Faith at Work

This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

God, what we know is that uh if you're making new wine, and because they don't put new wine in old vessels, then you're making new vessels out of us.

God, we're not yet what we ought to be.

You're not done with us, but thank you that we're not what we used to be if we know you as Savior.

Thank you for the fact that we get filled with the Holy Spirit, and then you continue a work in us.

Thank you that I am not, but I know I am.

Thank you for your proclamation that you are.

Bless this time together.

Holy Spirit, be active this morning.

Move in and among us.

Let us hear from you.

And it's in your name that we pray these things, Jesus.

Amen.

Well, you may be seated.

Well, good morning, church.

Uh, for those that don't know, my name is Wade Burgess.

I'm the executive pastor here at Graham Parkway, and uh that means I have the privilege of all the ministries reporting to me and all the operations of the church I get to oversee.

This morning, uh, I get a chance to be in front of me, which I always count as a privilege, and we're gonna talk about today uh a couple of things related to how do we take our faith to work?

Our school, our in retirement, or wherever we are, how do we take our faith with us in everything that we do?

Now, today is a little bit unique.

Clyde mentioned it at the beginning of the service.

Uh I'm gonna talk for just a few minutes, and then I'm gonna have a few folks join me this morning, and we're gonna look at how they have taken their faith to work and what does that look like.

At Grant Parkway, you know, we like to hear from different people, we trust their priesthoods, and so that's what you get a chance to do today.

It's also a little bit unique in that it's family worship day.

Uh there's a lot of added pressure to that because uh we've got new eyes on us today, and so Neil said, Don't cuss and don't make bad jokes, and so I'll try not to do that.

But we we've got some some young people with us today, and we're excited to have them.

I met a new friend Huck this morning, and he was so excited, he said, I've never been to big church, and I can't wait.

And so uh I I appreciate the enthusiasm, and it probably is a lesson for us in that.

So thanks for being here this morning.

Uh both what I talk about uh in the beginning and the panel really is has a goal of just encouraging you and wherever you are and whatever you do, and everything, take the gospel with you.

Nothing will likely have the individual, intimate impact on people like seeing the gospel lived out in front of them.

And so that's what we'll talk about today.

I think one of the best apologetics, that idea of one of the best ways to witness is that people get to see a consistent example of what Christ looked like, of what the Bible teaches us and how to live and where we are.

As part of what I'm going to show you today comes from a book called The Gospel at Work.

It's by Trieger and Gilbert.

Now, just a mention, there's several good books on this.

If you're a bit of a bookworm like I am, uh, things like Wisdom at Work or Bring Your Faith to Work, these are all good resources for how exactly do I do that?

And what should it look like?

Do I have to bring my Bible every day and set it out on the on my desk?

Do I have to wear my big, you know, uh cross, I'm about to say public enemy, and then I thought none of you would know who that is.

But am I supposed to wear my big cross in front of me to put that on?

And those books are really good about no, we don't have to do any of that.

And today we're going to talk about some of the things that that they give us.

But first, I wanted to start off with how did we get to this thing called work and what does that look like?

If you have your Bibles, take them and just open up just a few pages to Genesis.

If you don't, there's a Bible on your row there with you, or it'll come up on the screen behind me.

But this idea of where did we get work and what does it look like?

God created work, which sounds odd, and we'll talk about that, but let's take a look.

This is Genesis chapter 2, and it's simply verse 15, and it says this the Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

So God created work.

Now, when God created work, it wasn't the four-letter word that we know of it today, right?

It was a good thing.

We were meant to work.

God put something in us that says, we are made for work.

But here's what happens.

Because sin has consequence.

Turn just one page over.

Let's take a look at chapter 3.

And this is just verse 17.

God creates work, and then sin enters the picture.

Now, you you likely know this story well.

Adam and Eve are in the garden, everything's going great, and then they decide they're going to taste the fruit from the tree of which God told them not to do.

They did it partly out of their flesh, but certainly out of temptation from Satan.

And here is God laying down the consequence of that decision, laying down the consequence of sin, and it relates to what happens to work now.

This is what it says, chapter 3, verse 17.

And he said to the man, Because you listened to your wife.

Okay.

And he said to the man, Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, do not eat from it.

The ground is cursed because of you.

You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life.

And so what happens is work that was meant to be fulfilling becomes frustrating, and work that was meant to have purpose becomes pointless at times.

And by the way, if you were to employ everything we talk about today, if you were to say, you know what, I changed my whole philosophy about work, and I'm only working for Jesus, and this is the only way I go, that is not, by the way, some magic for the frustration to go away.

Frustration and work will always be there simply because of what we just read.

It is going to be a painful toil at times.

That doesn't mean work can't be exciting and fulfilling and satisfying and all those things, as you probably well know.

It doesn't mean that when you go to school, uh you can't make good grades because, well, this is supposed to be hard.

It also doesn't mean that when I'm trying to raise my family and I'm a stay-at-home parent, it doesn't mean that everything's got to be hard.

But it does mean that it is going to be frustrating and it is going to at times feel pointless.

