Shoreline.Church LIVE 9:00 AM | The Forgotten Art #5 | September 5th 2021

[Music] is [Music] diarrhea [Music] is [Music] come on let's all sing this out together with one voice i needed rescue [Music] i needed [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] your is day [Music] man [Music] i wanna know alone i wanna know you alone like i know [Music] so i'm laying down [Music] on my religion i'm lying down [Music] [Music] i now know you know [Music] and i used to think that i can box humans [Applause] [Music] i wanna know lord [Music] on my religion [Music] [Laughter] [Music] so well good morning and welcome to shoreline church we are gathering to worship jesus christ here in the worship center out in the courtyard we're so glad for those folks in the courtyard the family worship venue and online we still we have people scattered all around but we worship as one body one family and if you worship regularly with shoreline you may have noticed uh that we got a guy who leads worship for us coal and coal does a wonderful job cole's uh uh he he's furrier than anybody we have on the stage today i think yeah you're fighting we got a little bit a little bit but you know cole is just a great guy but he hasn't been here last sunday or this sunday or wednesday night of worship and if you're thinking maybe cole's slacking off he's not the reason cause not been here you'll see on the screen here and at home there's colin mckenzie and uh that is little leon leon adam is their little guy their first child and we thought let's give the guy a couple weeks off let's let him enjoy his family uh i want to read a scripture to you and i want to pray that and here's the reality we come to worship jesus and we have an amazing team of people that we had people a night of worship two other worship leaders from other local churches that came and led us because we worked together with the body of christ in monterey and we actually have one of our pastors over preaching at another church today because they're kind of between pastors we work together as the body of christ but we have an amazing team of congregational members who lead us in worship and you're gonna be blessed today as we worship but listen to these words from john chapter four jesus is talking with this woman and the samaritan woman about worship and he says the time is coming and has now come that true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth for they are the kind of worshipers the father seeks they are the kind of worshipers the father seeks god the bible doesn't very often say that you the maker of heaven and earth are seeking for something but you seek worshipers who will worship you led by the holy spirit who worship you in truth and so we pray right now as we worship you whether we're at home or outdoors in the family worship venue or in the worship center may this worship be a worship that honors you in spirit and in truth fill us with your spirit let us declare these words with passion and oh god almighty be glorified in the praises of your people and everyone said amen if you're able to stand wherever you are will you stand with us and with all your heart let's worship the lord together [Music] my shame who could carry that kind of weight it was i was breathing but not alive till i've made you you called my name into your glorious days [Music] glorious [Music] that is know the old man [Music] into your glorious day one day glorious day [Music] the chains break at the weight of your glory i need a shelter i was an orphan now you call me [Music] is [Music] out of the darkness into your glorious day [Music] [Laughter] [Music] church those things together [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] you're good let the king of my heart [Music] [Music] is [Music] is oh he is you're good you are good [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] oh when you are good [Music] you're good [Music] you're never gonna let me down oh you are good you're good [Music] [Music] there's nothing worth more [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] where my heart becomes free and my shame is you are welcome [Music] [Music] your glory god is what our hearts [Music] lord is yours is [Music] is [Music] be is by your presence [Music] let us let us oh [Music] god is [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] holy spirit [Music] your glory god is [Music] spirit of the living god we are so excited to receive everything that you want to give to us this morning and worship god we pray that you would be most glorified in this time lord god you are sovereign god you hold all things in your hands and we know that even as we come to worship god that you allow us to determine how much we can receive from you lord your people israel you told them that you were their god that you saved them and then you told them to open wide their mouths and you will fill it and so god allow us to open ourselves up open our ears open our heart open our lives to receive all that you want to give to us today thank you dear god for that lord we're so grateful that we're not the only ones that are in a posture to receive from you today and that we worship with other worshipers in the monterey peninsula in the salinas valley and we specifically pray for monterey church right now and pastor mike and he has asked that we would pray for their relaunch of small groups realizing that it's time for the church to engage back in small group ministry to have consistent community and so we pray that that would happen at monterey church and even as we pray for them dear god we think about our own church and we're so excited to have a new staff person actually who is leading our small group ministry and we pray god a blessing on her life as she leads us into the fall launch of our small groups and it's our desire to lord that we at shoreline would understand that consistent community is a marker of spiritual growth so we pray that we also will find those ways to be in consistent community and god we're so grateful for kevin and the hard work and the time that he has put into prepare for this message today but we know god almighty that we can only receive it by your power and so we pray that you get us ready to hear from you through him and that his words would be your words and your words hids and we want to thank you ahead of time how you're going to bring transformation into our lives as we open ourselves up to your goodness to your presence and then your power in the name of jesus we pray these things amen we would just love to have you greet warmly those around you right now [Music] so each month we take time to think together what's happening in the life of our church and and uh today i really just have one thing to share with you but it's kind of a concept it's a it's a philosophy of being the church that i think is really important and i want to share with you not only kind of how we do it and why we take it so seriously but how you can also receive and pass things on to other people i really recognize i've always believed that within a body of believers communication is important i believe in a family that's important in a marriage that's important communication breaks down and things just start falling apart in all relationships but in the church communicating to all of you who are part of the body those of you that are on campus now those of you that are at home and that may may remain at home for some time or some people that we have we have people that are part of shoreline we have faithful worshipers that are part of shawn that are in ireland that are in other countries uh japan that this is their church and so we have to communicate and communicate well but during coven the last 18 months you probably noticed that we have actually increased our communication and that was because when the world's crazy we need to just keep making sure that we're all tracking