Chasing Success | Pastor Daniel Floyd

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Welcome everyone, we're so glad you're here. Wish you join us, let's lift up our praises to the Lord today. [MUSIC] I'm shaking off the heaviness, I'm dancing out of my regrets. I brought caution to the wind, and I am not ashamed to praise like this. So I say it's foolishness, but I say it's worth the risk. I can't forget what Jesus did. I am not ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Looking for the Lord has it. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing on dance 'cause I'm here. I'm free, I'm free, thank God. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. I've got a friend that never quits. My brother loves as good as this. I'm here only once said. I'll never be ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Looking for the Lord has it.

I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing on dance 'cause I'm here. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, thank God. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood now the sinner can't sing. My dead is paid and my record is linked. I couldn't do it 'til you did before. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood now the sinner can't sing. My dead is paid and my record is linked. I couldn't do it 'til you took the cross. You shed your blood, my dead is paid. I couldn't do it 'til you did before. I couldn't do it 'til you did before. I couldn't do it 'til you did before. I couldn't do it 'til you did before. There are those chains that once held me. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Looking for the Lord has it. I'm never going back to the way of us. I'll sing on this 'cause I'm here. I'm free, I'm free, thank God. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood now the sinner can't sing. My dead is paid and my record is linked. I couldn't do it 'til you did it. ♪ You took the cross and you brought your body ♪ My tears hate and my breath hurts me

I couldn't do it if it's time to cry I couldn't do it if it's time to cry I'll look down with the chance I'll look down with the chance And look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the world Look at what the Lord has done It has to work Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the world Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the world Yes Lord God, we thank You That we're free in You, Jesus And where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom So God, we just welcome You today with our praise With our worship, Jesus We sing blessed us Blessed who knows who runs to Him Who plays in open confidence in Jesus He won't forsake them And blessed who knows who seek His face Who bend the knee and fix the gaze on Jesus They won't be shaken So come on and praise Love, love with me Sing if you love His name Come on and lift your voice with me 'Cause He's worthy of all our praise Amen, so worthy

Blessed who knows who walk with Him Who's hearts are set on pilgrimage with Jesus They'll see His glory And blessed who knows who died to live 'Cause joy is to give you all for Jesus And for you, only Oh, Jesus All for you, glory Let's say, come on and praise Love, love with me Sing if you love His name Come on and lift your voice with me Sing if you love His praise Come on and lift your voice with me Sing if you love His name Come on and lift your voice with me Sing if you love His name Come on and lift your voice with me Blessed God, for His always with me Blessed God, for His always worthy Come on and praise Come on and lift your voice with me ♪ I don't wanna live ♪ Come on and pray, your offering's all for your Lord. Sing if you know his grace. Come on and lift up your world, he is. He's worthy of our country. He's worthy, he's worthy of our country. He's worthy of our country. Come on, if you believe that, let's just praise him today in this place.

It's your worthy, Lord. So worthy, Jesus, it's your worthy of all our praise. So worthy of all our praise. Yes, Lord, today we just say that no matter the season of life, no matter what our circumstance is, God, we just say that your faithful will be to clear your goodness and your faithfulness in this room today. Come on, if you can't just say, God, you are good, God, you are faithful. There is no one like you, Jesus, you are faithful, you are faithful. So, what did God, what did God, what did God, come on, let's just listen up to him right now. What did God, what did God, what did God, what did God, we sing of your faithfulness, sing of your goodness, what did God, what did God, there is no one like you, Lord, what did God, what did God, so with the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all, if the best thing that I've seen is your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life forever satisfied, God, you are my heir, if the highest place, if the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all, if the best thing I've seen is your glory, then I've seen it all, if your love has changed my life forever sad it's fine, God, you are my heir, if one word is the only heir, say you speak, say I'm hiding all, if I feel your heart and never see your head, I still have it all, no treasure My love has changed my life forever sad it's fine, God, you are my heir, you are my heir, oh, you are my heir, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you speak, say you ♪ You are my ♪ ♪ You are my ♪ ♪ You are my ♪ ♪ I got you on my day ♪ ♪ But it's like you are ♪ ♪ You are my ♪

♪ Day ♪ ♪ We say ♪ ♪ 'Cause your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name is tangible ♪ ♪ No one like you are ♪ ♪ In all drones ♪ ♪ Intermittent's all powers ♪ ♪ Deprecision's your name ♪ ♪ It stands above and above ♪ ♪ Your name, your name, your name ♪ ♪ It's the highest ♪ ♪ It's the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name ♪ ♪ Your name ♪ ♪ It stands above and above ♪ ♪ It's the highest ♪ ♪ In all drones ♪ ♪ Intermittent's all powers ♪ ♪ In all drones ♪ ♪ Stand above and above ♪ ♪ One of God's one of God's ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ Yes we've seen your faithfulness ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ Come on, sometimes that's all you can sing. ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ And we sing God ♪