Particularly if you're in like the second grade and you just started and you're so excited, not to burst your bubble or ruin it for you, but there's a few more years to go, right?

And every year that you go longer, you're thinking, oh, how much longer, Lord?

Just if you could come back now, that would be great.

By the way, I used to pray when I was in school.

If you could hurry and come back before this book report's due tomorrow, that would be awesome.

It never happened.

But but if we change our focus for why we're working, if we change our focus for who we're working for, then even though there might be frustrations, even though there might be episodes of pointlessness, real purpose can come from labor.

Now, let me give you a warning about work, and you've heard this, I'm sure.

Work or even staying at home and raising your family, going to school, any of those things can become an idol for us.

Now, one of the arguments that happens is when somebody says, hey, don't make that an idol, some of us think, well, I go to work, I still go to church, I still pray, I hadn't made it an idol.

Here's the way work can become an idol.

So often I think what happens is we miss the fact that not only are we created for work, but we're also created to worship.

Deep inside of us, part of our hardwired nature is to worship.

And because we were created by the Creator, our whole goal in worship is to worship Him.

And so here's what happens.

When we worship anything but that, it becomes an idol.

Now you would say, Well, I definitely don't worship work.

Good gracious, I don't try to do that.

But here's what it looks like sometimes.

We make it such a priority that it takes the place of what God has called us to.

It robs us from family sometimes, it robs us maybe even of our of our ethics.

It allows us to go along with the crowd instead of doing the opposite of what God has called us to.

And so every act of worshiping something that's not worthy of our worship has become an idol.

So I brought a couple of things just to show you, they'll come up on the slides.

How do you know you're making work or school or anything else an idol?

Number one, it's your primary source of satisfaction.

It's the primary thing that drives how you feel.

Now, this we have to be careful a little bit because as we're talking to our students and we said, hey, be careful, this isn't your primary source, and they're like, Yeah, but you don't understand the pain that'll come if I don't do well in school.

Here's what I'm saying: try your best, do your best, but don't let it be the primary source of your satisfaction.

Some people will say, Man, work went great, now I'm on a high.

Ugh, work stunk and I'm on a low.

We'll talk about that in just a second, how we even that out.

But be careful that it's not your primary source of satisfaction.

And number two, how do you know you're making work an idol?

The goal of being the best you can be at it is to make a name for yourself.

We're not there necessarily uh to work for the company or the boss, but we're really there, I'm gonna get mine, is kind of the theme there that will happen when it happens over time that it slowly makes itself an idol.

One of the, there's a pastor out of Dallas and uh Tommy Nelson, and he said, you know what?

I got to thinking about if I were the devil, what would I do to try to trip you up?

And the reason I was doing that wasn't to be dark and all this, but he was trying to think, how would the devil be thinking related to what kind of snares can I look for?

And he said, you know, I would try this and I would try that, I'd try to lure you with temptation and uh, you know, attractive women, I might try to lure you with money or whatever it is.

And he said, if none of that works, you know what I'd last do?

I'd make you busy.

I'd make you so busy that all of a sudden prayer now doesn't come into the picture.

I'd make you so busy that your family is kind of a distant thing for you.

I'd make you so busy.

And so what we've got to be careful about is that an idea of making work as an idol is I'm gonna make a name for myself and I'm gonna get busy at doing that.

And what does that look like?

And my focus obviously changes from why I'm at work and what I'm doing there for maybe what God's called me to.

When we work as an act of worshiping God, when when work becomes a byproduct, if you will, of worshiping God, then there's no need for anything greater.

And so if the promotion comes, great.

If it doesn't, that's okay too.

If I make great grades because I tried hard, great.

If I tried hard and didn't, that's all right too.

If if in raising my family, my kids are doing great and awesome and they know their ABCs by the age of, you know, three months, that's great.

But but if I'm still trying and doing what I ought to do and they don't, that's all right.

Because of the right priorities.

Now there's freedom in the right priorities, by the way, and I think there's four of them that we ought to mention today.

The first freedom that comes with the right priorities about who we're working for is this.

One, working for Jesus gives you a freedom to worship God through your work.

It kind of sounds simple, hard to do at times, but when you believe that you are working for Jesus, the ultimate boss, then you get a freedom to worship God through that and say, God, what is it that you're doing today at work in and through me?

Not, sorry, God, I've got to put you on hold while I go to work with these heathens.

It's not that at all.

The second freedom that I think we get when we work for Jesus is it gives us freedom to serve others.

When we move from that primary purpose of how do I get mine, how do I serve self?

How do I make a name for myself?

And we move that to, Jesus, I'm working for you.

How do I get your name?

How do I make you famous?

We get to serve others in that.

It's no longer, hey, I'm gonna uh make sure nobody knows what I know and I'm gonna keep all the knowledge to me.

No, I'll share that.

I'll give them credit as well.

It's not, you know what, I know the secret website that helps me do all of my math homework really well.

I'm not gonna share that with anybody because I don't want anyone else setting the curve.

No.

