9 – 5 | Talk 4 : Whe Work is Sufferring

Talk

INTRODUCTION

BRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:

How many of you here are working? Raise your hand. In case that you’re not raising your hand, it doesn’t mean you don’t have work.

Even if you’re a student, you’re a worker. Even though you are a homemaker, you’re a worker. Even if you are retired, you are still a worker.

Today, we’re going to talk about work. We’re still in a series called 9 to 5.

So, let’s read Genesis 2:15:

When you hear the word work, especially when it’s in the context of the garden, it gives you this little association that work is hard.

How many of you here have a garden that you like working on?

Thank God that we don’t have a garden because my wife and I suck at taking care of plants. I’ve got to admit to you: we’re like those people when you give plants to us, we will definitely kill those plants. I don’t need to be a professional landscaper or a “plantito” to understand that when you’ve got a garden, it takes effort to work on that garden. It takes affection and attention to cultivate and work that garden.

The word work sometimes gives us this analogy that work is hard and some of us might even think that work can be suffering.

But is it possible that you can come to work every day with joy and passion?

I believe it’s possible. How does it begin? It starts with your mind, with your perspective. When we think of working in the garden, it’s difficult. It’s hard to prune, to water, to snip, to cut, and to work around that soil. But let me tell you something beautiful today.

Work in a Garden

When the Lord put a man and a woman in a garden, it was not just a place of work. It can also be a place

of rest. It can also be a place of creativity. It can also be a place where you walk and enjoy being with God.

The garden is a living place. The Lord did not put you in a palace or in a throne room. He put you in a living garden that you can grow.

Imagine waking up tomorrow and saying: “I’m ready to work on my garden. I’m ready to create something beautiful with God as my partner.”

The garden is much more than just a place of labor. It’s a place of love. You get to do that with God every single time.

There is suffering when you’re working, but only because you’re thinking that you might need a different job. No, that’s not the solution. It’s not about finding the right job for you or a better job. It’s about finding God with the job that you already have.

We’re blessed if the Lord has given us work in the garden. But more than that, we’re blessed because we get to do this with God and we can invite Him to be part of our ministry and of our career.

Whatever your garden is called — your garden may be your family, your garden may be your marriage, your garden may be your gifting, and your garden may be your calling. Whatever it is, you get to invest in this. I tell you, it’s worth investing in because it’s a garden that the Lord gave to you, a sacred place where you can create something amazing, and miraculous.

Put your hand over your chest. Think about your work and everything that you do for your family, for your boss, and for your clients. They’re a blessing to you. The Lord gave you these gifts so that you can cultivate them and you can create something amazing this week simply by working with God every single day. So, let’s say this:

“Lord, bless my work. Bless all that I do. I surrender them as my offering to You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet. And a Light unto my path.

I want you to lean in on this next message because it will bless you, it will inspire you. But above all, it will change the way you see your work

Please give a big hand to none other than Bro. Bo Sanchez.

BRO. BO SANCHEZ:

How many of you consider that your job is the source of provision but also the source of problems?

I’m going to share with you three steps to find God even if your work is filled with suffering. While the idea is that having problems in work is normal, you can still find God there.

Your job is not your provider. It’s tempting to think that way because the salary that puts food on the table is from your job.

If there’s a crisis in your job, you panic. When you panic, you get desperate.

When you get desperate, you will take moral shortcuts. Then, you will get anxious and you will get sick.

If your pipeline fails, the Provider of that pipeline will give you a second pipeline. Not everything depends on you.

While you are sleeping, believe that God is working.

I’ve got two small businesses. The first one is CFA Homeschool or Catholic Filipino Academy Homeschool. Twenty years ago, I started it with my wife and with my sister, Tina. Our goal is to teach parents to teach their kids at home. We started with 27 kids. Now, we have a thousand kids. It’s slow growth overtime.

My second business started a year later. It’s called the Truly Rich Club. For 19 years,

we have been teaching financial literacy and our motto is how to help good people become rich. The way I do that is mostly through seminars.

I have 20 seminars a year. I go around the world. I love that.

In March 2020, at the onslaught of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) the government imposed lockdowns to prevent the spread of the disease.

Because of that, there were no seminars for more than a year. What happened to Truly Rich Club during that time? It crashed. I had 60 employees. I did not retrench. I just prayed: “Lord, help me tighten my belt.”

The Catholic Filipino Academy Homeschooling, however, became very popular because the kids couldn’t go to school. From 1,000 kids, we grew to 3,000 kids.

One business crashed and another business tripled.

I didn’t plan COVID-19. I didn’t see lockdown coming. Who was my planner?

My Provider.

I’m going to challenge you. I want you to create multiple pipelines of blessings in your life. In Catholic Filipino Academy, I have three pipelines. I have a regular homeschooling. I have online schooling. I have Freedom Academy which is an alternative high school tailored for young creatives and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Is something bad happening in your life right now? Do you have a struggle?

I want you to raise your hand if you believe that that bad you’re going through right now will turn into good. We believe in that, right?

Look at Joseph. Joseph was a slave. After a few years, he became a prisoner. Look at the last chapter of his life. He became governor of Egypt.

Friends, you do not know the end of your story but I know it is going to be good because God will make it good.

Genesis 50:20 says:

Change Your Prayer

One thing I’ve realized is this:

In our job, we usually think only of ourselves. How much are we going to earn? How are the benefits?

I want you to also ask this:

“How will God use me in my job to bless other people?”

God put you in that position to bless many people and to create a garden.

Now, will there be struggles? Yes.

If this happens, we usually pray: “”God, take away my suffering.

Solve my problems.”

Let’s not lie. We all pray that prayer.

