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and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counselors, being gathered together, saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed. Neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies that they might not serve, nor worship any god except their own god. Therefore, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Let's pray. Dear God, I thank you for these stories contained in your word. And I just pray for pastor right now as he comes forward to deliver the message that he's laid on his heart, and give us ears to hear and hearts to put it into practice. Lord, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, so we're in Daniel chapter number three. If you look down at verse number 19, it says, then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore, he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. Now, the title of my sermon this morning is how to not go postal, how to not go postal at work. I guess an alternative title would be how to handle a hostile work environment. And before everybody says, well, this doesn't apply to me because I don't work, you do work, right? If you're a mother, this heavily applies to you. In fact, my last three points are geared towards you, because mothers can have a hostile work environment, and you need to learn how to control that, how to deal with that. And you know, God's people, you know, us especially being fundamentalists, being the way that we are, holding to the truth of the Bible, you can bet you're going to have trouble in the workforce, OK? You will have trouble in the workforce, but you can control it. You can control the stress. You can control the outcome a lot of times, because we have God on our side. In fact, look at verse number 27, right? So I mean, think about this. These guys are literally in a hostile work environment. These guys are in the hot box, right? They're getting thrown into the fire, right? But look at verse 27. It says, and the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counselors being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, for the smell of fire had not passed upon them. I want to teach you how you can live in an environment like this and come home and not even have the smell of fire on your clothes, not even have the effects of the workforce permeate the rest of your day, right? Because let's think about it. We have to work, especially as a man. We have to work in the workforce. We're surrounded by people that don't believe like we do, that don't agree with the things that we agree with, and it causes trouble. It causes stress. It causes hardships a lot of times, but you know what? There is a way out. There is an escape. There is a plan. Now, before we get more involved with this, go to Daniel chapter one, because I just want to give you a quick background story on who were these three guys. Who was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? You know, and if you've watched VeggieTales, they didn't do a very good job of teaching you anything. You know, they called them, what was it? Rach, Shaq, and Benny. You know, that's cute and all, but you know, we want to get the meat, right? That's like Luke, that's like 2% milk if you can even, and that's being gracious, all right? So let's go here and let's see what's going on. Daniel chapter one, look at verse number one. It says, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, onto Jerusalem and besieged it. And we've spent a lot of time the last few weeks talking about the different waves that the children of Judah went into captivity. This is just kind of pointing you right to the time period in the Old Testament that we're dealing with. Verse two, and the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God. And he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God. Verse three, and the king spake unto Ashbenaz, the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king seed and of the princes, children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, in whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. Verse five, and the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat and of the wine which he drank, so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So that's who Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are. So these people, they're very bright young men, very well learned, they're teachable, they're trainable, and they're being hired to stand in the king's palace. They're being given a good job, a promotion, authority. Look at verse number seven, it says, unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names, for he gave unto Daniel the name Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah of Shadrach, and to Mishael of Meshach, and to Azariah of Abednego. Now you can go back to Daniel chapter number three. And so there you have it, just a quick background story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. How they were chosen, what they were doing, and what their names were before. Now we're gonna move on here, and I'm gonna read for you what the definition of hostile work environment is from, just from the dictionary. Now I've had several different jobs over my life, and each job that I go to, each job that you guys go to, when you get to work, what's the first thing they do? They wanna cram their policies and so on and so forth down your throat, right? They wanna cram, I forgot what I'm trying to say here, but basically these types of things, how to behave in a workplace. And it's sad that we live in a day and age where you have to be taught not to harass people at work. But it's really biased, because if you think about it, it's okay for them to harass you about believing in the Bible, right? Your coworkers probably aren't gonna get in trouble for harassing you about your beliefs. But if you call someone a faggot, guess what? You're gonna get in trouble if not fired. So we need to learn how to navigate in today's workforce. So just listen to this definition here. No matter where you work, it's probably the same thing. It says, a hostile work environment is a workplace in which unwelcome comments or conduct based on gender, race, nationality, religion, disability, orientation, age, or other legally protected characteristics unreasonably interfere with an employee's work performance or create an intimidating or offensive work environment for the employee who is being harassed. This conduct can severely diminish an employee's productivity and self-esteem both in and out of the workplace. And it's true, no matter what study that you look at today regarding stress for the average American, the number one stressor is where you work. That's where most people get their stress from. Now, I picked a couple of studies here and I'm just gonna read for you some of the statistics here. These are from the American Institute of Stress. Now, the first one is about attitudes in the workplace. It says 80% of workers feel stress on the job. Nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage stress and 42% say their coworkers need such help. So it would help the world out if they understood that having to work is actually a curse, right? It wasn't originally God's intent that we would be in the situation that we are. You all understand Genesis chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, we know about the fall of man and how God cursed the ground and by the sweat of our brow that we have to work. So there is always going to be some level of stress, but the type of stress that they're talking about is more so emotional, like he's picking on me, he's saying this or she's doing this or whatever the case is. And then it says this, 25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress, 10% are concerned about an individual at work they fear could become violent and 14% of respondents had felt like striking a coworker in the past year, but didn't. I believe that to be a lot higher than 14%, depending on where you work. 9% are aware of an assault or violent act in their workplace and 18% had experienced some sort of threat or verbal intimidation in the last year. And I'm laughing because I've been working for, I don't know, since I was 19, you know, and I've seen all of these things. I've seen, you know, people getting hit, fighting and stuff like that. So I'm reading this and it's like, I don't know, you know, everything's going to be okay. All right, so here's what it says about stress in the workplace. So out of all the people that they interviewed for the study, it says 40% of workers reported their job was very or way too stressful. 25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives. 75% of employees believe that workers have more on the job stress than a generation ago. And that's important. Why is that? What changed? Well, I'll tell you what changed is the way that we look at things, right? The way that we're being raised, the way that society is telling us that we should be, basically that you're the victim. You know, they're trying to pump that down our throats. Now it says this, 29% of workers felt quite a bit or extremely stressed out of working. 26% of workers said they were often or very often burned out or stressed by the work. And then it goes on to say job stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than financial or family problems. And that's true. Stress is harmful. I mean, you can read about that in the Proverbs, you can read about that in the Psalms. It's true, if you allow yourself to be stressed out day by day by day, you will suffer health problems. It's a fact, so they are telling the truth there. Now, keep your place in Daniel because we are gonna come back to it, but go to John chapter five. So we're gonna be going to John chapter five and then after that, we're gonna go to 1 Samuel 13, just to give you a heads up. Now, while you're turning there, I'm gonna read for you this little blurb that I got on their website about violence in the workplace. It says violence has become an increasingly serious problem according to two studies in the United States. And it has, it says it has the dubious distinction of having the highest violent crime rate of any industrialized nation. So they're saying that if you work in the American workforce, that you're working in one of the most violent places around. So they're saying like, if you got a job in Europe, they're less stressed out, they're less apt to beat each other up or to cause some sort of violence. Same in Japan, same with any other nation. They're saying if you work, you have a job in the United States of America, your chances of getting into a physical altercation are greatly, greatly increased. It says an average of 20 workers are murdered each week in the United States of America, making homicide the second cause of workplace deaths and the leading one for females. It goes on to say the figures are probably higher since many are not reported. Certain dangerous occupations like police, police officers and cab drivers, understandably have higher rates of homicide and non-fatal assaults. And it goes on to say, nevertheless, postal workers who work in a safe environment have experienced so many fatalities due to job stress that going postal has crept into our language. And it also goes on to say desk rage and phone rage have also become increasingly common terms. That's why I titled the sermon, How to Not Go Postal. I remember hearing that when I was a kid and asking my dad, well, what does that mean, going postal? Well, it's because these post office workers are getting tired and fed up with the way they're being treated and so they just snap and they just start blowing people away at work. And now it's, if you say something like that, it's like, oh, well, that could be offensive. You don't wanna say that. We don't wanna go look down on the postal workers. And look, I'm not looking down on the postal workers, but it's a fact. There was a time in our country where they were getting treated like garbage and they didn't know how to deal with it because we've rejected the wisdom and the knowledge of God that they just took up to what they know, to