It's how do I help others?

Why?

Because that's what Jesus would do.

It's not about for myself, but about for him.

The third freedom that we get working for Jesus is it gives you a freedom to trust God in your work so much so that you get to rest in that.

Now, this is an area that I I struggled with, particularly in my previous job.

Um, it it seemed every time a new project would get finished, the next one would come right up.

You're like, no, no, just hang on.

Family, uh, I've got this project at work and I'm gonna knock it out.

No, I I know I've been working hard and I know I've been staying up to 1 a.m.

every day, but no, no, it's almost over.

Oh, that project is done.

Boy, we got that thing.

Oh, got another project?

Okay, no, no, don't worry about this one.

This one's almost done.

And it seems to just over and over.

Now you've heard the phrase, well, it'll always be there, and I'm thinking, yeah, it'll always be there.

I may not be there.

They may fire me before it's gone because it's always there.

And I would work sometimes from midnight, one o'clock, whatever it was.

And my employer would sometimes recognize it.

By the way, it looked like this.

Hey, saw you sent that email at one.

And uh, good job, I guess.

Uh and I would think, well, they don't appreciate it, but I've got to do it because I've got to make me feel better because I've got to make sure that I look good and do all those things and all of that.

And then what I realized was, you know what, one, it will always be there.

But two, if I really trust God that He's in charge of it all, I can work from eight to five, eight to six, I can do what I need to do today, and then I can let it go and we'll pick it up tomorrow.

And you know, I started that about the last probably seven, eight years of my previous career, and in doing that, I never missed a deadline.

I never got in trouble for not getting it done.

And here's the crazy thing about it: the timing always worked.

If I had finished that project just three days before or had done something the way I thought it needed to be done and hurried and gotten it, what I realized was, man, how to really mess that up.

It's really nice the way God can orchestrate timing that is so different than ours.

But if we're working for Jesus, we can trust that and we can rest in it and from it.

And finally, the fourth freedom in the right priorities is working for Jesus gives you joy at work.

By the way, I don't think there's any greater witness than us being consistently joyful.

Now, that's not happy, go lucky, hey, I'm glad to be at work today.

How about you?

Are you not?

This is awesome.

That's fake and that doesn't go anywhere.

But what we've got to look at is how do I have this sustained joy that just says, I know who's in charge, and this is how it's gonna go.

Sometimes one of the worst witnesses we can do is on Monday we walk into school and go, oh man, I can't believe I'm at school.

And then on Friday, hey, I can't believe it's right.

What obviously we're gonna have emotion.

You can't be void of emotion, but we've got to be so consistent that people say, man, there's something different about that person.

They don't seem to go ebb and flow the way I do.

There's something different about them, and there's a freedom when you recognize who you're really working for that puts that in the right priority.

Now, I want to give you one more dangerous point, and that is there is a form of idleness that can come from our work or our school or raising family, and it's a failure to recognize God's purpose for us in that place that He's put us.

When you fail to recognize the purpose why you're there, there's an idleness, there's a mess there as to what you're called to.

I've asked three folks to join me this morning.

They're gonna come up and uh we're gonna talk about just that.

How is work worship and how do we move from this necessary evil to God being in charge of all that?

So, Mike, Tori, and Kent, come on up.

Give them a round of applause just to spend time before they're here.

That was a bit tepid, by the way, so when we send them back, make sure that's warmer.

Kent, join us, would you?

All right.

So this is Kent, Tori, and Mike.

Uh they are in different places of of career and all.

I'm gonna ask them to tell us what they do for a living, and then I'm gonna ask some questions about how did they make sure they have the right priorities.

By the way, if you don't, don't tell them.

And and then we're gonna talk about what does that look like, all with a goal of not only an example, but some ideas for you of how do I take what I heard today and apply that.

So, Kent, what what do you do for a living?

So um is on?

Is that on, yeah?

He told us to eat it like an ice cream cone and not a very tasty-looking ice cream cone.

Um so I do cybersecurity for an oil and gas company downtown in Houston.

Okay, all right.

Can you give me some credit card numbers or anything?

I can try to help you protect them.

Oh, okay, all right, even better.

Uh Tori, how about you?

Hey, um, it doesn't sound like a breaker.

Uh so I work for a member of U.S.

Congress.

Um, I stay in the district, so I don't go back and forth to DC, unfortunately.

Okay, all right.

We've got a lot to talk about.

Um there's some changes I'd like to see happen, and there's some stuff I want to.

Mike, how about you?

Uh I just wander around and go to sporting events.

Wow, that's a good deal.

At my leisure, whatever nice.

Yeah.

By the way, Mike's retired, but uh that was exactly what he did as a work, too.

Is that right?

Yeah.

Um Mike, tell him tell him what you did before you retired.

Uh I spent 42 years in the public school business, and uh most of that was as a teacher and a coach.

The last 10 years I was the athlete director at Lamar Consolidated.

Uh so I I spent all of my my time in the the uh sports world.

Okay, very good.

It's a good gig if you can get it, I understand.