together as as god's people to make sure we're united and unified and so i want to share just a little bit about how we value communication because we value worship we value community and we want to connect you to all that's happening in the life of your church and so you should be getting regular kinds of communication from shoreline if today you're listening and you actually say i don't get that much communication from shoreline call the church this week and give us your email address and we'll we'll make sure you get in the loop maybe you're not maybe at some point it got unsubscribed maybe we missed you along the way and if we did we're sorry but if you're like i want to know more about what's happening in the church contact the church this week and say here's my email address get me in the loop with what's happening in the church because here's the reality your team your staff and your church board and the leaders and the volunteers in this church we're preparing all kinds of ways that we can grow and what we call the seven markers of spiritual maturity and our biblical engagement a passionate prayer wholehearted worship joyful generosity humble service all these things consistent community organic outreach we want to grow up in faith while we create opportunities and sometimes you're not aware of them we want to make sure you're aware of what's happening so you can look and say boy that's something i want to jump into that's something i want to step into and begin growing so so here's some of the ways we communicate and i want you to kind of get the philosophy behind it and hopefully appreciate it and engage with us as we communicate with you uh on sunday mornings we'll announce different things at different times and once a month i do this called a family moment most churches don't do this when i talk to their pastors and tell them what we do they're like i gotta start doing that but once a month we just talk like this and i just pray about what's going on at shoreline that you should really know about that if you're missing the other communications i got you on a sunday morning right we're all here we're all together on sunday mornings and so we'll do this we have a connection center so if you're on campus family worship venue whether you're in the family worship venue and the courtyard or the worship center we've got the connection center and there's always always someone there who is has pamphlets and information and registrations and let you know what's going on and so be sure you go by the connection center if you're on campus and if you're not on campus we always say you know you can text us welcome and we'll get a connection card we can get you all that same information wherever you are anywhere in the world electronically so let us know what you want to know about we want to connect with you and answer your questions we also put booths in the courtyard we're back to we didn't for a while but now we have booths open in the courtyard so today there's a booth that's all dedicated to wednesday nights at shoreline we have two adult classes starting this wednesday one is on alpha which is basically about how do you understand the basics of the christian faith and learn to kind of invite people to know more about jesus and so if that's interesting you can learn about that in the courtyard we also have women's ministries with some things launching small groups launching so we have a couple of booths in the courtyard those are there when you see like blue or red or yellow booths there kind of look over and say what what oh i'm interested in that pop on by check in with them and see what's going on we also send you emails and texts now very i want to be very clear we don't flood you with stuff we are very careful everything has to kind of go through our offices and we don't we make sure you're not getting 47 emails a day or 35 emails a week we do two a week from the church unless you're a part of specific ministries they can connect with you but we're very very careful not to overdo it but in those emails you find out about our weekly devotional something we started doing during coven for a while i was doing three video devotionals a week now we're down to one a week and we're gonna keep doing that until jesus returns until he takes me home that's my plan is to keep doing a weekly one we're in the book of james right now i am loving sharing these like little three-minute devotionals out of james if you're like i don't get that call the church and say i want to get that devotional we'll get you on the list um and then also underneath the devotional every wednesday there's all these square tiles like there's a whole list of all these little boxes and they'll say this for youth and this for children this for women's and all these different boxes now here's what i want to let you know some you don't know this every one of those boxes if you click on it it'll open up all kinds of information so this last week there was something about kids ministry i wonder what's going on with kids ministry i clicked it and there was like pages of stuff for kids so if you're a grandparent or a parent you know you see those boxes they seem interesting for you or for some of your family or for somebody in the community that doesn't come to church click and learn it about it and you can just forward that to other people and share hey do you know what shoreline we're doing this we have a grief share we have a divorce care we have celebrate recovery all those are are happening this coming month and going forward and if you know somebody who needs those if you look well that's not for me that's okay is it for someone you know and if it is click on it grab the link and send it to someone if you're not sure how all that stuff works talk to the connection center they have answers for everything and so they'll kind of explain it to you also we want to just encourage you that every sunday we also send out an email and you should get it on sundays and it has things like you can click on it has notes for the sermon it has the link for online it has all kinds of information about what's happening on sunday mornings so you should on sundays and wednesdays get an email from us that kind of gives you the picture of what's happening in your church if you're not let us know and we'll get you on that list and like i said before we're launching new things all the time coming out of covid and we're hoping and praying the next two three four weeks things drop off a lot and things normalize a little bit more wherever you are we're going to keep doing online we're going to keep doing in the courtyard we're going to keep doing family worship venue keep doing inside if people need space inside we'll give them space if you want a mask that's fine here's our commitment we're going to keep meeting everybody right where you are and we're going to keep loving you right where you are and as long as you need that we're going to keep doing whatever we can because the mission of shoreline is to help as many people as possible become totally committed to jesus christ and to care for as many people yeah that's our mission amen yeah i've had people ask me in this last couple last year and a half why are we still doing this why are you doing that and my answer is really simple to help as many people as possible become totally committed to jesus christ and if people still need something guess what we're going to come alongside and other people say isn't that a lot of work and the answer is yes but but we love the church amen we love each other we care for each other the last thing i want to share is this as we gather together for worship and as we're together wherever you are part of our worship is giving back and giving that's different now we don't pass a plate on campus anymore because of all the touch related stuff so we're careful about that but understanding you'll see this