To work for Jesus at our job is something we should do.

Video: 00:00 -- Introductory video --

Pastor Linn: 00:22 Hey cornerstone, how you doing man? Super, super glad to be here. I'm still fighting something so if I start having like just a coughing, hacking session, if somebody would just come up and give me CPR that would be great. And uh, but we're going to try and make it through this. Hey, if you've been coming here any length of time at all then you probably know who Tim Beal is. He's our number two speaker here at the church, just dearly beloved. Um, but what you may not know is that his son Jaken has had just continuous struggles with his heart. Matter of fact, when Jaken was born, uh, the doctors immediately identified that he, that his heart was not formed the way that it ought to be. And so he has gone through procedure after procedure. He has not... several times he's not been expected to live, uh, and uh, and yet God has been gracious and kind, but right now the Beal family is facing a bridge. And that is that, uh, the doctors are saying, the last thing we have right now is that we've got to get a transplant for Jaken. So he is currently in the hospital right now waiting for a transplant and I just thought it would be a cool moment for us to pray for our brother and a pray for Jaken together. So here's how I was hoping, I was hoping we'd stand up together today. Uh, and I'm going to ask you to do something really weird. I'm going to ask you to join hands and it's OK, it's OK to join hands. It's just not OK to rub hands and, uh, unless you're husband or wife. But anyways, let's just pray together. This is family time, right? Hey dearest heavenly Father, we just, we just come before you for the Beal family right now. And God, thank you so much for the gift that they are to us and God, we're just going to pray real boldly that you would step right into this moment. And although in our human understanding, we don't know why this moment is here or what you're trying to accomplish in it. But we bow the knee and just say, God, do your best. Do your very, very best on behalf of Jake and our heart would be, would you grant him many, many, many more years of life. Would you use him to bring glory and honor to your name? God, would you take care of our friends? And uh, this we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, thank you guys for doing that.

Pastor Linn: 02:46 Hey, we're ah week three in a series about jobs and employment and where we work. And you know, the reality is this is a big deal in our culture, right? I mean, who you are is some weird way connected to what you do. Matter of fact think about this: when you meet somebody for the first time within just a few moments they're going to ask you what do you do?

Pastor Linn: 03:13 And although we probably wouldn't want to admit this too much and it may not even completely conscious thing, depending on their response, we make all sorts of decisions about them. We make decisions about their value and who they are. And, and what is, what does that mean? And you're probably this educated or you're not. I mean, we just do and if they say, "Hey, I'm a doctor," we put them in this slot and if they're a homemaker, we put them in a different slot and if they're a teacher, we put them in a slot and guys, I'm just going to tell you, it's interesting that we have been so programmed by our culture and our society that a person's value is connected to their work. Their identity is somehow tied up in where they're employed on the deal, and believe me, if there's anybody who gets this, it's me as a pastor because you want to see someone get really, really weird? Man, tell them you're a pastor. I mean, I'm just telling you, if you're an in ministry, you just go, please God, don't let them ask. You just do, right? Because the minute you do, they either grow really, really silent and you can just tell the gears are turning there going, how many times did I cuss? How many times did I cuss? How many times did I cuss or they want to tell you about some weird, really funky religious experience about how they haven't been in church for four years, but the last time they were they took communion with their dog and it was moving. I just, it just gets weird. I'm just telling you, it is funky to tell somebody you're a pastor and matter of fact, if you just want to have a fun time and make somebody squirm next time they ask you, hey, what do you do? You just go, I'm a pastor that they'll just...

Pastor Linn: 04:45 Matter of fact, I was talking to one of the guys on staff. I was talking to Tyler Brown, our executive pastor over our multi sites and we're talking about this very thing. And he says, "Oh Lynn, I try so hard not to tell people that I'm a pastor. A matter of fact," he says, "I've come up with this kind of little thing. I say, you know, they say, you know, where do you work? And I say, I, uh, I'm an executive coach for high level leaders in a non-profit organization, that that's just my thing. That's what I tell him because you know, gets me out of it. So he says...