That's pretty good.

How how long have you been retired?

I retired in January of 17.

Okay, all right.

So it's a little bit over a year.

Good.

Uh Kent, let me start with you.

As a Christian, how do you set your goals at work sort of daily and then kind of over the expanse of that career?

Do you do you set your goals that way?

And if so, how do you do so with the Christian being the basis for that?

So um is one of the things that we there's a class here that we we had at uh upstairs in the afternoon hour that we talked about work is worship, and it was a great kind of eye-opening class for me because up until that point I kind of knew that I was I had to have a witness when I was there in the workplace, but to actually think about not only am I here to do my job, but I'm here because God has placed me in this company to work with these people, and there's more to my job than just showing up and doing what I'm supposed to do.

And so um I'm also in a position where I set direction for uh a Fortune 100 company.

There's a lot of decisions that have to be made, I have to be right uh to protect their uh system so that we don't show up in the news as a breach.

And uh you know some pressure there, but uh every every time I know that um I pray about the decisions that I make, I pray about the people that I work with, and I'm always looking for not only how to make a good decision so that I set a good example as a Christian, but how do I how do I conduct myself?

And do I care about my coworkers?

And they're God gives me plenty of opportunities to show my coworkers that I care about them when they ask for time off, or when we need they need help with a project or meeting some deadline.

Tori, um I I think those that are that are Christians, they sometimes want to return to that uh first uh set of conversion, right?

That that first time they they converted and saying, Man, that was when I was most passionate to share that witness.

So how have you maintained your passion for sharing your witness?

Okay, good.

We're jumping into a weird one first.

Um so this is this is one of those questions where it'd be really easy to kind of give the right answer.

Um, and maybe you'll uh pick the wrong person to be up here, but I'm not sure that I do always maintain the passion for it.

Um there's definitely times when you feel passionate about the gospel and when it's very easy to share.

Um I think if you ever find yourself, if you have a team that you really love or a very nerdy TV show or something like that, I fall more into the latter category.

Those things or your family, it's whatever you love, just kind of naturally comes out of your mouth.

It's just the things that you happen to share.

Um, and so obviously the kind of baseline element here is how do you cultivate the things that make you love Jesus more?

Um, how do you cultivate the things that make you like him more?

Um but then there's obviously the recognition that yeah, that's not a concept, anyways.

Um there's an element of discipline involved, but I also really uh kind of fall back sometimes on the intellectual.

Element of it.

So in the times when I'm not feeling maybe as passionate, or maybe I don't feel as close to God, or I'm even frustrated with him about something, then at that point when I'm not feeling it, there's still that baseline that's been cultivated over time where I know who he is, and there's information that I know and there's theology that I know, just a good doctrine.

And so all of that baseline is still there.

And so sometimes the emotion and everything kind of follows through later.

And sometimes it's just not there at all.

And you're like, well, I don't know if I handled that well.

Um but you know, so it's doing what you can to cultivate the passion, um, finding those things in addition to obviously spending time with him, spending time in the word, what are those other things that that really do help you?

Um, but then remembering that just because you don't feel passionate, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're doing something wrong, but you might be.

Um that might be the result of sin in your life or lack of discipline.

Um, but it's how do you then kind of fall back on those elements um that you did cultivate when things were going well?

Just one more minute, unpack that for us.

When you talk about cultivating for passion, and you talked about you need to pray and read your Bible and fall back on those things.

What are the things specifically that you would say help you cultivate passion for the gospel?

So the things you just listed are kind of the non-negotiables, right?

Um so those things have to be there.

Um, there's no real way to just kind of trust your interpretation of things.

You've got to spend time in scripture seeing what did God actually say.

You have to spend time um praying.

Um and there's you know a whole lot of different ways to approach that.

So that there's a baseline of kind of non-negotiables.

Um, and that's gonna look differently for everybody.

Um, and then there are also elements of what just stirs your affections, and I'm shamelessly stealing from a pastor in Dallas.

This is not creative of me here.

Um so we've got to kind of think like, is there certain music that really just makes me enjoy this?

Is there certain music that makes me think deeply about the gospel?

Are there certain friends?

Is there certain times of day?

Is it hanging out in nature?

Is it listening to a podcast or a sermon while I work out?

Which I don't work out, so that one's not me.

Um theoretically, I could, right?

Um so um, like I know that I do not function well doing um any kind of devotional in the morning.

Um I would love to be a morning person and to be really disciplined, and that is just not how that pans out.

I do really well at night um and then sleeping on things and they kind of marinate or something overnight.

Um so I've just kind of learned that my affections for the word are stirred more when I do it at the very end of the day, instead of trying to do it first thing in the day.

So you still have to do it, but it's what are those other kind of key things that you can think about um that make you enjoy it more?

Yeah.

And that's a good word.

Um, you know, so many of us he oh, you gotta get up at 4:30 in the morning and rise with Jesus, and this is all that, and you're like, that does not work for me.

Find what works for you and then do that.

Be consistent in that.

Mike, tell us um I think it's tempting to allow retirement to lessen the opportunities to witness.