this graphic that's on the screen here and we put that up every week and at home you see a graphic it lets you know you can give through an app on your phone you can give like share and i shift it over during coba to just we set up our giving on the 15th of every month it's in there and it just we get a little note that says hey you gave money to shoreline and we stopped and go thank you jesus and on sundays we just think okay we during this time of giving back we just think thank you lord that we can share in your work but here on campus outdoors family worship venue and here there's boxes that just say offering on it so if you bring it up i like to bring an envelope and i want to put it somewhere you put in those boxes and that's kind of a no-touch solution that's where we're at for now but i want to say thank you for your faithfulness in this last year and a half i know churches that have closed i know churches that have struggled really really hard and your faithfulness and your generosity and joyful generosity is one of the marks of a christian growing christian your faithfulness honors god and can i give you a personal thank you it takes a lot of pressure off me because at the end of every two weeks we have to pay our staff and pay our bills every month and your generosity glorifies god but also as a pastor that blesses me because i have not been had the stress that a lot of pastors have had and so thank you for your faithfulness thank you for your generosity i'm going to pray right now and if you give during the service time this will be the time you get out your app or the time that you get your envelopes when you leave you can put it in the boxes and jesus we thank you that you've been so good to us you've lavished us with your love you've given us amazing grace you've called us your sons and your daughters you've washed away our sin you've given us the church you fill us with your spirit you provide for each day for the needs that we have so we say thank you and lord i thank you today for shoreline church for those people who faithfully consistently relentlessly generously give toward the work of jesus here and around the world bless each of us as we give right now whatever way we give bless us as we give and bless these gifts to shed the light of god and the grace of jesus around our community in the world now lord let's take these moments to reflect to worship as we give back i could just say i could just sit and wait for all your goodness [Music] hope to feel something again i could hold on i could hold on to who i am [Music] deeper and i'll go you have called me higher you have called me deeper and i'll go away you will lead me [Music] [Music] i could hold on i could never me me [Music] [Music] i will be um [Music] tonight me me [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] well i grew up in my childhood my teenage years and my young adult years in southern california kind of coastal southern california that's where i grew up then god called me to a small town called byron center in in in the midwest in michigan a town that had one street light this is 30 years ago this is my call out of california and i went to michigan and when i got there i found out i didn't just move to a different state i knew to a different world i mean it was just if you move from one culture to another and you can say well it's american culture america has hundreds of cultures and i can tell you this honey beach california culture and byron center michigan culture are two different cultures and when i got there i learned new words and new ideas i'd never heard of before so at one point i was talking to barb barb was our office manager at the church i came to be a pastor at first time i was a senior pastor to church and she she's saying sometimes i'd have to say barb i don't know what you're talking about so she was talking about how her two kids had worked in the muck fields in the muck fields yeah they worked in the muckfield back when they were you so yeah when we were younger we worked in the muckfields and our kids work in the muck fields and i said i don't know what you're talking about i don't know how to muck the other issues well you know when you go along 100th avenue they're just the black black dirt you know the fields are just the dark dark dark so those are the muckfields she said when we were kids you know before you not when you were 16 and could get a job when you're like 13 14 15 you'd work in the summers in the muck fields it says our kids work in the muck fields and there was it was interesting here's what i realized as i listened as i asked questions it wasn't just that they had worked there that their kids had worked there it was like a rite of passage it was part of growing up in your summers yes you had some time to play and have some fun but you put in some long hard days in the muck fields and there was a sense in this very kind of christian family systems that were there that they were giving a gift to their children by letting them spend six to eight hours a day in the muck fields in the heat of the summer learning to do hard physical labor there was a sense that that was a good thing that was a wonderful thing maybe it was a god honoring thing to teach the next generation the art of hard work for my wife sherry who grew up in the midwest it wasn't the muckfields it was the blueberry fields sorting blueberries all day long for sherry's mom it was the rusk factory i didn't know what rusk was either so serious mom talked about working in the rusk factory and it's it's like stale bread basically it's like thin slices of bread that's cooked twice so it's really hard it's just kind of like stale bread but but this sense of just there's a point in life where you step in and you do your part you offer something there's something about hard work let me ask you a question it's hard work something that god gives us as a gift well if you have your bibles turn with me to the book of genesis first book in the bible it's not hard to find on your on your app or on your phone you can just open up your bible app and you can go to genesis chapter two and the second chapter of genesis god god is creating this perfect paradise and understand sin comes into the world in the biblical story sin comes in the world in chapter three of genesis this is chapter two god has created paradise perfect eden it's paradise okay and we read these words in verse 15 of genesis chapter 2. the lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to work it and take care of it he was a farmer to work the land to care for the land to work to take care of something whether you're nurturing the life of a little child whether you're working the soil of the earth in the muck fields or in regular farming whether you're sitting behind a desk and making plans and whether you're engineering or whether you're in the medical field or in the in the in the you know in the military field whatever whatever you do for your work whether it's at home or or whether it's in an office or whether it's outdoors somewhere we have a lot of people in the ag business around here whatever it is there's the sense that as god creates the heavens and the earth as god starts for the story of humanity before sin before the fall here's a gift god gives us work god this is our prayer today that you'll speak to our hearts we live in a time where many things have become forgotten art forms and certainly hard work can be listed among them not for everybody but in many places in many ways outlooks have changed and we pray that we could recapture the beauty the gift of what you've given to your people and we pray that you would speak truth to us and shape us and mold us into the people you want us to be we pray this in jesus name for his sake amen in that first passage genesis chapter 2 i just want you to notice and grapple with this thought that god when he when he designed