WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:28.340 I 00:28.340 --> 00:31.860 I'll make a pretty good sniper in the Marines in a few weeks, wouldn't 00:31.860 --> 00:32.860 he? 00:32.860 --> 00:40.940 Maybe it's like the Piper, and Bo, we're going to miss you, bless your heart, and I appreciate 00:40.940 --> 00:41.940 that sound. 00:41.940 --> 00:44.260 I'll never, ever forget it. 00:44.260 --> 00:45.740 Well, this is Labor Day. 00:45.740 --> 00:47.940 It kind of shows up today, doesn't it? 00:47.940 --> 00:50.020 And that's all right. 00:50.020 --> 00:55.820 I am glad that people are off having fun, relaxing, refurbishing themselves for a good 00:55.820 --> 01:02.540 time, and from a tired time of the summer, and we just see this as part of God's plan. 01:02.540 --> 01:07.780 And I want to, the simple title of this is Labor Day, and yet that was put in the bulletin, 01:07.780 --> 01:10.700 and that's very adequate, Labor Day. 01:10.700 --> 01:12.300 And it's a good time. 01:12.300 --> 01:20.540 It's kind of a good time for me and Kitty, because this happens to be as a 52nd, 53rd. 01:20.540 --> 01:22.340 This is our 53rd anniversary. 01:22.340 --> 01:25.180 So praise God, we made it this far. 01:25.180 --> 01:33.580 We may just keep going together. 01:33.580 --> 01:36.580 Labor Day was founded in 1886. 01:36.580 --> 01:41.700 It was a day set aside for a special occasion for a special group of people. 01:41.700 --> 01:44.460 They were called the Toilers of the Soil. 01:44.460 --> 01:49.380 And our legislators got together and decided that the hardworking people of America need 01:49.380 --> 01:51.620 to be blessed with the day of rest. 01:51.620 --> 01:53.340 And I can buy that, too. 01:53.340 --> 01:58.820 And they defined a labor as someone who was unskilled, physical worker for wages. 01:58.820 --> 02:01.740 That includes most of us in a certain respect. 02:01.740 --> 02:04.660 That even includes school teachers, I think. 02:04.660 --> 02:07.620 So, you know, toil, labor. 02:07.620 --> 02:16.660 What I liked about in looking this up, that many states have that in their logo on their 02:16.660 --> 02:22.660 state flag, Laboria Omnia Wincott, which in Latin simply means labor, covers all. 02:22.660 --> 02:26.420 I noticed people are fanning when someone turned overhead fans on. 02:26.420 --> 02:32.540 It was kind of cool this morning, and maybe this will help you a little better circulation. 02:32.540 --> 02:36.740 We didn't count on turning on, it was raining this morning, didn't think proudly we needed 02:36.740 --> 02:38.260 it. 02:38.260 --> 02:42.940 At any rate, labor conquers all. 02:42.940 --> 02:50.860 And you know, to many respects, I believe that's the philosophy that made America great. 02:50.860 --> 02:55.780 Toil, the sweat of the brow. 02:55.780 --> 02:58.900 That's in part of God's plan, I really believe, with all of my heart. 02:58.900 --> 03:01.460 The Bible uses the word toil or labor. 03:01.460 --> 03:05.500 That is real labor now, the sweat of the brow. 03:05.500 --> 03:08.020 Because that was the curse that God laid on his people. 03:08.500 --> 03:13.380 Was because you broke my will, I'll see that you have to work hard all the rest of your 03:13.380 --> 03:17.700 life, and the Garden of Eden is done for you because you broke my commandments from here 03:17.700 --> 03:21.460 on in, you will live by the sweat of your brow. 03:21.460 --> 03:25.940 Used 141 times, why baptism alone is only used 115 times. 03:25.940 --> 03:34.060 So labor is a very important part of God's plan, and it's a good part of our plan. 03:34.060 --> 03:37.980 I'd like to stress the idea of physical labor, first of all, and then we'll take the second 03:37.980 --> 03:43.140 part, spiritual labor, because we have to deal with that as well. 03:43.140 --> 03:45.740 It was God's design. 03:45.740 --> 03:52.700 In Luke 10, verse two, he said, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. 03:52.700 --> 03:58.100 Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers out into 03:58.100 --> 03:59.860 his harvest. 03:59.860 --> 04:01.540 And that's important, isn't it? 04:01.540 --> 04:02.860 What in the world do we labor for? 04:02.860 --> 04:06.060 I suppose we had a show of hands. 04:06.060 --> 04:10.140 What do you folks labor for? 04:10.140 --> 04:11.860 Anybody got a bright idea? 04:11.860 --> 04:13.700 What do you go to work for? 04:13.700 --> 04:18.060 Sometimes some of you, it's 20 hours, sometimes it's only eight, even if it's two. 04:18.060 --> 04:19.460 What do you go to work for? 04:19.460 --> 04:23.060 Well, I think for my children, don't you? 04:23.060 --> 04:27.620 Oh, my children, because how are you going to take care of the little ones? 04:27.620 --> 04:31.780 Provide an education, look after them, take them to the hospital, do all those things, 04:31.780 --> 04:38.060 and without labor, how can you provide that wonderful asset to your babies, how important 04:38.060 --> 04:39.060 it is? 04:39.060 --> 04:40.940 And then I think for a home. 04:40.940 --> 04:45.060 I think Americans have been one of the luckiest group of people on the face of the earth, 04:45.060 --> 04:48.740 because when they came over to this country, they wanted a home, they wanted a place, they 04:48.740 --> 04:50.100 staked out a place in the land. 04:50.100 --> 04:54.780 Now, I've got a big ranch out west of town, all eight acres of it. 04:54.780 --> 04:59.540 And I imagine that we had one man in the group that had 53,000 acres in his ranch, or at 04:59.540 --> 05:01.700 least controlled that much. 05:01.700 --> 05:04.500 And that's big time business, and it's very important. 