what TV and Hollywood has put in their minds and that is to kill people, right? So you take a heathen, somebody who doesn't have any wisdom, somebody who thinks there's no hope, you put them in a situation, you put them in a room where all they see is white envelopes, right? And you start just going Nebuchadnezzar on them. You know, what do you expect? What they're gonna do? You know, they're gonna take a gun and start blowing people away, you know? That's what you get when you remove God out of society, right? You kick God out of the schools a long time ago and now it's time to reap the percussions. So before we get to John chapter five, I mean, Daniel chapter three really does have all the elements to a hostile work environment, right? But it also has all the elements on how to succeed in a hostile work environment. I mean, think about it. Nebuchadnezzar, he didn't just build this image overnight, right? I mean, there was planning, there was gathering materials, there was talk about it. I mean, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they were leaders in that country, right? They were promoted, they were given responsibilities, they were interacting with the people, they were ruling, they were leading, they were doing their thing, they were obviously hearing about these things, but one thing you won't find is them flipping out and going postal. Remember, these people were very wise and they chose their battles correctly. So when it came down to what mattered, when they said, no, you're going to worship this image, they said, no, we aren't, we will not do that, right? They didn't play the victim card, right? They didn't say, you know what, I'm gonna file a complaint. Now, obviously they probably couldn't because Nebuchadnezzar wouldn't put up with that back then. But nonetheless, all these harassing, horrible type elements were here in their lives. They lived them and they went through them. So one of the things that I read were in the definition of a hostile work environment were unwelcome comments or conduct based on gender, race, nationality, religion. You can see all of that. For example, in Daniel chapter three, verse eight, you don't have to turn there, we just read it, but it says, wherefore at that time, certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. And you'd be crazy to think that's the only time that they ever accused the Jews of anything, right? They were obviously different nations. They didn't always get along. There was always gonna be battles, always gonna be fighting and so on and so forth. Now, I've got a few points for you this morning. And point number one is this, understand that the world's definition of hostile work environment produces victims in the workplace. Let me say that again. Understand that the world's definition of hostile work environment produces victims in the workplace. And you say, why do you say that? How do you know that? Because I work a secular job, right? All of you guys know that, right? I mean, who in here knows somebody who's lazy at work? Everybody does, right? And when things get going tough, what is the one thing that they wanna do? I'm gonna file a complaint. I think he's picking on me because I'm dark skinned. I think he's picking on me because I'm black. I think he's picking on me because of this or that, right? Instead of just actually hunkering down and doing the work, right, and putting that aside, that's usually what it does. So these definitions here that the world comes up with, what it really does is it gives lazy people an excuse to play the victim. And look, if you wanna succeed in today's workforce, don't play the victim. It doesn't matter whether you're a man in a job or whether you're a woman rolling your house at home, you know, I mean, or being a keeper at home, not really the house, but you get what I'm saying, right? I mean, think about it. I believe that a mother working at home has a harder job than a CEO of a company. I really believe that, you know, because you have nowhere to go. You're commanded to be a keeper at home. Think about that. Your job isn't home. You know, the CEO, he can be like, okay, I'm gonna go get some coffee. I'm done with this, right? And he can flip out and do whatever. He kinda let that out. A mom can't always do that because you're raising your children and you care about them and you love them and you want, I mean, you wanna do what's right. You wanna do what's best for them. You know, whereas the CEO is like, you know, just shut your mouth and get this stuff done. I don't care if it's illegal or not, you know what I mean? So we need to learn how to deal with that. But like I said, number one, we need to understand that the world's definition of hostile work environment, it does produce victims in the workplace and we ought not to ever have that victim mentality. You need to just go to work and do your job and get stuff done. If you don't remember anything else from this sermon, remember this one thing. If you want promotion, if you wanna succeed, learn to get stuff done. Because when you can get stuff done, you become valuable. And when you become valuable, they tend to overlook all that fundamentalist stuff. They kinda, well, we'll just kinda overlook all your views outside of the workforce. We'll just overlook, trust me, I've been there. I've worked with people that are sodomized that hate my guts, but I still got promoted because I just learned this one thing. Get stuff done. You get stuff done, it really makes work a whole lot easier. So you're there in John chapter five. Let's take a look at an example here. We're gonna look at two examples. We're gonna look at John chapter five and then we're gonna go to 1 Samuel 13. So look at this here, verse number one. It says, after this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheet market a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, having five porches. And these lay a great multitude of impotent folk of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And certain, or I'm sorry, and a certain man was there which had an infirmity 30 and eight years. So get the picture here. There's a pool. This is an interesting story here in the Bible. There's this pool, an angel comes down, he troubles the waters, and then you have all these different types of people here that have disabilities, right? Some of them are blind, some of them are impotent, some can't walk. I mean, they have all these different ailments. And when they see the water troubled, they go in and they get made whole, they get healed, right? Now our attention is being brought to a certain man, right? And anytime you see that, you wanna pay very close attention and think about that. And a certain man was there which had an infirmity 30 and eight years. Now we obviously don't know if he was born with this or if he was just a lot older than this. It just said he's had this infirmity for 30 and eight years. In verse six, it says when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, you see what I'm saying? He's been in this situation for a very long time. He saith unto him, now notice what Jesus says unto him. Wilt thou be made whole? Now look at the response of this guy. So Jesus says, wilt thou be made whole? Verse seven, the impotent man answered him, sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool, but while I am coming another steppeth down before me. So it proves that he can walk. It proves that he has some kind of a cue when the water is troubled and he's able to at least get close by. You understand that? But notice what Jesus says. He says, wilt thou be made whole? He's saying, he goes up to him and he says, are you gonna be healed? I'll translate that for you even further. If you think about what he's saying, he's saying, hey, do you want to be healed? Do you want to be healed? Notice what the guy says. Instead of saying, yes, I wanna be healed, right? Because if he says yes, he puts himself in a bind because Jesus is gonna say, why don't you find a way to get down there? You can obviously walk. You can hear when the water's in trouble. Maybe you could crawl. Maybe you just don't want it bad enough. And if he says no, he's gonna say, what are you doing here? You're just playing the victim. So instead of answering the question correctly, look what he says in verse seven. The impotent man answered him, sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I'm coming, another step is down before me. So he basically circumvents the question and he starts giving excuses. Why is he doing that? Now he does have a legitimate excuse. He is blind. He has a disability. He is a victim to some degree, right? But he's also using that to his advantage. And instead of trying to get better, instead of having the willpower to move forward and get healed, he relies on his excuses, which is being lazy, okay? And then look at verse eight, Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed and walk. Now I'm gonna read the rest of the story here. You go work your way to 1 Samuel chapter number 13. Verse nine says, and immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, it is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, he that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. Then asked they him, what man is that which said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed was not who it was, for Jesus had conveyed himself away a multitude being in that place. Afterward, Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him, behold, thou are made whole sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. And so he goes on, he departs, he tells everybody about Jesus. So it's interesting that Jesus tells him, hey, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon me. So in this situation, it would imply that his blindness was a result of his sin. We don't know what that was, that's not really the lesson here. The lesson is we need to not play the victim. If you've messed up, own that mistake, own that sin and move forward and get your healing. Don't come up with excuses. Excuses don't profit anybody. It might buy you a little bit of sympathy. It might buy you a little bit of attention. It might buy you a little bit of recognition, but eventually people are gonna get tired of it and they're just gonna say, do you either want to be made whole? And that's what we have here. And let's look at 1 Samuel 13 about King Saul. Now, King Saul was always playing the victim. In fact, I can't remember if it was chapter 20 or what chapter it is, but it's a few chapters after this. It's the chapter where we read about Doeg the Edomite and King Saul's like, is nobody gonna tell me if my son Jesse is helping David out? And then he goes on to say, there's nobody here that feels sorry for me, right? That's not how you succeed in the workforce. That's not how you succeed anywhere, by trying to always gain sympathy. It doesn't work. It's not what God wants for us. And we're gonna read about that here a little bit. Now look at verse number 11, 1 Samuel 13, verse 11. So this is a story where Saul is supposed to wait for Samuel who's been commanded to wait so that they could do the sacrifice, so they could do this offering. Now look at verse 11. It says, and Samuel said, what has thou done? Because Saul disobeyed that and he went ahead, he got impatient and he went ahead and goes and does this. And it says, and Saul said, because I saw that the people were scattered from me and that thou camest not within the days appointed and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash, therefore said I, the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal and I have not made supplication unto the Lord. I forced myself therefore and offered a burnt offering. Right, so instead of owning his mistake, instead of owning his sin, what does he do? He makes excuses. He plays the victim. Well, the Philistines are gonna come get me. Right, troubles around me, right? That happens all the time to us in the workforce. You know, and we ought not to be hasty and just not trusting God. You know, things don't always play out the way that we envision them or the way that we may understand them. You know, yes, God