paradise before sin ever entered in work was already there now we find out later that work became painful that labor became painful for adam his labor became painful for eve her labor became painful work became harder in a different way but it was a gift given from god and i think we if we grapple with the biblical text we'll discover it still is a gift to this day that god has a gift to give each one of us and that is meaning and purpose something to do with our lives something simple something complex something with more physical labor something more intellectual challenge it doesn't matter the whole spectrum something to do with our lives that honors him let's look at another passage from the bible colossians chapter 3. in colossians chapter 3 these words should should strike our hearts because it gives us a perspective that when we do our work who we're working for colossians chapter 3 verse 23 says this whatever you do work at it with all your heart give it everything you have why because you do it as you're working for the lord not for human masters not for human bosses not for the person who's in charge of you at the end of the day we don't work for our boss we work for the glory of god as to the lord when i threw pizza dough and made pizzas at munchies pizza as a brand new believer i tossed pizzas for the glory of jesus i was a brand new christian i already i read through the bible with someone i became christian someone gave me a bible so you're supposed to read the bible i read it i remember this i thought man everything i do so i spun pizzas for the glory of god can i get an amen and i did i i really tried to when i worked at 7-eleven and stalked the cooler i stopped the budweiser and the miller for the glory of jesus someone say amen now that was see now that was too enthusiastic the pepsi's and the coax but but i i think lord i want to do this for your glory i want to work hard for your glory and that and that cooler and that freezer i just tried to glorify god in that because because i really feel like the bible was serious about this when i served the first church i served at new hope church as a youth pastor i tried to love those kids and teach them god's word for the glory of jesus not for mel davis and rich decker they were the two pastors of the church i was the youth pastor i was in college still but you know what can i tell you something i wouldn't have worked as hard if it was for mel and rich i loved them they were my pastors i respected them but i tried to serve those kids for the glory of god and every day when i wake up and i serve shoreline church and i love this church and i love this body of believers wherever we're scattered at the end of the day i'm not serving you i serve my lord jesus christ and i work way harder for him that i would work for you take that take that however you want it but i mean that's just the truth that's just the truth whatever you do work at it with all your heart as working for the lord students your vocation is studying do it for the lord not for the grade not for the teacher if you do it for the lord the grade will be better and the teacher will be more impressed do your vocation do your work do the thing you're called to parents pour into your children love your children as for the lord keep that in mind when you get distracted things going so i want i want to honor god yes love them obviously but do it for the glory of god if you have a trash route and you pick up trash do it for the glory of god if you're a lawyer and you're arguing cases or doing what most lawyers do research research research research right do it for the glory of god if you work in the tech industry if you if you work in the resort we have lots of people in our church that are in service industries at restaurants at resorts there's this is a big service area you may have some irritating people who want you to do things for them don't do it for them but do it for the lord and you'll be able to put up with a lot more because that's part of work too is putting up with some stuff right learn how to push through even when it gets tough as to the lord and then one more passage i want to look at before we walk into kind of our our movement through our five movements of the forgotten art i want to kind of walk through those movements so i want to set the table by really digging into god's word this next passage is in second corinthians 2 thessalonians chapter 3. this is a passage that some of you may have been in church your whole life and never heard preached on because it's a tough passage because it lays things out so clearly and it pushes back against some things that might feel like compassion or the right way to treat people but this passage man the the apostle paul is calling this church to be the church to live for jesus so in second thessalonians chapter 3 verses 6 through 13 we get this teaching that we need to let seep into our souls and come into our minds so let's look at god's word together second thessalonians chapter 3 beginning in verse 6. in the name of the lord jesus christ we command you not a suggestion a command brothers and sisters to keep away from every believer who is idle some synonyms who is lazy who is a sluggard who avoids hard work we command you brothers and sisters to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive do you know that being idle and disruptive go together in the bible why because when you're not doing anything you've got time to get in trouble when you don't have anything to do we kind of wander into stuff that creates problems and does not live according to the teaching you received from us so paul says i've already given you some teaching about an idol life or an industrious life working hard and i'm going to kind of come back to this again verse seven for you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example so paul says you need to follow our example okay what was their example paul and those who did ministry with him we were not idle when we were with you nor do we eat anyone's food without paying for it now understand the apostle paul is a traveling evangelist a traveling missionary he's planting churches but he was also a tent maker and he he had he was bi-vocational he was a tent maker and he started churches and his ministry took him all over the world at that time his ministry was difficult people didn't appreciate at times he was beaten he was cast out he was treated badly and he would do his day job and they would do his ministry job all right he set an example he says well we didn't even eat your food without paying for it and he continues on on the contrary we worked night and day listen these words we work night and day laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you paul says you got it tough enough i'm going to work my regular job i'm going to do my ministry job and i'll cover the cost of the expenses when i'm here i don't want to be a burden to you he said that's he said that's the example we tried to set is that a wake-up call is that is that a forgotten art form in our world today one of the models in our world today is how much can i get for nothing some people have a tattoo that says that it's not a tattoo ink it's just a tattoo in their attitude right um we don't want to be a burden to any of you we did this not because we do not have the right to such help so he says we could actually you know say we have a right we're ministering we're serving but we work our job and pay our bills just we want to make a point so this is so important we need to live it out right but in order to model ourselves let me pick up verse nine we did this not because we do not have the right to such help but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate paul says this hard-working attitude this is the model of imitating it goes all the way back to the garden of eden verse 10. now here's what gets tough for even when we