iWork4Him PowerThought

When the internet was created, the goal was the free-flowing of shared information for the good of humanity; what resulted was much more sinister than that.  We are called to love the Lord our God with all our soul.  What's creeping around in your soul?  Is it scripture, or is it what you watched on TV last night?  Is it the latest sermon you read or the pornographic videos you ingested over lunch?  Is it your weekly bible study topic, or is it your deep desire to place a bet on the next race at the track?  Your soul is a precious place, and our eyes are the windows to our soul.  What are they seeing?  Choose to protect your soul and those you work with and live with.  Stop Ignoring the dangers of the internet at work and home and put some digital armor in place like a safe internet VPN with Web filters and anti-virus and protect your soul.

When the internet was created, the goal was the free-flowing of shared information for the good of humanity; what resulted was much more sinister than that.  We are called to love the Lord our God with all our mind.  Are you?  What do you fill your mind with?  It is so easy with the internet everywhere, both in public and private, to fill our minds with EVERYTHING but God and His Love.  We stream TV at levels like never before.  Because we can binge-watch anything, we fill our minds with murder, horror, and sex.  Without being careful, our minds can become a playground for evil.  At work and home, protect your mind so you can fill it with HIM and His word.  Stop Ignoring the dangers of the internet at work and home and put some digital armor in place like a safe internet VPN with Web filters and anti-virus and protect your mind.

When the internet was created, the goal was the free-flowing of shared information for the good of humanity; what resulted was much more sinister than that.  We are called to love the Lord our God with our hearts, but when our hearts are distracted by the evils of the internet, God can't find a place.  Do you know if your heart is safe whenever you surf the web?  What about your kids, your spouse, or your grandkids when they visit?  At work, are the people you work with struggling with a heart addiction to internet sins like pornography and gambling?  What are you doing to help protect their hearts?  Are there guardrails in place to keep the internet a healthy place at work?  Stop ignoring the dangers of the internet at work and home and put some digital armor in place like a safe internet VPN with Web filters and anti-virus and protect your heart.

When the internet was created, the goal was the free-flowing of shared information for the good of humanity; what resulted was much more sinister than that.  Every day, we use the internet to do our jobs, complete our shopping, and study our bible.  However, if we are not careful, the internet can lead us to pornography, inappropriate relationships, gambling addictions, and more.  We think we have the willpower to resist all the daily temptations on the internet, but statistics now prove we do not.  Huge percentages of men and women, teens, and children have been exposed to pornography on the internet and find themselves driven to view more and more of it.  Create a work and home environment where God can heal and stop this destruction.  Put some digital armor in place, because the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

What does a normal Thanksgiving dinner look like for you and your family? Does it have all the fixings and smell just like grandma's house when you were growing up? Is it always exclusive to family? There are people you work with and people you live around that will be alone this year; why don't you mess up your normal Thanksgiving and invite some of them to join you? Jim and I would like to challenge you to have your last normal Thanksgiving last year. May last year be the final year when your Thanksgiving celebration didn't include your neighbors. This year we challenge you to invite people into your life and into your Thanksgiving celebration that would otherwise be home alone, probably not even celebrating Thanksgiving. What does a normal Thanksgiving look like? It looks like the power of neighboring in action.

This whole idea of practicing the power of neighboring at Thanksgiving can cause some strife at home. Not everyone wants to open up their Thanksgiving table to strangers, or people that just aren't family. I know in my family growing up we never had anybody who wasn't family over for Thanksgiving. It just wasn't done. But at Martha's house, her parents were great at inviting people who would be alone at Thanksgiving and having them join us for a family Thanksgiving celebration. Gather your family around you and share this idea with them. Share the idea that you want to solve somebody's loneliness at Thanksgiving this year and you need their help. Once you explain this to your family, I can't imagine that they won't be on board. Maybe they can even think of some people that need to be invited. Together you can change somebody's life this Thanksgiving.