is gonna take care of us. Yes, God does care for us, but you know what? Sometimes you're gonna wind up working with the Philistines surrounding you. And sometimes God wants to see what you're gonna do, see if you're gonna obey and wants you to wait, and that was the situation here. Verse 13, and Samuel said to Saul, thou hast done foolishly. Thou has not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. And so this was a pivotal moment for King Saul here. After this, everything goes downhill from this point on because God realizes what's in his heart, right? He's been lifted up. He's allowed pride to consume him and he no longer wants to follow the law. So go back to Daniel chapter number three. Daniel chapter number three. So I said point number one is understand that the world's definition of hostile work environment produces victims in the workplace because it causes people to focus. Well, I know what that definition says. You can't pick on me because of this, this, this, and this. And so people always have that at the forefront of their mind. And they're thinking as soon as something goes wrong, guess what? I'm gonna play that hostile work environment card and I'm gonna complain and I'm gonna make sure I get what I deserve. That's not the attitude that God says that we should have. You know, you need to go to work just expecting there's gonna be trouble, right? I mean, moms, guess what? There's gonna be trouble in your house. Your kids are going to cause you trouble and grief from time to time. But you know what? God's given you wisdom. He's given you a book here to understand how to deal with that. So listen to this. The victim mentality is when you blame everyone else for what happens in your life, right? That's what Saul did. And that's pretty much what the guy in John chapter five was doing. Blaming everyone else for his lack of success, for his lack of being healed. That's what Saul does over and over again. And there's tons of examples in the Bible of people that play the victim. And guess what? It never gets them anywhere. Playing the victim is what got the kingdom taken away from King Saul. And you know what? That's what can get your job taken away from you. That's what can get your kids taken away from you. If you allow the victim mentality to settle in your mind. Now, number two, a victim mentality is when a person thinks that the future only holds bad things for them. Now, when I was studying this out, I was on YouTube, because I'm also writing a sermon about racism. And this video pops up and it says, Tyrone the Woodley, or Tyrone the Victim Woodley. Now, who here knows who Tyrone Woodley is? A lot of these guys do. For those of you that don't, he's a UFC fighter. And I don't think he's a champion anymore, right? He's not a champion anymore. What is he, a middleweight or a one? Welterweight? Okay, so he's a guy who's a professional mixed martial arts fighter. And it's this video, and it's called Tyrone the Victim Woodley. So I was like, I'm studying about this. I'll watch this. So I watch it, and it's all these clips of people giving him compliments. Like, wow, you're well-spoken. Like, the president of the UFC was like, he's a very well-spoken man. And then they stop, and they interview him. They're like, well, what's your problem with the president of the UFC? And he's like, well, when you say I'm well-spoken, what does that mean? That I'm well-spoken amongst all black people in America? Or does that mean I'm well-spoken amongst all mixed martial arts? And he's just playing this victim card, and it's just disgusting to watch. We should never support somebody like that. And you know what? Professional sports are full of people like that. You know what, your workplace is probably full of people like that. And you know what? We have to drive that out of our children, because they'll learn that. Nobody has to teach that to them. They pick that up real quick, right? Oh, I'm the victim. It was he did it. Kinley did it. Kylin did it. Kayden did it. You know, look, we dealt with that. It was Kayden that ate the last cookie. He's been asleep the last six hours. He didn't eat the last cookie. You get what I'm saying, though. But in this interview, it was funny. There was just clip after clip of him. Well, when you say I'm a freak athlete, what are you saying? That all black people just have muscle and no brains? It was just over and over again. It's like, look, you can't even talk to people like this, because they take everything that you say and just turn it against you. Why? Because they want sympathy. Why? Because they want attention. Why? Because they are foolish. That's why. And they just believe it. The whole world's against them. So that is a man who's wealthy, who's rich. I mean, there was people that would kill for that opportunity, right? To be in that position, to where you make a living by going to the gym and fighting and doing that. I mean, people would kill for that. And here you have a guy who doesn't even appreciate that. And I'm not condoning that. I'm just saying that's how it is. He has no appreciation for that. You know, instead, his focus is to show you how victimized he is. It's like, you're rich. How much of a victim are you, really? You know, if everybody in the UFC, if everybody in America was racist, like you're implying and saying, you wouldn't be making any money. Let's just understand that right now. You would make zero money. And so that is a foolish attitude. That is a foolish way to live your life. And it's depressing and it's disgusting to even watch. So the results of the victim mentality are this. You don't have to take responsibility. I mean, think about that. If it's always everyone else's fault, you don't have to own up to anything, right? That guy doesn't have to own up to his actions because it's everybody else's fault, right? So he says things and people do call him out and they're like, well, aren't you being a racist? And he's just like, no, it's just because in this country, they wanna see a pretty white boy on TV. And it's like, shut up. That is not the case at all. But nonetheless, he doesn't have to, in his mind, take responsibility for that action. And you know what? It's the same thing in John chapter five with that blind guy. He's like, you know, I have no man to help me, right? He's playing the victim. It didn't help him. Now, thank God that Jesus had compassion on him and made him whole and he changed. And Jesus went up to him and said, hey, you better watch out and send no more or less a worse thing come upon thee, right? But Saul, he never got the message. He never really let that resonate in his heart. And what happened? He lost the kingdom. You know what I mean? Think about Joseph, right? I mean, Joseph lived in a hostile work environment. He was sold into slavery. But what happened? God took care of him, God promoted him, and then God allowed him to go into prison while he was in Egypt. And guess what? God used that for his glory because Joseph remained pure. He basically said, you know what? I'm not gonna play the victim. I have a greater understanding. I know that God is real. I know that he can take care of me. He had the same attitude that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had, you know? And we're gonna get into that here on this next point where they say, you know what? God can help us, but if he doesn't, he's still God. We're not gonna worship your image. Because you know what they could have done? They could have just said, okay, we'll worship the image and then played the victim game and said, well, you know, Lord, we had to do it. We didn't mean it. We just had to do it because they were gonna kill us and the Chaldeans were surrounding us and they were making fun of us. You know, they were above that. And you know what? We're gonna be above that too. Because most Christianity today, and I say this every Sunday and I do it on purpose because it's true, right? Most Christianity today would bow down and worship that golden image if they set it up today. And you know what? They do it in different ways. They worship Hollywood. They worship the entertainment industry. They worship all these false prophets on TV. They worship everything other than the truth and why is it and when we call them out, what is their thing? Oh, you're picking on me. You're being judgmental. It's just playing the victim game. Oh, it's the mean fundamentalists. They're mean, they're rude, they're angry, they're hostile. Well, no, we're just speaking the truth and obviously you can't receive the truth because you're more worried about playing the victim than you are being made whole. So the right mindset, I'm sorry, I got two more here. All right, so number one is responsibility. Number two is you don't have to take risks. I mean, think about this. If you always wanna play the victim mentality, you don't have to take risks. Think about that from a Christian standpoint. Well, I don't wanna go sowing because I'm afraid somebody's gonna slam the door in my face and yell at me. I'm a fragile person and if somebody yells at me, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I might melt, I might cry. I don't know what it is. Or I don't wanna live like a Christian at work because then maybe my family's gonna hear about it and they're gonna turn on me and I'm gonna lose that relationship that I have with them. But you know what? Let it go because Jesus said that he came to bring peace. I'm sorry, he came to bring his sword, not peace. I'm paraphrasing, but you get what I'm saying, right? So when you have this victim mentality, not only do you not take responsibility for your actions, but you won't take risks. And you know what? There are risks that we as believers have to take and it's called living life by faith. Think about it. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Guess what? That's taking a risk, okay? And in its basic form, you're taking a risk, right? Life is full of risks, but when you play the victim game, you will do less work, right? That's what happened to Saul, right? Did he live his life by faith? No. Now, I do believe that King Saul was saved and we'll go over that another time. But nonetheless, he allowed the victim mentality to basically permeate his life and it prohibited him from getting work done. He would not take risks because he looked at the world for what it was. He looked at the temporal. He neglected to look beyond by taking risks and living his life by faith. And then number three, the victim mentality produces this attitude of seeking attention and validation, right? So when you play the victim, when we play the victim, what fuels that? What feeds that? Well, it's the satisfaction of somebody saying, oh, you poor baby. Oh, oh yeah, you're right. If you quit eating all those cakes, even though you're like 500 pounds, you're gonna get the shakes. And it's like, look, that's ridiculous. You got a problem and you just need to fix it, okay? This is what is wrong with our country today is when we foster an environment and we allow people to basically seek attention and validation and we never say anything to them. You're not gonna get better if you don't tell people the truth, right? As Christians, we aren't going to get better. We aren't going to grow if we don't get our face ripped off from the Bible from time to time. That's how God basically laid this book out. It's a giant book against mankind. Man can do nothing, but God can do everything. That's the Bible, right? That's the Bible, but that's not what we see in today's society and we need to be aware of that. We need to understand that. So real quick, just three quick statements about overcoming the victim mentality. And number one is just understanding the results of being a victim. Everything that I've already talked about, right? If you can understand and you can realize the results of playing the victim, guess what? That's oftentimes enough to make you not want to play the victim game. Because you know what, when you're around somebody and all they wanna do is play the victim, guess what? Everybody else who's not playing the victim, they're talking about you, right? Oh, you got the flu