05:04.500 --> 05:09.500 It's important to the very economy of our country, our world, don't you think it is? 05:09.500 --> 05:14.380 As everyone hearing me well, as it's coming through, I just want to be sure. 05:14.380 --> 05:18.020 And then I think labor is so important for the future. 05:18.020 --> 05:22.780 Labor to me provides hope for the future. 05:22.780 --> 05:29.300 Having retired some time ago, I realized the wonderful asset of holding a job long enough 05:29.300 --> 05:32.180 to put some money aside for your old age. 05:32.180 --> 05:37.300 And I am thankful for that for as many years I was not faintest concerned that way. 05:37.300 --> 05:42.860 And yet I believe that God's people are supposed to be good stewards of not only today, but 05:42.860 --> 05:44.420 of the long term. 05:44.420 --> 05:49.500 You and I are here in the house of God, because we're here for the long run, aren't we? 05:49.500 --> 05:52.700 We're not just going to be a flash in the pan and then get out of here, but we're going 05:52.700 --> 05:53.940 to be. 05:53.940 --> 05:58.620 And I think probably a little phone rang and someone has to run out on the hot ass fault 05:58.660 --> 06:01.140 and head west toward the oil business. 06:01.140 --> 06:03.340 And but that's good. 06:03.340 --> 06:04.460 That's good. 06:04.460 --> 06:06.660 It provides a future, doesn't it? 06:06.660 --> 06:12.980 I like to think that this truly is God's design that somehow or another, there would be laborers 06:12.980 --> 06:19.700 who would be able to sustain themselves in the house of God and to help their families. 06:19.700 --> 06:22.580 And you know, there's a sure guarantee of that. 06:22.580 --> 06:28.140 You know, there's a lot going on today, you know, being a being a school teacher. 06:28.140 --> 06:33.100 I just wanted to let you know that there's so much labor that needs to be done in the 06:33.100 --> 06:36.100 house of God, which just involves toil. 06:36.100 --> 06:41.900 Look here, time and the evolution wars, the push to teach intelligent design raises a question. 06:41.900 --> 06:44.300 Does God have a place in science class? 06:44.300 --> 06:46.860 You bet your sweet Bippy, he does. 06:46.860 --> 06:48.100 I think so. 06:48.100 --> 06:55.260 And this little idea about labor and how the seeds grow and how the word is spread is 06:55.260 --> 06:58.460 from science itself, and I'll make a good point of that. 06:58.460 --> 07:01.780 But if someone would like to come up and just pass that around because someone says, oh, 07:01.780 --> 07:02.780 you're making this up. 07:02.780 --> 07:03.780 And look at this. 07:03.780 --> 07:08.260 U.S. News, new thinking about the role of faith in America, and it talks about that. 07:08.260 --> 07:14.220 Oh, this is not about Darth Vader, but there's a good article in here about this idea of 07:14.220 --> 07:19.940 intelligent design and evolution and teaching that in our school system today. 07:19.940 --> 07:24.740 Well, even the mighty National Geographic's got a green monster there. 07:24.740 --> 07:27.100 And it says, was Darwin wrong? 07:27.100 --> 07:29.900 Well, of course, you know what their answer is. 07:29.900 --> 07:31.540 No, he was right. 07:31.540 --> 07:33.100 But we have something else to teach. 07:33.100 --> 07:34.900 No, he was wrong. 07:34.900 --> 07:36.460 And so we've got a lot of work to do. 07:36.460 --> 07:41.980 Let me show you, and I can prove that labor was an intrinsic part of God's plan. 07:41.980 --> 07:44.020 Anybody ever sat on a cockle-burr? 07:44.020 --> 07:50.180 Boy, oh boy, that's a thrill and a half, isn't it, barefooted on one? 07:50.180 --> 07:53.660 The old dog goes out there and runs through our pasture out on the big ranch where we 07:53.660 --> 07:57.500 live, and she'll come back with 46 cockle-burrs. 07:57.500 --> 08:00.380 And then she'll sit on the floor there and chew those things to pieces. 08:00.380 --> 08:02.460 What is so efficient about a cockle-burr? 08:02.460 --> 08:08.540 Well, that was one of those weeds that guaranteed that ranchers and farmers and people who raise 08:08.540 --> 08:13.620 vegetables for their life, not just for fun, but for their life, is one of the things that 08:13.620 --> 08:19.700 weeds spread so well, because God guaranteed we would work by the sweat of our brow and 08:19.740 --> 08:21.260 the sweat of our face. 08:21.260 --> 08:25.060 He guaranteed that because the way he made the cockle-burr, you know, it's like the 08:25.060 --> 08:26.980 old original Velcro. 