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Amen, so the title of this evening's sermon is the suffering of the slothful The suffering of the slothful and of course slothful is not something that a word that we use a lot today But what it basically means is somebody who's very lazy. It's a biblical word for Somebody is lazy might even hurt somebody call or refer to a lazy person as a very slothful person And of course we're all familiar probably with the animal that we call a sloth And why do we call it a sloth because of how slow and it moves so And that's kind of what I want to talk about tonight is the fact that if you are a slothful person you can expect to suffer in life You know life is not going to go easy for you There are going to be difficulties that you don't you know have to necessarily have but because you've chosen to become a slothful person You will suffer the consequences. You know we can't just you know move through life and And just make whatever decisions we want and think that there aren't going to be any consequences look there's always a consequence for every decision that you make in life and When it comes to being a slothful or lazy person You can mark it down that you are going to suffer that there is going to be some degree of suffering like probably a proportion To the degree to which you are a sloth the lazier you are the more you're gonna suffer So look there in Proverbs chapter 6 We're gonna be in Proverbs a lot tonight because this is a topic that the book of Proverbs addresses over and over and over and Over again, but we will be coming back to Proverbs chapter 6 so keep something there But it says in Proverbs chapter 6 verse 6 go to the ant thou sluggard Which is just another word to describe somebody who is slothful someone who is lazy or sedentary? He says thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise which having no guide overseer or ruler Provided her meat in the summer and gather at her food in the harvest how long will thou sleep Oh sluggard When will thou arise out of thy sleep yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep So shall thy poverty come as one that travail it and they want as an armed man So it's showing us here first of all that one of the things you will suffer from From being a slothful person is that you will become poor you will not have what you need to survive You will not have the money that you need to get by You know it says right there so shall thy poverty come as one that travail it You know it's referring to the fact that you know as a woman that it's in labor going through birth You know and or as I want as an armed man. Why is he using these illustrations? Well, I think that's because of the fact that when you're in those situations You know if you're a woman that's giving birth, or you are being held up at gunpoint You know you getting out of that situation is kind of beyond your control You know that situation kind of has you in its grasp as it were Until it decides to let you go or it comes to an end You know you don't get to just choose when it's going to end it will end on its own accord You know anyone who's I don't know if anyone here's been held up You know the bug or anything, but I imagine you know you kind of you know ask the mugger Hey, how long is this gonna? Take you know we be done with this now You're kind of at his mercy You know when he gets everything he wants Then he moves on you know ladies that have given birth They could testify the fact that you know the baby doesn't give you a date And you know to make an appointment when it's gonna You know what it's gonna show up you kind of have to just go through that process some birds are longer than others So I believe that's the illustration there. That's why he's using that he's saying I poverty shall come as one that travail it And I want as an armed man You know you're gonna find yourself to be a poor person And you know what it's gonna take probably more work than you're willing to give to get out of that situation You know people dig themselves into a hole And sometimes that hole gets so deep that they just throw up their hands and say yes This is where I'm at and they're stuck there They're being held by their poverty in a sense So that's one of the things you'll suffer as a slothful person And you know we don't have to look very far in fact We only need to look at the end of this street down by the freeway to see people in that exact position You know I came off the Freeway today on the exit ramp and counted one two three four five six people on my way down You're just from there to here Which is what probably a half mile of people that fit this bill people that have become sloths one life Lazy in life and are just you know being held there now probably in a lot of cases By the bonds of their own sin you know they've gotten hooked on drugs They've just become such you know habitually lazy people that they don't want to get up and do a day's work What is the other thing that leads to well at least what also I saw this morning a lot of people at you know? Nine ten o'clock, and you know in the morning when everybody's already getting up and going about their day People are rushing off to work to put an honest day's labor You know they're on the side of the road with their head in their lap You know waiting to get up and start baby, and that's another thing that slothfulness will Or something that causes slothfulness rather is sleeping Becoming a very just sleepy person who just wants to sleep all the time and look we covet our naps You know we were talking about that earlier today. You know you know I was telling somebody man I would just love an opportunity to spend a Saturday afternoon at home You know like two in the afternoon and pass out on my couch and With the windows open and listen to everybody else cut their grass or if they have grass around there I don't even know, but you know listen to the birds chirp and the wind come in and have a nice You know leisurely nap you know, but that's something that's rare And it's something that I enjoy when I get it And it's certainly not a way of life like it is for a lot of people who are slothful and lazy you know this reminds me of you know the Proverbial you know teenager who wants to sleep in late into the morning You know a mom and dad get up get up get up What are you gonna get out of bed? When are you gonna get out of bed? Stop bothering me stop bothering me You know my dad had to strike you with you I don't know what goes on in your house Or if this is even a problem was with me for a little while my dad would walk in with a cold wet washcloth And if I was there two lines whack right in the face just walk in Whack and then you know walk out and then that would that usually wakes you up when you get slapped in the face By a cold wet washcloth and it slides down and it gets to the pillow and soaks everything at that point You got to kind of get up take care of the mess you get the day going so if that's the problem I don't I don't I'm assuming it's not but you know hey There's a little helpful tip if you don't get anything else out of this you know one day you have a teenager like that You know what to do right so anyway But sleeping or being a sleepy person or someone who's just overly concerned with just making sure that they get all the sleep that They want makes you a lazy slothful person You know some people they need to learn to just get up early and get after it I mean, that's what it says here in verse 9. How long without sleep old slugger. He's not saying you know Why do you sleep at all? He's saying how long are you going to sleep? Why are you sleeping so long thou sluggard somebody who is a slug? Somebody who is a slothful is somebody who sleeps excessively or more than they need to I Said when will thou arise out of thy sleep now once he says yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding on the Hands you know it's a little and a little and a little well a little and a little and a little adds up Right just ten more minutes. Just fifteen more minutes another twenty minutes the alarm goes off You're supposed to get up you got stuff to do Twenty minutes twenty minutes twenty minutes how many times you hit that snooze button next thing you know you've been sleeping through ten Consecutive snooze buttons, it's an hour later, and now you're running out the door You know and I get people you know that doesn't necessarily in and of itself make you a lazy person But the point being that a little bit of this and a little bit of that can add up to a lot And when you do that when you let sleep You know and slumber