again, huh? Okay, oh, you're too thirsty? Oh, okay, yeah. It's always about you. It's always about you and why you can't do something. Guess what? People get fed up with that. Because especially when you guys when you're at work, I mean, things need to get done. And when you have one or two or however many people slowing that down, it gets people upset. And guess what? They are gonna catch on that you're playing the victim and it's just gonna make your life miserable. So number one, realize the results of being a victim. Nobody likes it. It doesn't produce any good. And when we understand that, it makes us not want to be that way. Now, number two is just to take responsibility for your actions. If you're ate up, if you're more ate up than a soup sandwich, okay, admit it and move on, right? Fix it, work on fixing it. Is it gonna be easy? No, it's not going to be easy. Nothing is easy like that. But you know what? You're gonna be much better off if you decide, you know what, today I realize I'm ate up, I'm messed up. I'm not doing things right. I need to start taking steps to get my life on track and I'm gonna do it. You know what? And then you're gonna see the victim mentality start to go away and you can move forward with your life. And number three, be content with such things that you have. See, a lot of times people, well, only if I had that jet ski, only if I had that extra boat, only if I had that other rifle, only if I had that other computer, then we could really do something. Then I would feel better about myself or I would be where I wanna be. You know what? You need to just be content with what God has given you. And when you learn that and you really live by that, that's when God might say, hey, you know what? I'm gonna give you more. I can trust you with what I've given you. You're not out there seeking and focusing on the temporary things of life. You're not coveting things. And so God says, you know what? I'm gonna reward that. I'm gonna bless that. So let's move on here. Number two. How do we get along in the heathen workforce? Point number two is never compromise about your beliefs. Never compromise about your beliefs. It's simple, but look at, if you're there in Daniel chapter three, look at verse 16. Daniel chapter three, verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, right, look at verse 18. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Now go to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. So point number two, real simple. It's real simple to say, but you know what? It can be hard to live. Never compromise about your beliefs. Now when you guys are at work, obviously you want to minimize the conversations that you get into because it can open up a can of worms and it can start some problems. But sooner or later, they're gonna find out what you believe and they're gonna come at you. They will come at you. They will try to persuade you, hey, you can make so much more money, man, if you just come to work on Sunday, right? I mean, do you really need to go to church twice on Sunday? My grandma goes to church and she only goes to church once a week. And then on Wednesdays, every once in a while, my uncle who goes to church, he goes to a small group but it's at somebody's house and it's like at eight o'clock and it's a half hour and they have cake and biscuits and they have soda, right? Maybe you could just go do something like that. And what are you gonna say? Oh, that sounds great. I want more money. I need that jet ski, I need that. No, I'm gonna say no, that's not how I am. This is how I am, take it or leave it. But you know what? Before you get to that point, make sure you earn and you build that reputation that you get stuff done. Because when you get stuff done and they come at you, it's like, hey, look, I'm not working Sunday. That's when I told the place where I work. I'm not working Sundays and I need to be at church on Wednesday. And they're like, no problem, no problem. Even to this day, I mean, there's things that come up that I can't control. But ever since I moved here, I've been able to make all the services. I've cut it close a couple times. But they haven't tried to challenge me on that, right? They haven't been like, are you sure you wanna do this? Are you sure you can't just move your services to just one Sunday a month? And it's like, no, I'm not gonna compromise on what I believe and they know that. But because I've started to develop this reputation where I'll just get stuff done, they just tend to leave me alone. Now, are there people there that don't like me? Yes. Yes, there are people there that do not like me. That is a fact. And you know what? At your work, there's people that don't like you either. So we're all in this together. So Romans chapter 12, very famous verses. Look at verse number one. It says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. We talk about this a lot, right? It is okay and it is comforting to know these verses because when you're in the fire, when you're about to be tossed into that furnace and you have these verses hidden in your heart, you can rest assured that it's acceptable, right? It's acceptable unto God for me to remain holy even though I'm being challenged by the world, right? And God says, hey, that's your reasonable service. I died for you on the cross, right? It's your reasonable service to just stand up for what you believe in. Look at verse two, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So when you do this and you take that stand, guess what? You have discernment, right? We've talked a lot about this lately. You get that discernment. You get to prove what is acceptable. And in that moment, when you're about to be tossed into that furnace, that wisdom and those words may just help you explain your case to your boss, all right? Jump down to verse number 18, Romans 12, 18. He says this, if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. A lot of Christians will wanna take this out of context and say, you're supposed to get along with all men, love everybody at any given time. And so if they're really trying to pour it on you, you're just supposed to roll over and accept it. Well, there's a reason why the verse starts out with, if it be possible. You know why he says if it be possible? Because it's not always possible to live peaceable with all men. You know what? There may be places that you get a job and it's just not gonna be possible for there to be peace there. And you're gonna have to leave. You know, there are some professions, there are some places that Christians should not work and where Christians can't work, right? We just need to understand that. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. So we should try in the workforce to live peaceably with our coworkers. But you know what? There may come a point, there may come a time where they challenge you. Well, there will come a time where they challenge you, right? And in that moment, we need to just remember, never compromise on what you believe in. You can just give them short answers. Well, hey, you know, after work, I could just show you from the Bible, you know, but if you're not gonna receive that, just go bother somebody else because I got work to do. You know what? And then make it a point to try to work circles around that person and you know what? God will reward you for it. You know what? God will reward you for it. Because it's not always possible that we get along with everybody. It's just not gonna happen, all right? And so we need to understand that. Let's move on here. Go back to Daniel chapter three and then we're gonna go to Proverbs chapter three. So far, point number one, what were we dealing with? The victim mentality, right? We don't wanna play the victim card. We do not want to play the victim card. We wanna get work done. And point number two is to never compromise your beliefs. You wanna succeed in today's hostile work environment. You wanna avoid going postal. Guess what? Don't compromise on what you believe. Because when you get to that point, right? I mean, think about the attitude that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego display here, right? They're still calm. I mean, they're about to be tossed alive, not knowing if they're gonna be rescued into a fiery furnace, right? Christians, at some point in your life, you're gonna go to work and you're gonna have Nebuchadnezzar. And you know, it's 6.30 and you know Nebuchadnezzar's already had his visage changed towards you, right? He's cooking up that furnace and you're about to go into it, right? And you just need to have this attitude right here, which is point number three. Accepting the fact that you might get thrown into the frying pan and left there a while, okay? Accept the fact that you might get thrown into the frying pan and left there a while. No matter where you work, you know, moms, guess what? Some mornings you're gonna wake up and little Nebby, he's angry, right? And he's roused up the other little, you know, little munchkins and they've cooked up the furnace. They've heated it up real hot four times. I mean, so much that some of the kids are perishing by that flame because it's so hot. You got two down crying because the flame's so hot and you got the other four just, you know, with that spoon just stirring that thing up. You know, just mixing it up, just ready for you. And you gotta know how to deal with that. You gotta learn to be calm and you gotta learn, you know, God may deliver you from that fiery furnace, those munchkins cooked up, or he may just allow you to be in the frying pan so that you could see his mighty power. Okay, so accept the fact that you might get thrown into the frying pan and left there a while. Look at verse 17, Daniel three, verse 17. We just read this, but let's read it again. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up. But look at that mentality that these guys had. They said, maybe he'll save us out of the fire. Maybe he won't. But they accepted the fact that they were gonna go in there as opposed to compromising, right? And you may be in that situation too right now. You just need to accept it. You know what? I may go to work tomorrow and have to face the firing furnace, you know? I may have to explain why my pastor said what he did on Sunday, you know, because maybe you work at a place where people are watching or they find out what you believe and they're gonna call you on a car before it. Are you gonna compromise? Are you gonna say, you know what, it is what it is. You know what? You live your life, I'll live mine. Either you're interested or you're not. It's real simple. But we need to understand that at some point in your career, you will get thrown into the fiery furnace, you will get thrown into the pan. And you know what? God always has the ability to deliver you, but it doesn't always mean that he will. But he does have that ability to deliver you. We know that, we understand that. But when you take that faith, you're not playing the victim card, you have this attitude, you're gonna become calm. And guess what? There's no record of God failing anyone ever. God always helps people out. Anybody who said, you know what, God has failed me, they're lying. They failed God, they failed themselves. They failed to heed the wisdom that he gave over and over and over again in his word. That's really what happens. So anytime somebody comes to you, well, no, God failed me. You know, God's just allowing me to do this. No, there's something you're not telling me. There's something you're not saying. There's something in your life that has caused that furnace to get cranked up the way it did. But in this situation here, God does rescue them, right? Even so to the point to where you couldn't even smell the fire on their clothes. And like I said at the beginning, we can go to these hostile work environments with God's wisdom, with his power, with his word, and come home and your family be like, how was work today? And even though it might've been like hell, you're like, oh, it's great. And they can't even tell because you can rest on the promises of God. You can rest on the wisdom of God. So go to Proverbs chapter three, if you're