08:26.980 --> 08:29.620 It's got little bitty hooks on it, doesn't it? 08:29.620 --> 08:32.060 And hey, never stick a cockle-burr up your nose. 08:32.060 --> 08:34.740 No, any of you kids ever do that. 08:34.740 --> 08:36.580 It's not the right thing to do. 08:36.580 --> 08:41.100 But you know, here comes a horse, a sheep, a cow, and picks up that cockle-burr. 08:41.100 --> 08:45.420 They carry it off three or four miles, and eventually it rubs off and gets stamped into 08:45.420 --> 08:46.420 the dirt. 08:46.420 --> 08:47.420 There are two seeds. 08:47.420 --> 08:51.460 One is very sensitive to oxygen and water. 08:51.460 --> 08:54.580 It immediately sprouts if there's any rain at all. 08:54.580 --> 09:01.460 But the second seed is coated with about three extra coats, and is not sensitive to air and 09:01.460 --> 09:02.460 to water. 09:02.460 --> 09:08.220 So, if there's a drought, that seed will wait three, four, five years in the ground there 09:08.220 --> 09:13.580 before, now the water will get to it after three or four years, and that seed will grow 09:13.580 --> 09:17.100 when the wheat would long time have been dead, or the barley or the corn would long time 09:17.100 --> 09:18.100 have been dead. 09:18.100 --> 09:25.340 And so, you see, God uses the mysteries of biology, which are no mystery to him at all, 09:25.340 --> 09:30.300 to guarantee that the seeds of the wheat will always have preponderance. 09:30.300 --> 09:32.620 Have you noticed that? 09:32.620 --> 09:36.220 Man alive, you know, tomatoes are pretty wimpy, aren't they? 09:36.220 --> 09:40.020 But that old cockle-burr is there to stay. 09:40.020 --> 09:45.340 You put a cockle-burr under a horse's saddle, you know, under his blanket, and what do you 09:45.460 --> 09:46.460 get? 09:46.460 --> 09:48.300 Excitement, don't you? 09:48.300 --> 09:50.940 And it disrupts the work, and it does everything else. 09:50.940 --> 09:57.700 I just want you to be realizing that my land's work was part of God's way that man would 09:57.700 --> 10:02.700 have a future and would prosper, and that the kingdom of God would, therefore, prosper, 10:02.700 --> 10:04.020 you see. 10:04.020 --> 10:09.620 My granddaddy, McGinnis, a good old Irish man, he would sing the old patty deer, and did 10:09.620 --> 10:12.500 you hear the news that's going round? 10:12.500 --> 10:17.380 The shamrock is forbidden now, though wearing of the green. 10:17.380 --> 10:21.700 That doesn't mean anything to somebody that's a Dutchman, but to an Irishman, man alive, 10:21.700 --> 10:27.460 that big old man with tears come down, and you know, he had it in Sedgwick County, Kansas, 10:27.460 --> 10:32.100 when he was a little boy in the Depression and became a strong man in the Depression. 10:32.100 --> 10:37.180 Money does not available, and work was hard to get, and if you got a job, it was because 10:37.180 --> 10:38.820 you were a superman. 10:38.820 --> 10:43.220 And that old man would take his shoes and time around his neck, the only work shoes 10:43.220 --> 10:46.500 he had, and he'd walk out several miles into the fields. 10:46.500 --> 10:48.860 He had Sedgwick County's biggest sickle. 10:48.860 --> 10:52.860 They said it was 12 feet long, now that may have been an Irish bit of blarning, but that 10:52.860 --> 10:58.860 old man, I know, stood there for 50 cents a day and swung that great 12-foot cycle sickle. 10:58.860 --> 11:03.820 You see, until it got dark, then he'd put his shoes off and walk back, see, because 11:03.820 --> 11:07.980 he didn't want to waste any time walking, wearing out leather, see. 11:07.980 --> 11:10.180 Things were tight, things were hard. 11:10.180 --> 11:15.820 And a chicken in the pot, you know, back in the Depression, was a big promise by Brother 11:15.820 --> 11:17.320 Roosevelt. 11:17.320 --> 11:22.340 And you know, to us, a chicken in the pot, we just, we need several a day of those, see. 11:22.340 --> 11:25.180 But we want something better than that, and those were hard times. 11:25.180 --> 11:26.180 They really were. 11:26.180 --> 11:33.380 I tell you, it says Luke 10-7, the worker deserves his wages, and I believe that, don't 11:33.380 --> 11:34.380 you? 11:34.380 --> 11:38.180 The worst way in the world you could cheat anybody would be a good working man and not 11:38.180 --> 11:40.660 paying what he was owed. 11:40.660 --> 11:44.980 And we always want to be sure of that way, that when we take care of our people in the 11:44.980 --> 11:53.380 church, man, look after them, and do it right, see, because he deserves his wages. 11:53.380 --> 11:59.820 And a working man is cheated, especially in this veil of tears, when he doesn't get what 11:59.820 --> 12:01.380 comes to him. 12:01.380 --> 12:06.140 You know, I believe this, that here we see the idea of intelligent design. 12:06.140 --> 12:09.060 Man was designed to work. 12:09.060 --> 12:14.180 You know, so many times, we in the ministry have seen somebody, you know, just worked 12:14.180 --> 12:17.780 so hard, they were getting ready to retire, and they were even going to retire early, 12:17.780 --> 12:22.340 and then maybe they stay a little longer, and they're just doing so good, they retire, 12:22.340 --> 12:25.980 and then something like that leaves them. 12:25.980 --> 12:29.380 And so many times, they don't make the next few years. 