Pastor Linn: 05:14 But it's interesting because the other day my neighbor and I were out, we were doing some work, we ran some errands and we decided to stop and get like kind of a late lunch together and the place we stopped at was kind of a bar and grill thing and they had, you know, cornhole outside and so my neighbor and I are out there playing cornhole together and then a couple of these guys come walking up and they are soused man they are just highly inebriated and it's not even four in the afternoon yet and they can barely walk. But they come up and they go, "Hey, can we play corn hole with you?"

Pastor Linn: 05:41 And we said, "Well, sure, yeah, you can play corn hole."

Pastor Linn: 05:43 So now we're playing corn hole. And sure enough this guy turns to and says, "Hey, uh, what do you do?"

Pastor Linn: 05:52 To is Tyler said, "I am, I'm an executive level coach for high level leaders in a nonprofit organization."

Pastor Linn: 05:52 And the guy says, "What organization?"

Pastor Linn: 05:52 To which Tyler says, "A church."

Pastor Linn: 06:11 The guy's response was "That's blankin' (and fill in the worst cuss word), that's blankin' fantastic!"

Pastor Linn: 06:16 And Tyler says, "Linn, here's what I figured out. If someone is highly inebriated enough, being a pastor is pretty cool in that moment. So I decided from now on, if anybody asks me where I work or what I do, I'm just going to say, 'You know what? You're a few drinks short of me being able to tell you that.'"

Pastor Linn: 06:37 But isn't it, think about this, isn't it interesting that we put so much stock in, in someone's job title in what they do and that we, we, we put, we put identity, we put self worth to that. We put value to that. And isn't it true that if you and I were being honest that most of us have kind of a love-hate relationship with work? There's this part of us that says, "You know, I wish I could work less. You know, then I could really do the things I want to do and have time for my family and spend time with my hobbies." And then there's the other part of us that says, "Man, I'm really, really hoping that my job gives me a sense of fulfillment and it fills my passion and, and, and becomes the thing that just becomes the..., " You know, it's almost like we, we make work this mystical box that says, you know, if, if I could just figure out what it is that I'm supposed to be doing and if I could find that thing that just wakes me up in the morning to go, I mean, that would be so fulfilling to my life. That would just, that would just kinda take what feels empty and somehow fill it up. And you and I have this really weird perception that comes from our culture. We really think that there's something about our work that defines who we are and what we are and the quality of us on the deal and just like scripture is so common to do, it's going to step into this frustrating and I can't quite put my finger on it and I'm not sure what it looks like conversation about employment and about work and scripture is going to turn it on its head. It's going to say, hey, it's not what you thought it. It's, it's nothing like what you're hoping it is. And if you could see this differently, it will change everything about your work.

Pastor Linn: 08:36 So grab your bibles and go with me to the book of Colossians, Colossians. If you're not familiar, if you go to the back of your Bible and uh, then work to the left, you're going to find this book of Colossians. Don't go too fast. It's a relatively small book. If you get to the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and John, you've gone too far. Come back to the right. It's Colossians chapter three, and it has this discussion about work that's going to surprise ah you and me. Here it is. It's Colossians chapter three, starting in verse 22. Here's what it says: Slaves obey your earthly masters in everything and do it not only when their eyes are on you to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward and, and get this, ready? It is the Lord you are serving now.

