(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) And the verse that I want to preach on tonight is verse number 22 where the Bible reads, Joseph is a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall. And the title of my sermon tonight is whose branches run over the wall. Now this is spoken of Joseph and if we know about the life of Joseph we know that he went through more adversity and more problems than almost any character in the Bible. You know everything was going wrong in his life. Now look at the next few verses here in verse 23. The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd the stone of Israel even by the God of thy father who shall help thee and by the almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. So we see here that this talks about the fact that he was hated he was attacked and if you know the story of Joseph even when he was just 17 years old he's beaten and thrown in a pit he's sold into slavery and then when he's in slavery he's falsely accused he's thrown into prison and then he gets out of prison and of course becomes the second in command of the entire nation of Egypt all along the way it keeps saying of Joseph that the Lord was with Joseph and he prospered everywhere he went even when he's in prison he's pretty much running the prison you know and when he's in the palace he's running the palace when he's a slave in Potiphar's house he ends up running everything so in spite of adversity in spite of being attacked and hated in spite of coming up against a lot of obstacles in his life he still succeeded through the power of God. Now when the Bible says in verse 22 Joseph is a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall I believe that what this signifies with the wall there is that a wall basically represents some kind of an obstacle or some kind of a an impediment to further progress you know you're you're walking forward and you hit a wall you know you can't go any further right wrong you go over the wall okay see Joseph was one whose branches went over the wall he found a way to get over the wall over the obstacles in his life now go to Mark chapter 2 and this sermon tonight is a sermon that will help you at your job especially in your career because there are two kinds of people in this world when it comes to the workforce there are the people who are constantly coming to the boss with problems and the people who are constantly coming to the boss with solutions there are the people who just see the wall all the time and they keep calling them and telling them about the wall that's in front of them and then there's other people whose branches go over the wall they find a way to get things done and they don't just let every little thing stop them where the and I know this is cliche but where there's a will there's a way it's true and people who really want to get something done people are really dedicated to the job always find a way to get it done and then other people seem like they're just looking for an excuse why they don't want to get it done now I love this story in Mark 2 this is one of my favorite Bible stories because these guys knew how to get something done these guys were like Joseph whose branches went over the wall they found a way to get something done look at Mark chapter 2 verse 1 and again he entered into Capernaum after some days and it was noise that he was in the house and straightway many were gathered together and of course the he here is Jesus and many people are gathering together to hear Jesus verse 2 and so much that there was no room to receive them no not so much as about the door and he preached the word unto them verse 3 and they come unto him bringing one sick of the palsy which was born of four now born means carried so four guys are carrying another guy who's sick of the palsy this man is diseased and this man needs to get to Jesus because they know if they can get him to Jesus Jesus has the power to heal this guy Jesus has been healing all kinds of people and his fame has gone abroad through that whole country but they can't get anywhere near the house where Jesus is preaching because the whole house is full of people even all around the doorways all around the windows I mean there's no way to get anywhere near this house where Jesus is preaching so they basically threw up their hands and quit they basically said hey it can't be done no look what they did in verse 4 when they could not come nigh unto him for the press they uncovered the roof where he was and when they had broken it up they let down the bed where in the sick of the palsy lay I mean isn't this a cool story Jesus is preaching imagine the house is packed no one can get near it okay just imagine if you know Jesus were here preaching and all of a sudden you know ceiling tiles just started moving out of the way what's going on next thing you know a bed just starts lowering four guys with four ropes on the four corners just lowering this bed down and I mean just right in front of where Jesus is preaching you know just right in front of like he can't miss it right there I mean they break and it says they broke stuff I mean they broke up the roof they're ripping out tiles over there we're gonna get this done we're getting this guy to Jesus we're gonna get this guy healed it's a life you know they lower the guy down on the bed look what it says in verse 5 when Jesus saw their faith not even that he saw the faith of the guy that's in the bed no he saw the faith of the guys who are lowering him down the guys who are getting him there when Jesus saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy son thy sins be forgiven thee which is much more important than getting healed anyway getting your sins forgiven is much more important than getting rid of palsy but there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts said why does this man speak thus blasphemy who can forgive sins but God only and immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves he said unto them why reason ye these things in your hearts whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise and take up thy bed and walk but that you may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins he saith to the sick of the palsy i say unto thee arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house and immediately he arose took up the bed and went forth before them all and so much that they were all amazed and glorified God saying we never saw it on this fashion and he went forth again by the seaside and the multitude resorted unto him and he taught them turn to proverbs chapter 22 john do you have that jar of water for me or isaac can you grab that for me so proverbs chapter number 22 look at verse 13 the bible reads the slothful man and slothful is another word for lazy the slothful man saith there's a lion without i shall be slain in the streets this guy's looking for an excuse not to go outside this is a lazy man so well there's a lion out there you know i could be killed i could be slain in the streets look at verse 26 or i mean chapter 26 a couple pages over in proverbs there chapter 26 it says in verse 12 see as thou a man wise in his own conceit verse 12 there's more hope of a fool than of him the slothful man saith there's a lion in the way a lion is in the streets as the door turneth upon his hinges so did the slothful upon his bed the slothful hideth his hand in his bosom it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason so see slothful people and sluggardly people are real smart about one thing they're real good at coming up with excuses and reasons why the job can't be done and why they're not going to get it done they find all kind of reasons not to get the work done you don't have to turn there but proverbs 20 verse 6 says most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness but a faithful man who can find faithful meaning someone that you can rely on now listen if you want to succeed at your job you need to understand the sermon i'm preaching right now about joseph whose branches went over the wall this was a guy who probably more than anybody else in the bible succeeded at work i mean he's in the prison he's running the place he's working in potiphar's house he's running the place palace with pharaoh running everything great worker his boss was always pleased with him potiphar loved him the keeper of the prison loved him pharaoh loved him this guy's great now here's the thing about jobs here's the thing about bosses they're usually not a philanthropist right they're usually not running a charitable non-profit organization i mean your typical boss is trying to make money and you are a tool to help him make money he's not just here oh i i i opened this business because i just really wanted to provide jobs to the community see he that's a wrong attitude for you to have an as an employee to think that the boss is somehow there to serve you oh well the company exists to provide me with the job no no you exist to provide work for the company okay the the servant is the one that's serving the job not vice versa like they're providing jobs for you no no you're working for them get the right attitude about your job the company's goal is to make money your goal should be to make money for the company the boss's goal should be your goal because he has hired you to work for him and to do his will right you're doing the will of him that sent you when you are going out on those jobs or service calls you know if you're one who works out in the field or if you work in the office you know you're there to do what your boss wants you to do the company has certain goals you're there to help them meet those goals now if you want to succeed at your job you need to be productive at your job you need to be effective at your job you need to be reliable at your job you see the bible says here that people are looking for a faithful man they're looking for a guy they can rely on that they can count on that they can hang their hat on and there are all kinds of people out there singing their own praises and proclaiming their own goodness but a faithful man who can find and that was back when proverbs is written today in america the work ethic is declining and so this is getting even more true but that's good news for you as the worker because it's not going to be that hard for you to really shine at your job because the bar is low i mean there are so many bad workers out there that when you show up at your job and you're reliable and you're trustworthy and you're faithful and you're effective and you're efficient and you're working hard you're really going to shine you're going to be a superstar it's not going to be that hard the bible says whatsoever thy hand find it to do do it with thy might the bible teaches that we are to do our work as unto the lord and not to men not with eye service as men pleasers but as the servants of christ doing the will of god from the heart that's talking about when you go to your job on monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday be a good worker that's a good trick christian testimony to your boss to your co-workers and to your customers when you are a hard worker that is giving the name of christ a good name whereas being a lazy poor worker is giving christ a bad name