Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Great. Well, great to see you all. Great bunch in this morning. You're all looking beautiful and handsome in your summer attire. James and Matt Mech are in the same outfit this morning. I said, was that plan, Matt? He said, no, definitely not <laugh> <laugh>, but uh, welcome, welcome, Ollie. We now know you've got a nineties clubs classics. Yeah. Ready on your laptop when we need an appropriate song inside. Yeah. Well, he is. You gave away your secret there. I think he, uh, cruising along Deon in his car. Think he's gonna have, uh, nineties clubs classics on there, so, right. Well, um, I heard a kind of funny joke, stroke story this week. Who's heard of Bill Johnson at Bethel? Yeah. Yeah. Great church in America, isn't it? Well, he starts most of his sermons with something like this. So he actually started this sermon a couple of weeks ago with what I'm gonna start with now.
Speaker 1 00:00:58 So if anyone takes offense to it or thinks that's irreverent, will you email Bill? Not me. <laugh>. Is that fair? Yes. Okay. So it's a little story. It's a, it's a joke. So don't throw tomatoes at me. So there's a couple in the fifties. Yeah. This is just to calm my nerves. This, so there's a couple in their fifties and, um, the wife says to the husband, I'd like to go to the holy Land. He says, yeah, we, we should do that. He said, um, yeah, we, we've never been have we? The, they were Christians. They said we'd like to go to the holy land. So they booked the flight, they booked the holiday or booked the going in about a month, two weeks before the go, the wife's round at her mum's, the mother in law to the man. And she says, I'd like to come.
Speaker 1 00:01:43 She's getting on a bit now. She said, I'd love to come, can I come? So she's thinking of her husband back home, but she says, yes. Yes, darling. How many wives we ever done that? You go home and tell your husband what's happening? Not his permission. Yeah. Okay. <laugh>. And, um, so she goes home, she says, darling, something to tell you just as he's tucking in his favorite roast beef, he's made him mean mom wants to come with us on the holiday. Oh. He goes, oh, really? Come on. Really? Yes. Sorry. Mom's coming. Right. Okay. Anyway, off they all go, they all go through the airport. They get down to the Holy Land, start doing a couple of sites, and then really sad. Stay with me. Church. It's just a joke, but really sad. She passes away, does the mother-in-law passes away in the holy land.
Speaker 1 00:02:25 Obviously the wife's really upset. And he says, he said, look darling, I'll go down to the local funeral directors here and I'll sort everything out. You just have a coffee and just calm down. So he goes down to the funeral directors and he tells her the stories. All right? Okay. So I says, uh, he go around, have a little con flab, and he comes back out. He says, right two options. He says, option one. He says, we can actually bury a mother-in-law here in the holy Land for 200 pounds. Said, okay, what's option two? He says, well, option two is gonna be about 2000 pounds. And he said, it's, it's not like flying a suitcase home. There's procedure. You've gotta understand that we can fly your mum back to anywhere you want in the UK to a named funeral director, but that's 2000 pounds. What would you like to do? So he thinks about it and he says, um, can we fly back home, please? Is that okay? Yeah. And the guy says, yeah, all right. Yeah. He says, but, uh, can I ask you why? He said, you know, for 200 pounds only you can bury your mother-in-law here in the Holy Land. Would that not be special? He says, let me tell you something. He said, 2023 years ago, they buried a man here, and three days later
Speaker 1 00:03:37 He rose from the dead. I just can't take that chance. Sorry. Blame Bill. If you don't like it. Sorry.
Speaker 1 00:03:52 He did get a big roar in America. So I just can't take that chance. Right. So we're gonna continue this morning, our discipleship series that we've been doing for the last few weeks. And Esther started last week, this lot of mini series within the series on the Kingdom of God who was here last week for that. So I was in kids' work, but I listened online. It was great, won't it? It was great. So I listened at home and I've pulled three things out, was a little kind of start to what I want to share from Esther's talk last week that we can bring into this morning. Three things I took from what she'd said when she was just, just like, opening up the kingdom of God in our lives. And what does that look like? Number one, she said, is Jesus king of our lives?
Speaker 1 00:04:32 Is Jesus king of our lives? Is he get this one? Is he reigning and ruling in our lives? Yeah. Wherever we take Jesus with us, is he reigning and ruling with us? And then finally, just to sort of outworking of that, are we carriers of the king of God in our lives? So is is he king of our lives? Do we acknowledge him as king? If so, is he reigning and ruling in our lives on a day-to-day basis? Take that another step forward. Are we carriers at the kingdom of God wherever we go? Um, so I wanna look this morning at the, uh, there you go, the kingdom of God. Ruben did that. I didn't even know he'd done that. I said, put a cool work picture in. He's great, isn't it? Um, so kingdom of God in the workplace, that's what I wanna look at this morning.