were with you we gave you this rule the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat have you heard that preached on the church before the one who is the one who is now here's a key word the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat no soup for you no food for you now now notice it doesn't say the one who is unable to work will not eat it's not what it says of all the people in the world christians are the most compassionate we serve thousands of people in our food pantry here month after month after month we've brought clothes to our clothes closet we have people to make sandwiches and bring them to hungry people in slaves we we help people who are struggling that's not the point at all but the apostle paul says this is a guideline for the church the one who is unwilling to work shall that if you are capable of working if you could be working but you just don't want to then basically paul says we're not carrying the weight for you is that cruel or is that loving it depends on who you ask in our world today but i go by one book and it's this book we preach one book here at shoreline and this is a tough one because different people have different attitudes on this but i want to i want to preach god's word here if someone's unwilling to work should we carry the weight for them well what would the apostle paul say what does the bible say work is a gift if someone's unable if they need help if they need training equipping yes come alongside if someone says i could i don't want to take care of me there's a biblical disposition toward that and it's it's an eye opener for some people so i never heard this preached i never heard a pastor address this i never i miss this when i was reading the bible and let me just ask if you have your bibles open is that in verse 10 is that in your bible anybody got that in their bible it's in my bible okay it's there verse 11. let's continue we hear that some among you so now now paul's talking to the church in thessalonica to their specific congregation he's given general rules because now we hear that there's some among you in your church that are idle and disruptive why because idleness leads to disruption when you've got nothing to do you find something to do and it's usually not the right things to do i love this line they are busy they are they are not busy they are busy bodies is that a great line they're not busy doing something productive they're busy bodies causing trouble such people we command an urge in the lord jesus christ do you feel the strength of that such people we command and urge in the lord jesus christ to settle down and earn the food they eat get to work do something productive and as for you brothers and sisters never tire of doing what is good never tire of doing what is good some insights from this passage and i want to just ask you just to open your heart to hear these things i think they're that grow out of this passage one this passage is clear that some people are idle and then become disruptive the people have nothing to do it doesn't tend to lead to good things it intensity to negative things disruptive things i want you to notice that the apostle paul and his team are people in ministry said listen we work hard we set the tone for hard work and we call you to follow that example why because the god that we worship spoke and created the heavens and the earth the jesus that we follow worked in a carpenter shop for 30 years and as he served us by going to the cross by washing feet by healing you read the story of jesus jesus wasn't idle he had a mission he was on a mission well our mission is to help as many people as possible become totally committed to jesus christ that's a big deal not just shoreline church but followers of jesus help people know him and love him and follow him to enter into that and part of that is just living our lives as people who honor god by the way we live not being idle not being lazy but working hard i want you to notice that there was a guideline in the church in the ancient church and that guideline was work hard do your part contribute where you can and if you are unwilling if you say i just i could work i have no interest in working since then there's consequences for that and not everyone in our world agrees on that i think that's a lost art but i want to help us recapture that art i would ask you this is it lack of compassion is it a lack of compassion for a parent to say to a child who says i don't ever want to work i just want you to take care of me my whole life there's a lack of compassion to say honey i love you that ain't happening is there a point where it's time to grow up it's time to become a young woman a young man to step into life do parents who model hard work and teach it to their children is that cruelty or is that a gift and more important than that is it biblical christianity i believe among all the people in the world in every work environment the hardest workers should be the people who follow jesus because we work as if it's for him we should lead the way first one in last one to leave we need help with that i know it's not in my job description but let me step in and help that's how we try to function as a staff here at shoreline and you better believe as the lead pastor here i call our staff to work hard this isn't just a biblical thing this is a biblical thing that's captured my heart and i believe it's important i know that every person on our staff that we pay we we don't have any any outside assistance we don't have any money coming we do i think we do have like a telephone tower on our top of our building we get some money every month from one of the tell you know but other than that the only money we compare people with is what you give in your offerings do you think i want our people on our staff to work hard because we're gonna use your offerings to pay them i do and we work hard we work at that very you know very diligently as a staff and also there's a warning in here if someone's unwilling that means something so to look at the condition of the heart and then what do you do with idle disruptive busybody people you get them back to work you get them doing something and sometimes that work is a paid job sometimes that works just volunteering you know sometimes i work do you know that that there are people who get up we have the worship leaders that are here most of them on the stage every sunday are volunteers when we had three services they were here for three services but not just here for three servers now they're here for two services because of all that's going on in our world but but they're not they just show up for first service they're here before to practice they're here at six o'clock in the morning to lead you in worship which means they're probably up at about 4 30. and you know how much we pay our musicians that are part of our congregation nothing they do it as unto the lord and they do it to help you come to the presence of jesus hard work honors god hard work blesses the heart of god so let's let's walk through our five movements that we've been looking at at this at this forgotten art series and here's the first one each week whatever topic we're talking about it's kind of the forgotten art the first movement one is always it's the master artist plan what is god's plan what is god's vision and i think it's real i think it's really straightforward it's god's vision is that everyone who's able to work works and does their part paid job volunteer job on the community and the church but then we're doing things that are put out we're not idle not just sitting around and our world i guess our world has created opportunities for idle idleness like we've never had before there is entertainment on the phone on your tablet on your computer by the way i have a computer i have a tablet i have a phone so i'm not against technology but there is a stream of thousands and