What does loneliness look like? Does it have a face? Does it always look the same? You and I have the ability to solve someone's loneliness problem at Thanksgiving this year. All around us are people, our neighbors, who don't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving. They are either too far away from family or don't have family or they’ve been alienated. Can you imagine being alone at Thanksgiving? It's just a big fat bummer. Look around you. As you leave your neighborhood this morning or drive through your neighborhood this afternoon, think about all the people that you know. Are any of them going to be alone at Thanksgiving? As you walk between the cubicles or sit down for lunch, are any of those people going to be alone at Thanksgiving? Solve loneliness today by inviting a neighbor for Thanksgiving.

The power of neighboring at Thanksgiving looks like this. It begins with compassion, and it continues with intentionality. We all have neighbors, whether they are at work or in our neighborhood. They could even be in the pews sitting near us at church. But how many of those neighbors will be alone at Thanksgiving time? In my opinion, there is nothing worse than being alone during the holidays. My challenge to you today is to institute the power of neighboring right where you live and right where you work. Find out if anyone you know and care about will be alone on Thanksgiving. And then invite them for dinner. You may already have a crowded dinner table, and you may have to cook some more food, but by inviting them to be part of your celebration of Thanksgiving, you could change their life.

One day, a religious leader approached Jesus and asked him who's my neighbor? Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Now we know who the neighbor was in this parable. The Good Samaritan was a powerful neighbor in the wounded man's life. The power of neighboring lies within each of us—the power to transform somebody's life by loving them as we love ourselves. The power of neighboring requires selfless acts and living on the edge of comfortableness. The power of neighboring started with Jesus, and it continues on in you. You have the ability to impact somebody's life for eternity by loving them. Your neighbors, they are at work, and they are in your neighborhood too. The big question I have for you today is who is your neighbor and will any of your neighbors be alone this Thanksgiving.

Jesus said that our unity would attract others to Christ because our unity would show that Jesus came from our heavenly father. In other words, when we walk as one in the marketplace, our neighborhoods, our communities, and our country, the message is loud and clear:  Jesus has transformed the lives of all these people, and they walk as one in love. It's so important that we, as workplace believers, display our love for Jesus in unity, to attract others into conversations and, eventually, a relationship with Him. Our unity is attractive. That was Jesus's idea all along. For the remainder of this year, look for ways to walk in unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ to solve your community's problems and bring Jesus-sized solutions to those who need it.

Almost 2000 years have passed since Jesus returned to heaven. In the last 500 years, denominational segregation has plagued the body of Christ. We all go to different churches on Sunday. We live in a town of about 2000 people with 15 different churches and 15 different denominations. Very little ministry is coordinated for the ministry to this small town by the leaders of those churches. There is hope because marketplace and political leaders are unifying in Christ to bring flourishing to this town. When we are unified as followers of Jesus, outside our denominational hold, we can impact our cities and communities for good. When we face the problems together, we are so much stronger and more powerful. When Christ followers unite, no weapon of the enemy can stand against us. Those weapons may be poverty, drug addiction, broken families, et cetera. Let's unite as Jesus followers and bring good to our cities.

Do you know what's great about believers? We all experience God differently. I know this because we're all different. Not one of us is the same. Jim and I got to sit down with some friends here in our small town in Missouri just the other day. We go to different churches on Sunday, yet we share a sweet fellowship in Christ. They shared some of their traditions surrounding the giving and taking of communion. While their traditions are very different than ours, the commonality is the communion. As believers in Jesus let us work hard at focusing on the things we have in common despite the efforts of denominations to split us, and focus on the things that the Bible teaches us clearly. The power of a unified church cannot be overcome. Let’s find unity by celebrating the diversity of how others worship Jesus.

What has amazed me most in the last 11 years is the incredible unity in the body of Christ out in the marketplace. On Sunday, we are the most segregated, separated people on the planet. But on Monday morning, when we go to work, nobody cares about Denominations. All they care about is, “I want to hang out with and do business with people who love Jesus. I don't care that you may show your love for Jesus in a different way than I do or sing different songs on Sunday than I do. All I care is that you love Jesus.”  Jesus prayed for us in John 17. He prayed that we as believers would be one so that through that oneness, the world would know that God sent Jesus. In the marketplace, I see this unity. For the sake of the people in our communities, let’s lay down our denominational swords and walk in Unity as we minister to their needs in the name of Jesus.