Speaker 1 00:05:19 Many of you know that I've been in business for 30 years. I worked 10 years with someone else in 20 years myself. I'm gonna share a couple of personal testimonies and stories that are relevant to this, tying some scriptures, and I hope we can all get something out of it. So it's not a a fill session. We've all got story aren't, we've all got a testimony, we've all got something to bring. But as Christians in the workplace, just looking this morning at the workplace, I know we've got neighbors, we've got friends, we've got other things to look at. But just this morning I wanna look at the kingdom of God in the workplace, being a carrier of the kingdom of God in the workplace. We should have carried shouldn't with the DNA of Christ with us. Yes, we should carry the kingdom of Christ with us.
Speaker 1 00:05:55 And that is the culture of heaven, right? The culture of heaven should go with us. How does that look? Simple. Look at Jesus. Look at Jesus in whatever we do. Does Jesus radiate through us in our workplace? Remember I spoke a couple of weeks ago, last time I was up seems ages now. It was about four or five weeks. Those who here before I spoke being a child of God, didn't I? Yeah. Do you remember that? The child of God I spoke on and I said, on our heaven, does it say heaven on our passport? Sorry, on our passport. Does it say heaven? Is it stamped heaven bound on our passport? If it does, and you're a believer in Christ, that's a great promise. And it one day we're gonna be with Jesus. But if so, and that's true, it should look like something in our lives.
Speaker 1 00:06:35 It should look like something in our day-to-day workplace. Let's be honest. Look at sleep and activities. But the biggest thing you normally do if you working this morning, in fact, can we have a show of hands who actually goes to work or works from home each day? Brilliant. Look at that. Wow. Tell not in Liverpool. Now Es um, sorry. Low blow. Low blow, low blow. I did, I did actually employ a good scout lab one day. He was great. He, he came to see me and he goes, boss, me dad's never worked. My grandad's never worked. I just want a job. I said, start some morning tomorrow, half past eight. And he was great. So, but no, he lost. Must look like something in our lives. Mustn't it. If we're gonna take Jesus with us, all those hands you've just shown me, we're all going out to work or working from home.
Speaker 1 00:07:18 That'll be interaction with others. We are Christians and it's great that our colleagues know that we are Christians just gently sometimes an opportunity to tell them. But it must look like something. Let, let's get practical, shall we? Let's get practical. So bringing the kingdom of God into the workplace. Number one, if you're taking notes, I've got three points. Number one, we should be the best employee. I know that's cheesy, great Phil, simple. No, but I mean it. We should be as Christians, the best employee. Yes. Our time keeping our integrity going the extra mile, working above reproach. You know when no one's looking, God's always looking in it. How many times is he colleagues think, oh, the boss isn't here, will get away with this? No, Jesus is always looking. Our integrity should be that we are earning our living, our keep from this job.
Speaker 1 00:08:06 We should be the best employees. We should go for the extra mile. We shouldn't steal, we shouldn't take anything. Work we shouldn't do. We shouldn't tell the boss we're poorly when we're not poorly and lag some time off. I just wanna be serious this morning. I know it's simple. Are we all doing it? Are we all doing it? Are, listen to this, don't claim back. The fuel expenses are false. That's a good one. Cause I've seen that a lot myself. I used to go away and think, Hmm, it's never 400 miles to Edinburgh when I went to school. I think I'm stupid. Do you know what I mean? He used to sign expenses, forms thinking, right? We're in Warrington, Google, Edinburgh, 220 miles. So the receipts would say four 40, shouldn't it? Not 800 at 45 pmm. But we used to catch on after a while that'd catch him out.
Speaker 1 00:08:50 So it stopped happening. But uh, yeah, let's be honorable. All we do, couple of scriptures for you just to sort of really bring this to home. Colossians three, verse 23. This is from the new living Bible. Colossians 3 23 says this, it says, work willingly at whatever you do. Listen as though you are working for the Lord, not people. So we do have an earthly boss, but we have a heavenly boss who's always looking. Don't we? Should I say a heavenly Father who loves us? Yeah, let's work for him at whatever we do. Next one. Ephesians six, verse seven to eight. Get this one cuz a lot of your colleagues probably won't do this, but you can work with enthusiasm. How many of us work with enthusiasm, work with enthusiasm as though you are working for the Lord, not people. Two completely different passages in different parts of the Bible.