But if God is not taking away that suffering, let’s shift our prayer to this:

“God, while you’re not yet removing my suffering, use it to change me and make me better. Use my suffering to bless others. Amen.”

How many of you have health goals?

I’m 59 and I’m still biking. I’m still sprinting.

I’m trying my best.

My wife and I want to grow old and healthy.

My next question is: “Are you committed to those health goals?” Let’s test it. How many hours did you sleep last night? Four hours? That’s my point.

We have our health goals but we sleep only four hours because we watch Netflix. We eat a lot of sugar. We eat a lot of processed food.

There is this whole debate between carnivores and vegans. You’ve seen it all over social media.

Whatever It Takes

My recommendation is to avoid the debate and just remove processed food. That’s it. Remove processed food from your diet. Sleep well. Move. Exercise.

How many of you have goals for family life? Do you want a close, strong, and healthy family?

Are you committed to those family goals or you just exploded in your temper last week and just said words that were so painful to hear that right now, you’re regretting saying it?

Do you have financial goals? How many of you want to be debt free?

So, what should you do? Make a decision.

Learn as much as you can. Increase your income. Decrease your expenses.

Live a simple life. Inch by inch, you’ll be able to pay your debt.

If you want success in your work, be committed to your goals. You need to have what I call a “whatever it takes attitude.” If there’s a block and there’s a path, you will take another path.

That’s a “whatever it takes attitude.”

But it has to have a limit. The “whatever it takes attitude” needs to have a limit.

The limit is: “God’s will.”

You can become dangerous by taking immoral shortcuts because you are desperate. You think you and your job are your providers.

No, you do not become desperate– because you know God is your provider.

You will still do whatever it takes–but you trust in the will of God.

No Shortcuts

You don’t have to take immoral shortcuts. You don’t have to lie.

You don’t have to cheat.

As an entrepreneur, I’ll give you two examples.

If you’re running a business, operations have to be really low cost. You have to run a lean and mean machine. But there always has to be a limit — God’s will.

I’ll give you an example. There are two fast food companies that I know.

Let’s call them Business A and Business B.

Business A has a chain of restaurants. They hire a batch of contractual workers.

After six months, they let go of a batch and hire another batch. This is standard. This is what almost everybody does. Why? It’s less cost. Regular employees are very expensive.

Business B also has a chain of restaurants. The owner is a God-follower and the company decided to take the road less traveled. Most of their employees are regular; hence, their costs are higher.

But I was able to have knowledge of their financial statements and I found out that Business B earns more than Business A. Why?

When I enter their stores, the waiters know me. They call my name.

Good service. Food is better. Who would have thought loving your neighbor is good business strategy?

Are you a profit-first business or are you a people-first business? I’m going to challenge you to be a people-first business and let the profit sustain that. You still need to profit. It’s not easy to run a business.

We agree to sell more products as much as we can. What’s the limit?

God’s will.

Meaning to say: “I will not cheat you. I will not steal from you. I will give you the product that you need. I will give you my best service. I will love you as a customer, but I will not in any way do anything against God’s will.”

I’ll give you an example. This is a sad story of a 68-year-old widow.

Before her husband died, he received a retirement package of P700,000.

A friend invited her to invest in a company that would give her 10% monthly interest. She was so happy that she put the entire P700,000.

On the first month she received a P70,000-check. On the second month, she received another P70,000-check.

She invited her prayer group and her senior friends to invest and they did. On the third month, no check arrived. Fourth month, no check. Fifth month, no check. Sixth month, no check.

Her P700,000 became P140,000 because she earned only a two-month interest.

That woman lost not only money but her closest friends too. They got angry at her because they also lost their money.

A few years later, she died with a broken heart –because there were people in that investment company who just wanted to earn and earn and earn.

They were not concerned about people. They had a “whatever it takes attitude” –without limits.

That’s why the Philippines is the Ponzi Capital of the world. Every month, there is a Ponzi scheme in this country. Why do I know? I get thousands of messages from people telling me what happened to them.

Online gambling is another thing. This is evil. Yet, Filipinos are just getting into it. The problem is that you can borrow money to do gambling. Two evils. One on top of the other.

Please prosper. Please do business. Please expand. Grow. Earn more.

But always in God’s will. And you will bless people and serve people.

God’s Will for Our Work

I went to Cebu last week. There are four Feasts in Cebu. I met one of our Feast Builders there. His name is Rico

Rentuza. I was chatting with him. He has an amazing story. He’s a lawyer. Two years ago, he became a judge.

Yes, we have a Feast Builder who is a judge.

He grew up in faith at The Feast. It became very clear that he was going to serve the Lord in his secular job.

When he got appointed as judge, he found out that his court had 2,500 backlog cases.

Do you know what he did? He went to his Feast leaders in Cebu. He asked for a two-year sabbatical leave so he could focus on those cases. The leaders allowed him to go on leave.

Judge Rico had a small office with 15 staff members– who eventually formed into a Feast Light, meeting every week.

They needed to solve those court backlogs. So, they prayed together and asked for supernatural grace.

Two years later, the 2,500 backlog cases went down to 1,000. When the cases decreased, Judge Rico reverted to being a Feast Builder.

I’m so proud to say that Rico is my friend.

Judge Rico and those 15 Feasters created a pocket Eden in that part of the world in their secular job.

Now, it’s your turn to create a pocket of Eden in your secular situation, in your job, in your office, or in your company.

God positioned you there. He wants you to plant a pocket Eden in that part of the world. God will prosper you. God is your provider. He will prosper your business.

Please know that you will go through trials and suffering. That’s just part of life. But hold on to the Lord. Do His will. Say this prayer with me: