always kind of met with like skepticism like, why are you at my door giving me something?
SPEAKER_01: Um and when COVID hit, um, people were home more, and people, you know, our neighbors were all kind of outside a lot more with their kids, so we were outside a lot more.
SPEAKER_01: And so we were able to just form these great relationships with our neighbors.
SPEAKER_01: And um we now have block parties like once a month, and we'll have like 50 people.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's been pretty awesome, but what's really cool about it is like the probably seven closest houses to us.
SPEAKER_01: Out of that, there's four houses that are all strong believers, and we've all kind of come together and said, we've all wanted to have these relationships.
SPEAKER_01: We all want to be intentional with our neighbors, especially our neighbors who don't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so um we've all just started praying about what that can look like and um how we can be more intentional in our faith towards our neighbors around us.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's been one way.
SPEAKER_01: It's been really fun and great to get to know the people around us.
SPEAKER_01: Um and then about six months ago I started praying, all right, Lord, now that I'm in this season, what do you want my ministry to be?
SPEAKER_01: What do you, you know, besides my kids, besides the home, what do you want, how do you want me to be reaching out to those who don't know Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: And um I really felt like he was saying moms with young kids because when else am I gonna have that kind of accessibility to that group of people?
SPEAKER_01: And um, so I found that we have a mom's club in our neighborhood, and uh so I joined it, and the day after I joined it, they were having a mom's night out, like us thinking to my opponent, and I was like, I do not want to go to that.
SPEAKER_01: And uh my husband was like, All right, Laura, you gotta get off the couch, go to the party.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, nobody asked you, leave me alone.
SPEAKER_01: And um, but I went and uh I'm glad I did.
SPEAKER_01: It's been really interesting to get to uh spend time with these ladies, a lot of whom do not know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Um and I'm still working on building those bridges, but I'm I'm trying to be very intentional about going out to these things, having you know, play dates, and spending time with these ladies.
SPEAKER_01: Um, because I feel like, you know, I've got wide open accessibility that I would not have otherwise had to these moms in this stage of life because I can relate.
SPEAKER_01: And so I would say that's been a big ministry for me right now.
SPEAKER_06: I think that's a great point.
SPEAKER_06: You know, all of us, wherever we are, at work, school, wherever, we likely are invited into a lot more places than we would be if we had the shirt that said, I'm a Christian, can I come in?
SPEAKER_06: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_06: But because we are Christians and because God has put us there, there's more open doors for us than we could have ever imagined.
SPEAKER_06: So I think that's a great point.
SPEAKER_06: Jim, for the the folks that are younger than 60 in the crowd, what do you wish you knew when you started working?
SPEAKER_06: What would you tell them?
SPEAKER_06: Man, I wish if I had to go back and do it over again, I wish I knew fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_03: Well, there's a long and a short answer to that.
SPEAKER_03: Short answer is no, Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: All right.
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
SPEAKER_03: Uh that's been the biggest change in my life, although it was it in my early 70s.
SPEAKER_03: Uh my advice to young people are my advice to my son is find somebody you can't live without.
SPEAKER_03: Put down the roots in Christ.
SPEAKER_03: Do what you love and call that work, and do it all for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_06: That's good.
SPEAKER_06: What has been um what would you say is a key ingredient to you demonstrating your faith?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think um I think when when I come to work every day, especially, you know, there's honesty and integrity, there's trust, um, but it's demonstrated in how you act and how you handle difficult things.
SPEAKER_02: And you mentioned it a while ago, when something's not right, and how you handle that, it will demonstrate where your faith and your priority is.
SPEAKER_02: And um and while banking, uh, while some may say that's not actually a career, um, you know, there are things that don't always go well.
SPEAKER_02: And uh and I feel like I'm the general manager of the universe half the time.
SPEAKER_02: And when things aren't right, the way I handle that is gonna have a profound impact on someone that I'm working with.
SPEAKER_02: And if I'm slamming the desk or getting mad, then it's very obvious that I don't trust, I don't trust God in that situation.
SPEAKER_02: There's no one at work that doesn't know what my religious worldview is.
SPEAKER_02: There's no one at work that doesn't know that I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_02: And uh and I don't and I don't think I've ever even had to tell anyone that.
SPEAKER_02: It's I think in the way that I handle things is gonna be the difference maker.
SPEAKER_02: And the same with my kids.
SPEAKER_02: There's 7,000 days from crib to college, and every interaction I have with my kids, or every interaction I have with someone that works with me at the bank has a profound impact on their development.
SPEAKER_02: And like you said, if if I treat someone wrong, then that'll validate their you know their their reaction.