Speaker 1 00:09:43 Same theme coming through. Work with enthusiasm as though you are working for the Lord rather than people. Remember, get this one. I want you to get this one this morning. I want to expand it. Remember the Lord will reward. Remember that He will reward each one of you for the good that we do. Now I looked into this, there's lots of passages in the Bible about that. And I believe some rewards are for in heaven when we're with him. Yeah, some of the things we do on earth, I think some are for now. Yeah, some of things are every daily lives. I've studied this. I've gone away to the Lord. Some of this is for now as we live our lives here has consequences. Do any of us know that the way we live our lives now, the way we are in the workplace as we're looking at this morning, has consequences, right?
Speaker 1 00:10:30 Don't deal with things in a worldly manner. And I mean that church, take that home to Sunday, carvery don't deal with things in a worldly manner. Yeah, I've seen it all the time. Stinking stuff coming in. It shouldn't come from Christians, right? We should be the difference, right? I'm gonna tell you a couple of little stories this morning to try and bring this home. You know, I like my stories, which just helped to bring my testimonies of stuff I've seen over the years that I'm sure all of you seen to tie this in. Don't deal with things in a worldly manner as a Christian, right? So I once employed a distant relative of mine. He's kind of like a second cousin. I'm gonna call him John cuz the sermon's recorded. So the John is called John, okay? John came to work for me. So I own a big steel stockholder up north.
Speaker 1 00:11:12 This is the first big company I owned. It was a large company. We employed 150 people. I started it when I was 28. And the, when he came there was probably about a hundred of us. And we sold steel plate and we were a big steel plate stockholder that sold all around the uk. My friend John came in who was a relative, who was a Christian, right? Who was a Christian. He came in as the business development manager to go and open new doors around the UK and then work back in the office on a Friday to sort of give leads to the sales guys. You with me? He did an outstanding job. He was brilliant out in the field. He was like a little dog with a bone. He wouldn't let go until they thought, all right John, I'll give you an order. Just stop ringing me, stop coming to see me.
Speaker 1 00:11:52 It was great. But you know what he couldn't do? He couldn't. He couldn't sort of come back to the office and get on with the team. He was, he was, bless him, he was a bit insecure and he was always seeking their approval. And I used to say, John, it's okay. Just be yourself mate. You're doing a good job, right? Just, just be yourself. Try and get on with everybody. And he was obsessed. They were talking. He used to come see me after work all the time. So-and-so's been talking about me. So-and-so's been talking. I said, come on, grow up. We're 35 years old, it doesn't matter. Sticks and stones will break my bones. Do you know what I mean? But we're Christians, people are always seeing what we're doing. So we were the only two Christians there. And uh, um, one time he stayed back after work and he logged on a couple of computers of some colleagues, had looked over their shoulder, learnt the password, and had looked at their emails to see if they were talking about him.
Speaker 1 00:12:41 And one of them had just in a jokey way. And he brought this to me and to these guys. And I had a real problem on my hands. I had a real dilemma because he'd kind of stepped over a line. It's instantly gone to like a gross misconduct situation. I said, John, you can't log on somebody else's computer. It's not appropriate. You shouldn't have done that. I know you found out they're talking about you, but you can't do that. You can't go into somebody's space like that and do that. So for the betterment of the company, I knew we had to get to a, a situation of an impasse. How he's gonna leave the business. And because he was my second cousin, because I cared for him because he was another brother in Christ, I took him to one side and I said, look, how do you wanna do this?
Speaker 1 00:13:20 I said that, that's gross misconduct, John. He said, I no, I know he got all embarrassed. What you gonna do? I said, well do you wanna just leave quietly? We'll not make any paperwork. You just leave quietly. I'll pay you a couple of months wages and you know, wish you well in your next career. He said, okay. A week later I got a letter from claims for you or whatever it was called, suing me for not handling him appropriately. Okay? So I wrote back, I told him the situation, said Maybe you didn't document it, you didn't have a meeting. All the usual stuff. So I went to a scripture I wanna read. It says this one Corinthians six, verse seven. It says, the very fact you have lawsuits among you means you've been completely defeated already. Wow. Listen to this church. Listen to this. Why not rather be wrong?