♪ You're so good ♪ ♪ God, you're so good ♪ ♪ God, you're so good ♪ ♪ You're so good ♪ ♪ To me ♪ Come on, let's sing that again. God, you're so good. ♪ God, you're so good ♪ ♪ We believe in God ♪ ♪ You're so good ♪ ♪ In God, you're so good ♪ ♪ You're so good ♪ ♪ To me ♪ ♪ You are faithful ♪ ♪ You are faithful ♪ ♪ You are faithful ♪ ♪ You are faithful ♪ ♪ Maybe we made this complicated ♪ ♪ More than it was ever meant to be ♪ ♪ Hasn't it always been about the same things ♪ ♪ And Lord, bring us back to simple things ♪ ♪ For you be the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My Savior, all in all ♪ ♪ And you're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to save ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ And teach us to discern the moments ♪ ♪ Oh, and to serve ♪

♪ And want to sit here on your feet ♪ ♪ Keep us awake to what's important ♪ ♪ And just like Mary, she chose the better thing ♪ ♪ Come on, let's make this our cry ♪ ♪ For you be the center of it all ♪ ♪ God, my heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My Savior, all in all ♪ ♪ For you are the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ My soul is the same ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ You be the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My Savior, all in all ♪ ♪ We are the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your life ♪ ♪ My soul is the same ♪ ♪ And Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ And you're all I love you ♪ ♪ Calling, responding, worship the town ♪ ♪ But all I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ And you're all I love you ♪ ♪ With one voice we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ And my whole life ♪ ♪ For your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ For your all, with everything ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story ♪

♪ Let it be of your only everything ♪ ♪ It's for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life ♪ ♪ For your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ For your all, with everything ♪ ♪ It's for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Jesus and if my days tell a story ♪ ♪ Let it be of your only everything ♪ ♪ It's for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life ♪ ♪ For your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ For your all, with everything ♪ ♪ It's for the honor of the little Jesus ♪ ♪ Let it be of my days tell a story ♪ ♪ Let it be of your only everything ♪ ♪ It's for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life ♪ ♪ Love you ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I wanna lift your voice and sing ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I wanna love you ♪ ♪ For your all, with everything ♪ ♪ It's for your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ And my whole life ♪ ♪ For your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ For your all, with everything ♪ ♪ It's for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Let it be of my days tell a story ♪ ♪ Let it be of your only everything ♪

♪ It's for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life ♪ ♪ For your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ For your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ And my whole life ♪ ♪ It's for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, in my days tell a story ♪ ♪ Let it be of your only everything ♪ ♪ It's for the honor of your glory, my whole life ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ For your glory, my whole life ♪ ♪ They face out of praise ♪ ♪ Lord, we love you ♪ ♪ There is God like you in all the earth ♪ ♪ There's no one greater ♪ ♪ There never has been ♪ ♪ There never will be ♪ ♪ Anyone greater than you ♪ ♪ Our whole life for your glory, Lord ♪ ♪ We love you in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ No, I was earlier this week. I took my 15 year old to get her learners permit. So I need a prayer, teaching her how to drive. And we started out just driving around, actually around here in the parking lot. And it made me realize that, you know, when you sit in the passenger scene, you have no control over the vehicle. First of all, you start to realize

how many fire hydrants there are everywhere. It's kind of wild. You start to cringe, like, "Oh, my word. "Why do they put so many fire hydrants all over the place?" But you realize that it takes a lot of attention. doing all these things like is my foot in the right place and my hands at 10 and 2 hello driver instructors out there right that's how we drive safely. You know I'm using my turn signal and it may be remember that I've let's I heard this quote a long time ago and it said this protect your attention because if you can protect it you can direct it and it and it as I listen to this song it says keep our eyes on what's important it can be so easy in life to lose focus and that something gets our attention that isn't as worthy as Jesus and before we know it we're driving in the wrong direction because our attention is off and we haven't protected it so you might think to yourself well how do I do that how do I protect my attention and the Bible actually has a very simple way of helping us do that it's found in Hebrews 12 chapter 1 it says this therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that's so easily entangled I want to point out to something something there it says throw off it doesn't say lightly put it down it doesn't say when you feel like throwing it off then maybe set it aside it says throw everything off that entangles you throw everything that hinders you and then do this it says next let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith and I just want to encourage you today as we go into next week and everything that's happening in our country we are fixing our eyes on Jesus we're not losing sight of the fact that our attention and our focus is on him and him alone and I want to encourage you to protect that attention protect it set set a boundary around what's getting your mind's attention so that Jesus can be the center of everything amen let me pray for us Lord we thank you for this time of worship we thank you for being the center of our lives we thank you Jesus that you're the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith and I pray for everyone here who's having Lord just having a reset moment where we need to reset our attention and focus it on you would you help us do it in Jesus mighty name amen well welcome to gateway we're so glad y'all are here if you're here for the first time or the first time in a long time church can we give it up for them just say welcome to gateway I want to let you know that we got a