not there already, Proverbs chapter number three. So point number three, again, accept the fact that you might get thrown into the frying pan and left there a while. So Proverbs chapter three, this is some great wisdom. And just think about these things as I read them. Proverbs chapter three, look at verse one. My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. So what's the instruction here? Don't forget God's law, right? Keep these commandments. That's what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did. They kept the commandments. They didn't compromise and God rescued them. Look at verse two, for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. Is that not what happened in Daniel chapter three? That's exactly what happened. Verse four, so shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and men. You wanna find favor in the sight of God and man in the workplace? You wanna find favor in the sight of your children? Guess what? Don't forget verses one, two and three. That's the key. You can go to your hostile work environment and succeed. You can go to your hostile work environment and get rescued. That's what he's saying here. Look at verse five, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, right? So what happens when we abandon this? What happens when we say, you know what? I'm just gonna focus on how evil my place of work is. Well, then the victim mentality sets in and then your productivity goes out the window and then you don't get things done because you're not trusting in God. You're trusting in your own understanding. Maybe God has had you in that furnace so that he can teach you a lesson. Verse six, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. So guess what? In all thy ways, that means even before you get to work, right, your whole life you need to learn to acknowledge him in every single thing that you do. You know what? That means when you wake up in the morning, God should be on your mind. You should be wanting to pray. You should be wanting to read your Bible. You should be doing those things even when you don't want to do them. You know, it's not every day that I wake up and I'm like, man, I just can't wait to read the Bible. Sometimes I'm like, man, I'm so tired I can't even see the words. You know what? Or whatever the case, I'm like, everything's just working together. It's just not working out today. You know, I read a paragraph and sometimes I'm like, what did I just read, you know? We go through those time periods, but you know what, you gotta keep moving on. And we need to learn that in all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct thy paths, right? He will tell you what to do. He will tell you how to proceed. Because you know what, maybe your work environment, man, is just bad and you need to leave. You know, that could be the case, but you're not gonna know that if you don't learn to acknowledge him in all of your ways. Now look at verse eight. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. How do we start the sermon off? By giving you statistics about stress in the workplace and how it damages your health, right? Well, when you do things God's way, guess what? It will be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. Right? Health begins in the bones. If your bones start to deteriorate, guess what? You will die. And guess what? Stress will kill you. I think that, yeah, we have a lot of chemicals and bad things and stuff in our food. There's no doubt about that. There is a conspiracy to poison people. I get it. I understand that. It's due to greed and all these other things, but you know what? God can still, God could still make you healthy if we just learn to follow his wisdom and learn to minimize and redirect the stress that the world places on us, right? And mom, you know, your kids don't want you to die. I know they're gonna crank that furnace up, but you know what? You know, mom can't get sick. Moms get sick, everybody goes down. At least that's how it is in my house. I don't know if anybody else has experienced that. Mom gets sick and I don't know what to do. You know what I mean? We were talking about this yesterday, you know? Mom's not here, I forget everything. Forget like, you know, Jessica goes out of town, guess what, I'm gonna forget the donuts or, you know, forget my sermon, you know, forget all sorts of stuff. So it's important to take care of your health. Look at verse nine. Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. Verse 11, my son despises not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth. Right, and so that's another thing we need to realize here. You know what? If you feel like you're being chastened by God, just accept it because God loves you and you gotta be thankful for that. It's just another confirmation. Hey, all right, I'm getting chased and I know why, but you know how you can still get joy in that? Is just really, well, God's doing it because he loves me. And guess what? He will turn that into a blessing. So let's move on here. You're there in Proverbs. Go back to Psalms real quick. Just go to Psalms chapter 75, Psalms chapter 75. All right, so we're gonna move on here. Point number four. Point number four is this. Understand that promotion comes from God. Understand that promotion comes from God. It doesn't come from you as a Bible-believing Christian sucking up to your boss. Guess what, Mom? It doesn't come to you by sucking up to your children and not disciplining them. It comes from God. He is the one that is able to lift you up to elevate you, to promote you, whether that be in the sight of your children, whether that be in the sight of your husband, whether that be in the sight of the people that you work with. It comes from God. Now the world, they play by different rules, right? That worldly heathen that's not saved, that doesn't wanna get saved, he can suck up to the boss and go to the bar with him after work and play softball with him and do all these different things. And you know what? That will promote him temporarily, but you can beat that. And I've lived this. I have lived this. Look, I'll just tell the story again. I don't know if I've told it here or where I've told it, but the place where I worked before I moved to Sacramento, I used to work for the government. I was a federal employee. I worked for the Naval Sea and Warfare Command, okay? And I'll just go through this real quick. Well, my job, the job description, I was a temporary services pipe fitter, okay? Worked on aircraft carriers, submarines, primarily the fast attack submarines, right? I did a lot of secret stuff, a lot of stuff that I will never be able to tell anybody. It's just a fact. I'm not boasting. It's just the way it is. It's just the way it was. Now with that job, there's two routes that you can go. You can either take the apprenticeship to learn it or you can just learn on the job. I decided, you know what? Because of the specialization in this job, I'm not gonna do the apprenticeship. So I just avoided it. Well, one of the stigmas there is if you don't do the apprenticeship, you're never gonna get promoted, right? Or it's gonna be many, many years down the road before you get promoted because they have to have a certain number of apprentice supervisors. Now keep in mind, a supervisor is a big deal there, okay? It's a big deal. I mean, making a lot of money, okay? Now my whole time there, now my dad, he worked there. He retired there. Jessica's dad worked there. He retired there. In this place, I mean, making a supervisor, it is a big deal. But the people that typically get promoted are the ones that go to the bar with the higher ups, the ones that join the Masons, the one that joined the Eagles Club, the people that drink at the bars. Do you get what I'm saying? The people that play ball, right? I didn't play any of it. I didn't do the apprenticeship. I didn't go to their bars. Now I'm not saying I lived perfect the whole time I was there because I was pretty ate up. I was a workplace bully when I first showed up there. But obviously God chasing me and then brought me back in the line. And about the third year that I was there, I started to realize something. These apprentices, they would work two weeks on the job and then two weeks at school. Well, I started to realize when they would come back from school, they wouldn't know what's going on. So I started signing up for overtime. You get what I'm, see how I did it? I started learning the trade really well, better than they did. And it got to the point where they didn't know anything that was going on, but I did because while they were in school, I was working, I was learning. I was watching the old guys and how they handle things and what they did in this situation, what they did in that situation. I learned to read paperwork. I learned to do my boss's job, even though nobody told me to do that. It's a trick I learned in the military. You know, try to learn your boss's job because you never know when the time may come where he's sick and you have to step up and take that. And if you do a good job, people notice that. Look, people knew about my beliefs. Even five, six years ago, they knew about my beliefs and they hated me for it. They hated my guts for it. But you know what? I never compromised on those beliefs. And there's only two people in my trade that ever got promoted to supervisor in under five years. And that was me and another guy that basically played ball, that used to play ball. So I'm there for almost five years. I was just about to hit my five-year mark. I get a call in the office and they're like, we're making you supervisor. So-and-so's gonna have to step down because you got caught doing all this bad stuff and you're gonna be it. And we're gonna try to hide you for a little while because it's gonna make a lot of people mad. It's gonna make a lot of the apprentices mad. And even before this happened, right? I got hired in 2008. Well, the apprentices that I hired on with, they were about to get their mechanics wages, right? Which is a big deal, it's a lot of money. They promoted me before they even graduated and said, we're gonna hide that. You're gonna get the money, but we're not gonna tell anybody. And you can't tell anybody either. So this whole time for like six months, I'm getting paid these nice wages and I'm getting these responsibilities. And my own supervisor doesn't even know, who hates my guts, he doesn't even know, right? So finally one day he finds out and he flips out, right? He tries to cook up this furnace. But it doesn't matter because I used, you know what I did? I got stuff done. No matter what, man, I would get stuff done. I used to work with this guy. We would be on an aircraft carrier, running some vent or doing something. And I would turn around, he would be gone. He would literally go to McDonald's for a couple of hours and then come back and go tell the boss all the work that he did. And guess what? That worked. That got him promoted along the way as well. You know what I did one day? Even though he was best friends with the boss, I remember, I'll never forget it. I went on board this carriers on a Saturday. I said, get out of here right now. And I just took over his job. I threw all his tools out in the hanger deck. I said, get out of here right now. And I just finished his job for him. And then I just went home. You know what? The next day, the boss is like, or Monday is like, the hell's wrong with you, man? You know, Tom said you were being all mean and just being a bully up there. I was like, I don't care. What are you gonna do? You know, because I don't have time to tell you the story. I know it's not the right way to talk to the boss, but this guy was wicked. This guy was trying to set me up for failure. Well, that day he tries to basically cook me in his furnace. And then his boss calls and says, oh, by the way, we had promoted him and we have plans for him when he come back. Don't mess with him anymore. They had to allow me to be in that frying pan for a season because they were trying to cover the reward that they were giving me. But all I'm trying to tell you is that promotion comes from God. The only reason I was able