Speaker 1 00:14:11 Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Read it yourself. One Corinthians six verse seven. Why not be wronged? Why not be cheated? You know the kingdom of God. That mindset rewards us according to our deeds deserved You remember? So I went back to my second cousin and I said this to him. The scripture actually goes on to say, meet with your elders to discuss it. Don't take it out into the lawsuits, into the law courts. Meet with your elders and discuss it. Yes, yes. So I put that to him. No, I said, look, he went to a large church in Bradford. I said, let's meet with your elders. Let's meet with your elders, not mine. Let's bottom this out in love, kindness. Draw line under it. Don't need to go. Nope. He pursued with a thing. He was on 32 grand a year and he got 16 grand outta me.
Speaker 1 00:14:58 He got six months wages, he got six months payoff. I was like, wow. It really knocks me sideways. I thought, I try to do a good thing by you. I try to deal with you honorably and unfairly and kindly not to rubbish in front of everyone. And I, I felt really upset. Do you know what I mean? Now hear my heart, hear what I'm gonna say. Hear my heart. Within a year he was divorced, right? His life was a train wreck. I met him five years later at a funeral of a family because we were distant relatives. It worked its way up and somebody up at the top had died and we were all there. And he came up and he flung his arms around me and he burst into tears. Will you forgive me Phil? I said, absolutely mate. Of course I'll forgive you forgiven it.
Speaker 1 00:15:42 Of course I will. I did. Yeah. But I thought, what a thing to carry for five years. Can't you rewind the clock and go back? I'm not saying he wouldn't have got divorced. I'm not saying these other things, but I am saying there is consequences in our lives when we deal with things in a worldly manner. Jesus is always watching, he's always watching church. Right? And I believe as we honor him, as we seek to do things his way, as the scriptures tell us why not rather be wronged, why not rather be cheated in this world? Instant gratification at the moment in this world are all about me, me, me. What can I get out of it? What do I identify as? What can the world do for me? Not what can I do for Jesus in this world? Totally different mindset, isn't it? Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:16:23 As we flip our minds around to live for him with a kingdom mindset, especially out in the workplace where guess what all are seeing it, aren't they? Yes. So those hundred people that worked with me that knew he was a Christian as well, tell you what, that wasn't a good day in the office for witnessing. Do you know what I got? I thought he was a Christian Phil. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought he was one of you. Is what I used to get. So on the Christmas dues that I'd had, let me tell you I was there. Diet coke would drive to the Christmas dues. All his music was on in the background. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:16:54 Only kidding all it was a good tune. It was a good tune on that Christmas night out. Often our CO would be consumed. It was our works night out. Do you know whose shoulder they always used to come to when the tears had come and the alcohol would like lower the inhibitions? It was mine. Because I tell you what, most people in the workplace, they respect God in you. They won't tell you, they certainly won't tell you. You sit next to him, they'll probably call your names. But do you know what? Deep down they respect God in you. They respect the way you live your lives above reproach. They see it. They might wanna throw stones at you, but deep down they respect you. So that was not a good day at the office for a witness of Jesus. And I loved him. Forgiveness, it got sorted.
Speaker 1 00:17:33 But my point here is people are always watching. God's always watching. And there's consequences to what we do. Why not rather be wrong? Why not rather be cheated? Is that okay? Yes. You still with me? Yes. I don't want us to get sucked into this self-absorbed, I've called it here, this self-absorbed blame culture of the day. It is always someone else's fault. I don't read the word blame culture anywhere in my Bible. If you read it in any of yours, I don't. I read prefer one another. Yeah, I read turn the other cheek hurts sometimes, doesn't it? You've turn the other cheek. But that's what our Bible tells us to do, right? One more story and then we'll pull some other stuff in. This was a massive one for me and Rin R family. So this is again where you've gotta, sometimes Christians stand on a ledge and say, am I gonna serve my God or this world?
Speaker 1 00:18:27 Because this world will throw you plenty of opportunities. Let me tell you that. Look sweet. Yes. And as we saw on the other one, they're often bittersweet. Yeah. So the first company that I had, um, I, this is not about me, it sounds me me. And I don't mean it like that. I'm trying to bring a point out. Okay? So I started it when I was 28 with 10,000 pounds. I'd saved up working at the previous company in a little office in a place called Den in Yorkshire near Lyor, which all of you know is the promised land. Yep. <laugh>. Amen. You can have you Devin Hart Dartmore. But on Elmore Barat is where I'm from. And um, I started in this little office and uh, I sold steel for somebody else for 10 years. I just worked on my own. Do you know what I had me and a little printer on the desk next to me in a computer.