12:29.380 --> 12:34.740 And it just seems like there's a drive within us when we are doing something, we are prospering. 12:34.740 --> 12:38.460 You know, if you want to kill me, just give me nothing to do. 12:38.460 --> 12:41.380 And I do believe I'd fade away like a lily. 12:41.380 --> 12:47.060 As long as there's something for me to do, I'm going to be all right. 12:47.060 --> 12:53.180 And I think most people are killed by something not to do, rather than too much to do. 12:53.180 --> 12:54.180 I really believe so. 12:54.180 --> 12:58.820 So we have to order our lives to make sure that we were busy doing things that are eternal 12:58.820 --> 13:03.980 and will last, and will feed our families, will nurture our families, will give us time 13:03.980 --> 13:08.460 when we are gray-haired to lean back on a little bit of savings that we have put up, 13:08.460 --> 13:12.540 that we might be able to still prosper. 13:12.540 --> 13:18.060 You know, there's nothing greater in the world than to work hard and come home. 13:18.060 --> 13:22.260 And you know, I don't know, I say take your shoes off, and oh, you ladies, when you come 13:22.260 --> 13:26.980 home, you're probably still in high heels trying to get separated in a great big hurry. 13:26.980 --> 13:30.740 But for a man to come home, the first thing you do probably is take your shoes off, and 13:30.740 --> 13:35.780 here's your house, which your wages and your honest labor has given you. 13:35.780 --> 13:40.820 And oh, kids, an investment in something permanent like a house is a good thing for Christians. 13:40.820 --> 13:44.700 It can be overdone, but it can certainly be underdone. 13:44.700 --> 13:49.860 And I do believe that God wants us to prosper in good, safe, sound, and lovely homes, if 13:49.860 --> 13:54.180 that's what you want, that you might have something for the future. 13:54.180 --> 13:55.860 In many cases, that is. 13:55.860 --> 13:58.980 In most cases, that's the biggest debt that people incur. 13:58.980 --> 14:02.820 Be very, very careful in incurring that debt, but it is an honorable thing. 14:02.820 --> 14:07.100 You smell the bread, the coffee's on, the family's gathered around the table, and you 14:07.100 --> 14:13.420 just sit there and you think, thank God Almighty, I'm home tonight. 14:13.420 --> 14:14.420 I'm home. 14:14.420 --> 14:16.980 How many of you have ever received that call about the time you get home? 14:16.980 --> 14:20.220 The officers call and say, we need you here. 14:20.220 --> 14:22.140 And you know that feeling, don't you? 14:22.140 --> 14:29.860 There is a place for us, and there's a permanence in the sweat of the brow, which that provide. 14:29.860 --> 14:32.020 And it's more than just taking your shoes off. 14:32.020 --> 14:38.940 This is your castle for both of you, man and for woman. 14:38.940 --> 14:48.060 Ecclesiastes 512 affirms that it says, the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, isn't it? 14:48.060 --> 14:50.780 Sometimes you can work so hard you don't sleep good, but most of the time, if you've worked 14:50.780 --> 14:56.580 hard all day, you're plenty glad to get that sweet sleep, to wake up and just feel good 14:56.580 --> 14:58.860 and ready to start the day again. 14:58.860 --> 15:06.500 And the Bible affirms that that sleep is sweet, sweet indeed it is. 15:06.500 --> 15:13.620 I was just thinking, young people here, there's something in the message that I found in Job 15:13.620 --> 15:16.700 23, verses 4 and 5. 15:16.700 --> 15:21.500 Now many of you are young and you're starting out on a career, or even middle-aged and looking 15:21.500 --> 15:23.140 for a career. 15:23.140 --> 15:24.780 What is it you want in life? 15:24.780 --> 15:30.540 And I think we have to each one decide, am I going to be rich, or am I just going to 15:30.540 --> 15:35.700 have enough to feed myself, to close myself, and to care for my loved ones, and to live 15:35.700 --> 15:38.500 a peaceful, sane life? 15:38.500 --> 15:40.260 And I think we all have to make that decision. 15:40.260 --> 15:45.340 Have you noticed the popularity of all the programs of making a quick million dollars, 15:45.340 --> 15:49.500 all the reality shows, and the silliness that goes on that, and people who do the dumbest 15:49.500 --> 15:54.940 thing for a million dollars, they'll just do anything for a million dollars. 15:54.940 --> 15:57.580 And that's not the kind of thing we want. 15:57.580 --> 16:02.260 That's not the kind of sweat of the brow that I think brings permanence, or happiness, or 16:02.260 --> 16:03.260 even goodness. 16:03.260 --> 16:08.980 Now listen to what Job says, because boy, this hits right in the nitty-gritty. 16:08.980 --> 16:12.180 Do not wear yourself to gain wealth. 16:12.180 --> 16:16.520 Now there is a tired, but if you're just getting tired and not having any family life, not 16:16.520 --> 16:23.580 having any meditation, and have no time for the church, there's no profit to you in that. 16:23.580 --> 16:26.580 Don't wear yourself just to gain wealth. 