Pastor Linn: 09:53 Before anyone gets too freaked out and you'd go, hey, wait, wait, wait a minute. Sounds like the Bible's endorsing slavery. Here's what you got to get, this whole notion of you and I getting up in the morning, going to work, putting in eight hours, clocking out with my time card, going home, getting a salary. That is a relatively new notion in society. It's, it's less than 300 years old. It started with the thing they called the industrial revolution. For thousands of years a culture was agrarian. It was all farmers or it was trade. And so if your family didn't have a piece of land or if you didn't know how to make shoes, uh, then sometimes what your option was, you would go to somebody who did have land and you would say to them, "Hey, look here, I'll work for you for seven years. My payment at the end of seven years is if you would give me a small plot of land that I could then begin the farm. I'll be your servant. I'll be your slave for those seven years. That will be my recompense, my payment for it. It was actually just a form of employment. It's interesting though, when this passage comes up, it doesn't make the distinction. It doesn't make the distinction between people who willingly entered into a contractual thing to say, hey, I'll serve you for a certain amount of time if you'll give me, you know, a plot of land and those who were actually indentured, those who were actually forced into slavery and it simply says, Hey, whatever you, whatever or however you found yourself in this role, do it as unto the Lord. Don't do it just when you're master's eyes are on you or don't do it just so that they'll feel good about you. Do this as if you were serving God. So think about this for a second, your scripture is saying, if you have the worst job in the world, do it with all your heart. Do it as if God himself, where your employer which think about it, it just turns everything you and I have considered upside down. Best Buy is not your employer. God is your employer. Best Buy just happens to be your supervisor. The school district is not your employer. God is your employer. The school district just happens to be the one supervising you, and it turns this thing and here's what scripture is going to say to us today. It's not about what job you have. It's about how you do your job and who you do your job for. See, at the end of the day, do I do my job for my employer because they reimbursed me right? Or they've got a really, really good retirement plan. Is that what I do my job? Do I do my job for me because it fills me up and it makes me happy? Who Do I do my job for? And Scripture says, you do your job, no matter what that job is, no matter how crummy it is you do it as unto the Lord, because it's not about what job you have, it's about how you do it and who you do it for, and it changes everything about employment.

Pastor Linn: 13:07 You and I are going to peek into the life of a guy who I'm just going to suggest probably has the worst resume in the history of the world. I mean, when you look at his qualifications, you look, you look at his job history. You Go, dude, this couldn't just couldn't be any worse and yet he's going to end up with an absolutely surprising mind blowing promotion in his life. Think about it this way. Think about at wherever you work, if somebody was at the lowest, lowest, lowest part time, entry level position, and suddenly someone from human resources walks in and says, that person, "Hey, tomorrow, you're CEO of the entire company," and that promotion, as crazy as that sounds, is smaller than the promotion that this guy gets with the worst resume ever. You're ready for this? And his name is Joseph.

Pastor Linn: 14:07 Grab your bibles because it's an intriguing story, especially when you and I look at it through the context of employment and go with me to Genesis chapter 39. First Book of the Bible says, the easiest passage you're ever going to find in church, Genesis chapter 39. Let me give you just a little bit of background. What's happening in this moment, and put it in the context of employment, Joseph is the youngest, or one of the youngest, of his brothers. And one evening he has a dream. It's a god given dream. He can tell it's different than you know, I just ate too much pizza. This is, this is a God given dream and in that God given dream, God reveals to him that every one of his brothers, his father and his mother one day are going to bow down to him.

Pastor Linn: 15:02 Joseph then goes and tells his brothers, hey dude, guess what? God's going to like promote me over the top of all of you. Now guys you just need to understand in the culture of the time this is unheard of because ranking within the family went by birth order. The idea that the youngest kid is going to be the one that rules over the home, let alone over them all, and it's just absolutely absurd and unheard of, and I'm convinced, you ready for this? I'm convinced that Joseph at the beginning of the story is struggling with the same things you and I do. He's struggling with the idea that my job, my position defines my identity in my value. Why do I say that? Why does he tell his brothers? See if he doesn't have a whole bunch of pride wrapped up in this. If he doesn't have a whole bunch of, of his ego wrapped up in the position, why does he feel compelled to tell them? And my best guess is, is that Joseph is struggling with the very same thing that you and I are. That somehow when I get this, when I get to that corner office, when I get to do the thing that I, you know, passionate about whether there's been a firefighter, a pilot... When I get that, that somehow this fills me up and determines my worth. And I think Joseph has exactly the same struggle that you and I have when it comes to this conversation about our employment. And so he tells his brothers, "Hey, guess what? Someday I get to rule over you."