SPEAKER_02: And if I handle a situation the right way with with prayer and with thoughtfulness, it sends a great message at work.
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_06: Last question, and I saved it for Mike.
SPEAKER_06: Mike, one of the things you mentioned to me that has been an ingredient for your success as a witness is to have a long-term memory for what God has done.
SPEAKER_06: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_00: Uh I think for for me personally, it's the journey, uh, you know, starting young and then uh maturing, maturing in the word and the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Um I know it could be just me, but I've said, God, if you get me through this, I promise I won't, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Um no one else here has done that, has Neil said.
SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, there comes a point when you as you're as I as I'm maturing and and learning more about the gospel and you know walking a little bit closer to Christ that you know we have to take in um you start to grow confident and and really start believing what you're reading.
SPEAKER_06: Um what what Mike is is um is feeling a little bit right now, I hope he doesn't mind me sharing.
SPEAKER_06: Um he had the opportunity to adopt two of his nephews, unexpected, completely, out of the blue.
SPEAKER_06: I think they were both teenagers.
SPEAKER_06: It so happened that they didn't have to make that decision.
SPEAKER_06: There was another family member that stepped in and helped with that.
SPEAKER_06: But Mike shared that with me, and he said this, Wade, at first I wasn't sure because my job wasn't gonna increase my pay just because I took on two more mouths to feed.
SPEAKER_06: And these kids were gonna be teenagers, they were gonna have a lot more needs than I was expecting.
SPEAKER_06: And I said, Well, golly, Mike, what in the world were you gonna do?
SPEAKER_06: He said, I don't know, but I just remember how good God's been to me.
SPEAKER_06: And I knew he wasn't gonna miss it this time.
SPEAKER_06: I didn't think a big fellow like yourself was gonna get emotional up here about his emails.
SPEAKER_06: It's a simple question.
SPEAKER_06: Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_06: Well, let me uh let me try to do this.
SPEAKER_06: Let me try to summarize what you've heard this morning from our very gracious panel, willing to share.
SPEAKER_06: Uh one, you heard be an example.
SPEAKER_06: Everything we do will be looked at, and people are looking to see are you true or are you not?
SPEAKER_06: The second thing I think you heard was community is important.
SPEAKER_06: You heard that from Laura and the fact that there are other believers are engaged in their neighborhood.
SPEAKER_06: You heard it from Earl related to D groups.
SPEAKER_06: Uh it's community is important that we have someone come alongside of us and help us in that.
SPEAKER_06: You've also heard that you have to be intentional.
SPEAKER_06: You cannot just go out and expect it to work.
SPEAKER_06: You've got to be intentional with what you do, with what you say.
SPEAKER_06: And let me just say this to parents for for just a minute.
SPEAKER_06: Um, Earl touched on this related to the relationship he has with his kids.
SPEAKER_06: I have to be intentional with them.
SPEAKER_06: Parents, let me say this to you.
SPEAKER_06: If you are going to argue in front of your kids, I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but if you're gonna do that, you'd better be making up in front of them also.
SPEAKER_06: Now, I'm not talking about some gross song of Solomon Brent Wildison's sermon, okay?
SPEAKER_06: What I'm talking about, what I'm talking about is we will likely, if your house is like mine, we will show them how to argue, but we don't show them how to reconcile.
SPEAKER_06: Don't forget to do that second part, okay?
SPEAKER_06: Be as intentional at home as you are outside of home.
SPEAKER_06: Uh, I think also you heard from Laura related to this identity in Christ.
SPEAKER_06: I gotta know who I am.
SPEAKER_06: It doesn't matter about my 12-year-old said, Well, you don't even have a job.
SPEAKER_06: Hey boy, you will go missing tomorrow.
SPEAKER_06: You'll be in a milk carton by the time this week is done.
SPEAKER_06: But my identity is not in what you think of me, my identity is in Christ, and then that identity allows me to live out what I'm supposed to.
SPEAKER_06: And what you heard from Mike was this idea of a positive attitude has to be necessary in order to be a witness.
SPEAKER_06: We can find all kinds of things about I can't.
SPEAKER_06: The trick is, how do we find I can and then live that out?
SPEAKER_06: Well, we only do that by one way, having a long-term memory for how good God has been to us.
SPEAKER_06: Now, as our custom here at Grand Park Way, I've got four questions for you all to consider this week.
SPEAKER_06: Take one or two of them and think about that, okay?
SPEAKER_06: I'm gonna pray, and as I do, I'll ask the panel to take their seats.
SPEAKER_06: We're gonna give you just a moment to consider these questions, and then I'll come back and close us.