because you represent jesus christ as a christian your ambassadors for christ the bible says now all of us desire to provide for our family to provide for ourselves to pay for our wife to pay for our children so we want to excel at our job also that we might get raises and promotions and be able to afford the cost of living here in arizona right i mean everybody wants to go out and succeed and and make more money and do a good job now we're not trying to be rich that's a wicked goal according to the bible to desire to be rich but we do desire to provide for our families and to live a life not of riches or of poverty but to be between that's what the bible teaches in proverbs chapter 30 so if you want to be like joseph whose branches go over the wall you need to learn to come to your boss with solutions not problems and not constantly have an attitude that it can't be done have a can-do attitude now i could stand here literally all night and just give you concrete examples of this just from my own experiences of just people who i've seen and the dumb excuses that they've come up with and then other people that i've seen where they found a way to get it done you know we could just go on and on and on about that you know i'll just kind of throw out a few examples i don't want to spend too much time on that but i just want to kind of give you an idea of what i'm talking about and look this can be applied to all areas of life spiritual things this could be applied to soul winning there are people that have a defeated attitude of soul winning all they see is a wall missionaries go to a foreign country and all they see is a wall oh soul winning doesn't work here people are unreceptive blah blah blah another guy's branches go over the wall he finds a way to win souls he finds a way to get it done this could go in all areas of life but i want to focus on your job because that's the most applicable thing to most people in this room is is going out and doing your job as a plumber an electrician a carpenter computer programmer you know what are some other jobs in the room tonight call them out pool swimming pool man yeah that's a big thing in arizona right keeping the pools clean doing maintenance car mechanic nurses installing cables what else that's it all right so people that get it done and people who are constantly finding an excuse not to get it done and listen kids you listen up too because it's the same way with chores mom gives you a chore and you shoot it right back at her oh well i can't do it because of x y and z or whatever same thing this principle even a child is known by his doings whether his work be pure and whether it be right the bible says but you know for example let's say you know and i'm kind of drawing from my own experience because i worked in the fire alarm business which is basically low voltage electrical work and i did that for a long time and one thing that we would run into sometimes when i would send because i had i owned my own company for a while and i had workers that worked for me and i'd send them out to jobs and they'd call me with issues and then even when i worked for uh the company that was based out of chicago i was still running the company and so i had i was the second in command and so i had workers under me and i was dealing with a lot of different workers that my boss would hire and you know one thing that would happen sometimes is they'd go out to a job and they don't have a tall enough ladder you know what i mean they call me and this is something you run into right in the construction industry hey i don't have a tall enough ladder i can't get this done i don't have a tall enough ladder and you know one thing that i i would constantly say to them is like you know i'd constantly come up with ideas of how to get it done without a tall ladder like for example i would say to them you know okay you're at coals or whatever there's another department store right next door what i would often do is i would go next store and say hey i'm working on the fire alarm at coals they don't have a 12-foot ladder is it all right if i borrow your 12-foot ladder i can give you my driver's license and whatever and usually they'd say sure no problem i borrow the ladder get it done you know that's one example or let's say that's not an option you go to the job there's not a tall enough ladder you call an equipment rental company and you rent a ladder and they drive out and they drop off a ladder and there you go now you got a tall ladder you can get the job done okay and you know these are just maybe examples that some people could relate to or some people cannot relate to or let's just say there's a little tool that you need and it's just a small hand tool you can call the boss and say hey can't do this job we're gonna have to reschedule because i don't have a tiny screwdriver you know or i don't have an allen wrench we're gonna have to reschedule this for another day you know or you can go to the hardware store and buy an allen wrench you know what i mean especially with the smartphone i mean just pull it up allen wrench go to the store get the allen wrench get it done right you know you just got to think about solutions instead of just coming to the boss just i don't have an allen wrench what do i do uh go buy one you know what i mean or i don't have a ladder what do i do borrow one rent one steal no just kidding just kidding you know if i get one get it you know figure out a way to get it done now here's what you do when you have a problem at your job and sometimes i mean it's the dumbest little things sometimes it's literally something that costs 75 cents a dollar it's