Pastor Linn: 16:47 His brothers, not surprisingly, become really jealous and just kind of outraged at him that he would even propose such a thing. Uh, they kidnap Joseph and then they sell their brother into slavery. He said, let's see how your plan goes now. He ends up being sent into slavery. He gets to Egypt and he's bought by an Egyptian. Guys, think about this on your resume. First job, slave. I'm just thinking that probably doesn't read real strong as a recommendation. And yet this guy who believes and trusts that God has given him a promise that someday he's the CEO, he's, he's, he's at the top of the top of something. Suddenly receives an assignment from God to be worse than entry level. What if that happened to you? Wouldn't that be the perfect excuse in your life to just go, look, I'm going to mail in my employment. I mean, this isn't, this isn't what I'm passionate about, this isn't, this isn't what I see myself doing long term. This is just kind of a stop gap to pay the bills until I get you to the real job that I want to do until my education's done. When that assignment to be, wouldn't that just be the perfect statistical? I'm just going to mail. I'm just going to do enough. I'm not gonna you know, lollygag. I'm not gonna, you know, not doing, but I'm just going to do enough because this isn't my real job. Here's what's interesting. Joseph decides to be the best slave ever. Is that weird? God has disappointed, the thing that he was promised doesn't come true. He goes, he goes from this idea of, hey, I'm going to be the top guy and the top dog to being I could not be lower on the totem pole, and his decision is to be the best slave ever. What, what had to be the internal conversation that Joseph has in those early days as he's sitting there in Egypt and he finds himself a slave and God has let him down and it's not the job you always dreamed of and there's nothing about it that gives them any self-esteem. What's got to be inside of him? And here's what I believe. I don't think it's that far-fetched to fill in the blanks. I don't know why God gave me the assignment. I don't know how long it lasts. It's not fulfilling. It doesn't give me any status whatsoever, but here's what I'm thinking. It's probably not about me. It's probably about him and in this job, whatever this job is, the circumstance I'm in, it's not about me finding fulfillment or filling my passion, or I'm simply required to do this unto the Lord. He would be my employer and Potiphar for would simply be my supervisor and watch what God does.

Pastor Linn: 20:35 Here we go. It's Genesis chapter 39 starting in verse one. Here's what it says: Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian, who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master, and when his master, ready for this? Watch this, when his master saw that the Lord was with him... not that he was capable, not that he had all sorts of giftedness, not that he was a hard worker and he was all those things, but the thing that stood out to Potiphar, he a man who has no regard for God at all, is that God was with this dude because somewhere Joseph had figured out in his heart, this isn't about to me, this is about him. I'm not going to find my satisfaction in my fulfillment from my job. I'm going to find my satisfaction with fulfillment in how I do my job and who I do my job for, and Potiphar couldn't help but notice that the lord was with this guy. And the Lord gave him success in everything that he did. Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. He got promoted to top slave. Woohoo, Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and all that he owned the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything that Potiphar had, both in his house and in his field.

Pastor Linn: 22:31 Here's what you've got to get. Whatever assignment you have, I don't care if you're working at Taco Bell. I don't care if you're working at Intel. I don't care at whatever assignment you have as a Christ follower, you ought to be the best employee they've got because you're not working for Intel. You're working for Jesus. You serve as unto him so that people around you don't necessarily see your performance, they see God in you based on your performance.

Pastor Linn: 23:06 Years ago, I'm in Bible College and my dad was paying my tuition, but he wasn't paying for my meals. He wasn't paying for my car and my gas and my insurance, and so I had to get a job in the meantime and my roommate and I both found a posting for a freight dock in downtown Dallas. So here we are driving down to downtown Dallas to work on our freight dock. Now, I don't know if you know this or not, but freight docs are not necessarily the most Christian environment. I'm just saying there's truck drivers and then there's freight dock workers. And uh, so here we are, two young, uh, you know, Christian Bible college students working on a freight dock. And you don't want to know the language. You don't want to know the stories. You don't want to hear what we heard and see what we saw in that process. But here's what Dave and I resolved in our hearts. This isn't right. This isn't where we're headed. This isn't what our education is about. There is nothing. There's nothing about stacking boxes of shampoo that fills my heart, but we're gonna work as unto the Lord Cy Motor Freight is not our employer, God is. Cy Motor Freight just happens to be our supervisor and we determined to be the best employees that they'd ever had there. It's interesting because a couple months later the supervisor came out and said, uh, hey anymore of you preacher boys need a job? Within two years, ready for this? Within two years, the vast majority of guys loading freight at Cy Motor Freight in Dallas were all Bible college students from our Bible College. Why? Because they saw something different in us and the answer at the end of the day is your fulfillment doesn't come from the job. It doesn't come from stacking boxes of shampoo or soldering little diodes, that's not where your fulfillment comes. Your fulfillment comes from who you are doing it for and how you do it. That he would receive glory and people would notice him in you. Suddenly everything we thought about that, about how it was going to fill us and how it was going to be changes because my employer changed.