You know, I go to work every day and I'm in front of people, I go to school and I'm in front of people, I'm I'm I'm doing all these things.

But yet retirement, I'm like, uh, I could not be in front of anybody.

How do you not allow retirement to lessen your opportunities to witness?

I think it's the habits that you've created all your life, uh, the things that you've been involved in from the get-go, from the the day one and and starting a coaching career, and uh uh uh uh uh Elaine and I being married, we were involved in uh in a church right away.

We were involved in in things.

Uh even whenever I was uh athlete director and and head coach, and you spent hours preparing um uh from week to week during the season, uh we we uh were very faithful in uh the church where we were involved to the extent that I taught every Sunday morning.

I taught a a class uh everywhere I've been.

And we've had the opportunity, of course, as a coach, you move around a little bit.

So uh I've had the opportunity in in a lot of different places.

In those places, again, you you create those habits that that uh you you give that time to God.

You you you uh uh you you plug in not just uh as as a coming and a participant in taking, but you give.

And in doing that, then uh all that happens when you retire is just that you there's just one thing less that you do.

And of course it was it's a big thing, uh being it that uh that was your livelihood and that was what you're doing.

But yeah, there's so many other things that you're involved in that uh uh you just you you keep on going.

You go to New York City and Lake Flooring and you go to whatever youth camp or now he's bragging.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Uh there's those things that you do, and and you're you're just involved in in things.

So it's it's uh no it it to me it's not less.

It's it's just the same.

Yeah.

I I would guess too, it's the um it's the always being on the lookout for that burning bush, whether you're retired, you go to the donut shop or you go exercise or you go to the grocery store.

Just like anybody else, you're always looking for opportunity to give you a lot of.

Well, I I think that's the thing as far as what the the the uh ministry that God gave me, uh our Elaine and I in the school business was uh a ministry where we realized that uh over pastors in a church and youth ministers and things like that, we could touch more lives in a day.

We could come in contact with more lives in a day than anyone else could in a in a week, okay?

When you have three or four hundred coaches uh uh answering to you and you've got thousands of kids and and and you touch those lives every day, you have access to lives where you you can see those things, you can see those burning bushes, you can you know that God put you there because uh you have a chance to speak into uh different things, tragedies, uh you know, exciting things and and and those other things.

And he put you there as as uh for those things, and you you need to have a word at that time.

You need to realize that that uh in your words, a burning bush.

That's that is a burning bush that you you need to respond to.

Okay.

If I could we the uh it reminds me of 1 Peter 3 15, you know, where it says to sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

And it's one of those verses that I really meant a lot to me in college, and it kind of changed my thinking about am I always ready?

You know, if somebody walks up to me and says, you know, hopefully they walk up to me and say there's something different about you, hopefully I'm I'm demonstrating that first.

And because of that, they come up to you and say, So why what makes you different?

Why are you at peace right now when everybody else is you know angry or falling apart?

Or and and we have to be ready as believers.

And the one thing that I always fall back on, if I can't think of a single Bible verse in that moment, you can always share your testimony.

That's something that's personal, that um you should always be ready to share that with others because that's something that you you know that you live through and you can share that openly.

Uh can I say something?

I I think that that word that you're talking about is not just for your bosses, it's just not prepared for those bosses or just your co-workers, it's that janitor that comes in and that I it's it's everyone that that is around you uh because God puts those invitations for you out there with those folks too.

Yeah.

Yeah, it just a note if your eyes and ears are not open for those invitations, you're gonna miss them every time.

Or God's gonna have to hit you between the eyes with a two by four to get your attention, and and that you don't want.

And so don't miss everywhere I go, every person I come in contact, is that an opportunity?

Is that something the Holy Spirit's prompting me to?

Um and I think if you're on the other side of that, just for a minute, if you're if you're if you're not a believer, I think I would encourage you to say, what is it that I'm hearing from believers?

What is it that I'm hearing from people that just might be God talking to me individually about what that looks like, about what he looks like, and about how I'm supposed to respond to that?

I want to ask the three of you this question.

Tori, I'll I'll let you kick us off, and that is how do you handle difficult bosses or difficult coworkers?

What does that look like for you?

I'm I'm pretty fortunate in that mine are good people.

Um I don't have a whole lot of bosses.

There's you know the actual member himself, and then I have a director immediately over me.

Uh, and I'm very fortunate in that we don't have issues with integrity or anything like that, um, which is not something that everybody uh who does one of these jobs can say.

Um so that's very, very nice, and I'm you know very just grateful for that on that level.

Um and then beyond that, um, that is very much a kind of biblically informed uh perspective on authority and respect.

Um and so it's I imagine it would be the same as it is with any boss or any coworker or anybody that you have kind of an issue with, um, is I kind of know myself well enough to know that if I'm mouth off right in the moment, it's not gonna be respectable.

Um so I always have to, I always want to sleep on it and go back and you know, you always get a little bit of perspective after sleeping on it.

Um and so then kind of go back and within kind of the framework of how do I address this?