just become who you are and what you're concerned with you never you know Getting up and getting after it. You know you become a lazy or slothful person or how about this? How about just taking a nap in the middle of the day? You know on a workday I've known people who've gone to work and find places to go nap And you're like where are they and I'm saying more than one person Multiple people at my work experience have I come across that will be working I remember working at a furniture store and We are working you know doing whatever and this guy I mean it was like two three in the afternoon and when a co-worker came up He's just like oh, man. I just got a good solid 30 minutes in What are you talking about? He's like yeah I find a bunch of cardboard back there and that around that store room The dude just in the middle of the day while everyone's working not on his lunch break nothing doesn't punch out just yeah I'm gonna take a nap You're a bum. That's lazy. You know everyone gets everyone gets tired. I understand that we all have that you know afternoon slump But you know if you just push through that and you work chew a piece of mint gum or something like that Snap out of it go wash your splash some cold water in your face Thanks, dad. You know something to kind of snap you out of it and bring you back anyway You know you'll get your second win. You know that 30 minutes of sleep is not gonna make or break you So sleeping or being a sleepy person is a source all of sloth in this that's what it says there in verse 9 How well they'll sleep you had a little sleep social life poverty come and you're going to suffer if that's the kind of person that you are Look at Proverbs chapter 24 Proverbs chapter 24 The Bible says in Proverbs 19 you don't think you think oh what what's this? What are you going on and on about sleeping when the Bible talks a lot about it? The Bible goes on and on about sleeping, and how it's a slothful lazy thing to do if it's something you do it to excess It said you're going to Proverbs 24 It says Proverbs 19 slothfulness cast it into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall suffer hunger You'll become a slothful person who's gonna cast you into a deep sleep You know what sometimes it seems like the more you sleep just the more tired you are You ever get so much sleep that you're just you wake up too tired. You're like oh, I'm just gonna catch a quick power nap And you sleep way longer than you probably should have you're even more tired your body just wants to keep sleeping You know sometimes sleep is the enemy you know you gotta save that off But it says an idle soul shall suffer suffer hunger the person that just wants to stay idle You know that same guy that thought it was real cute to go find some cardboard to catch a quick catnap While everybody else is working ended up getting fired The idle soul shall suffer hunger You know you become an idle person a lazy person. You're not gonna hold down a job You're going to be fired after job after job after job because nobody wants to hire a lazy bum You know newsflash to anybody who's looking for a job Or it's wondering what it takes to make it in the real world at a job Employers are not paying for an opportunity to give you money. That's not what they're interested in They're interested in you coming to work and making them money. That's what they want. That's what they're in business for They want employees gonna show up put in a hard day's work and not be concerned about you know Being sleepy or wanting to get a nap or only working so much You're not doing more than they have to and so on and so forth You know they want people that want to show up and get after those the people that are gonna stay employed and that are going To excel at their jobs and be promoted again look there Proverbs chapter 20 verse 30 Sleep is a source of slothfulness It says I went by the field of the slothful by the vineyard of a man void of understanding And lo it was all grown over with thorns and nettles covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof Was broken down you know those type of things that he's describing here do not happen overnight Those are yeah exactly they don't happen overnight. It's not like the guy woke up one morning and all this happened These are things that take a very long time I mean we were up at the best for gala museum today or the other day yesterday in fact And that was a you know a structure that stood for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years But yeah, there were a lot of walls that have broken down, but they didn't break down yesterday You know it took a lot of time had to go by and they slowly begin to decay So this is describing a guy who just sits back And it's just being idle and just watching everything around in his own home in fact in his own dwelling Just slowly come down around and just slowly be overgrown with thorns And he says in verse 32 Then I saw and considered it well And this is that's a really something that people need to do today We should take a long look at the people that are standing on the side of the road baby You know and I'm sure there's a there's a true case of poverty that someone who really just needs help here and there but a lot of those people Choose to be there a lot of those people want to be there because it allows them to become lazy Sluggerly people and whether they can sit there and live themselves all they want they are suffering as a result of their decisions, and we should look and consider them well and Consider what it is that they're involved in he says I consider it well I looked upon it and received instruction Should receive instruction from this yet a little sleep notice again a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep Oh, it's just a little sleep. Oh, it's just sleeping a little bit. Oh, it's just one day I'm just gonna call in and fake sick. You know it's just one day here. It's one day there It's just a little laziness here and there So shall thy poverty cometh as one that travaileth, and they want as an armed band That's not familiar God's repeating himself for a reason So we see sir first of all that slothfulness is something that will make you poor You know and if you go through your life look. I'm not saying that if you're poor you're a bad person Okay, I mean There's people that are out there that are hard-working honest people in some places in this world that are just poor and they're always gonna be Because they live in a country where things are difficult or their government You know it's terrible You know people that you know that live in places like Cuba and stuff like that where socialism's take over They just they have there really is no way out of poverty I get that but there's also a lot of people that you know they they could do whatever like people in this country for instance That could go out and get as many jobs as they want they could pull themselves up out of the gutter if they were serious About it and they choose not to and it makes them poor, okay Whether you're poor poor if you're a poor person. You know you are going to suffer to a certain degree in this life And we see that you know being a sleepy lazy person that is a source of slothfulness We also see for the book of Proverbs, and if you would turn over to Proverbs chapter 18 Proverbs chapter 18 that slothful people are wasteful. They are people that are wasteful people They don't make use of the things that are given to them or even things that they might even perhaps buy on their own You know you've seen this all the time with these derelicts on the side of the road People give them food people give them water and people give them sodas even which I don't know why you give them that in the desert It's like the last thing that they eat is a big sugary soda from the QT or whatever You know that you're here have some poison while you're standing out there in a hundred you way You know let me let me just dehydrate you even more Right, but what do they do they take a sip they set it down, and it sits there for us They they don't want that all they want is money because they're not looking for food. They're not looking for that Yeah, they're looking for their next fix They're looking to be able to go down to the gentleman's club or whatever. That's you know what a stupid name for that place Yeah, they're looking for it So they can go in there and just throw your hard-earned money down the drain to get there too for their you know Sinful habit that's what they're there for So they can go down and buy drink and buy booze and buy alcohol buy drugs and all other manner of things that