Pastor Linn: 25:34 So the story gets worse. Joseph does everything right and you would think, OK, he does everything right, so now God's going to bless him and do really, really cool things in his life because that's what God does, right? Potiphar has a wife and Potiphar's wife decides that Joseph is a pretty good looking dude, and so she begins to make advances at Joseph and try to seduce the guy. And think about this for a moment if you're Joseph you're going, okay God, look this, this is really messed up. You took my dream job and at the very least put it on the shelf. You gave me the worst job ever. Here I am doing it to my very best so that people can see Jesus in me. I'm doing... and now all the sudden his wife, Potiphar's wife, has got me in this horrible, cannot win situation because if I don't sleep with her, she's going to make my life miserable. If I do sleep with her, Potiphar's going to find out. I'm going to get... How do I win from this one? And yet, in that moment, Joseph just simply decides, I'm going to do this as if God was my employer and not my slave owner. And so as she comes to him day after day after day and says, "Hey sleep with me."

Pastor Linn: 26:49 He says, "No, I can't do it." It's interesting, go back and read the story. He says, "I could not do that to my Lord." One day she corners him in the bedroom and she's really, really pushing herself on him. I've got a feeling Joseph's in the middle of intense, a temptation, I think. I think Joseph is on the edge of cracking. Here's why, because the Bible says, Joseph flees out of the room, and I'm just telling you, if he wasn't tempted, if she was ugly as a mud fans, so she had bad breath Joseph doesn't need to flee. He just goes, no chance, right? But instead he flees out of the room, takes off out of the room. She grabs a hold of his coat. He pulls himself out of his coat, keeps running. When her husband Potiphar comes home, she pulls the coat out and says, "See that slave of yours. That slave of yours tried to seduce me and you ready for this? The guy who did everything right, the guy who had enough insight about his job to say, "Hey God, I don't know why I didn't get the job that I wanted. I don't know why I'm not, you know, the CEO of something. You put me as probably the worst job ever as a slave. The guy who in the midst of doing that does it under the glory of God and does everything right, gets put in prison.

Pastor Linn: 27:59 just about the moment you go, there cannot be a worse job than this. Now he's a convicted prisoner and all he's done is work as unto the Lord. And guys, if there was ever a moment that you and I would go, OK, this is, this is messed up. I think I'm done with this whole working unto you thing, and guess what Joseph determines in his heart, you ready? To be the best prisoner ever. Is that mind blowing? I'm going to be the best prisoner ever. I'm gonna, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna look to this assignment that I've got. I'm not going to look to this job that I've been given, which is like worse than the worst thing to try to satisfy me or fill me up. I'm going to do this, I'm going to be a prisoner as unto the Lord because it's not about what I do. It's about how I do it and who I do it for that's going to bring fulfillment to my life. Now, some of you in the room who know the story a little bit better than others, you're going, oh, OK, but Linn you're not telling them the rest of the story because the rest of the story is Joseph gets this crazy promotion. I mean, Joseph gets taken out of the prison. He gets turned into the number two guy in Egypt. No, no, you're right. You're right. But the wonder or the story is not that Joseph gets promoted. The wonder of the story is that when he is promoted, he still does his job as if God was as employer and not Pharaoh. That in every occasion in his life, whether he was a slave or whether he was a prisoner or whether he was the second in command in Egypt, he did not look to his job to bring him fulfillment or satisfaction or status. In, in every single occasion, he did it unto God. Matter of fact, watch this part of the story. Joseph's in prison, a couple of guys who are in prison with him have some dreams. Joseph interprets the dreams. Couple years, ready, years later, uh, one of the guys is out of prison. He's working in Pharaoh's court. Pharaoh has a dream. The guy says, "Hey, I knew this guy in prison. He interprets dreams." So they bring Joseph up out of prison to interpret the dream. Now guys think about this moment. If my job is what brings me identity and brings me status, this is Joseph's moment, right? This is, this is that. This is everything God promised. This is when his life is going to make sense. This is when his brothers get to bow down, by golly, and Joseph doesn't even put his application in for the job. Matter of fact, in this all pivotal moment of his life, he simply says, look, look, look, it's not about the job, I'm not even sure I want the job, it's about people seeing Jesus in me.