Is this something where I need to just kind of forgive this person and just kind of say, you know, this this isn't a hill that I really feel like I need to die on.

This is just kind of where everybody was having a really long day and it's August and it's a thousand degrees.

Actually, it's September now, whatever.

Um, and you know, kind of we're just gonna kind of let this one go.

Um, or this is something that actually needs to be addressed, um, and then you just kind of want to bring it up in a way obviously that's respectful.

Um, but then one of the things that's kind of an you know biblically informed conflict resolution, especially with other believers, because actually everybody I work with, um, at least immediately is a believer.

And so there's kind of an element of how do you stick up for yourself and kind of say, hey, this this was a situation that happened that it should not have, or hey, this is a conversation that I didn't appreciate, that this is how this went down.

Um, but then how do you do it in a way that's edifying and making sure that you're not primarily looking at um yourself or making things right, but you're looking at um kind of the good and the sanctification of the other person.

And so it ends up just making it a larger picture in how you handle any conflict where you're like, where where is uh where is God maybe asking me to kind of show this person a place of growth that they need to move into?

Um but also recognizing at the end of that conversation, I don't get to control their response.

Um I only get to control my half of the conversation and I get to control my standing before God, and I have a responsibility in that conversation with whoever it is, but that I don't get to pick their response, and then I kind of have to be at peace with whatever the response is and you know possibly deal with the repercussions at that stage.

Um but well I think in that though, if you're careful to I don't know if this this will sound right, but if you're careful to not ever have to apologize for your reaction, that's like a good place to be.

Believe me, I've been on the other end of that.

Uh and and and while they accept your apology, and it's okay to apologize, okay.

It's okay to admit you're you're wrong.

I'm not-I'm not saying that, but it's just I always try to have a filter.

Am I gonna have to apologize what I'm about to say?

Eh, if I am, let me try to do that different.

Mike, what about you?

Difficult bosses or or co-workers?

How did you maintain your Christianity and yet deal with that?

You know, I was I was thinking after you asked that.

Um I think I I um had a relationship with uh and I and I was probably in eight or nine different places.

So um with every superintendent that I had, uh their door, uh their door could be open to me.

I could sit down and talk toe-to-toe and explain where I was and and uh without uh as much emotion.

And and part of that is that taking the time to to uh give yourself 24 hours or give yourself a bit of time to think through, try to think through where they're coming from too.

Treat them with respect, but let them know where you are.

Uh I you I never wanted to be a pushover, uh, but I I wanted to respect you for who you are, but I wanted to be able to tell you that uh my opinion on, you know.

And and part of that is to be able to be humble enough on my on my end, it was humble enough to say, do you see me in the picture here?

Is it something which uh makes yourself pretty vulnerable, you know, to say, I you know, I don't know if this is working, or I don't know if this will work.

So those are a little bit, you know, uh tougher words than do you realize my talents?

You know, it's a little bit different than that.

Right, exactly.

Ken, I'm gonna ask you the same, but I'm gonna change it on you a little bit.

You work with um some college students for quite a while, you had a ministry for that.

I want to ask you from the perspective of a student, how do they deal with the difficult teacher, the difficult uh student that's with them?

And and what advice did you give or would you give today?

Um professors are are difficult, but uh when I was a student, I had an an event where I was working at a research facility and I put in this is my sixth term, so I was pretty much you're only supposed to do three.

Uh and I was on my sixth term, they called me King Co-op.

But um my boss was an atheist and or professor, he's a boss professor, but he was an atheist, and I gave him a copy of Mere Christianity as a Christmas gift, which went over like a lead balloon, um, to say the least.

He wasn't real thrilled.

Um but it was my last term, and I thought I'm gonna go for it.

I'm just I'm gonna, you know, he he had had six terms with him, he he knew I was different.

It was time to step out and really just kind of take that that bold step.

And he decided to to retaliate because uh I guess anger was all he felt, and so he let the new guy have the the good responsibilities, the the easy job, and he told me to go down and literally sweep the basement.

This facility had a lower level, and he said, You're you're you're on sweeping duty.

And um, you know, I went downstairs, I was kind of mad at first, but then uh I as I prayed is like God, you know, great, I stepped out for you, and now I get I get you know this mistreatment.

Awesome.

And uh and and the Lord just kind of worked on my heart and just kind of reminded me, he goes, You're not you're not sweeping that basement for him.

You're doing it for me.

And if you're doing it for me, how would you do it differently?

And I said, Well, if I'm doing this for you, God, I'm gonna go all out.

I swept the basement, I organized the downstairs, I cleaned up, I read, you know, I did some, I did went beyond and above what he asked me to do.

And when he came downstairs, he was just he didn't know what to say because he couldn't get mad at me.

Uh because I did exactly what he said, and more.

And um, I think you know, you you can do more with the way you respond and and your actions and your words.

You have to watch your words too, but also your actions can also speak so much more and and show that person, that boss, or that professor that you really do care about them because Jesus is is their creator and he's your creator and he loves them and you should love them.