to get those advancements far beyond, you know, I mean, I beat the odds and it wasn't me, it was God. He lifted me up and he promoted me, even though it was unheard of. And for the rest of my career there, people were always like, how did you do it? How in the world did you get these promotions? You don't go to the bars. People would tell me this, you don't go to the bars. You don't play softball. You're not part of that lodge out in town. How did you do it? I tried to tell them how God took care of me and they didn't want to hear it. In many cases, they just didn't want to hear it. But you know what I feel? I think in the bottom of their hearts, they knew that that was the truth. And now that I'm gone, I'm sure they're all, you know, most of them are happy. Some of them aren't because like I said, I wasn't the only one that got stuff done, right? There was a lot of other people that did too. I'm just trying to tell you that the way you beat the odds, the way you get out of that furnace is by getting work done. You become valuable and you know what? The higher ups are going to notice that. There's no way it's going to go unnoticed and they will reward you. So Psalm chapter 75, look at verse number six. It says, for promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. So the Bible is telling us there's one place, there's just one place that promotion comes from and that's in verse seven. It says, but God is a judge, he putteth down one and setteth up another. But in verse six, notice it says, where does it say the promotion comes from? It says it doesn't come from the east, right? It doesn't come from sucking up. It doesn't come from the west. It doesn't come from going to the bars and watching TV and fellowshipping with the heathen, right? It doesn't come from the south. It doesn't come from hanging out with the people that are like the children of Belial just so that you can fit in. It comes solely from God. So turn to Ephesians chapter six. And while you're turning there, we already read this. I'm just gonna read for you the promotion that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got, right? Did Nebuchadnezzar promote him? Sure, but why did he promote him? Because God laid that on his heart. In Daniel chapter three, verse 29, it says this. So you turn to Ephesians six, but I'm gonna read Daniel three 29. It says, therefore, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dung hill because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort than the king promoted, than the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. So where did their promotion come from? Did it come from the east? Did it come from the west? Did it come from the south? No, it came from God, right? They stood up for what they believed in. They didn't play the victim, right? They didn't compromise on what they believed. And they understood and they accepted the fact that they were gonna get thrown into the firing pan, and they understood that promotion comes from God. So let's move on here. Ephesians chapter six, look at verse number five. Ephesians chapter six, verse five. It says this, servants, right? Not slaves, it says servants, right? Employees, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh. With fear and trembling and singleness of heart as unto Christ. So when you're at work, right, it really helps your mindset. You wanna know what's gonna help you not play the victim is when you understand that promotion comes from God. When you understand that, hey, I need to do these tasks that I've been assigned, not because of my boss who I don't get along with told me to, but because I'm doing it unto Christ, he has placed me here, and I'm going to do that to please him, to make him happy. That is what is going to help you tremendously. That is gonna alleviate so much stress in your life when you take that mindset, I'm doing this not to please him. I'm doing it to please Christ because I want him to be pleased with the way I'm doing things, right? That's what he's saying. Verse six, not with I service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. I used to have this boss in that same place that I worked at, and I don't know what happened. I don't know if I said something. I don't know if I did something. Where he would always insinuate like I was trying to suck up to him, right? Because I was just quiet, and you know, quiet people, a lot of times other people feel that they need to put words in your mouth, right? I've been dealing with that my whole life. And so he would make these weird comments. I'd be like, well, what's he talking about, whatever. Well, one day it came time for evaluation. I'm in the office and he's talking to me. He was like, yeah, you know, you're doing a really good job and stuff, but you know, just remember that like, you know, sucking up and stuff like that, it doesn't really help out. I'm like, you know, I hear you say that a lot. Do you think I'm a suck up? And he's like, well, no, you know, maybe I just, you know, I know you're new and it just seems like, you know, you're, you know, trying really hard, you know. With time, you'll get rewarded. I said, look, this was wrong when I'm about to tell you. I'm telling it myself. It's the first of two stories I'm gonna tell myself. I said, look, I don't like you. I don't care what you think about me. I came here to work and that's it. And he just looks at me and he's just like. I said, you can send me home right now. I don't care. He's just like, all right then, all right. I said, look, I'm quiet. I came here to work and I don't care about you. And then he's just like, oh, I guess I misunderstood. Yeah, you did. I'm not working to please you. Now that's wrong, okay? That's wrong, but that's what I did, right? And I remember in my mind, even though I wasn't living for God during this time, okay? This was 2009. I was still just doing my own thing. This verse though had always resonated with me as a younger person. Now with I service as men pleasers, but as service of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. I wasn't working to please him. I was working because that's how it was brought up in the workforce to be. I was taught to work hard and that's what I did. And it was an insult to me that he would say this. Now this guy did receive men's service, right? He had his favorites and you know McDonald's boy, the guy I just told you about, that was one of his favorites. And I guess in his mind and the way he was, he only had room for a handful of people that could be close to him. And he must have thought that I was trying to work my way into that when I wasn't. So a point, I don't even know why I brought that up, but now you got it. Let's move on here, verse seven. With good will doing service as to the Lord, not to men. This is the mentality that we've got to have, right? Do work, get stuff done because God wants you to, not because your boss wants you to. You know what? Because then it doesn't matter the relationship you have. So even after I told that guy that, guess what? Nothing happened to me, nothing at all. He just basically would just write my little jobs on a piece of paper and just let me go do what I want. You know, because he, at the end of the day, he knew that I would get it done, right? That's how we need to be without the attitude that I gave. But with good will doing service as to the Lord, not to men. So you're at work, you can't stand your boss, you don't get along with him. If you can learn to do your job tasks as unto the Lord, guess what? You're not gonna have that stress. Even though his visage may be changed towards you, it's not gonna affect you. You're not gonna come home with the stigma of a hostile work environment, which is gonna basically fill up your entire house and everyone around you and bring everyone down. You're not gonna go through that because you're at work doing work to God. Verse eight, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. Now look, before I move on here, I do wanna say this. There are some things, at work, policy-wise, that you're gonna have to fight for, right? There may be situations where your boss asks you to do something and it's not going against the Bible, but maybe it's going against policy or maybe it's gonna take you away from your family and you need to stand up for that, right? You do need to stand up for certain things and you know what, that may happen to you. Your boss may ask you to charge somebody more money than you know you should. Your boss may ask you to cook the books. Your boss may ask you to do something that is unethical. Now, are you gonna do that as unto the Lord? No, you're gonna say, you know what, I might lose my job here, but guess what? I'm not doing it, pal. And guess what, you may go into the frying pan, but you need to understand, just because your boss tells you to do it, don't get this mentality, well, whatever he tells me to do, I just have to do it. No, there's some things where you might need to be like, hey, look, this isn't right and I'm not doing it. And you might have to suffer the consequences for that. Look at verse nine. And ye masters do the same things unto them for bearing threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him. Now, this is interesting that this is in here. What does that mean? Because a lot of masters or employers, bosses, guess what, what do they do? They do threaten, right? They do threaten and they do try to play games and they do try to mess with you and they will try to put you in the furnace, right? They may try to do it in several different ways. But the point is, we need to have the right mentality and do what's right unto the Lord, right? He asks you to cook the books. No, I'm not doing that. Oh, you're a Christian, you're supposed to do what you're told out of the Bible says, and you don't know the Bible. I know I'm not doing it. That should be your attitude. Now go to Titus chapter two, Titus chapter two. And while you're turning there, I'm gonna read for you Colossians chapter three verse 22, which says this, servants, obey in all things, your masters according to the flesh, not with thy service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. So knowing that, okay, I'm going to obey my boss, right? I'm gonna have a healthy fear unto God. Guess what? He gave you the discernment when he says, hey, hide a little bit of this, don't do that. Trying to get you to do those unethical things. If you really fear God in that moment, you're not gonna do it and you're gonna be okay with the battle because you're not trying to be a men pleaser, right? You're not trying to be a suck up, right? See a suck up and a man pleaser, what he's gonna do is all you want to cook the books, no problem. What else do you want? What else do you want? You want your shoes shined? I'll do that too. I'll do anything but work, basically is their attitude. As long as I can get to the top, the fastest and the easiest, that's what I'm gonna do. That's their mentality. Verse 23 says, and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. That is key. Verse 24, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong, which he hath done and there is no respect of persons. So understand that. That guy that's trying to get you to do that bad stuff at work, guess what? He's gonna receive his reward or she's gonna receive her reward. God will make sure of that. But basically what we just read here is Psalm chapter 75. Promotion comes from God, okay? Do what's right and God will reward you. So let's move on here. Now we're gonna shift gears and we're gonna talk about the home. We're gonna talk about mom's hostile work environment. All right, so you're there in Titus chapter two. So I got, I'm starting over with the points for you guys. Point number one is keep your focus and priorities on your job. You see, what do you mean? Look at Titus chapter two. Look at verse number three. The aged women likewise that they be in behavior as become of holiness, not false accusers, not given too much wine, teachers of good things that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands that the word of God not be blasphemed. So get this. When a wife says, you