thousands and thousands of entertaining options that can cause people just to sit and be idle and i don't think at the end of the day investing our lives in watching stuff over and over and over is really what god's made us for i have a suspicion god has made us for more can i get an amen god has more for us than that so god has a vision for us adam and eve labored before the fall labored in the garden they were called to to multi you know be fruitful and multiply to labor and having children raising a family to labor in this beautiful garden but they were called to labor called to be productive called to be like the god who made us our god is a creator our god our god sustains the universe our lord jesus poured himself out for us and we want to be more like the one who gave his life for us and i also know this that the road to joyful generosity one of the seven markers of spiritual growth the road of generous joyful generosity is hard work because it's hard to be joyfully generous when we don't have anything to be generous with i remember a time when sherry and i we were serving uh our church in michigan i've always been the senior pastor at two churches at corinth reform church in in west michigan and at shoreline church i don't kind of bounce from place to place when god calls me somewhere i stay till he tells me it's time to go and uh and and this is the last church i'm gonna be a senior pastor at and so you know that we we stick around places but when we were there we did a whole building project to make a youth center and a larger worship space and all new offices that the church was growing and expanding and sherry and i got on our knees sought the face of god because we knew as the lead pastor we had to be the first ones to give and before we could ask the board to give before we could ask the staff to give before we get out of the church to give and so over a process of praying and discerning um we had come up with an i'd come up with a mountain my mind and my heart then i felt like god told me more and then i felt like god told me more and god could tell me that's not enough kevin stretch yourself and so finally when i came to what i knew what the lord wants to give i knew it was money we didn't have then i went to sherry and asked her to pray about it she said i already know what god wants us to give he told me when i was doing my run and i asked her and she was the exact same amount and i said well it took me like four versions of god working me up to it and she just goes okay lord but that's uh but but it was so we were ready to do it here's the problem we didn't have the money it meant giving everything we had saved for ourselves and for our boys for college and we still didn't have enough money you know how god provided that money we woke up one morning and knocked on the door we opened the door there was no one there and all the money was there in a bag no not so much zondervan publishing came to us and said do you want to do this project called the old testament challenge it's almost a two-year project that's going to mean probably 15 to 20 hours of writing time every week on top of your normal work and we took the job and the vast majority of that money went to our church so how did god provide this magical money for us hard work and we were honored to do the work and honor to give it to the work of jesus we didn't feel cornered by god we felt like that's how did god provide more work i was already working full time we were raising three kids but god said here's how i'm going to provide for you miraculous provision work harder it was miraculous to have that opportunity and and then we could create something god would use in churches in different places and be a blessing so so when we think about this this first movement you know the master artist plan what's god's plan it's that we would work hard so here's a question for you do you see work as a gift and a privilege or just an unwanted chore pause on that chew on it linger on that question what's your disposition what's your outlook is work a gift and a privilege well yes some work but not my work no no is it is work a gift and a privilege you may not be in the perfect job right now be exactly where you want but where you are can you see it as a gift and a privilege it's just it's just a chore it's a pain i'll do the least i can the fastest i can and i'm out of there where do you say no god this is for you reflect on that think about it movement number two the forgotten art so god's an example of working hard of showing us what it is to to pour out but this is forgotten art um you know like i said when i began the message there was a time when people said man we want our kids to to work hard you know that the muck feels and i heard through the years in byron cinema i heard about the muck feels i heard about people working in the muk fields but but that's kind of gone i think the idea of parents saying man i want my kids early on to learn to work hard um i don't know if you do chores with your kids or not my parents had a board on our on our refrigerator with three magnets with the names of us three kids they had two kids later on the same parents they stopped having kids after two and then they had their iud baby and their vasectomy baby talk about it later um nine and ten years later but but but me and alison and gretchen we had magnus for their names and then here's the chores each week and they just had the magnet move to your row of chores and everyone did chores around the house i think that was a gift my parents at that time were not followers of jesus but i look back and say that was a gift things have been forgotten a hard day of work was prized people were like man worked sweat on my brow bent back maybe bent back because you're out farming or bent back or hunched over computer but the end of the day go man i poured myself out i've worked hard there's something that's been that's lost in a lot of places there was a time when people respected hard labor and not just big check big paychecks no one used to respect people because they worked hard at what they did not just because they made a lot of money things have changed in our world so a question do we see hard work as honoring to god and character building i think that's the biblical vision hard work doing your part investing whether showing up and volunteering on a worship team no paycheck at the end of the day on that one but man when you're up here and you see god's people worshiping that's more than you can pay for things right do we do we look at do we see hard work as honoring to god and it builds my character it makes me who i want to be and it makes the next generation more who they should be movement number three the picture is marred something's happened things have changed in our world and there's there's some substantive changes that have happened in kind of thinking and cultural thinking but i think as christians as the church we have to say we have to keep our thinking based on this book and not what's normative in our culture i think part of the reason that the picture's been marred is there's things that are kind of in the ethos they're in the in the air around us we think well that's normal but no this is what's normal christians for us god's word is that what defines who we are and what we do right and so so here's here's one thing the danger of entitlement thinking entitlement thinking is dangerous i'm entitled to anything and everything i'm entitled to this i'm entitled to this i'm a title my sister lisa is an author also and and she's top in her field she moves people from unemployment to employment she spent her whole lifetime doing this when she came out of college she was working with three groups of people to move from unemployment to employment and she went after the three most three of the most challenging groups in all of culture she went after second and third generation