they want to waste money on They are wasteful people the Bible says in the Proverbs chapter 12 But slothful man grows just not that what you took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is is is precious You know I don't you know I love them asking hey, man. You got some change you got a few spare dollar Nope, I'm a diligent man. It's all precious to me You know I'm sorry. I'm busy feeding. You know five other people and myself to stop and feed you without able-bodied individual My my substance is precious because I diligently work for it, and if I gave it to you You know you didn't you're not gonna do anything profitable with it The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 10 by much slothfulness the building to kayeth and through idleness of hands The house droppeth through Reminds me of that guy in Proverbs chapter 24 had a vineyard had a house had the wall and just because of his laziness Just let it all go to waste let it all just crumble down around and did nothing with it Look at Proverbs chapter 18 verse 9 He also that is slothful in his work his brother to him that is a great waster It's like the same guy they come from the same family You see a guy who is a great waster and somebody who is slothful in his work You'd say oh those guys must be related. He's brother to him This is very true You know people that are slothful at work. You know one. They don't value other people's time They don't value the fact that they're on somebody else's clock They don't value that there's people relying on them to get things done, and they're also They won't they'll value. They won't value. Just wasting your money You can trust them to get certain things or to buy certain things they'll overspend there. They'll overspend there And they'll just waste things The slothful make excuses, that's the next point I want to make And people make excuses for the slothful today, and they need to stop it. Oh, you don't understand All those poor guys out there, and they're the ones that are rolling down the window And I know this is a bit of a hobby horse for me But I'm gonna go ahead and go off on it anyway People have rolled down the window and hand these bums money. Yeah, I get more upset with them than I do that bum Right I'm gonna say knock it off You know quit enabling that that derelict to keep living that kind of a life and people make excuses for them You don't understand what's like no they you don't understand if you have a bleeding heart for these people It's a fact. I've known people that have called the local police departments and said well You do something about these bumps, and they say hey, we would love to do something about it But unfortunately vagrancy is no longer against the law did you know the time this country was against the law to do that? To be a panhandler to be a vagrant to just be an idle wandering bum that you could go to jail for that You know and they didn't have the profit they had back then and now we have you know cities that are just say They're allowed to put up their tents wherever they want We've been sitting limits They could put them up under the overpasses police can't ask them to leave you can't ask them to leave And they can sit there and they can you know just throw their garbage and their waste and just throw everything right there on the ground And make the place messy and dirty and smelly and dangerous and unhealthy and there's nothing you can do about it You know the cops say the biggest problem that we have is you know all the college students come to town and just give them Money just over just helping this guy out just give them money It's the churches in fact that are you know? Opening up their doors and having the soup kitchens and everything else to let these people just continue to live this derelict life People who need to hit rock bottom You know they were someone was telling me also that when the economy goes down And a lot of you watch that you watch this economy takes watch how many bums go up and get a job You know why? Because of the fact that rich what people don't have money Are suffering when people actually work or making less they don't have money to give out right and the bums go I guess again Well, I guess the booms over the bubble burst time to get back to reality You know because people stop giving them money when the economy goes down and sure enough they disappear And that should tell you right there that the only reason they're out there doing that is because they know it works Because they know if they stand out there with their sign, and there's pathetic look that people will give them money look friend We've drove by there the other week coming back from souling You know people that work hard during the week come to church And they go out there knock doors for you know a few hours on their time off You know hard-working people are pulling off the freeway, and there's a guy begging You know smoking cigarettes got a haircut Got his nike's on and we're looking over. I said is that a laptop. Yeah, remember that yeah, I had a laptop sitting over, right? It's like oh heck go pawn your laptop, buddy Yeah Go sell that for your $30 or whatever you need is eat your cigarettes And then eat your hat and then when you're done eating that go get a job you bum It's ridiculous, but the reason why he's there is because it works. Yeah, you know and I've joked about this more than once in this pulpit I'm tempted to go down there and just join them on my time off You know just my day off I'm saying full three-piece suit and just walk out there with the sign and say I that says I don't need it But I want it Saving for a vacation You know Or need to you know need to get a new set of tires. Help me out You know just just you know ask me. No want to buy a new gun I Wonder if it would work. I'm tempted to do it probably I mean would it really be simple if I if I'm just doing it in my own time off I have a job, and I just totally honestly. I don't need it, but I want it. I'll take it I mean if somebody just walked up to me and wanted to hand me a hundred dollar bill. I take it Don't believe me try me out. No see me after service proven wrong right But that's that's what's going on people make excuses for these people And they and they and they prey upon that and the slothful people they make excuses for themselves all the time, too You know not even I'm not you know not just the derelicts that are out there I'm saying people who even might even have a job People will actually work, but they're just kind of considered kind of a lazy worker people just kind of keep around because well, they're cheap You know that kind of thing goes on by the way you know and But those are the people when when economy gets tough and the company has to start cutting dead weight They're gonna be the first ones to go You know that was my Intality that I learned to develop over time as an employee as I wanted to be the guy that with things got tight I'm gonna be the last guy to let go that's all I wanted to be as a worker But the slothful you know they make excuses for themselves. Well, you don't understand. You know this that they'll make all kinds of different excuses I don't know if I had you go there to Proverbs chapter 15 go to Proverbs chapter 15 Actually, just go to Proverbs 26. I'm sorry Proverbs 26 Bible says I'll read to you from Proverbs chapter 8 15 the way of the slothful men is as an hedge of thorns But the way of the righteous is made plain It says it's as a hedge of thorns You know they see they see they just perceive all these problems you tell them to do something and all they come back to you I can't do that why well because this this and this and they don't they don't see a path They don't have their they don't have a a plain path a way to get through it They just all they see is a hedge of thorns But it's as a hedge of thorns. It doesn't say it is a hedge of thorns as one They just look at their way, and they have so many excuses It's like trying to get them to go through a hedge of thorns They won't do it because all they do is just perceive problem after problem They can just make up excuses all day long and tell you why this is impossible why this isn't a good idea Why you're asking too much? Why you know I can't work more than so many hours you know and or you know I can't you're asking too much You know what the problem with a lot of people is is that that come back with this excuse of well You know that's just too much work It's like it's like it's either too much work, or you're too slow the way that the way you do it You know a lot of people need to find another gear when it comes to work