Good.

Uh Mike, last question for you.

How have you retained your value, if you will, in retirement?

I think so many of us, particularly men, find our value in what we do and how we work and what that looks like.

How have you retained that?

Again, I think it's those things, those habits, those things that you've created all your life that you you continue them.

Uh I I I uh I think your worth sometimes is in uh the wisdom of things that you've been through.

Uh to be able to be able to share experiences and uh how God has um uh has blessed you, has carried you through that, uh, makes you want to continue to to share that with others, whatever the way that is.

And I think I think uh each of us has a niche of some sort that that that you find that.

One of mine is um I I my grandfather was electrician, my dad was electrician.

I grew up understanding that.

I I actually took a sabbatical from teaching and coaching for two years and ran an electrical and air conditioned visit.

I can do some of those things uh and to help people.

Uh it uh it's you know, of course, my daughters always have something laid out when I when I visit them.

But uh, that's Mike Rice at MikeRice.com if you need uh help on things.

Uh but I I I think that uh you again you you look for those things, and you don't want to ever see yourself as an old timer one that uh has past values.

Christ's values uh are in everyone.

Uh you know, you don't I don't know what need to be as hip as uh uh the the culture is today to be able to share who who Christ is.

That's a good good word.

Tori, last question for you.

As a Christian in the workplace, do you feel like your faith is viewed as a weakness?

That's kind of interesting.

Um I'm sure the situation is sometimes not uh by anybody who's actually on my team or anything, um, which again I'm fortunate that I only really work with believers, um, because it means that we can have a lot of conversations about what is the biblical argument for the role of government in this case.

And we're able to talk about it a lot, and it comes up a lot because we have to weigh on on a on just a variety of different decisions.

Um but specifically in this community, um, sometimes I really love that we live in such a diverse area.

Um, it would be really hard to live anywhere else after this, actually.

Um but depending on um kind of which group you're talking to, there are people who, um, especially if they realize you're a strong believer, which you know it does come up, especially in relationships.

I think sometimes those people uh have, I don't know if they have issue with it exactly, but sometimes they see it as an obstacle that they need to overcome or something like that.

Um so it creates kind of an interesting dynamic because they start seeing you as a more complete person who does have a strong belief and therefore like they recognize that you would disagree with them on their faith, but you're also there to relate to them on a different level.

Um and so it creates kind of an interesting conversation with some of these leaders of other religions in the area, um, especially people who we've interacted with over and over and over again.

And so eventually, you know, you talk about your family and you just kind of get to know each other well.

And it it's just made it very interesting.

Um so I don't know if they see it as a weakness or not, um, but I do you can kind of you can kind of see the face people eventually make when they say, oh, you would definitely disagree with me on this, or oh, you're not a complete universalist.

You don't just think that everything is is completely acceptable.

Yeah.

No, I I I do actually want to talk to you about Jesus.

And that comes up as you go.

Um so it's it's interesting.

Yeah.

I don't know if that actually answers your question or not.

Uh no, I think that's good.

And two two words that you heard there were relate, but not necessarily agree.

Right?

I can relate to you and what you're going through or what your thoughts are.

I don't have to agree with that.

And I don't have to argue necessarily to point out my belief.

I I can just ask you questions.

I I I can just say, tell me why you believe that.

How did you arrive at that?

How does that form how you deal with tragedy or you know, whatever the questions are that you're you're dealing with?

You don't have to necessarily say, I vehemently disagree with that, but but but you can relate to where they're coming from without agreeing to what they believe.

Kent, last question for you.

How do you, as an authority figure, serve and bless others?

Very well, thank you.

Okay, good.

Uh I wish I could say that in all seriousness, but um, I think you just have to look for those opportunities.

Um they do present themselves almost daily.

They're there to serve others.

If if you're focused on your agenda or you're too wrapped up on what you're trying to accomplish, you're gonna miss those opportunities.

And sometimes the the Lord just has to kind of grab me.

Uh I take the devotionals from the church and I keep those in my office.

And I don't, like Tori, I'm I can't say that I have a specific hour that I read that, but there will be times throughout the day when I just know that I just need to kind of get in my heighty hole and just say, Lord, things aren't going well today.

What what's what is it you're trying to show me?

Slow me down, get me focused on what really matters, what's important, because it's your will, it's your your you know, your way that's gonna matter, uh, not my ways.

And uh I always find when I do that, when I when I slow myself down, um that the Lord is always faithful to show me uh how how the kind of open my eyes to those opportunities around me and not only open my eyes but tell me he He gives guidance like either through scripture or thoughts just to how I can can actually help that person in a way that will be meaningful to them instead of just some thoughtless, you know, act.

Yeah.

Very good.

Well, aren't we all?

Give a warm round of applause for my panelists.

You all can return to your seats.

Thank you.

You leave it on.

Just a a note or two about uh difficult bosses or co-workers or whatever I wanted to mention this to you.

Pray for them.

That's one thing you can do.

One thing I found myself doing, now where I work now, I have perfect boss and uh perfect co-workers.