Have you ever wondered where all of the denominations in Christianity come from? I mean really, 2000 years ago, there were the Jews and the Gentiles. Today, we have 43,000 “Christian” denominations around the world. What happened? I'll tell you what happened. People. Instead of focusing on the unity Christ talked about in John 17, Christ followers throughout the centuries have focused on differences in traditions and interpretations that broke Christianity into 43,000 pieces. On Sunday morning, the church is segregated and separated. But denominations have no place in the marketplace, so it's easy to unify on the message of Jesus. Don't let your denominational commitment on Sunday get in the way of you forming solid relationships with other believers in the marketplace on Monday.

We go to work so we have money. We need money to pay our bills and to buy things. Where I spend my money matters to God, especially if I know that those companies are supporting things that are actually anti-God. We work with Inspire Investing to ensure our investments are biblically responsible. We chose a mobile carrier, Patriot Mobile, because they are pro-God, pro-family, and pro-country. We select our retailers, ensuring our dollars are not being spent to support the things we fight against every day. That may mean that sometimes we must go out of our way shopping. It also may mean that sometimes we just don't buy. Christ calls on us to be good stewards. Good stewards of our time. Good stewards of our work. And good stewards of our money. Steward it all well.

In our family, I spend most of the money at retail stores. Jim spends most of the money online. When we have the choice, we choose retailers that we know are either pro-god, pro-family, pro-country, or at least neutral on these subjects. Finding neutral companies is very difficult. Our country is polarized even in our retail environment. Years ago, we took a bullseye to a certain retailer and stopped shopping there because they supported the abortion industry. Today, they are one of the largest retail supporters of alternative lifestyles. When our money walks, our money talks. Recently, a large beverage retailer made a huge marketing blunder. It cost them billions of dollars because they didn't know who their customers were. Those customers walked, and those dollars talked. As a Jesus follower, we can make sure our money is walking and talking to a place that supports our biblical worldview.

Each one of you has a workplace that is your ministry place. A mission field full of lost and hopeless people who need to meet Jesus. The people you work with and for may be blinded to all of the destruction around them to the family and to our country. Yet they may be funding it inadvertently. Many companies support organizations whose sole aim is to destroy the family or our country because of pressure from the outside. Suppose they knew there was pressure from the inside to stop supporting those organizations; that could make a difference. Ask questions. Find out how the owners, shareholders, and stockholders are asking for your company's profits to be spent. Make sure that those in charge know how impactful those dollars can be. Be a proactive voice within your organization, helping them choose places to invest their dollars within the community that supports God, the family, and our country.

How do we know if our company is pro-Christianity, pro-God, pro-family, or pro-US of A? Is it even important for us to know these things? I think it is. Almost every organization has excess dollars that they are investing in other organizations with an agenda. What is the agenda that your company or organization is supporting? Are they supporting your values, neutral on them or working against them? What we are warning about today is making sure you're not supporting companies fighting against the very things that we know and love: God, family, and country. I hope it doesn't surprise you, but there are thousands of companies and organizations in this great country that hate your biblical morality and want to destroy your family. Find out who you really work for.

It's important to know who we work for. I don't mean the name of your boss or the name of your company. I mean, who is your company? What do they stand for? What do they support with their profits? We need to know everything about the company where we invest 40 to 50 hours weekly. I'm just saying you need to be aware of the company you're working for to make sure that they're not taking your hard-earned hours and turning them into a campaign to destroy the biblical worldview that this great country was founded upon. Who do you work for, really? It is a really important question to ask. If you are already in a job with a company that does not honor God, see how you can make a difference. But if you're searching for work, choose wisely because you were called to be a good steward, including where you invest your work time.

We've talked about it all week.  We love to work, period. It brings exhilaration to our lives.  We love the thrill of the kill.  The completion of a major project.  The landing of a major sale.  Work brings satisfaction and appreciation in ways that family life rarely can.  However, work is demanding.  If we let it, work can take control of our lives.  If left unchecked work can destroy the relationships with the people we love, the people that we are working so hard to provide for.  If we don't keep work under control, it will control us.  Nobody on their deathbed has ever said I wish I had worked more and spent less time with my family.  If you were lying on your deathbed today, would your life display a love for your family or a love for your work?  Protect those you love and get your work under control today.