couple of things number one is water baptisms coming up next weekend a few weeks ago when we asked you to pray about what next step you need to take 136 people said they need to get water baptized so we're going to celebrate water baptisms next weekend and then we've got our operation Christmas child boxes we are returning those this weekend next weekend and the following weekend November 15 so go get one of those fill it up bring it back by November 15 so we can bless kids all over the world and if you're new here we want to connect with you so come and see us in lobby afterwards or you can tap the scene in front of you so that we can get connected or text connect to 7 10 10 hey why don't you turn around say hi to somebody that's here for the first time you haven't seen him in a while welcome to gateway y'all so good morning everybody welcome to church come on let's put our hands together for Jesus so glad you are in church today we're continuing a series called full's gold and before we jump into that I do want to say that it is a big week coming up in our nation and how many of you grateful we live in a country where we get to cast a vote what a privilege and an honor that is somebody DM'd me and said are you going to address the election I wanted to respond and say have you been at church because a couple of weeks ago I did address that but I'm a pastor so and whatever's written can be screenshot and shared so I did not just remember that everybody what's on the internet forever but I do want to encourage you I talked about it a few weeks ago but just a reminder that you have a Christian responsibility as a disciple of Jesus to be involved go to where the gospel say you're to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, salt is a preserving factor, not only a good flavor factor. And so our job is a preservative in the culture, and this is one of the ways you help preserve the culture. So be studied, know the issues, and don't check your faith at the door before you go in. You take it everywhere you go. All right, amen, everybody. (congregation applauding) I wanna bring a message entitled today, Chasing Success

as we continue this series. So if you're in the note taking time, go ahead and write that down, if not. Write it down anyways, all right. You know the point, let's pray together, and then let's get into the word. Father, we love you, and we're thankful to be in your presence, and we ask that you would speak to us today. May we never be the same because of our time in your word, challenge us, change us, grow us, make us look more like you. And we pray this in your name. Everybody said, amen, amen. I gotta tell you guys, I'm so excited about today's message. I really believe that if you'll get it in your heart, that it's gonna be transformative in your life and in the world around you, I will also say I've never preached Ecclesiastes chapter two in 30 years of preaching. So the content's great, the delivery is you'll have to see. All right, John Maxwell says you're never good the first time at anything, so. But we'll just trust God, all right? Everybody with me? How many of you remember your very first job? The first legal job, how about that? All right, okay, not the one under the table, the one where you actually had to pay taxes. All right, thank you, real quick.

Every campus that's participate on three, just say it out loud, one, two, three. I don't understand anything that was said. First over, somebody said Chick-fil-A, working for the Christian chicken and you can't have it today, it's Sunday. My very first job, I worked in a Christian bookstore. Bookstores were these things we had young people in the 1900s, where you could go in and purchase books and cards and you could purchase tapes. Tapes were these plastic things. That's how you listen to music. But I worked in there after and during high school, I would go in in my senior year and I'd work in the evenings and it would get it kind of slow in the evenings. So I read a lot of books, y'all. It's where I started reading biographies of great men and women of God. I say it was like my pre-seminary, seminary days, working at the Christian bookstore. And I learned there what I didn't want to do with my life. Sell books, learn real fast what I didn't want to do. But here's what all of us do. We all have a first job and then we end up in some kind of career path for the most of us and it's either we graduate or we get into a skill or a trade and we just go right in to working. And did you know that you spend the majority of your life in this thing called work?