Speaker 1 00:19:13 That's all I had. And when I got my first order, I wanted to tell somebody. So I told the printer, get in 2010, what an order. You didn't respond. But he, he printed out the paperwork. So I took it. That was a response. Said well done. And we grew And we grew and we grew. I got invited to Richard Branson's back garden in 2007 because the Sunday Times rang rang me. And between 2002 and 2006, sorry 2003 and 2006. So from being one year old to four year old, we grew from 400,000 turnover to 30 million in three, three years. Yeah. I'm not to lead that to show off. I'm not. It gets worse. You're seeing him in it. You don't want business advice from me cause it went wrong. And um, and he said, oh you're the what? We're the seventh fastest growing company in the UK in the last three years.
Speaker 1 00:20:03 I went, really? That's nice. David Cameron's the after speaker. You go into this garden party, which I did. It was great. We have PIMS on the terrace down there. Fast forward five years after that to 2012 Es and I used to go caravan in. Esther absolutely hated it. She said, why do we go on holiday in such a little box when we can go in a hotel? I'd done it as a kid. I loved it. Anyone who likes caravan, it was great fun. Esther hated it. And um, anyway, because of that and I just wanted to please my wife I'd seen in America they do these caravans with slide outside. Have you ever seen them? They call of an RV and the whole world slides out. I thought why has nobody done that in the uk Being me in his thirties thought he could conquer the world.
Speaker 1 00:20:45 I've set up a good steel business. Tell you what, I'll set up a caravan business, which I did. Now that goes onto Anton Deck. Saturday night takeaways of certain main prize I was actually on. You can Google it and see this. I was on the Apprentice, you are fired on the industry panel afterwards cuz they did a se, a selling show at the nec, right? And they got me on as an industry expert. They rang me, the bbc. I said, well we've only been in business two years. He said, I know but everyone's talking about you. It's you that we want. So I got to go on the apprentice, your fired panel with 7 million viewers. Esther's in the audience like laughing at me, you know? And um, it was great. But I kind of cooked my goose. I borrowed so much money from the steel business, right?
Speaker 1 00:21:28 To set up this new caravan business. And as it started to not work out, I've always been commercial. I've always been good with my mind figures buying and selling. And we had so many problems out in the field. These caravan were coming back with warranty repairs. Even though everyone was talking about us. It was draining more and more money from the the steel company to the point the bank called me in. You'll know this, my friend Joel's with me this morning. When the bank manager calls you in, Joel's a businessman. You've got a problem. So he called me in and basically we had a big 5 million trading facility that was gonna be taken away. Cause when the bank realized there's enough assets in the business to shut you down, the bank's, okay, your game over now, they'd give me about three months warning to turn it around.
Speaker 1 00:22:10 Or they were gonna remove this trading overdraft about two weeks before it was gonna go. And I was really broken man. And I was sat in this little caravan office thinking I'm gonna lose everything here. Right? A guy who was a caravan customer, big guy right from Wiggin, forgotten his name but it doesn't matter. But he used to run a debt collection firm and a few nightclubs, right? Savvy business guy, but a bit of a boy about town Drove down to my offices, right? Says you come in with me. Cause I'd shared the story with him the week before when he'd come and pick his caravan up that was leaking. I thought I better repair his cuz he's a big lad and I don't want a problem with his caravan. So I went to the production line, get his in first, put as much silicon, seal it up as you can, please, make sure that one doesn't leak.
Speaker 1 00:22:56 He was a bit of a boy about town and he sort of growled at me as if to say repair my caravan. But somehow he felt sorry for me. And he came back and he said, come on, we're going out. Listen to this church. This was a massive moment in my life. He drove me down in this big Mercedes into the central Manchester. I won't say who to a liquidation firm. I didn't know it was at the time. It was a liquidation, an accountancy firm that just dealt with liquidations. And this guy just sat there and he said, well you're a friend of Steve's a friend of ours. We've done a lot of work with Steve over the years, that's his makeup name. And I said, all right. He said, uh, how much do you own your house? And I went, I dunno, about 200,000.
Speaker 1 00:23:34 I said, what's it worth? I said, I dunno, about four 50. He went, right, I'm having your house. Wow, this guy's a bit forward. Um, he said, that's your fee for today. But he said that 5 million that you all supplied, sorry, 8 million. It was that 8 million that you owe suppliers gets written up tonight. The bank disappear. I said, what do you mean we're gonna go bus? I said, yeah, tonight. He said, while you are still a director at company's house, you can do what you want. And other banks give me notice in two weeks you've lost everything. And I sat there and I thought of everything. But you know, the first thing I thought of was him. I thought, I can't do this. When I started this steel business, a lot of people supported me. This 8 million started with 50 grand and 20 grand people supporting me.