Pastor Linn: 31:07 And take your bibles. If you didn't close them, turn it over just a couple of pages to Genesis chapter 41. Here's this job interview. This is Joseph job interview for number two in all of Egypt, and the Pharaoh calls them in and says, "Hey, I've heard you're really, really good with dreams. I called you in here so that you can interpret dreams." Here it is, Chapter Forty one, verse 16. Here's what, here's what Joseph says, "I cannot do it." Think about that. You go in for a job interview and they say, "Hey, we're going to make you the head engineer of our department."

Pastor Linn: 31:07 You go, "I can't do that."

Pastor Linn: 31:41 "Hey, we're gonna, we're gonna. Make you manage the..."

Pastor Linn: 31:46 "No, I can't do that." That's just, that's the first words he does in his job interview. He says, "I cannot just do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "But God will give pharaoh the answer he desires." He's in the biggest interview of his life and he absolutely from the very tip of his head to the bottom of his feet understands this is not about me and this is not about me getting something that gives me status and fulfillment, this is about me reflecting my heavenly father. And think about this. He says to Pharaoh who thinks he is God, "Hey Pharaoh, I can't do this, but the god, the real God, who by the way, you're not God, Pharaoh, he can interpret your dream." Pharaoh ended up telling Joseph his dream there are these seven fat cows and they come out of the Nile and then there's seven skinny cows and they eat the fat cows and Pharaoh says, "What does it mean?" Verse Twenty Five, then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one in the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do." Hey Pharaoh, the God who is bigger than you, stronger than you, smarter than you has revealed to you what he's going to do, and do you have any doubt in your heart that Joseph is not campaigning for this job, that Joseph isn't saying, "Hey, this is, this is, this is going to be the answer to what I've been longing for all my life. This is finally going to fill me up and give me my identity. In that very moment, the most critical moment of his employment history, he decides, I am working as unto the Lord. This isn't about what I do. This is about how I do it and who I do it for.

Pastor Linn: 33:55 It's interesting, because if you jump down just a little further in the passage, verse Thirty Seven. Here's what it says. Joseph gives Pharaoh a plan, says, "Here's what you ought to do. Take the seven good years that are going to come. That's what the seven fat cows were, and store up, whatever's left over in the warehouses. Then when the seven lean years come, that's what the skinny cows were. You'll have food that you can sell to the people of Egypt. You'll make a huge profit and you'll be the savior of Egypt."

Pastor Linn: 34:25 Pharaoh says, "Hey, that's a pretty good plan." Here we go. Verse 37. The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all of his officials, so pharaoh asked them, can we find anyone else like this man on whom the spirit of God dwells, not who's really, really smart, not who's hardworking, not who's capable. What is it that Pharaoh sees about Joseph that's distinguishing and you understand that Pharaoh is an absolutely non God honoring employer. He sees that God has favor with him because, because, because it's not about what I do, it's about how I do it and who I do it for.

Pastor Linn: 35:14 And then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you you shall be in charge of all my palace and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you."

Pastor Linn: 35:38 What does Joseph know? Work is not the source of my fulfillment in the most critical moment of his life, in the biggest job interview of his life. He literally takes that opportunity, sets it at the feet of Jesus and says, "Hey, this isn't, it's not about me, it's about you. It's about how I do this and who I do this for." It's not the job that brings us fulfillment.