16:26.580 --> 16:29.300 Seize from your consideration of it. 16:29.300 --> 16:35.900 When you set your eyes on it, it is gone, for wealth certainly makes itself wings, like 16:35.900 --> 16:39.500 an eagle that flies toward the heavens. 16:39.500 --> 16:42.180 Have any of you ever noticed that? 16:42.180 --> 16:45.540 At the first of the month, I feel pretty wealthy. 16:45.540 --> 16:50.620 By the end of the month, it has found wings and has gone somewhere else. 16:50.620 --> 16:53.500 It's not around the island house anymore. 16:53.500 --> 16:55.220 And maybe you feel that way. 16:55.220 --> 16:59.380 Sometimes our wealth that we are looking for is so temporal that it doesn't stick with 16:59.380 --> 17:01.140 us, and it does fly away. 17:01.140 --> 17:05.300 So kids, as you get ready for a career, am I going to pick a career that's going to 17:05.300 --> 17:07.500 keep me out on the road night and day? 17:07.860 --> 17:12.940 Or am I going to get something that I can be with my family, earn an honest living, and 17:12.940 --> 17:18.500 still have time to do the things that will make me happy? 17:18.500 --> 17:21.820 And it is not wealth that makes people happy. 17:21.820 --> 17:25.740 When you look at the movie stars, you can certainly say that they've got too much money, 17:25.740 --> 17:27.220 way too much money. 17:27.220 --> 17:32.860 They don't have enough cerebral capacity to handle that money, and they make themselves 17:32.860 --> 17:33.860 miserable. 17:33.860 --> 17:38.580 And it's a false dream, and that's where their labor is not worth much, is it? 17:38.580 --> 17:46.580 Nehemiah 4, verses 19, and also ad verse 21 there, listen to this, God gave these people 17:46.580 --> 17:52.460 the chance to go back and build up his great walls around Jerusalem, the city of peace, 17:52.460 --> 17:54.380 the city of David. 17:54.380 --> 17:58.220 And he says something that really touched my imagination. 17:58.220 --> 18:03.860 And so he says in Nehemiah 4, verse 19, because they were in desperate straits, the house 18:03.860 --> 18:09.060 of God was exposed, it had been virtually destroyed, it need to be restored, and if 18:09.060 --> 18:14.660 it was restored, it need to be protected from the hordes of the enemies of God. 18:14.660 --> 18:20.620 He said, wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there, our God will fight 18:20.620 --> 18:21.620 for us. 18:21.620 --> 18:24.860 Now, we believe that today, don't we? 18:24.860 --> 18:29.940 I just struggle, I think of the little angel of this church, and every church has an angel, 18:29.940 --> 18:32.900 so you be careful when you badmouth the church. 18:32.900 --> 18:38.380 There is a scarred old angel that's took care of this church for a long, long time, that 18:38.380 --> 18:42.220 stood in the way against the forces of evil as we work to do the right thing. 18:42.220 --> 18:43.620 Our God will fight for us. 18:43.620 --> 18:44.940 Hallelujah, I pray that. 18:44.940 --> 18:47.020 But look at this strange addition. 18:47.020 --> 18:50.020 This just tickles me to death, verse 21. 18:50.020 --> 18:56.500 So we committed the work with half the men holding spears from the first light of dawn 18:56.500 --> 18:58.940 till the stars came out. 18:58.940 --> 19:02.220 Well if God was going to fight for them, how come they stood there wasting half of their 19:02.220 --> 19:09.300 labor force holding spears and bows and arrows and protecting the people who worked? 19:09.300 --> 19:15.300 Because we are companions in labor with God Almighty Himself. 19:15.860 --> 19:22.940 Yes He will fight for us, but we are also to labor for the cause and to labor for ourselves. 19:22.940 --> 19:29.380 He doesn't just say, if it happens to me, well God willed it, no, we have to stand to 19:29.380 --> 19:32.060 the defense as well, don't we? 19:32.060 --> 19:37.580 I think really that's kind of the team concept which we have in the church. 19:37.580 --> 19:41.780 We found that when you get a large number of people, you have recommendations and you 19:41.780 --> 19:43.580 need a large force to carry it out. 19:43.580 --> 19:47.660 Just think, two Sunday schools, the easy way to be you would have it one Sunday school, 19:47.660 --> 19:53.460 but with two, it allows people of every service to have their children being taught downstairs. 19:53.460 --> 19:57.100 It takes more work, it takes more labor, but it's worth it. 19:57.100 --> 19:58.340 It's worth it, isn't it? 19:58.340 --> 20:05.620 Yes, God will prosper us, but by the same token, we have been able to labor for God to a better 20:05.620 --> 20:07.900 way of life. 20:07.900 --> 20:13.820 You know, I thought of the youth, as we got one of our missionaries to go off, we had 20:13.820 --> 20:21.100 about 17 youth over there just doing heavy hard work, 17 kids on a Saturday, and there 20:21.100 --> 20:25.740 were other days as well to get that missionary ready to go, and he went and he had a great 20:25.740 --> 20:26.740 ministry. 