And it's where we provide for our families. It's where we create. It's for some of us where we find meaning, but we all spend a lot of times. Matter of fact, if you work an average full-time job from around your 20s to your 65, you'll spend 90,000 hours of your life at work. That's one-third of your waking hours. And here's what the latest studies say about these work hours and about how we feel about them. 20% of workers worldwide, according to Gallup, say they're engaged at work. So all of you business owners be encouraged today. Here in the US, two out of three workers report that at least one symptom of burnout and more than 80% say they get the Sunday scariest. I didn't know what this was whenever I first read this, but I later learned the Sunday scariest is this. It's the anxiety that comes on on Sunday night for about what you're about to face on Monday morning. 80% of workers. Eight out of 10 people say that they at some time on today, on this Sunday, that later today, there's gonna be a level of anxiety about what they have to walk into the next day. Solomon knew it. He said it this way in Ecclesiastes chapter two. All their days, their work is grief and pain. And hear about this, how many of you can relate to this part of the verse?

Even at night, their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. The word meaningless there, we learned week one is the Hebrew word havelle, which means it is a vapor. It doesn't mean that it doesn't have purpose. It means that it just goes so fast. One theologian said this, that it's the breathiest of breaths. is that it's here today and it's gone tomorrow. It's here and then it fleets away. And how many of you just maybe, I want you to consider today and I wanna propose to you that if it's one third of your waking hours, maybe God has something more than it to be stress and grief and pain. That maybe God wants to redeem it in a way to make a difference in the world around you than to live on mission according to his kingdom. I wanna show you the full context. This is the very last verse of a full context in Ecclesiastes 2. Solomon says this, so I hated life because the work that was done under the sun, if you were here in the last few weeks, we've been talking about if all you're living for is under the sun, then this is what life is about. If it's done under the sun, it's grievous to me. All of it is meaningless. A chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun because I must leave them.

Have you even know this is true? Leave them to someone who comes after me. And who knows if that person will be foolish or wise? Little spoiler alert, Rhea Bowen, Solomon's son would take the kingdom and in one unwise decision would split it in half. So his fear became reality. Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. So what he's saying is we're all gonna work and we're gonna build jobs and careers and businesses and then we're gonna build a life where maybe we can have the option to work or not to work and then we're all gonna die. And then somebody else is gonna get all that that we worked for and he goes, who knows if they'll be foolish or wise? And you're like, well, I gotta trust. So they gotta be wise, I've pre-made the decisions. Yeah, but once they get all that, what are they gonna, are y'all following me? He said, all the fruit of my effort goes into somebody's else's hands eventually, this too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun for a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge, in other words, you may be really good at your job and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. They haven't worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.

What do people get for all the toil? Here's the verse we read a minute ago and they're anxious striving which they labor. He says this, all their days, their work is grief and pain even at night, their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. All right, have a great day at work tomorrow. Let's pray. So I just wanna propose that maybe God has a different plan for it and I'm really praying that you get this in your spirit today. I'm really praying that the spirit of God would not just give you knowledge but he'd give you impartation and that you would forever see your Monday morning differently. So I'm gonna give you four thoughts. If you're not writing this down then right number one down is this, is that work was God's idea? Work was God's idea. I don't know if you know this but I think some of us think sometimes that if we were still living in the garden setting, the garden of Eden like everything is perfect and we're walking with God in the cool of the day that if we were back in that setting then we just gotta, we kinda get to hang out by the pool. It's always 85 and sunny. You know, we just get to chill for the rest of our life but that's not God's idea of it. Let's go back to Genesis chapter two. Says this, thus the heavens and the earth were completed

so God finished his six days of creation in all their vast array and then by the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. So on the seventh day he rested. This is the Sabbath from all the work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy and because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. So number one, I wanna show you that work was God's idea and that God works. We serve a working God. Matter of fact, I think John 15 it is. It says my father and I are always working. So we serve a God that works. I want you to notice the ratio of work. It's six days of work to one day of rest. And I'm all for Sabbath but I think we've tilted the pendulum a little bit towards just focusing on the one day and not focusing on the other six. Can I get a better amen? Like yes, we should Sabbath and can I speak to a younger generation? It's all about protect my Sabbath and protect my rest and protect this. I just wanna say your greatest witness may be that you show up and work harder, better, and longer than anybody else on the job because if it's Christian, it ought to be better. Come on, I should get a better amen than that. Then we go down to verse 15, the Bible says this, that the Lord God took the man and put