I've seen people work, and it's just you watch them work And it's like you could be doing that twice as fast or they don't learn to think things through to become more efficient workers You know the saying work smarter not harder. That's not lazy That's efficient work smarter not harder so that you have more time to do what more work Get more done. It's funny. How busy people find a way to get things done You want to get something done go find the busiest guy you can Because that's the guy that has learned to manage his time and get things done don't go find a guy who has all the time in the world to get things done and Just see has a wide open schedule because you know he's probably not the guys that that's used to just getting after things So he says it's as a hedge of thorns people just have all kinds of excuses of why they can't do things look at problems Chapter 26 verse 12 see is thou a wise man, but to see is thou a man wise in his own conceit There is more hope of a fool Say you see a guy who's wise in his own conceit his own pride He says there's more hope of a fool than him because you can't teach him anything look at verse 13 the slothful man Say it there is a line in the way a lion is in the streets. I can't go to work today Cuz they're you know the coronavirus Clearly you know this whole week. I just have to take it off because I hate to contract the coronavirus and die I Mean what if I call Pastor Anderson and told that I'm just I'm really concerned That I can know the church is real busy a lot of people come through there. I'm sorry I can't I can't deposit the offering all that money I don't know who's been touching that until it's all been properly disinfected, and I have several layers of latex gloves I just can't even come into work. I need a respirator. I'm not taking them out. I want the full particle Nanoparticle respirators, I just I just I should probably shouldn't even come into this whole things over You think I don't have a job There'd be somebody else preaching here next week I have that kind of an attitude You know where there'd be at least the very least be a very serious talking to about why you need to just quit making Excuses and get something done You really think there's a lion in the streets Like this one guy. Oh, there's a line away. Do you think people just let man-eating animals just roam the streets really? I mean, I know in some parts of Tucson with these pit bulls It would seem like that Well, we had that one jump up on a car today So I was telling you could have just lunged at anybody they wanted to I mean I get it They got a habit. Do you really think that I mean where I remember in Michigan? I remember it was a big deal when some black bear wandered into town came out of the woods and it was like news But you know what? You know what the news was it wasn't everybody stay in There's a back bear loose in the streets of Traverse City You know, we wouldn't want anything bad to happen the story was all about how they were tracking it here and tracking it There was last spotted here last spotted there and finally the thing got tranked and fell out of a tree and drug back out in the woods People don't just let lions and man-eating animals wander around this guy's a liar This guy's making excuses is why he can't go out and out to work today because there's a line in the streets And what's his problem here? It goes on and says in verse 14 as the door turned upon his hinges so did the slothful on his bed You never think about how it's such a picture I love the the imagery of the Bible is talking about, you know a guy you just imagine the guys rolling back and forth turning on the hinges When you're at that stage in your sleep cycle You're not getting deep sleep You know, that's when you're like, you know, we need to get up You just keep rolling over and rolling over and rolling over when you're getting good solid sleep. You're pretty much paralyzed You don't move. I mean, that's how we test You know when one of the kids is still sleeping in the bed with us if you lift up the arm and it just falls You know, you're like Okay, this kids out, you know, then you know it right because they're just completely sacked out You could you know, you could you could twist them into a pretzel or something like that. They just wouldn't even move This guy's rolling back and forth back and forth It's time to get out of bed and get after it and not quit making up excuses about this lion The sloth will hide at his hand and his bosom they grieveth it to bring it to his mouth again You know, it reminds me of a guy who's like too lazy even cover his mouth when he like coughs or sneezes or yawns Just like it's blowing everywhere. You know, you can't even bring his hand to his mouth This is how lazy of a person talking about but look at verse 16 It says the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason You know you can sit the slugger down with the other Supervisors and talk to him and try to talk sense in the individual and say you need to do this You can quit doing that You need to get after it and you need to find another gear you need to start working hard and they can sit there and fire right back at you and say well, no you I can't because this and I can't because this and You know, I have this and I you know inability I have this disability you guys are making it harder here and they all they do is they just come back I don't know what all the excuses are because I'm not that guy But they I'm sure they're out there and they can just make all these excuses Then more than seven men that can render a reason And is that often they cannot be corrected they cannot be corrected Why because they are wiser in their own conceit. That's what it says about the slugger It says that the slopple lazy person is wiser in his own conceit. You cannot correct them It isn't vain to yell at these bums it might feel good Right to get it off your chest. You know jump get a job you dirty bum But if you think they're like, oh, why didn't I think of that? You're right Let me go shower or gives you instruction on things that you need to change and get better You need to listen up and you need to do it Because that's usually like a real strong signal that you're about to get fired when someone is talking to you in that manner And saying hey you need to fix this you need to get this right or you know They're trying to help you to get right because they they don't want to go to the whole hiring process again The awkwardness of having to fire you they probably even want you to succeed me But you need to listen to that that's helpful advice to anyone that ever, you know Has a job or gets a job that if you are ever corrected by a supervisor because nobody's perfect, you know, we're gonna make mistakes You know, and I think that's something that helped me succeed in Jobs is that and what I learned was that you know I would even sit there and take blame for things that I didn't even do Or I would I would admit fault for things that I wasn't even responsible for Just to get it over into the boss. You feel like hey, this is gonna get fixed Because that's all the boss wants. They just want a solution. They just want to know it's gonna get fixed And say hey Corinne, you know, we keep going back to this job in this door And I'm thinking we have a you don't understand it's because you know and I have a perfectly reasonable explanation But I don't go well you need to you know, fire back. I just say you know what? You're right. I'll get it, right And I'm able to go back there and you know figure something out. It wasn't my fault. Somebody else did it They think it's me whatever you see what I'm saying The boss would rather just know it's gonna get fixed and when you fix it, they're happy. That's all they're looking for They cannot be corrected because they're wiser in their own CT that is what is said about sluggers And thus they are hopeless individuals if you cannot if you are the type of person who cannot receive correction You will not go far in life. I guarantee you Because I don't care who you are You're going to make mistakes something's gonna go wrong and you are going to be corrected to some degree or another Whether rightfully so or not and if you're the type of person who's always just got a fire back We've always just got to have some kind of a remark who's always just got to have some kind of an excuse You know people are gonna get tired of dealing with that You can say every time I correct this guy, you know, he just says, you know I was talking to a bunny a church a while ago and you know He he oversees some people and they've been begging this guy to be