a nine volt battery turn the truck around we don't have a nine volt you know drive back an hour or whatever just go buy the stupid nine volt battery and get it done you know you got you got to think about hey let's get this done let's figure out a way to get it done and uh you know sometimes it's just the dumbest little dollar 75 two dollars and fifty cent part or something just buy it just go get just fine just borrow it i mean sometimes i'd be on the job and just bum stuff off some other trade or some other tech hey can i get some of these wire nuts here's a can of soda or whatever who cares but there's a mentality that gets it done and a mentality that just makes excuses now if you have a problem and it's a real easy fix and it's a real quick fix and you're literally across the street from a hardware store and the part costs 50 cents or something and you can just walk over there and just buy it and yeah i don't want to spend 50 cents of my own money well here's the thing first of all a lot of jobs would reimburse you for that rather than you having to make another trip out there cost them a 50 dollars instead of 50 cents but even if they didn't reimburse you you know what you spending 50 cents or a dollar fifty is going to pay off when you get a dollar an hour raise and for the next several years you're making an extra dollar an hour an extra two dollars an hour an extra three dollars an hour because you're the guy where you're faithful and they give you a job and when they give you a job they don't have to worry about it's just it's it's done i mean where they can hand you a job and just consider it done it's done he's got it it's gonna pay off a little investment of 75 cents or or three dollars or something you know is gonna go do wonders when you are buying a special pair of pliers or something for eight bucks you know and these are real life situations that you run into or you get there hey a hard hat's required i don't have a hard hat you know they don't have a loaner hard hat you got to go to the store and buy a hard hat you know you don't just call the boss i don't have a hard hat what do i do okay so number one if it's a real easy quick fix like it's just right there and if you're you know and some jobs give you more freedom than others your job gives you the freedom to where yeah you can call you can rent a ladder you can put it on the company card you just get it done if you have that power and freedom right but let's say you have a job where it's a little more strict and you have to run things by the boss you know you do have to talk to the boss about problems and things you run into right that might be your situation then here's what you do when you call your boss okay you call your boss and you say it like this you don't call the boss say hey i don't have a hard hat what do i do hey i don't have a pair of pliers what do i do i don't have a small enough screwdriver what do i do instead if you have to run things by the boss if that's what they work that's what they want you to do then you call up and you say hey listen they require a hard hat i don't have one i'm gonna run up to harbor freight and pick one up is that all right you come with a solution like you come you don't just come with a problem you come with a solution hey i don't have a tall enough ladder but there's a ladder rental place in this town is it all right if i throw a ladder on the company card it's 75 for them to bring the ladder out here for me to use it for four hours and then they'll pick it up again it's 75 out the door is that cool not just i don't have a ladder what do i do well is there a ladder rental place i don't know i guess i can check okay well i don't how much is gonna be i don't know like figure out a solution figure out an option and then make the call call with solution okay get your branches going over that wall give them a call come up with a solution and then if they don't like your solution they want you to do something different fine but at least be the guy who's always calling with a solution not always calling with a problem of just it's not working what do i do what do i do what do i do you know try to take some initiative and get things fixed get things done and have a can-do mentality where there's a will there is a way and there are people who have this attitude they find a way to get it done and and i bet you that there are things that you really want to get done you find a way to get them done i'll bet because it's all about attitude you know it's the slothful man who just sees a lion in every street and a wall everywhere it's just walls everywhere and it's the righteous man the hard-working man who finds a way over the wall finds a way past difficulties go to Exodus chapter four and honestly this is good advice for you on your job you you've got to go to work and be be fervent in your work be zealous be be be excited about your job take it seriously do your best find solutions to your own find solutions to the problems of people around you you know there's one level of solving your own problems then they're solving your co-workers problems getting in there and help you know and obviously you don't you know every company's different you don't want to overstep your bounds or do anything inappropriate use wisdom but you know what get in there and be a problem solver be a guy who's got solutions all the time you're going to climb the ladder you're going to be promoted you're going to make more money you're going to be able to provide this is good advice for you let your branches go over the wall be as joseph look at exodus chapter four this conversation reminds me of a lot of