Speaker 1 00:24:15 Get this company going. I owed some suppliers that had taken me on business trips all around the world that I owed a million pounds. And I saw all those faces and I thought, I can't do this. This is wrong. He said, you can start again in your wife's name tomorrow. And I thought, people do it to me in business and I don't like it. What are you gonna do Phil? And I just went back and said, lad, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for what you've told me, but it's not a bit of me. Wow. And, and Steve said, don't give me your Christian nonsense if you walk outta this room and don't do this. You'll regret it for the rest of your life and you'll be skinned. And I said, S Steve, you're a big lad. I'll never fight you but I'll tell you this, my God is worth more than you and him put together.
Speaker 1 00:24:53 And I said, I'm getting the bus home. Thank you for your time. Goodbye. God will look after me. And I walked out, burst into tears, shaking like a cheshire cart, hoping he wasn't chasing me. And I got the bus home or the train home. And you know what? I got my Bible out the next morning and I read this in Zephaniah, right? And it said this, right? I just opened my Bible. It's not always a good prescriptions, a pastor to tell you. But I didn't know what to do. I just opened it to this. Never even heard of this Zephaniah. Have you all heard of that? Oh you way ahead of me. Cause I hadn't. And it said Zephaniah three 20, right? I will restore your fortunes before your very eyes and show you honor among the peoples. I thought, well I don't want any honor, Lord.
Speaker 1 00:25:40 I don't really want any honor. I wouldn't mind getting back a little bit of what we lost. Cause I'm completely skinned. We were 50 grand in debt, right? We moved into Esther's parents house. The kids came outta private school. I threw everything into rescuing that caravan business. Stupidly, I put 50,000 pounds on three credit cards. Have you ever had credit card companies right here, Mr. Daniels, you've got a 20,000 pound limit. Great. Never spent anything of them. I filled up three credit cards trying to buy supply to get this caravan company to work. So not only did I walk away skit, I was 50 grand in debt. That house we owned, we had to sell, move in with Esther's parents, start again. And eventually somebody took me on in steal and I started again. But I want to tell you this, well you've gotta stand on ledge sometimes church and say, am I gonna serve Jesus?
Speaker 1 00:26:28 Am I gonna serve man? Am I gonna do a worldly thing? I'm gonna be rather be wronged. I thought if I'd made a mistake here, those suppliers don't need to take, don't need to take the hit I do. And I'm telling you, God honored me. And you know this showing in honor among the peoples. I didn't want that. I don't need that. I'm not bothered about that. The amount of times, even to this day, I go around in the steel industry and people say, Phil, how are you still okay? I'm like, what do you mean? Well all that you went through seven years ago, isn't it beautiful? Seven's a biblical number. Last year we had the best year ever in business that actually made back nearly everything that I'd lost in one year. Wow. Right? When God's in control of our lives church, it's the most amazing thing.
Speaker 1 00:27:06 And I used to say to these people, I lost money. I lost everything. I didn't lose my wife, I didn't lose my kids. And the most important thing, I didn't lose my faith in God. And my God has brought me through. And it's been a wonderful thing to be able to tell the steel industry. Do you know what happened this year? We have a big annual convention, right? We all go in Dickie Barss. I send Esther a picture. I there in the black tie and we got Harrit. There's about 300 of all the other steel directors and banks and shipping firms, anything to do with the steel industry. They asked me to pray. Come. They asked me to open in prayer. What a privilege. They had it that night. It was normally the God, oh my father, thank you for this food. Everyone coming on man.
Speaker 1 00:27:42 So I actually said to the comper the year before, I said, you know my Christian, come on if, if we're gonna pray, we can do a better job than that. So she called me <laugh>, will you come and pray Phil? And it was a privilege. So God truly restored what we lost and he was truly there for me. But I'm telling you, there was a few years that was so hard. We used to go away to France with like a couple of thousand pounds spending money. We'd go away with a couple of hundred pounds. We had the best time ever because we had each other and we had him and God. So pulled me through that storm, right? But he started with the doing the right thing. Why not rather be wrong? Why not rather be cheated? I'd made a mistake sometimes church, right? We've made mistakes aren't we?