a supervisor for years now But he refuses to do it because the policies that are in place now where you cannot just reprimand people And there's just that people can just talk back to supervisors and they can just disobey direct orders and there's just no consequences I know somebody that works for the city and This guy he told this guy to go do this job now and this guy cussed his own suit I mean that was a foreman on the job and the guy under him who's just a normal, you know General labor is cussing out the foreman and The performance going to his supervisor say what are you gonna do? They say well, unfortunately, it's the city. We can't do anything about it You know, he has rights because of the Union and the foreman ended up going and doing when he's told that guy to do after He cussed him out. That's the world we're living in today So maybe I'm wrong to say that, you know go work for the city and you can have a bad attitude You can take this disobey all you want You can keep your job and you can keep have the stigma that goes along with being a city employee as well And I work for the city and that stigma is what deserves many instances anyway Here's the point. I'm making is that people that cannot receive correction are going to find themselves unemployed and People that cannot receive correction are usually people that are wiser in their fluency. They're they're sluggardly people. They're lazy They're more concerned about just justifying why they don't do what they're supposed to do than they are actually getting something done It says in Proverbs chapter 10 go over to Proverbs up Go to Proverbs chapter 14 It says in Proverbs chapter 10 as vinegar to the teeth and has smoke to the eyes So is the slugger to him to them that sent him He's saying look when they send this guy you send this guy to go do something you give him a task to accomplish And because he's a slugger it doesn't get done, right? It doesn't get on time or it doesn't get done at all It says that individual is like vinegar to the teeth Now I've never drunk, you know straight vinegar, but I can't imagine that's a very pleasant experience You know me bring it in the modern modern vernacular. It's like chewing tinfoil Who's ever chewed tinfoil? The thought of it, you know chewy tinfoil, you know, you leave the wrap wrap around the kiss You pop the kiss in and it's like ah it didn't take long for you to figure out there was tinfoil in my mouth Just you know, that's a just a real awkward thing to do I mean it just a thought of chewing on tinfoil and the thought of vinegar on your teeth. It's irritating You know, it's a smoke to the eyes You know when you're at the campfire the smoke always seems to go in your eyes. Everyone's always moving away from it So is the slugger to them that sent him That's the way it is when you're the type of person who gets told something, okay, I'm gonna do it And the person that sends you is like could you move a little faster I suppose You know and they just drag their feet You know, it's like if it's such a if it's such a woeful task If it's just such an unpleasant thing you've been asked to do what you being a bird you go get it done and get over with That's what I've never understood about people who just want to drag things out Well, I can't believe I have to do this And they just complain the whole time. It takes twice as long It's that unpleasant just get it over with it'll be done and you can go back to whatever you were doing But when you're the type of person who drags their feet to do what they're supposed to do Complains on the way makes excuses why they can't do it. You're like you're like vinegar to the teeth you're like You're like tinfoil to the to the to the teeth, right? You're like smoke to the eyes You're obnoxious You're irritating. It's frustrating to deal with these type of people And what happens is, you know, there's some kind of a consequences whether it's a child in the home You know, there's probably a consequence that comes with that kind of an attitude if things are being done, right if you're an employee You know, there's gonna be consequences people get tired of working with people like that. Those people just get fired Just say look the guys is not getting it. He's not gonna correct. He's not gonna fix this He's gonna continue to be sluggard he's gonna continue just be a smoke in my eyes You know and just it's bad for the team. It's bad for the work environment He's got to go people do not just put up with that kind of an attitude People need to learn that that's the type of thing that's gonna cause you to suffer if you're a sluggardly person You're going to suffer for it by losing your job No one wants to work with such an individual Bible says confidence and an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth You know, I was just telling I was just saying the other night that you know I have a real thing when it comes to teeth and fingernails Like I can watch, you know, I can walk and see somebody's like just gaping flesh wound and be like, oh man, that's pretty rough But if it's your nails or your teeth or anything like that, I just can't handle it. I don't know what it is I just get squeamish Especially the teeth teeth injuries. I can't even I don't if you ever hurt your mouth and your teeth don't come show me I can't handle it. All right Let me throw that out there, you know But he's saying look the confidence in a person who's unfaithful who's not gonna get things done the way you want it done It's like having a broken tooth Anyone who's ever had any kind of dental problem? You don't just forget about that It's not like you wake up the morning go. Oh, you know, what was that? You got a little twinge in the back or something pops hurts for a second you forget it on your you know within minutes Man you have a you have an exposed nerve or a cavity or something man It's just always there always nine all day long. You can't forget it just keeps coming up That's what an unfaithful person is like. They're like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint I mean your foot goes out of joint. You're not able to walk you're gonna I mean you're gonna have to deal with that immediately You're gonna be constantly thinking about going I can't walk on that foot. Okay, put any weight on That's what that's what it's like putting your confidence in unfaithful, man It's just something that's irritating. It's always there. It's painful and eventually just needs to be dealt with You're there in problems chapter 14. Look at verse 23 It says in all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips kind of only to pennery You know pennery you know becoming poor That's what the talk of the lips tend to do People just want to stand around and talk You know the 15-minute break becomes a 30-minute break and this type of thing is out there. I've known people I've worked at places You know where they you know, let me just go ahead and say the city Okay, I'm not disparaging anyone that works for the city But when I worked for the city for over a year I learned that their stigma is well-deserved as I said earlier and he had people there that would be on the other side of this Campus and oh, you know, it's nine o'clock. It's time for our 15-minute break You think they just stopped there and took their 15-minute break. No, they came 10 minutes across the campus to the break room took their 15-minute break and then went 10 minutes back and And so what now that 15-minute break just turned into what 35 minutes and then two hours later lunch rolled around same thing Gotta go all the way back. I knew people in other County jobs And they would they would drive they would drive miles back to the shop And start their break and then they and then they would drive miles back Just to take their break when you go do that a private company and see how long you have your job for. Yeah You know, you're supposed to be out in the field working somewhere The boss is back in the office and you show up at 12 o'clock for what? What are you doing here? It's lunchtime Well, you ever heard of a lunch pail you ever heard of ice No, you ever hear of a thermos you get back out there take your lunch in the field That would happen like one time if that that would probably the last lunch you ever took at a company like that But there's people that make a practice out of that on a daily basis And it says the talk of the lips and only the penury, you know Somebody's gonna lose money because people are just being lazy But you know the beginning of that verse is just a great lesson The Bible says there that in all labor there is profit, you know I don't believe it's referring to just money You know you could go and I've said this before You could go out and work for somebody for free and learn something and you profited by it You would learn some skill you would learn how to work hard You would learn something I guarantee if you went work from somebody and they didn't even pay you You would profit from it or take a very low wage You know like an apprenticeship, you know some labor, you know You benefit from it later by putting in the labor putting in the work learning a trade learning a craft You might not see a lot of profit, but it's there but the profit really comes later After you've proven yourself after you've acquired skills And some people never want to go through that process They just want that they want the you know, the 30 the 20 to 30 dollar job just handed to them right out of the gate Well, what skills do you have them done? But I'll get them I promise You know, oh what abilities yeah, well, I don't have any how long you been working not very long at all Well, yeah, sure. Let me just pay you, you know, 28 bucks an hour for you to come do this high-skilled labor That's not how it works You got to start at the bottom and work your way up to that position You have to arrive at that but people don't want to go for that process because they don't understand that even down here at the At the lower, you know at the beginning at the at the low rung of the ladder But there is profit and climbing that ladder one rung at a time there's profit all along the way Becoming more valuable, you know more skilled having more abilities becoming worth more and more as you go along the way You know, I remember, you know had when I first read this it reminded me of a situation I got I was working for a poured wall company now roofing and port walls I don't know which is harder, but I'm glad that season's over That's tough work poured 8-foot concrete 4-inch wide walls with panels anyone who's anyone ever done that kind of work here No, you know what I'm talking about We got to peel the panels off and pull them out of the basement and it was hard work And I mean it was one of those type of jobs where you know There was a high turnover rate just because one of the people You people really didn't want to do that work for very long because it's just so demanding and back breaking But I remember there's this one guy there We're peeling all the panels off the wall after we pour it You have you have to take a hammer and just beat all the concrete that's spilled over on these things That's dried hard just beat concrete off of them. I'm talking like eight foot, you know, three foot wide panels They were aluminum still very heavy Some of them were steel or wood with like steel ribs in them real heavy stuff and load them into these cages So it's crane could pull them out really hard work and there was this one guy every time you walk by it He had to like just make some joke or stop and start talking and we're all just like, you know Bang and I remember after work that job like this I would wake up in the morning and this one finger I'd have to pull it open every morning just from swinging that hammer so much and it's gone now But for years after that job that had that hammer like permanently damaged some damage to my hand But so this is the kind of work I'm involved in this one guy just every time he walked by he just wanted Just talk about anything You know, you're just like Finally just I turned to him. I just said this like caveman talk. I said let's talk more work And this is like an older guy, you know, and he probably should have figured some things out by then I don't know what he was doing down in that ditch with some punk kid like me But there he was and I just said that and I didn't know it But my supervisor was like up there kind of watching how things are going. He saw me do that and he later at break He's like, I like that attitude and he gave me 25 cent raise That because I ran on the job site. He asked me to go get something. I just I just run for it Okay, because I wanted that job Because I understood there was profit in it, you know But I remember that reminds me of that every time the top of the flips at 10th only a penny He just telling that guy or talk or less talk more work, right? But what are we talking about talking about the suffering that slothful people go through Because of their laziness and what do they suffer they suffer the fact that you know They will find themselves poor and unemployed if they have this slothful conceited attitude they will find themselves just being people that learn to just make excuses for themselves and never accept correction and That they will be you know, become very poor people as a result unnecessarily And here's what I wanted to understand They bring it to themselves upon themselves and they should not be pity you should not pity the slothful or the sluggardly And we shouldn't feel sorry for them They need to they need a swift kick in the pants and even learn how to work and get a job They bring it upon themselves and should not be pity The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 20 verse 4 the sluggard will not plow by the reason of the cold Therefore shall he beg and have her harvest and have nothing Isn't saying he shall not plow by reason the cold therefore he shall beg and harvest and everybody will hand out to him He's saying look you should beg and harvest and have nothing And then the next time when it's time to go out and plow he's probably not going to care so much what the temperature is Because he's gonna remember old last harvest I beg and I had nothing I had nothing You know and now he's gonna suffer the consequences for being a sluggard The Bible says the desire of the sloth will kill at them for his hands refused to labor He brings it upon himself. They shouldn't be pity The slothful man sayeth there is a lion without I shall be slain in the streets There it is again that same just weird strange made-up excuse. I'll be slain if I go out there You're a liar. You're a sluggard. You're lazy. You're a bum. They're full of excuses, right? Both real and made up and they'll make up things or they might even have excuses that are real But that doesn't make them right that means they just need to deal with it in either case these people need to learn And they need to suffer and learn their lesson That's sometimes the only thing that will teach these people is for them to suffer and then they learn their lesson Which again it brings me back to that bumper sticker that I'm still waiting for don't feed the bums Right, I want that on every car in every city in this country don't feed the bums you go to the park Don't feed the bears come to the city. Don't be the bums It should be a policy that everyone abides to Because again going back to I said earlier you're not really feeding them and if you would go to second class saloonis chapter through I know This is review for us. We're running over again How cruel how could you say that about these people don't feed them let them starve look you let them go hungry They'll get a job. Yeah, though. They'll sell the laptop. They'll quit buying cigarettes and They'll go get the job. That's what they'll do Second that's the loins chapter 3 verse 10 For even when you're with you eat this we command you that if any should not would not work neither Should he eat? I mean can the Bible be any planner about the subject if you don't work you don't eat And if that were the policy that people had in their lives and practice towards other people who refused to labor There'd be a lot less than employment these streets would get cleaned up I wouldn't be able to count one person out there being a lazy bear like if people practice this But churches don't even understand this these days He says where we hear that there's some which walk among you disorderly not working at all working on at all But our busybodies now them that are such we command and exhort by the Lord Jesus Christ They would that with quietness they work and eat their own bread And quit being bums and quit being beggars and quit trying to just mooch off everybody else Again you know there's there's more bums in a successful economy Because of the fact that people are just have more money to just hand these people and Because they don't understand the Bible and the Bible is telling you not to feed them don't feed these bums You know the irony is that people that are handing out this money and giving them to them It's like I just want to ask them like how did you come to be so successful where you just had this money to be? to give away Was it by being that guy