conversations that i've had with employees over the years okay god just finished explaining to him in exodus chapter three god finished explaining to moses this is what i want you to do he's basically giving him the service call you know what i mean he's giving him the assignment he's giving him the work and duties to perform and moses just starts coming at him with excuses right moses answered and said but behold they'll not believe me nor hearken unto my voice for they will say the lord has not appeared unto thee and the lord said unto him what is that in thine hand you know so god comes at him with the solution what's in your hand a rod and he said cast it on the ground and he cast on the ground and it became a serpent and moses fled from before it and the lord said to moses put forth thine hand and take it by the tail and he put forth his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand that they may believe that the lord god of their fathers the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob hath appeared unto thee and the lord said furthermore in him you know he shows him another miracle that he's going to be able to show so that they won't uh doubt him verse 9 and it shall come to pass if they will not believe also these two signs neither hearken unto thy voice that thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it upon the dry land and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry ground so he basically says okay moses i've got solution number one solution number two and if that doesn't work here's solution number three i mean god's got solutions moses just well what if they don't believe me okay excuses so then after god just demolishes that excuse by giving him three different solutions if one and two don't work number three will moses said to the lord oh my lord i'm not eloquent more excuses neither heretofore nor since thou has spoken unto thy servant but i am slow of speech and of a slow tongue by the way that wasn't really true because in act chapter 7 it says that moses was a man mighty in words and deeds in egypt so he was a good speaker in egypt and the lord said unto him who hath made man's mouth or who maketh the dumb or deaf or the seeing or the blind have not i the lord now therefore go and i will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say another excuse and he said oh my lord send someone else on this service call lord maybe you should send somebody else this is you know i don't think i can do it oh my lord send i pray thee by the hand of him without will sin and the anger of the lord was kindled against moses and look your boss's anger is going to be kindled if you just keep coming at him with excuses of why it can't be done look oh i can't figure it out i don't know google it google it look you're having computer problems google i mean you know it was a good day when i learned that that when you can't figure something out on the computer you just google it and the answer is like 99 of the time right there it's always that i mean like i can't get this hard drive to load or whatever it's like google it and it's like step by step instructs you know just learn to google stuff but look i remember i i'd show up at at job sites in the fire alarm business all the fire alarm systems are different there's all these different brands so you're constantly having to learn new panels so i was always teaching my employees you know what you gotta fake it till you make it don't show up and and act like you don't know what you're doing evoke confidence and my boss taught me this the guy that i worked for in illinois he said you gotta evoke confidence in the customer and he said everything you do do it with authority he said if you go to the port of john he said you walk to that port of john like a man on a mission you walk to that port of john with authority like you're going somewhere and you walk out of that port of john and you march onto the job site and everywhere you go you're a man on a mission not just kind of walking around and looking confused i mean you need to walk around and look like you know what you're doing so i always taught my fire alarm guys i train people on fire alarm and i always tell them this if the customer if you walk in and see a fire alarm panel that you've never seen before and the customer starts grilling you like hey do you know how to work on this panel because sometimes you know are you familiar with this are you sure you know how to work on simplex or notifier or whatever because sometimes they would they had it in their head that only the notifier guy can work on notifier only the simplex guy can wear so here's what i taught them to say i taught them to say this you know i haven't worked on this particular panel but i've worked on a whole bunch of panels and they're all pretty much the same they operate on the same principles so i'm gonna have no trouble working on this i can easily work on this then you with authority you know march into the bathroom and pull out your laptop and you google the manual for that sucker you know what i mean right and you you open the manual and you pull it up online and look i'd pull up these manuals online and sometimes you had to pay a few bucks for a pdf or something but guess what it's worth a couple bucks to be the guy who always gets it done to be the guy that can work on any panel you know why because you just read the instructions you know you just go online you find the answer you google it you figure it out so when you run into problems on the job you call the boss you don't be like moses here kindling the anger of your boss rather you call the boss with ideas