Um but uh what one one of the things I found was when I had difficult bosses or co-workers, what I found myself doing was praying for me in that.

God help me as I persevere.

Help me, help me to be, oh, you know what?

You need to, and I never really said, God, help them with whatever it is they're going through.

Help them to see you in this.

And so I think I really miss that a lot of times.

So pray for them.

Second, persevere through that.

Pray for yourself that you'll persevere in being consistent with how God has called you to be.

Um and then uh pray for your witness in that.

That idea that Kent gave us of, hey, I had this boss, he didn't like me, but you know what?

I I was able to demonstrate for him what it would look like because I didn't work for him ultimately.

And then finally, if you find yourself in a difficult spot, man, I do not like this student group I'm in, I don't like this whatever I'm in, pray that if it's God's will that you'll be released from that.

It's okay to pray for that, but make sure you've done the others first, because sometimes by stick to it-ness, we are that witness.

Now, I wanted to give you uh three things in order to be a witness at work.

Number one, you have to be intentional.

You've got to put God on the table.

You heard Tori say, whatever you're naturally passionate about, whatever you're kind of in love with, that's gonna naturally come out, right?

Man, I tell you, I watched that TV show, I ate at that.

Put God on the table.

Be on purpose about that.

The second thing in order to be a witness at work or school or even in our homes, raising our family, is you have to demonstrate consistency.

You've got to do good work as a Christian.

You've got to.

Now, this isn't making straight A's, by the way, students.

This is the working hard to do well.

And if you say, well, the best I could do was C's, the best you could do, that's fine.

But you've got to work hard and be consistent in order to be a good example.

The third thing in terms of a witness is you've got to pray, read, and be ready.

You heard our panelists say that.

They said, you've got to be prayed up.

You've got to have this, in a sense, constant communication with God.

God, where do you want me?

Where's that next person I'm supposed to talk?

Where's that next opportunity I'm supposed to respond to?

I've got to read.

You don't have to memorize the whole Bible, but you do need to know what it says.

Imagine the difference in authority when I say, you know, I think this.

Or if I said, the Bible says there's some natural authority that comes with that.

And then finally, you've got to be ready.

You've got to be, as Kent pointed out to us, you've got to be ready to give an account for why you believe what you believe, because you will likely be asked.

Living right will cause people to ask what that looks like.

You've got to have, in a sense, a mission field mindset for what is God calling me to?

At work and at school, even at home.

Those are the greatest mission fields we'll ever be a part of.

And so God is calling you to those.

This is what David Platt, an author and pastor, had to say.

He said, in the gospel, Jesus has secured salvation from our sin, satisfaction from our souls, and significance in our work in such a way that we are now free to worship God wholeheartedly as we work, to love others selflessly in our work, and to trust God completely with our work.

Until Jesus returns, we are going to have to work.

And part of that is Jesus is still doing a work in us.

And so I want what I want you thinking about, Clyde's going to play over us and just going to give you just a couple of minutes to think through.

What had your name on it today?

What is God calling you to?

Who is God calling you to?

And if you're not a believer, if you said, you know what, I'm still not sure about this whole God thing, I would just ask you to consider, why not?

What's keeping you from it?

Think on those things while Clyde plays.

God, sometimes I wonder why did you create work?

And sometimes I'm mad at you for doing so because work is hard.

And then I remember that work can be the greatest mission field we'll ever be called to.

And that work, that word gets replaced with all the different things that you call us to.

And so, God, what I pray for is that we would be prayed up, read up, and be ready, ready to respond with example.

And for the non-believer, God, I pray that they would be ready to respond yes, to giving their lives to you, because in that we have freedom.

And that freedom is salvation, grace, and mercy.

And I thank you for it.

For it's in your name that we pray these things, Jesus.

Amen.

Well, thank you for being a part of our service this morning.

If you're our guest, uh, this obviously is a little bit different than what we usually do, but thank you for putting up with that.

If you've had a chance to fill out the connection card on your seat back, please do so.

You can drop it in one of those wooden boxes.

And those of us that are regular attenders and members, you know that's where you can also worship through giving as well.

Just a couple of announcements we want to make you aware of.

Give your attention to the video behind me.

Here's a look at what is happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

Discipleship group training is this Wednesday at 6 p.m.

in the Fellowship Hall.

This time is designed to help you understand how to become the disciple Jesus has called you to be.

Next Sunday, September 9th, is Group Connect.

This is a great time to meet our community group leaders before community groups kick off this month.

This is the last week to register your children for midweek childcare.

To register, go to Grandparkway.org.

Click on Midweeks, and then sign them up under Kids Midweek Studies.

After that, be sure and sign up for one of our adult midweek studies.

All right, stand to your feet.

I'm going to dismiss you today with a bit of a charge, if you will.

And that charge is this the one who owns and is in charge of everything, the one that we all ultimately work for, has employed you in specific things.

Be intentional about that employment to demonstrate Jesus.

And the best way to do that is to love the way the Savior would.

So go now and love.

You're dismissed.