I? Mean do you think that guy got you know that had got a bank account where he could just start handing out money? Just random strangers with cardboard signs by being that guy of course not That guy who got that position. He did that by not being an idle bum By not somebody who makes excuses by not somebody's just a sleepy slothful Individual but by somebody who works hard gets up early stays up late and gets after it You know and fights through being tired and fights through you know being having a little sniffle here and there whatever That type of a person is a person that succeeds and It's not going to suffer in life The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 12 the hand of the diligent shall bear rule The hand of the diligent shall bear rule. They're gonna be the ones to charge Who's gonna make management who's gonna be the supervisor? Who's gonna be the owner the diligent person? It's not gonna be the bum It's not gonna be the slugger on the job Who just every time you have to do something has nothing but an excuse why you can't do it Never gonna be supervisor never gonna be manager never gonna run its own company Because he's too lazy to do all those things the hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute They're gonna be the ones getting taxed and getting and being put to work. You know making somebody else money And you know what I know I've been just this has been all applied so far to just you know people you know The You know the workforce and things like that, but we could say the same thing spiritually We could apply all these points to to ourselves spiritually You know go over to uh Gordon in Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12. What if we applied these same things spiritually this evening? Bible says in Proverbs 23 here now my son to be wise and guide thy heart in the way Be not among wine bevers among riotous eaters of flesh For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe the man in rags Now we should stay far away from these type of people. They'll just drag you down But we cannot we can apply this spiritually it says in Romans 12 verse 9 Let love be without dissimulation aboard that which is evil plead that which is good Be kindly affectionate one another with brother love and honor preferring one another not slothful It's business fervent spirit serving the Lord You know we shouldn't be slothful and of course in our jobs, but we should not be slothful and serving the Lord either You know how we need to sometimes we need to check there are we getting lazy when it comes to our spiritual service Are we getting lazy when it comes to our Bible reading or our church attendance or our soul-winning? Or any of these areas where we need to be fervent in spirit You know it's real easy for us to just pick on these bums out there and they deserve every bit of it that they get until they learn to pick themselves up and go earn an honest living and Believe me. There'll be plenty more times where I go off on them because it's just a constant irrigation because they're constantly there Well you know what it's another thing for us to look within and apply these things to ourselves and ask ourselves Spiritually speaking maybe everything's going great at work You know maybe we're getting the raise and the promotions and we've got plenty of money and the bills are paid There's food on the table and everyone's fat and sassy and happy But how are we doing spiritually? Are we kind of like well? You know I can't do the soul-winning or it can be the Bible reading because you know my schedule I can't make it happen, or you know I can't get to church because well. You know I just I don't feel like it Are we making are we being this exact same way just making the excuses Just coming up with an excuse of why we can't use the spiritual things the things that we need to be doing fervently Because here's the thing those things are the things that are gonna last returning Those are the things that those are the treasures that we sound at heaven that are gonna last forever All the money we make down here all the stuff that we collect all the nice things that we have are all for not They're temporary they're not they're they're the wood and stubble they're gonna burn up But how hard are we working for the gold the silver and the precious stones up praise God? We've got a church that are full of people that are busy spiritual people There it's not this church is not filled with a bunch of spiritual bumps And I'm grateful for that you know and I don't ever want to be a part of a church That's like that. I don't ever want to be a part of a church. That's just a lazy You know selfish Church all they're ever concerned about is just taking it easy You know we had 50 what was it 50? Five soul winners that what it was that's the most people I've ever let in a soul name I suppose ever in the history of me doing it brand. I've only done it for a little over a year You know that's the biggest I've ever done, and you know what it was one of these easiest things I've ever it was probably one of the easiest soul winning things of The trips I've ever had Because everybody there was fervent they all I gave them all very clear directions everybody was diligent to make sure that they did what they needed to do and Report to who they need to report to and move on to the next phase of the trip And and it's everything went smooth and as a result over 20 people got saved that day You know and we knocked a lot of doors and on the scene got planted Why because because we're dealing with people who are who are fervently serving the Lord They're not spiritual bums either They're hard-working people Both in their you know their secular life and when it comes to serving God Let's go ahead and turn over to go over to Hebrews chapter 6 Hebrews chapter 6 Bible says I'll begin reading in verse 9, but beloved We are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation though We thus speak for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love You want God to remember you and what you did down here? You know you're gonna have to put in some elbow grease You're gonna have to get after you're gonna have to actually do something worth remembering. Oh You know what Lord you know where's my reward remember me. You know I'm here Remember me what I did for you. Well. What did you do for me? Oh man? That's a good question I'm not sure about sure I did something well. I'm going back over your time sheets You know I see a lot of time for everything you like do it You know and by the way. I like circle more. I think it's exciting It's great to get out there fellowship with different people and get to know one another and We get stories every time we go out slowly. You know we almost get attacked by dogs or not always but sometimes You know we always have these crazy soul-willing stories, or you know we rescue a dog out there today It's this guy's dog this long-haired burned-out gray-haired hippie. You know it looked like a I should go off on it, but you know his little puppy Marley just comes running out of the door Just you know licking me licking him just run all over the place Marley get back here Marley get back here It's crazy it's a funny story look like you know dr. Emmett Brown And he's like I'm not interested Marley we're like we're grabbing the dog and trying we grab the dog Math making gets pulled him in by the scruff of his neck the guy starts pulling him in and the dog gets away again It runs off again. Oh Just let it go All right, we'll have a nice day, sir. Sorry about that Slams the door go on to the next house Marley's just All over as follows. It's like totally two blocks back to the church band. I look at Matt I'm like we should return this dog. What do you think? He's like yeah? I'm probably they'd be the right thing to do when he wrangles the dog And I'm sitting in there like just put him on my lap. I've still got Marley on So he puts us. I got this dog You know in my lap in the church family go back to the guy's house Go knock at his door. I got your dog. You know oh, thanks. Thanks. Yeah, nice day That's a funny story. I thought yeah, how often does that happen? You know, but that wouldn't happen if I wasn't you know want to go out serve God Brother Matt didn't want you know if you want to just go home and take a nap You know probably all of us probably wanted to do that You know I'm not saying and if you do for talking all if that's something you do that there's nothing wrong with that But I'm saying that's all you do Every time there's time to go soloing you're not making any time ever in your schedule to go out and