or solutions okay hey i'm dealing with this you know panel that we've never worked on before not just like i'm scared i don't know what to do you know just say you know hey i'm gonna need a little extra time because i'm gonna i'm pulling this thing up on my laptop i'm pulling up the manual right or we're gonna you know we're gonna have to purchase the manual or you know i found the manual on ebay or whatever you know but but at least come up with some idea some solution where you're at least making an effort to think about fixing things not just calling the boss with just a problem now look sometimes you might have a problem where you really don't have an answer i get that the exception proves the rule but you just don't want to be the guy who just at the drop of a hat never has the right tool never has the right part never has the manual and never has an idea of how to get it and how to figure it out and you can apply this you know i'm just talking about fire alarm stuff but you could apply this to whatever your job is you know whether it's whether it's uh you know now if you're in nursing don't fake it till you make it all right now that could cost lives sorry but you know you get in there you do your best you try you know plumbing or whatever you know electrical whatever you get in there and you try and you learn and you figure things out and you know sometimes you go home and you study the manual at night sometimes and learn how to do stuff you know what i mean and get better at your job so that you can you know be a better provider so that you can do your best and and be a good worker and it all and you say wow you know i'm not reading this stuff on my own time yeah but you know what like any work that you do the bible says in all labor there's profit but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury in all labor there's profit because you'll end up making more money per hour in the long run because of the study that you did because you're faster because you're more reliable because you're getting things done and also god sees your effort keep in mind there's a supernatural element here god sees all your works and god will bless your effort when he sees you doing your best he'll recompense you for the work that you're doing when he sees you have a heart that says i want to do a good job and make the boss happy and make the company happy and be the best plumber landscaper maintenance man mechanic i can possibly be i'm gonna do my best figure out a way to get things done go if you would to judges chapter four this is another example of a get it done kind of person in the bible you know i i love that story where they tear up the roof i mean they found a way to get it done they got the job done you got to be careful obviously damage damaging property on construction sites and stuff like that okay i'm not you know get it done but uh here's another get it done kind of person jail okay now jail in the bible this is a woman okay this is a woman who defeats a mighty warrior the mighty warrior cicero how she how is he defeated by a housewife jail well what does the bible say verse 18 jail went out to meet cicero and said unto him turn in my lord turn into me fear not and when he had turned in under her into the tent she covered him with a mantle and he said unto her give me i pray thee a little water to drink for i'm thirsty she opened a bottle of milk and gave him drink and covered him again he said to her stand in the door of the tent and it shall be when any man doth come and inquire of thee and say is there any man here that thou shalt say no then jail heber's wife took a nail of the tent this is one of the tent spikes and took a hammer in her hand and went softly unto him and smote the nail into his temples and fastened it into the ground for he was asleep and weary so he died and behold as barack pursued cicero jail came out to meet him and said to him come and i will show thee the man whom thou seekest and when he came into her tent behold cicero lay dead and the nail was in his temples i mean she found the right tool she went to the hardware store it was real close by she got the parts needed to finish the job this service call was complete and i mean look she defeated a guy who was much stronger and much more formidable i mean cicero was a wall of a man her branches went over the wall she found a way to get it done i mean david found a way to get it done david didn't just look at goliath and say this is a wall that is insurmountable how can i a youth defeat this man who's a man of war from his youth he found a way to get it done through the power of the lord in that case and it was god's power obviously that got it done look at judges chapter five we're in judges four flip over to judges five judges four is the story about barack and deborah and cicero and jail and then in chapter five they're celebrating defeating this horrible enemy cicero so they're singing a song about it and these are some of the lyrics to the song it says in verse 24 blessed above women shall jail the wife of heber the keenite be blessed shall she be above women in the tent he asked water and she gave him milk she brought forth butter in a lordly dish she put her hand to the nail and her right hand to the workman's hammer and with the hammer she smoked cicero she smote off his head when she had pierced and stricken through his temples look at verse 31 so let all thine enemies perish oh lord but let them that love him meaning love the lord be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might and the land had rest 40 years she got it done she got the job done by hook or by crook and so we need