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00:35 Amen, Glory to God. Welcome to the program. Good to have you here today.
00:43 Welcome to the cafe. Hope you’re having a wonderful day. I hope you’re ready to dive into God’s Word and study it with me.
00:50 I’m so thankful that you’ve taken the time to study God’s Word with me. It’s time well spent, I promise you, because when we get into God’s Word we’re not looking at what so-and-so thinks, what I think, or what anyone else thinks, but what the Word of God says and how we can apply it to our lives. Comparing this scripture to other scriptures and making sure that only the truth is coming from it and not any kind of opinion.
01:14 Amen. That’s the kind of Bible study I like and that’s kind of Bible study I teach. Amen.
01:20 Today we’re in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 14:23. Proverbs 14:23.
01:27 I love the book of Proverbs. There’s so much wisdom in there. It’s called the book of wisdom written by Solomon, the wisest man to ever live.
01:35 You ask how do I know that? Because Solomon asked God in prayer for wisdom above riches, above vengeance on his enemies, above anything else. King Solomon said I need wisdom and the Lord delivered in abundance. And he wrote these Proverbs.
01:51 I’m so thankful that he wrote these Proverbs. And in here in Proverbs 14 we learn such a very valuable lesson. Proverbs 14:23.
02:01 In all labor there is profit but the talk of the lips tendethonly to penury. Now what’s penury? That’s extreme poverty or destitution. And let’s start at the beginning of this.
02:15 In all labor there is profit. You know we have become as a society very spoiled. We live in an instant gratification type of world where we expect things right away, right now, at the tap of a cell phone screen.
02:29 Amen. But on the other end of that, back in the old days, you had to work for everything. Amen.
02:39 There was a time when cars weren’t as prevalent. You’d have to walk places. I was going up a big hill somewhere.
02:44 And I remember saying to my wife, we were in the car. I said, Can you imagine people on, you know, horse and buggy or people walking this? It would take them days. Amen.
02:56 It took us minutes. And you realize how fortunate we are. But one byproduct of being fortunate is we become a little bit complacent.
03:02 Amen. We become a little bit self entitled. And we look for shortcuts.
03:09 And I say we because I believe this is true of anyone living today, because we have been so spoiled. It’s incredible before you grow your own vegetables. And you need them.
03:22 Or you go to the farmer’s market, you’d buy it from someone that grew it locally. Now they’re shipped in from who knows where the seafood they used to catch it in the ocean. Now they’re catching it in the pool or the lake when they farm it.
03:33 And by the way, that could be South America, Central America may not be anywhere around here. And so what used to be a closed type of ecosystem where people were working, and they were seeing the fruit of their labor directly now is so different in this information economy. And here in Proverbs 14:23.
03:52 It’s more relevant today, I believe than ever, in all labor, there is profit. You know, when we look at working, we need to look at working as a good thing. Amen.
04:01 You know, the Bible tells us to work. How about 1 Timothy 5:8, but if any man provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. Wow, we don’t want to deny the faith.
04:19 We don’t want to be worse than an infidel. But that’s what the Bible says. If we’re not working, if we’re not providing for our family, Amen.
04:26 That’s, that’s, that’s awful. In the eyes of God, he wants us to work, amen. And in all labor, there is profit and we need to start associating hard work with profit.
04:37 And I told a story to my family this evening as we went over this verse in our family prayer time, that I worked in high school behind an old time soda counter. And it was kind of hard, especially scooping out those milkshakes, you know, tight little space. But I learned, hey, I work and make some money.
04:54 I was able to wait tables in college. And, and, you know, the harder I worked, the more I would refill the drinks, the more I would check on the customers, the quicker I bring the food, it seemed like the bigger tip that I would get. And I know this sounds so simple, but I learned at an early age in my teens that hard work paid off.
05:11 And the harder you worked, typically, the better it paid off, especially even in the job that I had there, they were giving the better shifts to those that worked hard, those that were reliable, those that showed up, amen. And I can’t even get into what’s happening today where people aren’t even showing up to jobs they commit to, or they’re playing one job against another, or they don’t want to work at all or whatever it is. And I know that some people have legitimate reasons for not being able to work.