20:26.740 --> 20:33.140 But I just think of those 17 kids who labored, and I think that part of that laboring has 20:33.140 --> 20:37.580 continued in their youth group and in the church, and now we have one of our sweetheart's 20:37.580 --> 20:44.860 in Jamaica, Jamaica Mon, starting that new second floor of the orphanage, and they took 20:44.860 --> 20:50.540 with them $14,000 which people here in the community and in the church, not the community, 20:50.540 --> 20:56.380 the community doesn't care, but the church does, $14,000 and a young woman spending 20:56.380 --> 21:02.460 a month of her time, and we will probably see that finished, isn't that something? 21:02.460 --> 21:03.460 Labor. 21:03.460 --> 21:07.540 God will provide things, but on the other hand, we have to do our share too. 21:07.540 --> 21:10.780 And it is a labor of love, isn't it? 21:10.780 --> 21:18.060 I think that there's a great day to be said for those who will do what they will that 21:18.060 --> 21:23.460 they might find the hope of future through labor, the sweat of the brow. 21:23.460 --> 21:28.540 And then the last part of the sermon has to do with the day of remembrance. 21:28.540 --> 21:29.540 This is labor day. 21:29.540 --> 21:31.660 It's a worthy thing to remember, isn't it? 21:31.660 --> 21:35.300 We are free to work where we want to. 21:35.300 --> 21:37.460 In the old world, that was not given. 21:37.460 --> 21:40.780 If you were a carpenter's son, you were a carpenter, and you didn't do anything else. 21:40.780 --> 21:48.100 At least the eldest was, the rest sold themselves into the army or became virtually vassals 21:48.100 --> 21:51.340 or slaves to the system, see. 21:51.340 --> 21:58.300 First Thessalonians 1.3 says, we continually remember before our God and Father, your work 21:58.300 --> 22:08.380 that was produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope 22:08.380 --> 22:10.940 in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22:10.940 --> 22:18.020 Aren't those fascinating verbs, you know, your work produced by your faith. 22:18.020 --> 22:22.200 You believe something, you work for it and you make it happen, don't you? 22:22.200 --> 22:24.860 Your labor prompted by love. 22:24.860 --> 22:30.540 Why those little kids work, doing hard, hot work there in the middle of the summer on 22:30.540 --> 22:36.780 a Saturday, because they loved that mission work. 22:36.780 --> 22:42.780 They wanted to do that, and you know, a labor of love is the best kind of labor, isn't it? 22:42.780 --> 22:46.060 You work hard because you want to. 22:46.060 --> 22:49.580 You work hard because you want to, not because you have to. 22:49.580 --> 22:52.260 Your endurance is inspired by hope. 22:52.260 --> 22:55.940 Hope keeps me going, and I hope hope does too. 22:55.940 --> 22:57.620 Hope is everything, isn't it? 22:57.620 --> 22:59.820 That labor brings hope with it. 22:59.820 --> 23:01.860 Something good is going to pass. 23:01.860 --> 23:09.300 That last part is seen in the spiritual aspect of the graciousness of labor, which God has 23:09.300 --> 23:10.860 given his people. 23:10.860 --> 23:17.020 John 7.27, 6.27 says this, do not work for the food that spoils. 23:17.020 --> 23:20.860 That sounds like the first part of Job that we just read, doesn't it? 23:20.860 --> 23:27.940 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures unto eternal life, which 23:27.940 --> 23:34.580 the Son of Man will give you, Jesus himself personally, seeing that you endure by having 23:34.580 --> 23:41.700 the Word of God, and he becomes then your redeemer, your blessing, your hope, your joy, 23:41.700 --> 23:44.860 and all that is rich in life. 23:44.860 --> 23:50.540 You know, I West said this the other night at the lake, we had a good crowd at the lake, 23:50.540 --> 23:52.980 we had a great sermon, had a beautiful day. 23:52.980 --> 23:58.540 I'm reminded that since 1967, we've managed to get out to the lake or up on the mountain 23:58.540 --> 24:06.180 or do something together, all together, and just have the church out under the sky, under 24:06.180 --> 24:12.700 the creation, and I just encourage all of you to do those when we do it next summer. 24:12.700 --> 24:17.540 You know, he said this, but it's very popular. 24:17.540 --> 24:26.580 I never heard a man at a death bed say, oh Al, oh West, oh Al, I wish I had spent more 24:26.580 --> 24:28.700 time at the office. 24:28.700 --> 24:30.100 What does a man or woman say? 24:30.100 --> 24:32.660 I wish I'd have been with my kids more. 24:32.660 --> 24:37.460 I wish I'd have been with my mama before she died. 24:37.460 --> 24:42.260 Those are the things that you want, not to have made more money, not to spend more time 24:42.260 --> 24:44.660 at the hospital, you see. 24:44.660 --> 24:50.660 Oh, I tell you, I don't know what a rich and wonderful life when you begin to serve people 24:50.660 --> 24:58.140 and labor in behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ, it makes a salty existence a good existence. 