SPEAKER_06: God, thanks so much for how you talk to and through us.
SPEAKER_06: Thanks for these lives.
SPEAKER_06: That every one of them is different from their rearing to their jobs to the way they believe about what you've called them to, but there's one thing that's the same, and that is their belief in you, their intentionality to live the way you want them to.
SPEAKER_06: So, God, thanks for that.
SPEAKER_06: Thank you, God, for reminding us that a long-term memory for how good you've been is necessary.
SPEAKER_06: You got a long track record.
SPEAKER_06: And as Mike said, there's nowhere in the Bible where it says God can't.
SPEAKER_06: You are the God of possibilities.
SPEAKER_06: So, Lord, don't let us put anything in our minds impossible.
SPEAKER_06: Because you can do all things.
SPEAKER_06: I thank you for that.
SPEAKER_06: I pray these things in your son's name.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: Consider these questions for just a moment.
SPEAKER_06: You know, here's the crazy thing about work until Jesus comes back, we're probably gonna have to stay at it.
SPEAKER_06: And the best way for us to work is to do what Jesus would do, and that's just love.
SPEAKER_06: That's to have influence through love.
SPEAKER_06: Let me pray for you all in that.
SPEAKER_06: And then I want to show you a quick video.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus, I pray for each person here that they would work as if working for you.
SPEAKER_06: Or there's a lot of freedom in that.
SPEAKER_06: We can rest in that.
SPEAKER_06: And we can turn it all over to the true master of the universe.
SPEAKER_06: Bless us and use us to accomplish what you want us to, for it's in your name, Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: We want to let you know what's coming up in the life of our church, and there's something specific we want to let you know.
SPEAKER_06: Pay attention to the video screens behind me.
SPEAKER_04: Hi, I'm Blake Carcastle, Spiritual Formation Pastor at Grand Parkway, and I'm going to share with you an exciting development we're calling Core Classes.
SPEAKER_04: Every follower of Jesus, in order to thrive, needs to be able to answer three questions.
SPEAKER_04: Where am I?
SPEAKER_04: What is true?
SPEAKER_04: And what am I to do?
SPEAKER_04: God answers all of these through his word.
SPEAKER_04: You see, the Bible, even though it's 66 different books, it's actually one unified story, and we're invited to have a role in that story.
SPEAKER_04: Understanding that invitation is essential to answering the question, where am I?
SPEAKER_04: Some truth God has made explicitly clear because it's critical to being in the kingdom and for Jesus being your king.
SPEAKER_04: This answers the question, what is true?
SPEAKER_04: In certain practices and habits, God says, These are the things I will bless, these are the things I'll give grace through.
SPEAKER_04: And this answers the question, what am I to do?
SPEAKER_04: See, we want every believer at Grant Parkway to have a solid foundation.
SPEAKER_04: So we'll be offering three core classes Christian story, Christian belief, and Christian formation.
SPEAKER_04: We're going to offer all three once a year and just keep repeating them every year.
SPEAKER_04: We want you to eventually take all three.
SPEAKER_04: The first one will be offered this fall midweek called Christian Story, taught by Marcy McClinton.
SPEAKER_04: The next one will be in the winter midweek, and then the third one will be in the spring on a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_04: And then the following year, we'll repeat all three again.
SPEAKER_04: I want you to consider taking at least one class of these three this next year.
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
SPEAKER_06: What Blake was alluding to related to the fall is our midweek start here in another week.
SPEAKER_06: So let me give you a couple of calendar items to think about.
SPEAKER_06: Next Sunday is our picnic, our churchwide picnic.
SPEAKER_06: Everyone is welcome to attend.
SPEAKER_06: You just need to go to grandparkway.org/slash events, click on the picnic, register for that.
SPEAKER_06: It's gonna be a great time of us just having a lot of fun together and enjoying God together.
SPEAKER_06: Then that Tuesday is when our women will begin their Tuesday morning midweek.
SPEAKER_06: Wednesday night is when we begin our adult, student, and kids meeting at midweek as well.
SPEAKER_06: You can find all about that at grandparkway.org slash events.
SPEAKER_06: Thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_06: I appreciate your attendance and attention this morning.
SPEAKER_06: Stand to your feet and I'll offer up a blessing and we'll let you be dismissed.
SPEAKER_06: Hold your hands out as if receiving something.
SPEAKER_06: And let me say this the supervisor of the world, literally the master of the universe, the general manager of everything we know has given you a job.
SPEAKER_06: Go out now and do that job in love as the Savior would.
SPEAKER_06: In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.