him in the garden, and this is why he put us in the garden. Everybody say with me to God put you on the earth to work. So the ideal state of humanity before sin ever entered the world is that you would work, that you would work and what and take care of the garden. So work isn't a result of the fall. It's not sin is entered the world and now we have to work. It was God's idea, and if it's God's idea, it's a good idea. Matter of fact, the Hebrew word for work is a vodah and it is the same for work and worship. The Hebrews did not see a delineation. The fact that we see a delineation between our worship and our work is more of a Greek idea than it is a Hebrew biblical idea. There's no delineation in the two. I want to show you three different verses that use this same word. Are y'all with me? Psalm 104 says this, "The man that goes out to his work, to his labor until evening." So this is talking about you're going to your job. This is the one that's like on his way to the office, honors way to the hospital, on their way to the school, on their way to drive the truck, on their way to the mechanic shop, whatever. That is the same Hebrew word as in this word in Joshua, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord, same Hebrew word. So your vocation is the same Hebrew word as your service in the house of God as the same Hebrew word as this verse in Exodus 18, "Let my people go and Moses is saying, 'Let them go.'" So why? So they may worship me. So here's what I want you to see. According to the Scriptures, you lifting your hands and singing a song is worship, but you drive into the office tomorrow morning just as much worship. You streaming your favorite worship album, which should be gateway, is just as much worship

as you explaining fractions to the student for the 20th time, amen teachers. You coming to church is just as much worship as you selling the piece of equipment that you sell the sales team that you're on. Your work is your worship. So if my work is supposed to be worship and my worship is my work, then work is God's idea that it is good. So listen to me, mechanic, your work is good. School teacher, your work is good. You're not just getting by, it's not just to put some food on the table, it's not just to make it so you can pay the bills. No, your work is good. Listen to me, your work is good, doctor. Your work is good sales person. Your work is good probation officer. Your work is good military employee. Your work is good. Your work is godly and your work is good. Lawyer, even your work. Okay, just messing with you. Just kidding. That's all the lawyers that are doing it for the glory of God. Work was God's idea, everybody. And so you know what that means? If you're a disciple, laziness isn't an option. You doing the bare minimum on the job isn't an option. If you're a disciple, because your work was God's idea, so if it was God's idea, then why do 80% of people on Sunday evenings get anxious about the week they're about to go into? Well, it's because work became toil. Because the fall of man, sin entered the world and it marred the creation, how God wanted

things to be. And so it went from an activity of enjoyment to an activity of toil. Some of you may be thinking, "Well, I thought work was cursed in the fall." No, work wasn't cursed, the ground was cursed. The Bible says cursed is the ground because of you, because of the sin Adam and Eve committed, through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. So there is a toil to this thing called work that we do. The divine plan got marred by sinful man and so work became labor, but it does that there is this divine assignment and there is a meaning and purpose that God has for us as we live out our purpose in the earth, that there is something God wants us to accomplish but it is toil and there is hardship and there are relationships that are tension and there is the bosses that you don't enjoy working for and there is the customer that is a pain to deal with. Hello. There are the parents that think their kid there's nothing wrong at school and you have to have those conferences. There is toil in this thing called work but God intended it for his worship. Meaning your work is a vehicle through which you bring honor to God, your work is not a vehicle through which you find worth. It is toil but it cannot be the place that you find identity. If work is the place that I find my worth then my when my work is over then my worth is gone. This is why for some of you maybe you're closer to retirement

and there's a bit of an identity crisis beginning to happen in your life because forever your work was your identity. It's even how we talk. Is it not? I ask people one of the first things we ask is what do you do and we say I am a fill in the blank. No, that is not who you are. That is what you do. I am a sales person. No, you're not. I am a lawyer. No, you're not because they'll become a day when you are no longer those things. What you are is the child of the most high God. What you are is the head and not the tail. Are y'all with me today? What you are is above and not beneath. That is who I am. I am not a pastor. A pastor is what I do and what I've been called to do. But they'll come a day that I don't do this. They'll come a day where the next generation needs to rise up and lead. But it won't negate the fact that I am a child of the most high God. I hope it's way into the future. I want to do this for a while. But I'm a child at the core. I am rooted in the fact of who God says that I am

and you are rooted in the fact of who God says you are. How would it change your workday if you got up on Monday and you walked into the office or into the school or the hospital or the car repair shop or the sales team, whatever it was. And you walked in not going. My identity determines how well or how well I do today determines how I feel about myself. But you walk in rooted in the fact that I'm a child of God. I am blessed by God. I'm a representative of God. And today I will honor and glorify Him with everything that I do. (congregation applauding) I think it'd make a big difference. I think it'd change how you see it, how you approach it, stay at home mom. It's worship, it's good. Retiree that is volunteering, it's worship and it's good. Is it toil? Yes. Are there hard parts to it? Absolutely. Do you have to deal with people? Yeah. It is toil, but it's worship if you make it worship. If you bring your best, do it with excellence as unto the Lord, it's worship. Number three, your work is a gift and it's a calling. And it's a calling.