to have a get it done attitude a can do attitude now obviously we're not smiting off anybody's head here like jail did or like david did in the case of goliath and you may not be installing fire alarm panels or doing any kind of work like that but you know we all have work that we do in our life and we need to find a way to get things done and come to the boss with solutions not just coming to the boss all the time with problems and when we approach the work of god we need to have a can-do attitude that looks at the job what's the job the job is i look i've got a vision for our church here's what i see the job as get the gospel to every single door in phoenix arizona in this greater area i'm saying knock every door with the gospel in this whole area and look i don't think we as a church should have a small vision that says hey let's knock every door in a three mile radius or hey let's knock every door in our zip code or let's knock every door just in the city of tempe well guess what there are only about 180 000 people i think living in tempe that's only about 60 000 doors because there's an average of three people behind every door each household's approximately three people you know i believe that god would have us to to broaden our vision and that's why my personal vision when i started the church and what we've always talked about as a church and what we've always put out there and we've got the map back there and everything that the goal of this ministry faith forward baptist church is to get the gospel to every single person in maricopa county now i'm not saying we're going to get every person in maricopa county saved because that's up to them whether they get saved or not and broad's the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in there at but the goal is to knock every door at least once with an opportunity for people to hear the gospel of jesus christ that's over a million doors that's one million plus doors because that's almost four million people and you know what there are a lot of people that would look at that and scoff at that and mock that and say that's ridiculous that can never be done what in the world there's 40 other church there's 40 other independent baptist churches in this town let them dare do their part you just do your zip code well guess what most of those churches aren't doing their part very few of them are most churches are scaling back soul winning they're not doing a lot i believe that we as a church should ignore ignore the other churches in our area in the sense that we should not rely on them to get it done because i don't think that they're reliable for that i think that we and think about this what if every church had this mentality of just well i don't know what everybody else is doing but i'm just going to get the gospel of this whole city just with our church well then everybody would get the gospel 10 times great so much the better so we've knocked every door in our you know if you took a three mile radius of our church we've knocked every door about seven to eight times you know and then if you go to south phoenix even six seven eight miles west of here we've knocked every door seven eight times city of guadalupe every door has been knocked at least six or seven times okay but the goal though is to knock doors in the entire city i mean we're talking from dan to beer sheba we're talking surprise to santan valley and you say you're crazy we're gonna do it god will you know with the help of god if god allows us to continue what we're doing and keep on going i believe it can be done let's not see the wall let's find a way to get it done let's find a way over the obstacles let's find a way to to to surmount whatever you know adversaries or obstacles are in the way of getting that done you know not only that but i believe that we as a church should plan to start churches all over the state of arizona to where the entire state of arizona is covered with churches that were started by faithful word baptist church our style of church and what do i mean by and look i and by the way there's nothing about our church that i came up with i mean i didn't come up with soul winning i didn't even come up with coining that phrase i didn't come up with the roman's road right i didn't come up with hard preaching i didn't come up with any of this stuff this is all stuff that i learned from other people so when i say our style i just mean the way we're doing it not saying that we somehow invented it or pioneered it but i just mean a hard preaching zealous soul-winning biblically correct fundamental independent king james only fire-breathing baptist church let's get one in flagstaff let's get one in yuma let's get one in king let's get one everywhere why not let's get several of them in the valley here let's get them in tucson let's get it everywhere why not and then let's start churches all over america like faithful word baptist that'll reach their city in their state and get that big vision let's send richard miller to nashville you know let's send brother baker to jacksonville florida let's send out a whole army of preachers all over america and then let's send people all over the world and get a big vision and when we go to batswana you know we're not going to be looking at the walls we're going to be sending our vine over the wall and look are there obstacles in batswana sure are there obstacles in south africa yeah we're facing opposition we're facing obstacles but you know what that wall is not going to stop us we're just going to keep on going our vines are just going to keep on going until we find a way to get over that wall until we find the chink