24:58.140 --> 25:04.020 You know, when we die and look into the face of Jesus Christ, you know what I want to hear 25:04.020 --> 25:08.700 with all of my heart and soul, there's not going to be any fancy records, they're not 25:08.700 --> 25:15.580 going to read any degrees, they're not going to extol the offices I held or the greatness 25:15.580 --> 25:23.820 of my civic endeavors, but that one beautiful face will say, well done, thou good and faithful 25:23.820 --> 25:27.580 servant, internound to the rest which I have prepared for thee. 25:27.580 --> 25:28.940 Well done, what do you mean? 25:28.940 --> 25:33.820 Well done for a good job, won't that be rich? 25:33.820 --> 25:38.860 We all should be able to expect to hear those words from the blessed Lord as we think of 25:38.860 --> 25:47.420 his face, as we look at his hands, as we see him in his glory to say, oh, Jimmy, oh, Mary, 25:47.420 --> 25:51.940 well done, and that's enough. 25:51.940 --> 25:56.020 You can have anything else on heaven and from there on in, you know, it's just conjecture, 25:56.020 --> 25:58.220 but what else do we need? 25:58.220 --> 26:00.620 We don't need much else. 26:00.620 --> 26:05.820 You know it's time maybe to honor the pioneers in the West here that made us great. 26:05.820 --> 26:07.820 It was a labor of love. 26:07.820 --> 26:11.060 Women didn't last long, they were worn out. 26:11.060 --> 26:18.180 Women died so easily, you know, tending to new branches, tending to, oh, all the hard 26:18.180 --> 26:26.420 things, childbearing and loneliness and the wind and the heat, the bitter cold of winter, 26:26.420 --> 26:31.100 you know, I just praise God, if any of you are from old lions of families that established 26:31.100 --> 26:36.340 some of these hard places in the West, you know, just give them a hug, give them thanks, 26:36.340 --> 26:37.820 for they did a job well done. 26:37.820 --> 26:42.900 It's hard now, but believe you me, we were fighting indians as well as the weather and 26:42.900 --> 26:50.300 everything else, the loneliness, oh, it was much harder then than it is today. 26:50.300 --> 26:55.460 And we have, I think, saints that even now work, gave us a church, gave us a school, 26:55.460 --> 26:57.820 we don't have to worry about it. 26:57.820 --> 27:01.140 And I just think of the saints that even now work with us. 27:01.140 --> 27:08.260 Right up over here, I saw a man 69 years old and he fell off the Baptistry, that was Chuck 27:08.260 --> 27:13.140 Tinney and I just honor that man, because, you know, at 69 years he did a loop-de-loo 27:13.140 --> 27:19.540 off the Baptistry, you know, he stepped and the leverage didn't work right on the beams 27:19.540 --> 27:25.340 and he took a terrible spill and he just got up and said, well, that's about all he had 27:25.380 --> 27:29.660 to say, he didn't say any bad words or anything, see, I was more non-Christy than I was thinking, 27:29.660 --> 27:31.340 if it had been me, you see. 27:31.340 --> 27:37.460 I think of Bob Craig over there at the school and here's a 55-pound block of shingles that 27:37.460 --> 27:42.100 fell off the roof and hit him right across the ear, about Tori's ear off, and lurched 27:42.100 --> 27:46.500 this shoulder down, but you know that much further and it crushed his neck, wouldn't 27:46.500 --> 27:47.500 it? 27:47.500 --> 27:52.420 And I think, well, God is with us and we've never had anybody hurt laboring for the Lord. 27:52.420 --> 27:54.900 Should it come, so be it. 27:54.940 --> 27:58.580 It's a martyrdom that would be well worth a while, wouldn't it? 27:58.580 --> 28:01.580 And so that leads it to a comradie. 28:01.580 --> 28:04.340 Sometimes you wonder about some of the old folks in the church and everything, they kind 28:04.340 --> 28:08.340 of like to stick together and old, fuddy dutties and everything, but see, they've got some 28:08.340 --> 28:09.340 sweet memories. 28:09.340 --> 28:12.940 You young couples, you have such great memories because you're doing a far better work than 28:12.940 --> 28:13.940 we ever did. 28:13.940 --> 28:15.500 Don't you know that? 28:15.500 --> 28:19.780 And just be proud because somebody that you are a companion with and you go shoulder to 28:19.780 --> 28:27.740 shoulder with makes a bond that never goes away because we are companions of God and 28:27.740 --> 28:28.740 His labor. 28:28.740 --> 28:30.860 See, literally we are. 28:30.860 --> 28:34.900 John 4.38 says, I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. 28:34.900 --> 28:38.900 Others have done the hard work and you have reaped the benefits of their labor. 28:38.900 --> 28:41.140 Praise God for those who have gone before. 28:41.140 --> 28:45.740 We honor you as pioneers in the faith and in the whole. 28:45.740 --> 28:52.940 In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 12, we read these words, know them which labor among you, who 28:52.940 --> 28:56.380 are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 28:56.380 --> 28:58.620 Now, he's talking there about the eldership. 28:58.620 --> 29:03.560 It's in many, many scriptures, but you know, whoever it is, whether it's the elders who 29:03.560 --> 29:09.460 sometimes have a hard job doing spiritual labors, I'll tell you, I'd really rather go 29:09.460 --> 29:14.780 plough field than I would to handle a problem in the church. 