It's a gift and it's a calling. We've really done a disservice to the church because we've made this word calling the idea that you're called to work at a church. And that's never the idea of God. You have a calling right where you're at. Look what Ecclesiastes says in chapter five, Ecclesiastes Solomon addresses this idea of work again. He says, this is what I have served to be good, that it is appropriate for a person to eat and to drink and watch this and define satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun. So he doesn't negate the fact that it's toilsome. He just says that you can find satisfaction under the sun during the few days of life God has given them for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone, there's two gifts in the text here. When God gives someone wealth and possessions, that's one and the ability to enjoy them, that's two, to accept their lot and to be happy in their toil. This is a gift of God. So God can give you the gift. Watch this. God can give you the gift of actually enjoying I mean, we even have the saying, right, where we say, "Well, thank God it's..." Why? Because the mentality is, I'm just getting through the week so I can get to the thing that I really want to do,

which is do nothing on Saturday and come to church every Sunday on Sunday. (congregation laughing) That's what we're saying in that. A friend of mine says it this way. He says, "We should flip it in the body of Christ "and say thank God it's Monday." Because I get to show up for my ministry assignment. You come on Sunday to get filled up so you can go on Monday and pour out on your real ministry assignment, which is wherever God has put you in your day to day. That is your mission. That is how you live on mission. We're not gonna change the world because we all come and set in buildings on Sunday. We're not gonna shift a culture because we attend a service. We're gonna shift a culture and change a world for the glory of God because we get out of these walls and we realize we're on the mission of Jesus no matter what we're doing. I had a lady come up to me after the first service today and she said, "I love the message. "I'm a probation officer." I said, "I've done nothing wrong, ma'am." I didn't say anything. And she says with the people that I work with, I let them know, "You may have made a mistake, "but you are not a mistake." That you were made by God on purpose, for a purpose.

This is what I'm talking about. You're getting this, living on mission everywhere you go. So he says that you can enjoy the thing that you're doing. It doesn't have to be drudgery and you begin to enjoy it when you realize that it is worship unto God. And he says, "Two gifts he gives you one "is the gift to have wealth and possessions." And if you know that everything that you have is a gift of God. But then he says, "Second, he gives you the gift "of the ability to enjoy it." How many of you know you can have a big house, but no happiness? You can have the amount of money you wanted in the trust, but you have no joy. And God gives you the ability to have both, to possess it and to enjoy it. Not to possess it and to have more worries because you have more zeroes. He gives you the gift, but he also gives you a calling. Matter of fact, the word vocation comes from the Latin root word vocare. Vocare means to call. Let me just propose that if you are called, there has to be a caller. So the whole idea of a vocation is that you've been called to something by someone that you are ultimately serving. How would it change your Monday

if you walked into that hospital nurse and you said, "This isn't a job. "It's a calling." And I'm gonna worship God through it today. How would it change your week if you walked into the boardroom and said, "This isn't a job or a business I'm building "just so I can sell it so that I can do "whatever I want with it." No, this isn't just a job. It's a calling and I'm gonna worship God through it today. I'm gonna look for the God moments to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people around me. I'm not saying that this calling, you've gotta get up and be like, "All right, everybody, gather around. "You're all going to hell." No, your greatest witness may be that you do what you do with excellence for the glory of God. Your greatest witness may be that you don't stand around and complain about the boss and join in with the conversation of everybody else because you're doing it as worship unto the glory of God and you're not letting any unwholesome come out of your mouth, but only that which is for edification and building others up around you because you live a different witness in the workplace and your greatest witness may be that you don't cut corners because you do things with honor and integrity,

even though everybody else is cutting corners to get ahead of you and step over you, but you keep honoring God in the process, knowing that if you honor Him, He will eventually honor you that God will take care of you in the end. That may be your greatest witness that you live out this calling, not that you walk around with your Bible because you were made on purpose for a purpose and God is work is God's idea and sin calls it to be toil but it doesn't have to remain there for the believer and God wants to use you in your ordinary everyday life. Maybe we break that mentality. Matter of fact, I feel like the probation officer probably does more ministry than I get to do. I feel like the stay at home mom or stay at home dad is maybe doing some more ministry than I often get to do. 'Cause they're living on the mission of Jesus. And isn't this what God used in the scriptures? Wasn't it just everyday people? Living on the mission of Jesus that he used. I want you to think about this. Abraham was a rancher. Isaac was a farmer. Jacob was a contracted shepherd. Ruth was a field worker. Jesus was a carpenter. Priscilla, Aquila, and Paul were all tent makers. Dorcas was a seamstress.