welfare mothers women coming out of jail and women coming out of prostitution trying to get a different kind of job that's who my sister worked with initially out of college she started a company called work net solutions that's still in existence she's written a number of books and my sister lisa is about this tall she's really tall for the women in my family um kind of arranged right in here and i remember lisa telling me that when she speaks to national or international groups of leaders she says hey i want to talk about entitlements and she said when she says i want to talk about entitlements people kind of sit up because they're like oh what news what new things can we give people you know and she says your clients are entitled to get off the couch and go to work and everyone goes oh i thought we're getting a new entitlement entitlements that are give give give to people who are unwilling to work i think there's a biblical concern here christians i think there's a problem i don't think that's god's design people who can't work people who are injured people who are incapacitated christians should be the first ones in line to love to serve to care and to provide i think christians should be more actively involved in those things than anybody else but if somebody just doesn't want to that's not the biblical model and that entitlement thinking basically says i want something for nothing and i don't think that's a biblical thing except for when it comes to the grace of jesus on the cross you get forgiveness for nothing gift of grace but when it comes to real life we live it out and then the sin of laziness laziness used to be seen as a sin laziness used to be seen as a bad thing in the book of proverbs there's a term that proverbs uses for people that don't want to work it's called the sluggard do a study sometime on the word sluggard where do you think we get i think that does that connect with any word in other words you know slug a sluggard somebody i don't want to do it i don't want to do it i don't want to do it take care of me take care of me take care of me and read proverbs and go through that and you're going to find that word come up again and again and again and there's this warning don't be that person who functions like a sluggard who wants everyone else to do everything for you the world has changed taking the easy route cutting corners have become much more normative and i want to make a suggestion to you that especially for christians the first one we look to in a time of need is to god and not to the government can i say that the first one we look to is god now praise god that there's governing programs to help people and one the things my sister doesn't help people get into programs they can teach them a new trade so they can start working again i mean there's so there's there's good things there but when you're in need cry out to god first always and what god might say is i'm going to open up a door for you to do something that'll help provide for that need but be open and responsive to god's leading so another question why do so many people want something for nothing and only do the minimal they can to get away with it that's because it's a lost art it's hard work and i want to say if you're a follower of jesus you don't follow the cultural norms you follow the living god and his word movement number four reclaiming god's gift let's turn the corner back to the positive side reclaiming god's good gift how do we reclaim this vision for hard work this biblical calling for working hard well first teach a work ethic in the home as you influence the next generation teach kids to work hard let them earn an allowance and while they earn their allowance teach them to tithe teach them to give when our boys their their initial allowance was one dollar when they did it their chores really easy ten cents goes to the church that sounds silly no take a dime put an envelope put in the church put in the offering boxes whatever put in the offering plate how's the next generation can learn to work hard learn to be generous it's going to come when this generation teaches them they're not going to get it by just watching the world they're going to get by us as parents and grandparents investing and teach them teach a work ethic in the church and model it i'm teaching this i'm preaching this and i'll continue doing this but i will tell you you ask anybody who works at shoreline staff it what's what is the work ethic at shoreline we we we keep accountability for our time for our work and for our production why because it honors god because we're working off the offerings of god's people because we work for jesus not for human masters and and this is something we need to hear preached and taught and also lived out in the local church celebrate hard work celebrate people affirm them thank them for their hard work if you are in a restaurant right now if you're an arrest right now and you see a bus a bus someone on the bus staff or on the wait step and they're working hard man before you leave that place would you just stop and say excuse me come on say i've been watching you and here's the thing they could be sitting at home getting paid almost as much for doing nothing right now a lot of people are or working say thank you for coming in day after day and thank you for your attitude and and if you can whatever you plan on tipping them double it and maybe look at them and say god bless you but bring a word of encouragement if you see somebody in a fast food place or in a grocery store and they're working hard just affirm them and thank them doesn't matter what the job is if someone's doing it and when you see somebody can i say when you see somebody around shoreline church who's working hard if you have kids right now in our kids programming when you go pick them up later would you just say the person people stop and just poke your head and say listen those of you that serve my kids that are teaching them about jesus they're loving and praying with my kids my grandkids thank you because almost all them are volunteers thank you let's bless let's encourage less of firm hard work because god does god celebrates it i want to tell you a little story about two people i'm going to paint a picture for you and i want to ask you a question this is a big thing when it comes to our world right now two people one a mom this woman gets married loves her husband loves jesus one child two children three children and her husband has a massive heart attack and passes away she's trying to raise these three kids she's got family helping out she works at a job in the daytime and at night time she works at three hour shift cleaning offices to make ends meet for her three kids about a job and a half and she makes enough to get by now she pictures another person young guy 26 years old doesn't want to work he wants to be able to take care of him wants family friends governmental program anybody just tell me but perfectly healthy perfectly able to work but doesn't want to for what we've talked about in the scriptures today do you think it's fair and right for this woman and this guy to get paid almost exactly the same amount and one who has in a tough situation and is working her fingers to the bone and one who doesn't lift a finger sits in what plays video games and watches netflix all day long and does nothing productive is it honoring to god that they both would be given the same provision i believe it's not i believe i'm preaching the scriptures right now and when somebody says and there's terms being thrown around in our world today should there be equality of opportunity for every single human being equality of opportunity yes everyone should have equal opportunity to thrive in this world and we should fight for the opportunity for every single human being of every tribe tongue nation and people the bible talks about in heaven one day but we