29:14.780 --> 29:18.140 But it needs to be done and it is being done. 29:18.140 --> 29:20.820 You just remember them and you care for them. 29:20.820 --> 29:22.540 Know them. 29:22.540 --> 29:23.540 Notice them. 29:23.540 --> 29:29.380 One verse says, one version says, instead of know, one version says, respect them which 29:29.380 --> 29:35.620 labor among you and who are over you and who admonish you. 29:35.620 --> 29:42.660 Philippians 2.25 said this, speaking of Epaphroditus, he is our fellow worker and another version 29:42.660 --> 29:46.700 says, he is our fellow companion. 29:46.700 --> 29:47.700 He is our coworker. 29:47.700 --> 29:49.540 Oh, there's a lot of ways to say it. 29:49.540 --> 29:53.620 You can respect somebody who works hard in the house of God because it gives you that 29:53.620 --> 29:54.740 special thing. 29:54.740 --> 30:06.140 Not long ago, we had a little lady that we met in San Francisco in 1956 and we hadn't 30:06.140 --> 30:11.380 seen her in a few years and that, dear later, was a companion of ours in the faith and that's 30:11.420 --> 30:15.020 where I preached my first sermon was in San Francisco. 30:15.020 --> 30:18.300 Maybe you think I'm a little flighty, but I have that in my background. 30:18.300 --> 30:22.180 I was raised in San Francisco. 30:22.180 --> 30:27.300 Believe you me, it's a different lifestyle and boy, the church needs to be working out 30:27.300 --> 30:28.300 there at that time. 30:28.300 --> 30:32.980 There was only one or two or three faithful churches in that whole city. 30:32.980 --> 30:38.420 There they made fun of the Word of God in many of the great churches, literally. 30:38.420 --> 30:41.220 We need to solve that problem, don't we? 30:41.220 --> 30:44.940 I preached my first sermon in my soldier's suit. 30:44.940 --> 30:49.540 I brought a lot of rifle along and I did the arms and I said, I'm a soldier of God and 30:49.540 --> 30:51.620 praise God, I've tried to be ever since. 30:51.620 --> 30:54.140 It wasn't just baloney, I wanted to be that. 30:54.140 --> 31:03.060 Her name is Vivian and that, dear lady, from 1230 to 530, stop, Kitty and I, we didn't 31:03.060 --> 31:09.500 say three minutes worth of anything in that whole time as she recounted the times of the 31:09.500 --> 31:16.540 past, the good times, the hard times, the labor, the love, the happiness, the sorrow 31:16.540 --> 31:21.260 that made the labor of life a companionship that could never be forgotten. 31:21.260 --> 31:25.860 Now when you can get Kitty and I shut up to only about three minutes out of five hours, 31:25.860 --> 31:33.020 buddy, you have your heart bubbling over with the happiness of having companions in the Lord 31:33.020 --> 31:34.020 Jesus Christ. 31:34.020 --> 31:39.500 1 Corinthians 6, 18, 19 says, the man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose 31:39.500 --> 31:44.980 and each will be rewarded according to his own labor, for we are God's fellow workers. 31:44.980 --> 31:50.580 You are God's field and you are God's building. 31:50.580 --> 31:53.500 We are companions of God. 31:53.500 --> 31:56.460 Now I don't know about you, but I love that with all of my heart. 31:56.460 --> 32:03.700 Whatever I do, in one small way, perhaps, I am a companion of God himself. 32:03.700 --> 32:09.220 And so working together, there is hope and it's real. 32:09.220 --> 32:11.540 There is hope and it is real. 32:11.540 --> 32:17.420 Matthew 11, 28 says, come unto me, all ye that labor and who are weak and heavy laden, and 32:17.420 --> 32:19.620 I will give you rest. 32:19.620 --> 32:21.580 Those are powerful words. 32:21.580 --> 32:23.220 Are you weary? 32:23.220 --> 32:25.100 Are you weakened by that work? 32:25.100 --> 32:26.820 Well, maybe so. 32:26.820 --> 32:27.820 Are you heavy laden? 32:27.820 --> 32:32.060 Do you find that that is heavy to carry? 32:32.060 --> 32:39.700 One is what another version says, and I will give you rest, all how sweet it is, the rest 32:39.700 --> 32:43.900 of a man of labor who is a companion of God. 32:43.900 --> 32:46.780 Well, I'm tired. 32:46.780 --> 32:48.280 How about you? 32:48.280 --> 32:54.540 I just pray that you go to bed at night tired, not only for your own safety, your own wealth, 32:54.540 --> 32:59.860 your own family, your own comfort, but for the success of the house and the people of 32:59.860 --> 33:01.460 God. 33:01.460 --> 33:06.660 I'm not too tired to quit yet, but you watch me. 33:06.660 --> 33:10.860 When I droop too much and don't have enough lead in my pencil, you hug me and say, here's 33:10.860 --> 33:18.900 a lesser job, servant of God, but you just keep busy anyway, and I shall surely do it. 33:18.900 --> 33:22.740 You know, let's turn to our hymn of invitation. 33:22.740 --> 33:31.100 And I know most people here are believers, but maybe there's someone here who needs 33:31.860 --> 33:33.380 to make some kind of decision. 33:33.380 --> 33:38.660 That's number 331, because there's still a lot of work to be done. 33:38.660 --> 33:40.660 There's a lot of things to do. 33:40.660 --> 33:41.660 That's 331. 33:41.660 --> 33:42.660 Room at the cross for you. 33:42.660 --> 33:43.660 Would you be standing, please?