do some soloing I know you know some people are You know busy moms and things like that. They have they're busy raising little soul winners and stuff like that I get it okay, but I'm just saying if we have Opportunity to go out and serve are we taking advantage of it, or are you saying? Well don't see be surprised when you get to heaven and God you know it has nothing for you to remember When it comes to your work and your labor of love which you have showed toward his name and have ministered the states and do minister You know here's my time sheet Lord Man, it's looking a little thin looking a little light when it comes to serving the Lord I See you had time for the lake and see you had time for this recreation and this pleasure and all this And I'm not saying there's things wrong with that, but where are we cutting out time for him, or are we just being lazy with them? And he says in verse 11 we desire that every one of you to show the same Diligence to the full assurance of hope up to the end that you be not slothful But followers of them who through faith impaired patience inherit the promises You know God doesn't want a bunch of lazy kids He says hey, I want you to go preach the gospel to every creature Preach you think God's pleased with that not at all. It's not gonna count for anything So go back to Proverbs where we had to start Proverbs chapter 6 Proverbs chapter 6 You know if you want to succeed whether it's you know in the workforce or whether it's spiritually when it comes to serving God Here's some real good advice go to the ant Go to the ant Is that not what we read in the beginning? Was that not the advice that was given to the slugger go to the ant thou sluggard He's saying you need to go to the ant and consider her ways and be wise You know if we would observe that little creature and the way it works in the way it behaves You know we could learn from it. We could become wise And be profitable people not only to our parents not only to our employers But to the Lord himself if we would go to the end and consider it. What does he do? She provided which having no guide overseer or ruler provided for meat in the summer and gather at her food in the harvest I Mean it's a great day when you have somebody who does what they need to do without having to be told You know and that's one of the real You know defining attributes of what it's considered to be an adult you know people that want to be considered an adult That's really what makes you an adult Is when somebody doesn't have to come to you and say it's time to do this You want to be a mature person you want to mature and become an adult learn to do things without being told Mom or dad come to me. It's time to turn down. Oh Wow, who are you? What have you done with my child right? They'll be pulling on your skin is that a clever disguise Is that really an alien under there You know it's time to go. It's done. I did it already Well, what about yeah, did that too? And here's the thing you know they're gonna ask Why do we wait to be asked to do things because we don't want to do them right? Because we're hoping maybe they'll forget Right that's a lazy attitude. That's a slothful attitude. I'm not gonna do it until I tell me Why don't just get it done that bad just get it done get over with and you look like an adult We go to the ant about slugger She has no guy no overseer or ruler I remember I got hired. I was told I don't want to hold your hand those words ring in my ears I don't want to hold your hand. I don't want to hold your hand Just every time I have a question. Hey. How do I do hey? What if I what are you? Are you okay with just how am I supposed to know? Employers want people are just gonna figure it out and get it done Just say here's what I want to happen make it happen That's what they want and if you're that type of person who can be given a task given a project and say make this happen And then you do it you're gonna succeed And you're gonna be like the ant who doesn't have somebody just standing over them watching them You know that's why a lot of places have to hire managers and supervisors It's to sit there watch other people to make sure those people are doing what they're supposed. That's their whole job Make sure they come to work on time make sure they punch out when they're supposed to make sure they're working while they're there Making sure that they do things the way they're supposed to be done. That's that's their whole purpose And here's the thing if those people didn't have to exist the company could pay those people the other people They're supposed to be watching even more money I Mean they we would love to pay you more But we have to pay this guy to watch make sure you do what you do, and that's why he makes more money than you People Want to people who will just do things without having to be told And so that's really you know a good good Attitude to adopt to be that kind of a person Type of person who just and if you wouldn't go to problem chapter 13 will close the type of person who just sees what needs To be done and just does it You know the person who as the Bible says walks circumspectly I'll never forget that when I you know my last pastor He was a roofer, and he sat and he took me aside one time He said you need when you go around the job site wherever we are You develop an attitude of somebody who learns how to walk circumspectly You know not redeeming a tie if the days are evil You know he's saying that same concept with circumstance you'd be looking around you know circumspectly And as you walk circumspectly you take note of things this tool is here If anybody asked for it. I know where it is I know where I last saw that or where this is or you see something that needs to be picked up this drives me nuts Like people who will just leave a piece of garbage and go oh, yeah, there's garbage right there, so let's pick that up What's wrong with you bending over and picking that up throw it away Someone who sees what needs to be done and just does it without being told That's the type of person that's going to succeed My own says in Proverbs chapter 13 verse 4 the soul of the slugger desireth and hath nothing I mean those people that are out there begging You know they desire things they might want the next meal They want might want to have a roof over their head. They might want to have you know a change of clothes They want to have all these things, but you know what they have they have nothing But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat the person is willing to work. He's going to have all those things He's going to have he's going to have the hot meal and dessert You know he's going to be in a caloric excess all the days of his life, you know and He's gonna. He's gonna have everything that he needs these are the type of people that we need in our in our You know in our homes in our churches in our in our places of work We need people that can be like the end walk circumspectly see what needs to be done and do it You know and regardless of whatever society society adopts or whatever their attitude is you know some Socialist gets in there and just wants to you know make it You know an even playing field where everybody's equal, and there's no you know you know wants to start paying people You know 20 bucks an hour to flip burgers or whatever and keep raising men in ways whatever you know Social policy is embraced that is anti-bible that it's unbiblical You know we should still continue to pattern our lives for success in God's economy and not after the world You know why I only work 40 hours That's not God's economy That's not not you know God's economy is six days south out labor Now if you work a job where you only work 40 hours great No, but this gives you more time to do things for the Lord I guess But and that should just be well either you know the company company says hey We need you to actually work 45 me were 50 wallet You know what there was a law enacted that says you know unless you pay me over. You know that's that's not God's Economy that's the world's economy And we should pattern our lives after the way God wants things done and not be lazy people But be people that are diligent in our work, and if we do that if we're diligent and we do the work We shall receive the reward We will turn in a timesheet to heaven and say I've been busy Lord. I serve you fervently You know I got after it. I did something for you. I was a busy person for the Lord and God will say great Well, here's your reward, and we'll have something and God is not Unjustive he will he will remember things that we've done towards his name, so it's fun great