know what? I'm not going to respect my husband. I'm not going to do what he's asked to keeping in mind that it's not something terrible and going against God. The Bible says that you're blaspheming the word of God. So the wife says, you know what? I know you want me to stay home and take care of the kids, but the heck with you, I want more money. I'm gonna go to work anyways and I'm going to neglect being a keeper at home. Guess what? The word of God is blasphemed. And guess who's responsible for that? In that moment, it is you. It is us. It is the person that decides they are going to neglect what we're reading here. So the wife says, I'm not gonna be discreet. I'm just gonna run my mouth and say whatever I want to. I'm gonna tell anybody how it is no matter what. I'm not gonna be chaste. I'm not gonna be good. I'm just gonna be rebellious. Guess what? The Bible says you blaspheme the word of God. And you know what? That ought not to be Bible-believing Christians. We ought not to ever go down that road. So point number one, keep your focus and your priorities on your job. So moms, how do you minimize stress? How do you minimize that hostile work environment? And those of you that don't have kids yet, I mean, pay attention to this because it will come eventually. Number one, look at this. Look at verse five. He says to be discreet, chaste keepers at home. Okay? Keepers at home. It doesn't say keepers of the home. I'm gonna tell you a couple of stories again. All right? It says keepers at home. So this is how I do it. This is how our family does business, okay? So when I get home from work, if something's broke, I'm gonna fix it. Right? Because I believe that it's a man's job to use the tools and to do the hard work. What was it, two weeks ago I came home and Jess was like, you know, the faucet's leaking all over the place. Or the piping under the sink is leaking all over the place. Well, at that moment I could have said two things. Right? Well, we need to call brother Jeff or call somebody. Or you're the keeper at home, figure it out. See what I'm saying? I want my daughters, I want my wife to be as feminine as possible, to be the ladies of the house, so I did not say go get the pipe wrench and go figure it out. I took care of it. Okay? When the grass gets tall and it needs to be cut, they're more than capable. Look, Kylie and Kim, they love using the lawnmower and stuff and sometimes I let them. But primarily that's my job and Kayden's job. I don't want them keeping up the physical home. Does that make sense? I don't want my wife on the roof with a hammer fixing shingles, okay? Cause she's gonna come falling down. Your balance isn't that good. So you know that. All right? I gotta pick on you cause of the next story I'm gonna tell. But look, you know it's true guys, right? Says keepers at home. Now, another thing with that is I don't come home and say, hey, move this picture over here, move the couch over here. She moves, she keeps it home. So if she wants the couch where it is now, then I just, okay, I guess we're sitting over there today. You know, she wants the bed on this side. I mean, the stuff's been changing constantly since you guys moved into this building, since we've moved into this building, right? I come home and it's like a different house like every other week. I'm like, well, that's just how it is. She's a keeper at home. That's what she does, right? If she's like, I'm making, you know, I don't know, enchiladas for dinner. I'm like, all right, that's what we're eating. You know, or we're making Buffalo chicken pasta. I don't really like it, but it's like, well, I don't have to cook it. I'm not gonna say anything, right? Because I want to facilitate her in her job, right? You see what I'm saying? I want to help her be a keeper at home cause that alleviates stress on her. Now, not every wife has that option, okay? And we'll get into that here in a moment. Not every wife has that option because maybe you're unequally yoked. You know, your husband's causing trouble. You know, the other things that we've gone over are gonna help you live and deal in that situation. But it says keepers at home. So with that being said, wives, if you can learn to be a keeper at home and not always trying to run away from your responsibilities and going out and just hiding from that, right? You're gonna be happier. I mean, who's smarter, you or God? The Bible says to be a keeper at home. So when you can learn to do that and accept that, you will be happier because you're gonna see what's going on. You're gonna get a feel for what's going on. You're gonna be much better off. You're going to have less stress. Look, working a full-time job is the curse of a man. That if you go back to Genesis and study it out, that's what it is. We are the ones that are supposed to earn the key by the sweat of our brow, right? The woman's job now is to be a keeper at home. And you're going to be much happier, much more blessed, much less stressed if you just do things the way that God has said to do them. And one of them is to learn to be a keeper at home. Here's another story. What, three weeks ago, the fire extinguisher? All right, I come home, guess what? Jessica's a keeper at home, right? And since, I don't know, what, 10 o'clock, when did those bees come in? Probably about 10 o'clock, right? Bees come in the window, right? I come home and they're all like huddled in the corner. And they're like, I'm like, what's going on? They're like, well, a bunch of yellow jackets or wasps came in the house. I'm like, no problem, man. I go into the sink, I get the fire extinguisher out and I hose them down. I'm like, see, look at that, I got them. I turn around and everything's white with powder. The whole house is covered with powder. I'm like, that was really stupid. That was dumb. I should not have done that. I should have just gone to Fred Meyer and got the bug spray. But you know, I like to solve problems. I knew that was in the sink, I figured. I've heard, you know, that that works. Here's my chance to try it out. So if you come to our house today, you're still gonna find white powder in certain places. But nonetheless, I do that, right? Now, did I just make her clean it up? No, I didn't. I helped out because I created the mess, okay? And you can say, well, you're being a feminist by cleaning the house. No, I shouldn't have done that. You see what I'm saying? I'm not trying to create more work for her. So a part of, you know, keeping your focus and your priorities on your job, a part of a wife, a mom of having a work environment that's not hostile really rests a lot on the husband. It really does. Man, you need to own that and you need to make sure that she is able to operate her workspace in a way that works for her. This is key. This is important. If she doesn't want you putting your skill saw on the dinner table, look, just don't do it. There's bigger fish to fry, okay? It's not worth fighting about. It's not, it's just not worth fighting about. If you decide to spray down the yellow jackets with a fire extinguisher, help clean up the mess, okay? And actually just don't even go down that road. So the Bible says to be keepers at home, you will be happier, you will be less stressed. Women were not designed to handle the same works, the workplace stress that men were, okay? Women were not designed that I work for a company that's ran by women. They do a good job, but you know what? When people call and flip out on them and start getting real angry, they can't handle it. When employees start really pushing, they can't handle it. It's because they weren't designed that way. You know, if you were to leave me at home all day, day after day, day after day with the kids, there would be problems. Even though I'm a fundamentalist, there would be some problems. Like if Jessica just said, you know what? I'm gonna go do appliance repair and you're gonna stay home with the kids. First of all, that would be an unbiblical marriage. I wouldn't be qualified to be a pastor. But second of all, our kids would be all ate up. Be all messed up. You know it's true, guys. You know it's true. So the keys to being a keeper at home is to be discreet. Right? Right, being discreet is being careful, right? Being careful, being circumspect with your speech and your actions, not being froward, not being foolish. You guys understand this, being chaste, right? Being pure, being good, and being obedient to your husbands. You know, not always trying to fight them on every little thing that he does. Because guess what? That's gonna add stress to you. That's all that's gonna do is add stress to you. The husband is supposed to rule the house. The wife is supposed to keep the house. And when you can harmonize those things and work in your respective roles, you will have a great home. You will have a great place and things will be going well. So a key to that, I think I've already mentioned this, is being a keeper at home, not always finding excuses to run away and not do the things that you need to do, all right? Let's move on here. Oh, and by the way, you know what? I've noticed this. I've noticed this, that mom brains don't shut off at night. I've been married for 20 years now, and Jessica's brain does not shut off at night. She's always like, not always, but from time to time, she'll be awake just thinking about things. And some of you ladies in here are like that, right? You can't sleep at night because your brain's going a thousand miles an hour. How do you stop that? How do you minimize that? What are you gonna do? Part of it is not running from your responsibilities. Bible says to be a keeper at home, be a keeper at home. Right, the Bible says to live a certain way, live that certain way. And guess what? Guess what? You're not gonna have those stresses to think about and worry about all night. And you're gonna be able to rest and sleep in harmony. And that is a very important thing for all of us. But look at verse 22, Ephesians chapter five, verse 22. Did I have you turn there? No, I didn't. Turn to Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five, almost done. Look at verse 22. I kinda got ahead of myself, but we're gonna go through this again. So husbands, you need to help in this. Verse 22 says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. That means that a wife, you do not have to submit to somebody else's husband. This is a problem today, even in our movement. There are some guys, some young bugs, that think that every wife needs to listen to them. This is a problem. I've seen this in our types of churches where men think, well, all women need to listen. In fact, Josh was like that. And you guys know that, he was like that. All women need to listen to me. He wouldn't say it like that, but he would imply that by his actions. That is wrong. It says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. Wives, you don't have to listen to somebody else's husband. You don't have to listen to some punk teenager that's trying to tell you how to raise your kids. You don't have to listen to that. That's what the Bible's saying here, but let's move on, verse 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. So just understand that harmony there and try to make it work if you can. If you're in a situation where you can't, then you need to apply, obviously, all the rest of these things, and trust God that he's going to help you with your situation. Now, here's the next little piece to this, is if you have children, use them to work in their roles. So what we do at our house, we have the girls learning how to be moms. You say, well, don't you want them to go to be doctors No, I want them to be great mothers, right? That's what I want. So my wife teaches them all the stuff about keeping a home. That's what she does. The girls baked things last night, pumpkin bread and all this stuff, Kylan did, and guess what, it's great. I want my children to be able to hit life running at full speed, and the only way they're going to do that is if you, mom, learn to delegate, learn to teach your children the things that they need to know. So if you have young ladies, teach them how to help out around the house, teach them how to bake, teach them how to sweep, teach them how to clean, teach them how to keep the house. And you have young little boys, young men, right? We have Kaiden. You know what? I put a good amount of workload on him. Why is that? Look, I want him to know how to wash clothes, because you know what? When I went off to the military, I did not know how to do my own laundry. My mom did everything for me. And I remember asking people how to use laundry soap, and that's stupid. Now, I wasn't the only one that was like that, but I just remember thinking, and I'm not advocating joining the military, but look, you just might find yourself living alone where mom and dad can't help you. Ideally, yes, it's great if your children stay under your roof until they get married, but sometimes there's situations where that's not going to be possible, and you need to prepare them for that. You need to prepare them to learn how to do basic troubleshooting, how to fix some things, how to hold tools, how to cut the lawn, how to weed eat, how to take care of a property, how to do things that are hard work. So anytime we have somebody moving, like when brother Justin went, I'll make sure I have Kayden come with us. I'll make sure that he helps because of this. Listen to this verse. You don't have to turn there. Lamentations 3.27 says this. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. You know what? It is good for your young men, for you young guys to work hard. It is good for these kids that are, you know, three, four, five, six, seven, eight years old to do a little bit of work. And as they get older, it is good to put a little bit of heat on them. It's good to put a little bit of burden on their shoulders. That's what the Bible says. And you know what? Who wrote Lamentations? Jeremiah. What was going on during that timeframe? Captivity. Why were they going into captivity? Well, there's a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons was the mentality of the people, right, the victim mentality. I don't have to work. I don't have to do this. I'm owed this. I deserve this. I deserve that. And the whole time God's like, no, you're wicked and you're gonna go into captivity. And you know what? I don't wanna raise my kids like that. I want to make sure that when they reach age, they are able to go out into the world and do basic things, right? I wanna make sure that you know how to use the bus station, Kayden. I wanna make sure that you know how to troubleshoot problems. I wanna make sure you can pick up tools and use them. And every single parent in here needs to have that same goal for their children. Whether you have boys or you have girls or you have both, make sure you delegate, give them responsibility and in turn, that will relieve so much stress off of your life. That's gonna erase that hostile work environment. So let's move on here. Go to Titus chapter two. Titus chapter two. Let's talk about the young ladies for a second. In Titus chapter two, verse three says this. The aged women likewise that they be in behavior as become of holiness, not false accusers, not given too much wine, teachers of good things. Teach your children, teach them. Verse four, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. When you go into teaching mode, you're producing and you're providing value. That's what you're doing. When you teach your young ladies to be keepers at home, mom, you're relieving your stress and you're doing the generation to come a huge favor. That is what the Bible is teaching us here. And you know what, when you come to church, let's say you don't have any children. There are obviously still some skills that you have and some edification that you have to where you can teach other young ladies through fellowship in church. And guess what? That's gonna relieve some stress off of you. That's gonna sharpen you. That's gonna make you even better when the time comes for you to have children. So number two, here's another key to avoiding a hostile work environment and home, and that is organization. Organization. So if you're having a hard time finding things, mom, at home, guess what? Organization might be a problem. And you know what, I've already said this. You know, husbands don't make it harder on your wife, okay? I get it, we have to go to work. And I'm all about ruling the house. But you know what, I wanna make sure that I rule my house well and I don't have my wife angry and the kids angry. And so, you know, if she wants things a certain way, you know, the dinner table turned this way, just let it go, just let it be that way. She wants the coffee pot here, just look, that's her workspace. Facilitate that and help her out, you know? And yes, at the end of the day, if the husband, you know, if the man does want, well, no, I want this here, don't fight about it, just do it, okay? But hopefully in our church, hopefully you men, hopefully you guys will just learn this one thing, and that is help your wife's workspace. Because you know what, she has a hostile work environment as well sometimes. You know what, you don't wanna add to that, because it's just gonna make your relationship, you know, worse and have problems. So, real quick here, number two was organization. Just remember that, organize your stuff, okay? Know where to find things, it's gonna minimize your stress in the home. Number three, last one, we're almost done, turn to Proverbs chapter 22. Proverbs 22. Last point I got for you, and this is key. Number three, disciplining your children. Disciplining your children. While you're turning to Proverbs 22, I'm gonna read for you Proverbs 13, 24, which says this. He that spareth his rod, hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. That means early. You know why it says chasten them early, discipline them early? Because there will come a point to where the chastening does not work. Think about that, learn that, understand that, and apply that now before it's too late. You say, when is it too late? You'll know. That's not the question, when is it too late? No, you start now. You don't worry about when it's too late. Do it now. But it says he that spareth his rod, hated the son. So, why does the Bible say that if you spare discipline, if you spare spanking, that you're gonna hate your son, or you're gonna hate your child? It's because they're gonna grow up to be monsters, right? They're gonna grow up to cause you grief, cause you pain, cause you sorrow. And the way around that, the way to minimize that is to institute God's perfect plan, which is discipline, right? You know, sometimes your kids need to get spanked, right? Sometimes they need that. I know the world doesn't like that. Oh, you're a cult. No, I'm a Bible-believing Christian. And God said that, hey, if we want to love our children and raise them right, that we're gonna do what he said. And you know what? Sparing the rod, holding correction, holding discipline, holding that form of punishment, guess what? That's gonna make you hate your children. And nobody in here in their right mind wants to hate their children. Proverbs 22, look at verse 15. It says this, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. You need to understand this. Children have foolishness bound in their heart. And you know how they're gonna get it out? By you, mom, by you, dad, by disciplining them. That's how you're going to get the foolishness out of their heart. That's how you're going to create a non-hostile work environment. That's what's gonna save you moms from going postal, okay? From flipping out and going crazy. Back up to verse number six, Proverbs chapter 22, look at verse six. Train up a child in the way he should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. So when you're training them up in the Bible and you're teaching them these principles and these statutes and these commandments, and you know what? You're having a hard time. They're not doing it. Guess what? If you keep at it, the Bible says, when they get older, they won't depart from it. Doesn't mean things are gonna be perfect the whole time, but when they're older, they will not depart from it. Go to Proverbs 29, we're almost done. Proverbs chapter 29. Proverbs 29 verse 15 says this. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. The other day I went into this house to fix a dryer vent. And these little kids, two of them were in diapers, and the other two, I don't know how old they were, but they were like this tall, just little kids. They're so small that they're having to hold the game controller like this and balance it on the entertainment center so they can hit the buttons. And they're playing this game, I don't know what it was, but it was just, it was gory. I mean, it was somebody shooting and it was loud, it was taking over the whole house. Mom's in her bedroom, right? The guy that let me in, he's like, oh yeah, sorry about the noise. He's like, mom, couldn't deal with it, she's in the bedroom and I gotta go to work. I don't know what's going on, man, I just need my dryer fixed. I'm like, all right. But anyway, I mean, look, these kids were just left to themselves, and what happened? They brought their mother to shame. I mean, I'm in there trying to fix this thing, and it's quite a waste from the living room. And they're like, we need something to eat, mom, get out of here, I need juice, I need some cookies. And they're just like screaming for these snacks and stuff. And I'm like, how are they, and it sounds like they're doing a good job on this game too. You know, and I'm going back out to the van to get some tools, and I'm looking, and this little kid in diapers, like he's got this controller and he's like, you know, he's got his thumb on the arrow pad, right? And he's like using three fingers at some point, and he's like doing this stuff, and it's working. I'm kind of stopping, I'm like, there's no way, are these guys really playing this game? They were really playing that game. If I were to play that game, I don't even know what it is, I guarantee you, I would fail. I would fail, and I can hold the controller, my hands are adult sized obviously, I can play it. These kids are like doing some weird stuff just to play this game. And I thought to myself with this verse, there's no rod of correction in that home, there's no reproof, there's no wisdom. You know, these children are just left to themselves, and mom is so stressed out, she's in the room. And she comes out at one point, and her hair's like out to here, and I'm like, oh man, I'm like, whoa. I'm like, I just need to get a quick signal, and she's like, oh, you know how kids are, I can't wait till they start going to school. I'm like, wow, then you're gonna be more problem when they go to school. I mean, what are they gonna do? Are they gonna do that stuff for those kids there? I'm like, this world is messed up. Messed up, one more verse. Proverbs 29, 17, correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest. Yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. You say I'm stressed out, I have a hostile home, I have a hostile work environment, I can't control the kids, guess what? Correct your child, and they will give you rest. It's that simple, right? Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest. Yea, he shall be, or he shall give delight unto thy soul. What is that saying? That's what's gonna bring you peace, that's going to bring you health, okay? So, I went a lot over my time, but hopefully this was a help, right? Hopefully this is, if you apply these things, look, you apply these things to your life and you institute this stuff right now, it's gonna save your health, it's gonna save you trouble, it's gonna save you from going postal, right? And that's the title of the sermon, how not to go postal. All right, let's pray. All right, thank you Lord for these truths in the Bible. I just pray you help every single one of us here today, Lord, apply these things and remember them and do them in our lives that we may have life as you wanted, Lord, and trust you even when times get hard. Please take care of the fellowship after the service, Lord. Please bless the soul-ending today and the service tonight. In Jesus' name I pray.