Pastor Linn: 36:10 Some of us were here last week and man, amazing -- a conversation that we had. If you weren't here, you're going to want to go back and watch it. Mark Sanborn was here, talked about a guy by the name of Fred who was a postman. He did a job that I'm sure there was 100 other postal employees who thought that job was mundane and repetitive and they were just doing whatever they had to do to get by so they could get to their pensions, not Fred. Fred said, hey, this is about the people on my route and this is the opportunity to bless a whole bunch of people and be exceptional and wonderful in their lives. It's not about the job. It's about how I do it and who I do it for. You know, we've got some friends in our congregation. I would tell you about a guy by the name of Kerry Newton. Kerry Newton is the president of a steel company and Kerry Newton takes that opportunity, he takes that position and purposely invests in the lives of his employees. He, he asks them, hey, how's your marriage doing? How are your kids at home? You already for this? He takes entry level employees within his steel factory and teaches them leadership so that they may have the opportunity to move up in the company and suddenly these people are saying, "Hey, wait a minute, why is the president asking me about my marriage? Why, why is the president investing in me into leadership? I'm a welder." And they come to Kerry and they go, "Kerry what's going on?" Kerry has the opportunity to say, "Well, it's not about me being president, it's about my Jesus."

Pastor Linn: 36:56 I would tell you about a guy by the name of Steve Holtzman. Steve Holtzman is a lawyer, which I know, I know. I know, lawyer, Christian, it's stretch. OK, but he's a lawyer. And he's an accident and injury lawyer and Steve Holzman, are you ready for this? Actually encourages his clients to be honest about their injuries. He, he helps lead a Bible study in the law firm. Is that just... lawyers praying and reading their bibles and, and he actually looks for opportunities with his clients to pray over their cases with them. Let me think about that. Your lawyer was praying with you. Wouldn't you have like one eye opening waiting for lightning to hit somewhere? Right? It's not about being a lawyer. It's about working for Him.

Pastor Linn: 38:56 My son's teacher when he was in grade school and guys, you're pretty familiar in grade school there's not a whole lot of openness to you sharing your Christian faith and having a presence for God. So here's what she decided to do. She decided to tell the kids stories that had high moral character to them. They're just so happened to be similar to Bible stories, so she would tell the story to all the kids and then she'd say, "Hey, do any of you in the room happened to know another story that's like that?"

Pastor Linn: 39:30 And the kids go, "Oh, that's Adam and eve. Oh, tell us about Adam and eve. Oh, that's like the Good Samaritan. Oh, tell us." Because the kids can tell the Bible stories. Gosh, it's not about getting fulfillment from my job. It's about how I do my job and who I do my job for. That fills me up because guys, just be honest, that box has always been empty. That box has never had the capacity to ascribe to you value to fill you up, but He does.

Pastor Linn: 40:20 Would you have the courage? Would you have the courage to take whatever assignment God has given me? Whatever job it is, I don't care if you work at Walmart. I don't care if you work at a diner. I don't care whatever that assignment and say, "I'm not going to look to this for my identity and for my fulfillment and for my passion in life. It's not about what I do, it's about how I do it and who I do it for." If you're a slave, do it unto the glory of God and what would it look like for the next 30 days for you to swap employers, for you to say, "For the next 30 days I don't work for Best Buy. For the next 30 days I work for Jesus and I want the people around me to see it by how I work." And I don't know, would that change how you treat your fellow employees? Would you suddenly see them differently? If you knew your assignment wasn't about you, was about him, would you be more honest? What would happen if for 30 days you changed your employer?

Pastor Linn: 41:36 Let's pray. Hey dear Lord Jesus, man this is, this is confusing for us. We live in a culture that doesn't even blink at the idea that what I do is who I am and that if I can find something I'm passionate about that somehow that's going to fill me up, and yet it's not true. It is never, never, never about what I do. It's about how I do it and who I do it for, and God may we as the children of God always work as unto the Lord. This we pray in Jesus name. Amen.


Recorded in Chandler, Arizona.