Peter, Andrew, James, and John were commercial fishermen. Matthew was a tax collector. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. The Ethiopian official was the treasure of Queen Candace's entire, he was basically her CFO. Joseph and Aramathia was a wealthy council member. Barabbas was a, Barnabas, I'm sorry, was a property owner. Mordecah was an official in the king's court. Esther was a queen. Deborah was a judge. Ezra was a scribe and a scholar. Luke was a doctor. Moses tended sheep for 40 years. David was a shepherd, a musician, and then finally a king. They didn't just have jobs. They had callings and God worked through them to change the world around them. Are you getting this? What you do is good when done for the glory of God. What you do with excellence honors God. And that's how you live on mission in the world around you. He says he gives you the gift of wealth and possessions and the ability to enjoy it. He gives you a calling. The scriptures don't just say they seldom reflect on the days of their life. In other words, they seldom set around. People that live this life, they seldom set around and they're like life is bad and it's so horrible. You're one of the greatest cures

of seeing how bad everything is in your life. Get your eyes on somebody else's need. They seldom set around and do that wide because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart. Oh, it's Monday again. Not those people because they have a calling. God's giving them a gift and they have a gladness of heart. Can I tell you something? You're calling the thing that you do Monday through Friday. That thing, it's how God expresses his grace into the world. The leader of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, said that we pray God give us this day our daily bread and he answers that prayer through bakers and mill workers and truck drivers and people that deliver bread. It's the grace of God being expressed through Europe. We pray for education and God blesses us with teachers. We've prayed for transportation and God blesses us with car dealers and mechanics. Are y'all getting this? This is holy work you're doing because if it's worship, then it is the grace of God being expressed through the everyday of your life. I love what Chuck Colson who founded Prison Fellowship Ministry said. He said this, whether you're scrubbing floors, raising a family, ministering the gospel, serving food, preparing tax returns or working retail. He said, whatever it is you do, your honest work is pleasing to the Lord because all labor derives its true dignity

as a reflection of the Creator. And whatever we do in word or indeed, we do it all to the glory of God. This is your work. (audience applauds) All right, one last thought. When you work this way, it's the kind of work that outlast you. It's the kind of work that outlast you. Colossians chapter three says this, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart. In other words, if you're working as unto the Lord, it should be better. It honestly should, you should be more excellent, more on time, follow through on commitments, respond to emails timely. Hope my team's hearing me. You all follow me? Why? Yeah, but my paycheck comes through, no, no, no. You're working for the Lord. You're teaching for the Lord. You're counting for the Lord. You're selling for the Lord. Three brick layers, lay in bricks. Somebody came by and said, "What do you do?" And the first one said, "I'm laying bricks." Second one said, "I'm feeding my family." Third one said, "I'm building a cathedral." It's all about how you see your work.

It's all about how you view it. And when you work as unto the Lord, when you're working for the glory of God, you're not just storing up treasures on this earth where moth and rust corrupt and steal. It's just storing up treasures in heaven, because your work for the Lord outlast you. Let me stay it this way. When the teacher explains fractions for the fifth time, she's reflecting a God who is patient and gives wisdom. When the nurse changes addressing at 3 a.m., she echoes the God who heals. When the electrician brings light into a dark room, he's doing on a small scale what God did on day one. When the accountant gets the numbers right, she's honoring a God of truth and order. When the mom or dad picks up the lunch and wipes the tears, they're doing what our father does every day when the truck driver rolls through the night. So the shelves are full by morning. He's part of how God gives us our daily bread. It's not what you do, but it's who you do it for that makes all the difference. And if you do it for the glory of God, you are storing treasures above the sun. So life doesn't have to just be grievous and toil some under the sun. So I hope today you'll reframe it. I hope you'll forever see your Monday morning differently.