Speaker 1 00:28:20 Don't shift it onto someone else. Yeah, don't shift it onto anyone else. Take it on your own shoulders and go to him. Right? He's everything to us. He can look after you and he can take you through things that sometimes guess what? Text time. If God does everything straight away, we don't learn anything. God can turn a situation around like that. You know, he can. But in doing so, he takes us through a journey. I've just given you a quick snapshot of what happened. Let me tell you, the first few years hard, I, I felt a failure as a man. I felt a broken man. I thought I, you know, I'm the provider for my family and we've lost everything, right? God was doing stuff in me to trust in him above all things. So, and wives stand behind your husband. Esther was amazing that, that in those days she stood behind me and pulled me through.
Speaker 1 00:29:02 So, um, two constant contrasting stories there out there from my cousin to me. Um, but yeah, it's that standing on the leg saying, Jesus, I'm gonna serve you today. Another point I wanna bring out about laziness in the workplace. I see this all the time. It drives me crackers, right? Lack of character and laziness as Christians. They shouldn't be in our dna. They shouldn't be in our D. So I've seen it creeping in all the time into the church, into the workplace. Let me read you a couple of scriptures. And I'm not trying to poke you in the eye. I'm reading straight from the heart of God that how many of us know it hasn't changed. It's not gonna change. I know the world's changing. I know the culture's changing, but he isn't. Listen to this, right? Psalm a hundred and twenty eight two from the message Bible, you will definitely enjoy what, what you worked hard for from the message Bible PS 128.
Speaker 1 00:29:57 Two, you will definitely enjoy what you've worked hard for. You'll be happy and things will go well for you. I believe that's God's saying, work hard, work diligent. Be the best member of staff, say at the kingdom of God in the workplace and all will go well with you. Listen to this 1423 Proverbs. Sorry, Proverbs 1423. There is profit in hard work, but Mia talk in bracket's, laziness leads to poverty. Finally, you're ready for the killer. It's a good one. This, it's a bit of a poke in the eye for me. As for all of us, two Thessalonians three versus 10 and 11, the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat. And that that some here among you are idling disruptive. They are not busy but busy bodies. Now I know in our culture today, the government's very kind and you'll be provided for if you don't work.
Speaker 1 00:30:51 So I'm not slapping anyone around the nose that doesn't work. But hear my heart this morning, I believe it's a biblical principle to work. I believe if you can get up and go to work, there's provision. If you can't praise God, if you can go to work, the Bible tells us to do that and do it diligently. Do it with hard work. Be the best employee that you can. And let me tell you, God will prosper your lives. I've seen it time and time again. As you seek him, God will prosper your lives being right is not always right is it in the, in the workplace. But hard work is amazing. Matthew 6 33 don't. It says seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. So God will look after you if you put him first. Right? How are we doing for timers?
Speaker 1 00:31:34 Number two, five minutes. Number two, I'll speed up if you're making notes. Look for opportunities to shift the spiritual atmosphere in your workplace. You are the Christian, you are the one going in. Okay, won't it amazing if you saw signs and wonders, right? You're able to pray for somebody in the workplace for a situation to change and it changes. Nothing draws the heart of a man more than the Holy Spirit, right? Actively look for situations where you can honor God in the workplace. I'm not saying put him to test cause that will be wrong. But say Jesus, I want you to use me in the workplace. How can you use me if there's a healing that needs doing? If there's that difficult neighbor situation you hear him talking about over a coffee, just gently come in and say, I I believe my God can turn that situation around.
Speaker 1 00:32:21 Would you let me pray with you. Do you know I studied this this week and I was thinking, can a non-Christian have faith in God even though they don't know God as we know him? Can a non-Christian believe God to do something even though they're not saved? A couple of examples in the Bible. Do you remember the centurion? The centurion went up to Jesus, didn't he? Don't tell us he was saved. And he says to him, say the word, just say the word Jesus and my servant will be well. And he says, you have great faith and his servant will, well we don't know the rest of the story, but I bet he gave his life to Jesus. Yeah. Wow. Do you remember the lady with a blood issue? Years of blood issue. If I could just touch the hem of the garment as Jesus doesn't say she was a Christian, but she had faith that if God, God could touch him, she'd seen him do things.
Speaker 1 00:33:09 If I could just touch him instantly. Well yeah, what's my point here? A non-believer can believe a God that they don't know right to do something. But I tell you what, when he comes through, they'll probably want to know him then. And they'll probably have a heart open for you to say, would you come to church Sunday? Can I pray with you? Would you come on this alpha course? But it all starts with that gentle word, doesn't it? I'm not saying going around smashing people over the heads with this. Look for pray. Actually pray for opportunities where God can use you in your workplace to be used by him to turn a situation around for God. Is that cool? Yes. I think we'll sure. See revival then, won't we? If there's workplaces full of Christians been birthed in the workplace through God moving in the lives.