in the armor until we find that crack in the wall where we can get through and jam our way through there's a great work that can be done for god in batswana but but we're gonna have to have a can-do attitude not like these missionaries who just it's really hard over here it's really hard i mean i could be that way about tempe it's really hard in tempe i mean everybody's so liberal here you know it's a college town devil state university asu their mascot's the devil there's a pitchfork everywhere their motto is fear the fork i mean we could just whine about how oh it's so hot oh it's just how could anybody go so anyway it's so hot oh everybody's so liberal they're all a bunch of commies and lefties and hippies and whatever like or we can get it done and so this applies to all areas of life oh i can't read my bible every day it's just too hard get it done everybody can carve out some time to read their bible oh i just can't get to church church is too far crawl on your knees to church walk crawl hitchhike no don't do that that's dangerous find a way to get to church and you know there are people who who come past sea and land to get to church and they work hard i mean there are people who drive cars you know i thank god for my parents you know what my parents did when i was growing up they always drove me to the church that they felt was the best church and sometimes they drove an hour each way sometimes they drove 45 minutes i mean i can't even count how many times we would drive to church for sunday morning service and the church had nothing going on all afternoon but they didn't want to drive all the way home and drive all the way back i can't even count how many times my parents drove me to church we went to sunday morning church we went out to lunch and then we just hung out until the evening service and we just like we would just go look at houses we weren't even looking we didn't even want to buy a house you know we would just my parents just kind of liked looking at new houses so we'd go to like these open houses you know the realtors have and it's like dad are we moving no but we're just checking out houses just going through the open house we're going shopping we're going to start just killing time and just like when's the evening service you know thank god for my parents doing that because they got me under the best preaching that they could and and the drive didn't matter to them it was important to them to go to the best church that they could find but then other people 15 minutes is too far 20 minutes is too far 30 minutes is too far i mean there are people i mean look there's a guy at verity baptist church named alessandro some of you guys might have met him because he's been to our church a few times as a visitor he drove for two years two hours each way to verity every sunday for two years he lived in san jose and he drove to sacramento for two years every sunday four hours in the car you say that's crazy you're nuts yeah but you know what he said is the best decision that he made now he lives in sacramento seven minutes from the church with his wife but you know what though he said it was more important for me because he said i felt that i was getting backslidden in the church in san jose whereas at verity i was getting fired up i was growing in the lord he said my spiritual health was more important to me and people thought i was crazy he said people thought i was nuts but you know what i'm glad i did it for two years i mean that that's commitment but then other people you know 15 minutes is too far 30 minutes is too far 20 minutes is too far to get to church and they just they're just making excuses and and whining and it's the gas money and you know dig in the couch cushions get some gas in the tank and get down here if you're a if you're a branches over the wall type of a guy you'll get down here you'll find a way to get down here there you know the missionary in south korea told a story there was a guy who was listening to the sermons from our church faithful word baptist church and he lived in south korea and he was listening to the preaching from faithful word and he got saved through listening to all that preaching and he wanted to get baptized he took like trains and buses he crossed the whole country of south south korea it took him like five or six hours to get there and he showed up at at uh barry hoffman's church and said like i'm here to get baptized you know i gotta say i traveled from this distant place so and i some of you might remember i read the letter at the time with all the details about that story but that's pretty cool isn't it that somebody had an a can-do attitude a get it done mentality i like that attitude and so we need to to in our spiritual lives you know stop making excuses in all areas of life and find a way to get the things done that we need to get done in our lives and and and be a branches over the wall christian not uh you know come to the wall and turn around and walk away kind of christian let's borrow that word of prayer father we thank you so much for uh this example of joseph lord and help us to apply this principle on the job in our families just in our in our personal lives with with bible reading with church attendance with soul winning with with child rearing with our marriage lord help us to have a can-do attitude about our marriage and not just you know come up to a wall in our marriage where our marriage is going bad and just throw up our hands lord help us to find a way to get the branches over the wall in all areas of our life all aspects of life to be a solution person not a problem person in jesus name we pray amen