05:37 But we need to get back to the idea that there is profit in labor. And it doesn’t have to be some grand thing. It can be very simple labor.
05:46 I imagine the trash person that comes and gets the waste, they do quite well for themselves, especially if it’s their own company. Amen. The plumbers, they do quite well for themselves.
05:56 Amen. The auto mechanics, I know some auto mechanics that have made a very good living for themselves. And what do they all have in common? They work hard.
06:05 And that’s the same as the intellectual, the college professor, or the executive, or the person working at the bank, or even the person working in fast food now. The wages have gone up so much. If you put your cards right, you can make a good salary serving burgers, which never was before, but it is now.
06:22 The point is, what all this has in common is this biblical truth, in all labor there is profit. But the talk of the lips tendeth only to punery. And punery, again, means extreme poverty.
06:37 You know, there’s so much talk. People talk all the time about ideas they have, about things they want to do, things they’d like to accomplish. When I was younger and before I was married, I had a lot of time on my hands.
06:49 I didn’t realize how much time I had on my hands when I was single until I got married and had kids. And then I said, oh my goodness, I had all that time on my hands. I used to look at people married with families as odd because they seemed so busy.
07:02 And now I get it. I get it. I get it.
07:02 Oh, do I get it now? But I had this time on my hands and I’d work on my laptop and I would bring that into the coffee shop and I’d sit there and I’d love it. I’d work and I’d listen to people talk about their ideas and their plans in the coffee shop, especially way before COVID and everything. And when I was living in South Carolina, it was just a place where people would meet and talk and they’d discuss their ideas or plans.
07:23 And there was so much talk. I’m guilty of it. You know, I can see myself at the coffee shop or the restaurant or on a road trip saying, I’d like to do this.
07:31 And I have plans for that. But in the talk, in the talk, in the movement of the lips, it tended only to punery. If it’s just talk, if it’s not actual labor, if it is just words, then it’s poverty.
07:43 It’s not going to lead to anything. At the end of the day, we need to get off our blessed behind and get to it. Amen.
07:50 And get to work. And God is telling us, don’t be lazy. Now.
07:56 I know you’re saying this is a Bible study. Why are we talking about work about plumbers and restaurants and coffee shops? Well, I’m going to get to that point right now.
08:02 When we focus on labor, when it comes to the ministry, we can take a page of what it means to labor to work because God expects his saints, those that have been saved by the blood of Christ, those that have believed on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
08:18 God expects those people to work really hard for Him. Amen. The Bible calls us bond servant.
08:24 Paul calls us bond slaves. Paul calls himself a prisoner of Christ. Amen.
08:30 We are to work as slaves to the Lord, as a prisoner to the Lord. We are to be obedient. The Bible says that obedience is better than sacrifice.
08:38 So better than making some big splash one time, just show up every day for work, wake up in the morning, say, Dear Lord, I love you. I repent of my sins. Please show them to me so I can work them out and not sin anymore.
08:48 Amen. And please help me my walk today. Keep me on the narrow path.
08:56 And Oh, Lord, by the way, here I am reporting for duty. What would you have me to do today? Please let me do all that you would have me to do today. That should be our prayer every day, and not just praying it, but doing it.
09:06 And that’s where we see this same dichotomy, the same delineation made that in the labor, there’s profit, but in the talk of the lips, there’s only extreme poverty. And so what we need to do is be on fire for God. Amen.
09:20 And get after it and do it. We need to be brave for God. Let me challenge you.
09:27 If you have an idea, if you have something you want to do for the Lord, would you go to him in prayer and see if now’s the time to do it? And maybe it’s not. Amen. But if it is, we need to take steps, take action steps.
09:37 I preached a lot about this to our church in years past. I talk about Moses splitting the Red Sea, and they had this step, right? They had a step onto that dry ground. Amen.
