Work Diligently Series

Rock Solid Finances: Part 2 “Work Diligently”

Preached by Jimmy Seibert

4/25/2010

Let’s pray together.

Lord Jesus, Thank You for Your faithfulness. Thank You for Your grace. Thank You for Your abundance. Thank You that You are doing above and beyond what we could ask or think. Lord Jesus, we ask again today that Your Word would come alive and change us, that it would rearrange us and let us see life from Your perspective. Lord, I pray, take this simple message and turn it into something that changes our lives, we pray. In Your precious name, Amen.

One of my heroes of the faith is a guy named Bill Adams. Bill leads one of our teams in Russia. The reason he is a hero is not just because of his gifting, but because of who he is. He is a man of discipline, a man of faithfulness, a man of perseverance. When Bill graduated from high school, he was a long distance runner. He was good in his little arena or world, but not good enough to get a scholarship. He came to Baylor and walked on their track team. Bill, as a freshman, learned a lot and got better and better as the months went on. Eventually, he began to win some races and place. The coaches began to take notice. What they took notice of more than anything was his work ethic; he would work harder and longer and literally would give everything he had every race or opportunity he was out there. Eventually, by Bill’s junior year, he was an All-American for his last two years. Bill ended up setting many records during his time at Baylor in long-distance running. One of them was the 10,000 meters; his record stood for 21 years. It was just broken a couple of years ago.

Bill used to talk about this particular phrase when I would ask how he did it, how he would always have the last push in him, he would always say, “Because I had the hay in the barn. I put the hay in the barn.” What he meant by that was this: “I would get up and do the workouts when everyone else wouldn’t. When I felt like it, and when I didn’t feel like it, I would do a little extra. I would always do what the coaches asked, and just a little bit more. I would do it consistently, knowing that in the time I needed it, there would be a harvest. There would be something extra there because I had laid the ground work of faithfulness and diligence. I put hay in the barn.”

The Scriptures talk about that as well. Proverbs 28:19 “He who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.” Proverbs 14:23 “In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” God has invited us into this Divine partnership with Him, where we get the delight of walking through life with Him and being like Him, working diligently in whatever God puts before us. This Divine partnership produces great things in the Kingdom, in our natural world, and ultimately glorifies God.

In 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, Paul describes it this way, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God causes the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

Today’s message is not going to be an emotional one, it will be a building day. It’s going to be “Lord, work this thing in me,” Because if you get this, you’ll be set for life.

Let’s start at the beginning, Genesis 1:27-28, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” God is at work. He creates us and He says, “Now you will be like me and work with me.” They were delighted, they were thrilled to bear fruit and multiply, to go out and subdue the earth and care for what God had put before them.

Genesis 2:15 “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” So there was this divine partnership that God invites us into to work with Him. Jesus, in the book of John alone, talked 27 different times about labor and hard work. In John 5:17 He said this about Himself and would invite us into the same experience, “But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” Jesus said He was about His Father’s business, that He was a worker and He was inviting us to be a part of that as well.