the equality of opportunity to thrive but the idea of an equality of outcome that no matter what you do we should all get the same thing i don't believe that's biblical i don't believe that honors god and i believe it actually creates people who one of the things my sister lisa has taught me she said when she says when i help people get from not working to working she said you cannot believe the joy and the tears of celebration when they finally get to work they want to do something with their life they want to produce something god has made us even from the garden to do something to make a difference to step into this life that he's given my sister lisa told me one time she said a woman came to her who had she had come out of prison and had been like multiple generation welfare family and then was in prison she came out of prison and my sister helped her get her first job and she came in with her first paycheck and she was looking at her paycheck and she was pointing to to lisa and she was pointing to the taxes that were taken out of her paycheck and she was crying she was pointed at that she was crying and lisa and my sister lisa said i said to her yeah i know it's hard they do take a chunk of your money i know but she goes no i'm not crying so i'm not crying because i took my money because i'm crying because that money is helping somebody else i finally get to help somebody else wow there's dignity and work there's a gift to hard work and it honors god so our final movement moment number five becoming an artist we need to become people who model this in the world and so how do we become artists of god's goodness and of hard work will you follow god's call on god's example you look at god and say god you are the creator of all good things you sustain the universe jesus you serve and you gave i want to be like you i want to live like you i want to work hard we teach the next generation how to work hard and how to take joy in what they do and not just be about the bottom line of money but the gift of work we be care we have to be careful not to give too much there's there's things that's called when helping hurts when we give to a point where it hurts somebody because we shouldn't be giving it this moment we should be calling them to step up and contribute on their own we have to be careful and be wary of that we have to model hard work and can i tell you something if you're retired god has still think still has things for you to do some of you go i've talked to people i'm retired i've never worked hard harder in my life i'm a full-time you know grandparent i'm helping i'm serving at the church praise god i don't know if retirement in the sense of sitting around doing nothing for the rest of your life i don't think that's a biblical concept i don't think it is now you you may finish your vocation how can i serve jesus how can i serve the church how can i serve my neighbors how can i serve a local hospital and civic organizations how do i help at the local animal shelter how do i make a difference find some productive things to do because the world needs your lifetime of experience to help us learn to live in ways that would honor god as well if you're a christian in the workplace in the marketplace of any sort then you be a model of hard work and be a model of a positive attitude and be a model of keeping your mouth shut if you only have negative things to say be careful you don't become that troublemaker within your workplace and then just be committed to count the cost i love in that second corinthians passage where the apostle paul says we work day and night striving working to show you what it could be like what life could be like last question am i committed to hard work as a gift from god and a witness to the world do you know that working hard is a gift from god and it brings glory to god and working hard is a gift to the world because you revealed jesus no one worked harder nobody served more nobody gave more than jesus and so jesus this is our prayer and god this is my prayer i pray with humility that if i if i came at anything with with too strong of my myself and not enough of your grace i pray that that you will soften anything i've said that's out of line but god i know your word is clear and i pray that every single person who hears this message who's hearing it now and who hears it in the future will hear from you that you have something for them that you you have gifted them you've called them you've put things in them that can be a blessing to other people lord may we reclaim this forgotten art of hard work and be a model of your goodness wherever we go may we be the first ones to show up the last ones to leave and the ones who always give our best as working unto our lord who worked and gave himself for us on the cross we pray this in jesus name and everybody said amen amen three things i want to challenge you with before i send you off the word of blessing one if you've never been baptized and you want to be baptized we have a baptism class today online so we had one live here last weekend but if you want to go home and at one o'clock today you just text baptism to the phone number that that number there or if you're at home you see on your screen text the word baptism and we'll get you registered one o'clock today that class is happening if you need prayer our teams will be up front here praying for you and they love to pray for you they take joy in praying for you so come forward for prayer if you're online or if you're out if you're in the courtyard or in the family worship and you come in here for prayer if you're online uh just text your prayer uh text the word uh let me see online you can call the number that you see there or email your prayers to us and we'll put them on the prayer list and we'll be able to pray through that prayer list every day and every week so be sure you do that and if you're new at shoreline we want to give you a warm personal welcome if you're online just text the word welcome to the number you see on the screen and we will try to connect with you and answer your questions and get to know you that way and if you're on campus go right into connection center maggie's in there today so go say hi to maggie she would love to answer any questions you have if you're able to stand will you stand with me please may you know the blessing of the god who made the heavens and the earth the god who sustains all things by his word of power may you welcome the blessing of jesus christ who gave his own life for you may you honor him by working hard for the glory of jesus god bless you have a great week back here again for worship next sunday have a great week [Music] oh [Music] here it is [Music] over the universe [Music] hallelujah [Music] you sent the darkness running out of an empty grave now seated alone in glory [Music] is [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh jesus we pray that you pour to us today [Music] [Music] you will do [Music] things are possible [Music] world is [Music] is [Music] victory [Music] there's no [Music] things are possible is [Music] oh [Music] god [Music] people [Music] people come [Music] changes [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] every stronghold [Music] i wanna know you alone like i know a friend i wanna know you alone [Music] [Music] so i'm [Music] [Music] i wanna know [Music] and i used to think [Music] [Applause] [Music] i used to think that i can box you in but i'm laying down [Music] [Music] on my religion [Music] lord i've been told to be ashamed lord i've been told i don't measure lord i've been told i'm not good enough you're here with me [Music] i'll reach out and you find me in the dust and you see no amount [Music]

Channel: Shoreline Church Monterey

Views: 326

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Id: RjH-D-3OIJs

Length: 94min 58sec (5698 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021