09:49 There was when they’re crossing over the Jordan, the Israelites had to make that step. There was an action step to go to the promised land to go do what God’s calling them to do. And there are action steps for what God calls us to do.
10:03 And we need to look at this in light of the ministry. In all labor, there is profit. I believe if we are called by God to do something, and this could be a little something, this could be a big something.
10:16 I saw a video about a man that built a 77 foot cross in Texas in a prayer garden, and it looks absolutely spectacular. He’s an artist, and he said that God had called him to do it. I believe 1000% God called him to do it because God blessed it.
10:32 It’s an incredible testimony. He didn’t even have money to get the land that they put it on, but they have this beautiful prayer garden in Texas with a 77 foot cross, and that is something big that God called that man to do. And there’s fantastic statues there.
10:46 It’s absolutely beautiful. I’ve never been, but I would love to go. Yet, God called him to do something, and he obeyed and did it.
10:56 That’s a big thing. Like Noah’s Ark, a big thing, right? But then there might be a little thing. Maybe God’s calling us to go down to the laundromat with some tracks, you know, and put them there on the table or hand them out to people.
11:08 Maybe God’s calling us to go ahead and carve out a prayer closet. And by the way, if the closet’s full of junk, go ahead and get that to your local charity or sell it, whatever you’re going to do with it, and make that your prayer closet. But maybe God’s calling us to have a prayer closet and pray every single day.
11:24 Oh, how the world needs prayer today. Maybe God’s calling us, calling you into the ministry. Maybe he’s calling you into a certain area of ministry, and you’ve got a doubt and you’re not sure.
11:36 It’s time to be obedient to what God’s calling you to do. If he’s calling you, say, to the music ministry, and you’re afraid of what other people will think, don’t be. You know, pray about it.
11:46 And if the Lord gives you peace, go ahead and do it because the proverb here, Proverb 14:23 tells us, in all labor, there’s profit. And there’s so much profit. If you take the music ministry, for example, when I was just a baby in Christ, and I’d started, first started going to church faithfully, and I saw all that was involved in the music ministry, I said, this is fantastic.
12:06 Look at how much practice you get. Look at how much support you get. Look at how much opportunity you get.
12:10 These are the things that many people in the secular music world never get. And as Christians, we are blessed with so many opportunities. And that’s just for the music ministry.
12:19 Same for the multimedia ministry, the video ministry, radio, blogging, social media. Again, the print ministry, the helps ministry, the food ministry, all the opportunities are so vast. And we would be rewarded by the Lord.
12:35 He promises that if we go ahead and take that step of faith and do it. But if we just talk about it, and we never do it, that leads to extreme poverty. And that would translate into things that are not done that the Lord’s either gonna have to have someone else do or they’re just not gonna be done.
12:52 And we don’t want to do that. We don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit. We don’t want to live a life that’s fruitless for God, we want to be fruitful for God, and we want to bear fruit for Him.
13:02 And I believe that starts with getting in the word, studying the word, praying to God, being faithful to your local church, giving all of you know, giving your tithe, being obedient in every way that you can be repentant to Him. And then He’s going to open up so many opportunities for you. And all you’re going to have to do is step through and take action.
13:22 And there’ll be great profit in that labor. And you’ll wonder, why didn’t I do this sooner, because there’ll be so much profit from that labor. And when you get weary, you can turn back to this verse and say, Lord, I know one day, maybe it’s not an earthly reward.
13:35 It’s a heavenly reward. And that’s the better one to have. Anyways, one day, I’ll see that heavenly reward.
13:46 I’ll, I’ll have that inheritance in heaven. And I’ll be, I’ll be doing something for you that’s meaningful now, and it will carry on for an eternity. We have this tremendous opportunity.
13:51 And it’s just for the blink of an eye. It’s just for this moment of time, like a vapor here and gone. So while we’re here, let’s commit to getting on fire for God and laboring for Him for that great profit that He promises in His word.
14:07 Oh, how great that’ll be. Amen. Thank you so much for listening.
14:10 I really appreciate it. Take care. God bless and Amen.