Speaker 1 00:33:54 Tell you what, we'll sure. See revival. Final point we making notes. Number three, unequally yoked, unequally yoked. Two Corinthians six, verse 14. It says this, do not be yoked together with the unbeliever for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Now, I appreciate this passage is often referred to marriage. If you can marry a believer, cuz it's great a Christian marriage, right? I know there's grace in other situations and we can pray for partners and God can work through our hearts and lives. But I believe this unequally out scripture isn't just for marriage, I believe it's also for our workplace situation. Don't do unequally yoed to your work colleagues. What do I mean by that? Don't go on the night out and drink as much as they do. If you have to go on that night out with them. Take your car. Honor the Lord.
Speaker 1 00:34:47 Yeah. If two pints is enough to honor the Lord of the land and drive your car certainly enough to honor God, just having either one drink or nothing, I would recommend. So you can be part of them, but you're not always with them, are you? Yeah. That staff party don't gossip. You don't have to be weird about it. But don't gossip. Don't be the one that joins in the gossip. Don't be yoed with the environment of where you work. Work. Do not be yoed with them also financially as well. Um, interesting on this, but I think up to about one generation ago, what I'm gonna say never even mattered for the whole of mankind back to Jesus, right? So many of us now, right? We live month to month, day to day. And that paycheck that we get is everything to us. We've got direct debits waiting to go out, haven't we?
Speaker 1 00:35:37 This isn't a telling off school, don't worry. But we live so much month to month, day to day, week to week, that when that paycheck comes without it after just one month, we're snook it, aren't we? We can't pay the bills. I don't, I don't, I don't believe Christ wants that for us young. Jacob. I don't mean to embarrass you. <laugh> Jacob wants to pay his mortgage off. He's 28 years old and I was out walking with him and uh, we were out having the men's walk and I said, Jacob, why don't you buy a new car? Cause he's a piston head like I am. He likes a car. He said, Phil, I want to pay my mortgage off. I thought, what a wise young man. What a great thing to do. Because you know what mortgage means in French? More is death. Gage is grip.
Speaker 1 00:36:20 That's right. Don't worry, you've not all got death grips around your neck. But it's, it's a bit concerning when you hear the French meaning of mortgage. So let's get ourselves in a position that that job is great, but it's not everything to us. Let me pause this to you, church. What if Jesus said, I want you to go on the church planting academy that Mark's doing in Exeter. You might be on 50,000 a year and go beyond 20,000 a year pastoring a church. Can you do it? I just wanna put it out there that sometimes we need to be open to what God wants to do in our lives or that might not be the case, but another situation where if we are so reliant, it was so yoked to this job, it actually clouds our judgment on everything we do. It does. And I, and I say that gently and you can say, it's all right for you, Phil. I I was there. We lost absolutely everything, every direct debit I canceled sky, bum, bum, bum, bum. I canceled the mortgage. I couldn't afford them. Right? I'm just saying it'd be wise to be in a place where God can use us able to do anything for his kingdom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If we're not yo to the employer, Lawson, do you wanna come up please?
Speaker 1 00:37:33 Um, maybe if you are in paid employment, will you stand? Is that okay? Can you stand if you're in paid employment?
Speaker 1 00:37:44 Just before Lawson brings this last song, I wanna read a scripture of you there and I pray for you. It says this, Colossians one, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his son, whom he loves. And we have redemption for sins. Father God, I want to pray for my friends this morning. I want to pray for everybody, but especially those that stood this morning, that go out week in, week out to a workplace. Father, I pray for great boldness from heaven to live in that dominion that you created for us, Lord, where we're gonna go and spend eternity with you. I pray for great courage and boldness and also Lord, gentle, lovely opportunities from you, Jesus, that they can share their lives with their colleagues. They can see you do great, great miracles through their life. Yeah. They can build a history with you Lord, as I've shared my story this morning, I pray for many stories across this room of doing history with God by serving him, not wanting to be wronged, not wanting to be cheated, just with a heart to serve you. King Jesus, I pray my beautiful friends this morning will experience the goodness of God in their lives. The faithfulness of God through the years that starts with a heart tender to you with the courage and boldness to follow him. Follow you, Lord, through everything we do. Amen. Amen.