I hope that you'll receive God, this is a gift. Maybe for the first time some of you would go, "God, thank you for my job." Maybe you'd pray a dangerous prayer. "God, thank you for my boss." It's a gift and that you would invest it 'cause it's a calling. It's not a job. You have a calling if you're a follower of Jesus. And that is to make your work worship and for the glory of God 'cause you're not working for men. You're working for the Lord. Do you receive God's word today? Is that helpful? Will you pray with me at every campus, every head bowed, every eye closed? I wanna pray for two groups of people. The first is you're here and you're a follower of Jesus. You know that you know that heaven is your home. And I felt impressed to pray a prayer of commissioning over you. That you would forever see Monday morning differently, that you would see it as your mission, your ministry assignment. And that you would sense a commissioning from God himself to step into whatever it is you do Monday through Friday and see it as worship. Live it to honor the Lord. And then secondly, I wanna pray for those who are here and you don't know Jesus yet,

or you know in your heart, you're far from him. I wanna give you the opportunity to come close, to draw near. And so Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would give us all a reframing of this thing called work. That whether we're at home raising children, whether we're on the road building businesses, whether we're teaching, whether we're driving a fire truck, whether we're protecting a community and a squad car, that we would see our work as good, as worship, as a calling we have to fulfill in the earth. I pray today that forever from this day forward would we see Monday mornings as our ministry assignment, every person we encounter, every task we put our hands to, that it would bring honor and glory to you, so spear to the living God. Would you empower every person with a fresh touch of anointing for the calling that you have for them? If every head bowed, every eye closed, maybe you're here and work can't really be worshiped for you because you've never surrendered your life to Jesus. You've never said yes to him, or maybe you're here today and at some point in your life you made some kind of commitment, but you know in your heart that you're far from him. You know that there's not a real relationship there. I'm not asking you today if you have religion or if you have a church membership. I don't know that God cares much about that. What he cares about is that you've surrendered your life to him. If you've never done that, I want to give you an opportunity to do that in just a moment. We're going to pray together. But before we pray together, if you'd say pastor, that's me. I'm not confident heaven is my home, but I want to be confident you can be. I feel far from God, but I don't want to be that way anymore. I want my life to matter. I want my work to be worship, and this is the first step towards that. If that's you with no one looking around, we wouldn't have come to you or embarrass you. When I count to three, I just want you to shoot your hand up high enough at your location here in

the room for myself or the pastor to see where you are, and then we're going to pray together. On three, God is speaking to you. You shoot your hand up one, two, three. Just shoot it up high. God bless you. Keep it up. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. It's incredible. You can put it down. Church, will you pray this together with me out loud for the benefit of those who just lifted their hands? Say, Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me. I believe God raised you from the dead. Today I'm making my Lord and Savior. Thank you for branding the beginning. In Jesus' name, everybody said amen. Let's put our hands together and celebrate those who made that decision. Amen. There were hands going up all over the place, and I just want to speak to those of you who raised your hands really quickly that you just made the best decision of your life, and we want to, as a church family, come around you and help you take an ex-step, and there's a couple of ways you can let us know you made that decision. One is you can text Jesus to 7-10-10. If you're watching online, you can text Jesus to 7-10-10, or there's a disc on the seat in front of you. Just tap that with your phone, and a menu will come up, and you can put, you can let us know that you made a decision to follow Jesus. You can also tap that and let us know if you are a first-time guest. If you haven't been here for a while, we want to connect with you, or you can come down and receive prayer. In a minute, we're all going to stand, and our prayer team is going to come forward, so you can come and receive prayer, or talk to somebody if you made a decision to put your faith in Jesus. And before we stand up, I just want to say one other quick thing. Last week, I prayed for a couple down here who the husband was praying through going and flying to another state to purchase a vehicle. I saw them after the first service, and one specific thing we just prayed for is, "Lord, if this isn't your will, then close the door in time." And he let me know that he actually received an email from his mechanic with the VIN number, literally two hours before his flight, and he made the decision not to go get this car and save himself a world of hurry. And I'm sharing that with you to just tell you, there is no prayer need that's too little or too big. And so if there's something going on in your life and you're kept something coming up this week, come and receive prayer. There's no small thing. There's nothing that God that you can't submit to the Lord and get blessed on, and that he can give you wisdom on. Everything we're doing is by faith, and when we join our faith together in prayer, it's by faith that the sick person becomes well. It's by faith that we get wisdom from the Lord. So I want to encourage

you if you have any prayer need, little or big, come down and receive prayer. So let's go ahead and stand up, and I'll have the prayer team come down now, and you can come if you need prayer for anything right now, or as we start to dismiss, the last two things are we've got baptisms next week. So if you would like to take the step of faith in getting baptized, water baptized, we'll be here all weekend on Sunday for both services, water baptisms, and then operation Christmas child. Let me pray for you as you head out. Lord, we thank you for this service today. We receive the good word that Pastor Daniel has shared. We ask that you would water it. We thank you that your word does not return void in our life, and we just give you the rest of our day, and the week ahead, I pray you bless every person under the sound of our voice, Lord, to live on mission. forward if you need prayer for anything will be here as long as we need to be you you (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)