The Place Beyond Okay | Responsibility | Judah Smith

Well, it is that time. We are closing the month of July. We've been talking about the place beyond okay. We're asking the question, are you okay? And what's your answer to that? Hopefully by July 27th watching this or the air date of this, hopefully you are doing better.

Uh, it has been an unusual season in the human experience on planet Earth, but I hope that you're discovering there's a place where you can thrive. We've gone back to the garden, the original environment. God placed man and woman, and that environment gave them the best chance to thrive, not only in their body, but in their soul.

So, we've been talking about this. Now keep in mind the whole story we have looked at is before sin enters the equation. So now that Jesus has completed the sin problem for us, finished it for us. If we simply believe in Jesus, we're forgiven forever. Right relationship with God.

Now we can look at these four elements that make up the most optimal environment for us to be better than okay. We have looked at relationship. We have looked at rest. We have looked at restriction. And last but not least, we're going to look at responsibility. And in a way, I'm hoping you see that it frames for you a place where you can be better beyond okay, but a place you can flourish.

So, now we're talking about work. We're talking about responsibility. Over time, uh, being in this line of work for so long, people pick up ideas that aren't actually based in the story. things like, "Well, work is a part of the curse." What people mean by that is they conclude that this idea of going to work every day, which is a total drag and a total bummer.

I haven't said bummer in about seven years. That was fun. But a total drag is because, well, once we sinned, there's all these complications, right? Because the argument is made and of course it is upheld that things like disease and wars and these things are all a result of man's free will choice and sin at times.

Um but work was before sin. So work is a gift. It's not a curse. It's a gift, not a curse. So we got to start there. Your job is a gift, not a curse. Now that got real personal, didn't it? Right? You're like, "No, no, no, bro. My job is not a gift."

Yeah, but it is. The scripture shows us in the beginning, God says, "I'm going to put man in the garden, and I'm going to give him the gift of tending and keeping or let's call it landscaping." Right? So landscaping first job in the book. It's a gift that Adam and Eve will have things to do in the garden to guard it, protect it, tend to it, keep it sharp and fun and enjoyable.

They will tend and keep the garden. This establishes this very important perspective when it comes to responsibility. Responsibility is a gift and it's an opportunity to partner with God in the tending and keeping of planet Earth. It's a gift. What if you saw your job as a gift?

What if you saw your job as a gift? How would that change everything? Hey, you know what? At least I have a job. Now like anybody ever there comes a time where your responsibility or your job or your work becomes cumbersome, burdensome, agitating, and annoying. I have had my times where I'm like, I just can't do this preacher pastor thing anymore.

I am exhausted. This is too much. And you know what's wild? The grass is always greener on the other end of the fence. And you think, man, it'd be so much easier if I was if I could. She, he, they, I, I wish I, and the truth is, your job.

However cumbersome it might feel, it is a gift to even have a job. You have a gift in your hands. Now, this responsibility is also well, it's it's significant. If it's a gift, it's significant. Now, here's what we do in our culture. What we make significant is the dream in the distance.

That's significant right now. Working currently as a part-time barista, not important. My dream is to make movies. My dream is to own my own dental office. My dream is to be a designer. My dream is to be a teacher and have my own classroom or be a professor.

And my dream is to have four and a half children. my my dream, you know, and but but today, oh, today I'm like an assistant for a buddy at this office and I I'm I'm just working at part-time Amazon. I'm just you I someday I'm going to own my own business.

And so the now the today we brush it aside. But the dream, that's what's significant. And I think that robs and steals from us every day. It robs and steals our joy, our sense of gratitude and significance in the daily gift of life. Your gift today, part of the gift of the day is the day itself, is your body, is the birds, is some food, is some friends.

But it's also your job. It's a gift. It's a gift that I get to do this. It's a gift that I get to be a preacher. But it's not a gift someday or the other day. It's a gift today. And the significance is now. And I like to say it like this.

Your responsibility is heart and hand. And that is sometimes the dreams in your heart tend to minimize what you're currently right now doing with your hands or what you're currently right now is in your hand. Right? So often times what's in your heart and what's in your hand are so different.

You're like, I'm delivering packages, but what I want to do is direct movies. And so it's like, uh, I hate the delivering of packages. I know this might sound silly. What if you deliver a package and the person who deliver a package happens to walk outside of their house and you hand them their package and they say, "Hey, have you ever thought about doing movies?"

And you somehow meet the most significant connection or relationship that leads you to getting involved in movies. But if you wouldn't have cared about what was in your hand, maybe what was in your heart wouldn't have been realized. But let me say it like this because someone say, "Oh, you don't know if that's always true."

Well, let me say it like this. I have learned this as a 46-y old man and been doing preacher work for 30 years. Oftent times, the same people who say what's important to them is what's in their heart. But what's in their hand doesn't matter. I have seen what's in their hand change into what was in their heart.

And guess what? They still can't see it as a blessing and a gift. More money, more problems. Yeah, I've seen the same people are like, "Oh, it doesn't matter that I'm doing this right now. It's just my part-time gig." And then they get their full-time gig and the same attitude is pervasive.

The same attitude takes root again. And now it's like, "Ah, this is so overwhelming. I can't do this. My life is so hard. This is if people had any idea how hard it is to be me. So which is it? I miss the good old days. They'll say nobody knew me.

No, there was no pressure. Nobody expected. I wasn't the business owner. I wasn't the movie director. I wasn't the professor. I wasn't the dad. I wasn't the mom. I didn't have all these kids. I didn't have And yet, wait, I've been alive long enough to know some of these folks.

And I remember when they were in high school dreaming about having a family. I remember when they were in high school dreaming about having that coaching job and now they have the coaching job and they begrudge and grumble and complain because it's too much stress and too much expectation and there it is the human heart never content, never satisfied, rarely grateful.

How can you avoid that? by stopping right now and absorbing this ancient truth that work is a gift and the responsibility you get every day is significant. Not just the dream in your heart, but the daily routine that's in your hand, it's significant. And add significance to it by acknowledging its significance and say, "Today is the only day you got.

Today's the only day. And by the way, when tomorrow comes, it'll just be today. So all you have is today. Recognize the sacred nature of your daily life and the significance of what it's in your hand. Someday what's in your heart will be in your hand. And then the cycle will continue and the challenge will remain the same.

Can you you know how many professional athletes I've had the privilege of meet with and live with and encourage and call and pray over? And you know what's wild? Some of these proathletes I've known since they were in high school and then made it into the big time in the big leagues.

And you know what? In most cases, the pain just got harder. Now there's millions of dollars involved and millions of eyes watching. So start today by honoring what's in your hand, not just someday dreaming of what's in your heart, because what's in your heart jumps into your hand.

And we're still back to where we started. When are you going to honor what God has in your hand today and say, "This is special to me. This is a special day." I remember as a dad, kids are young and they're not sleeping. And you're thinking to yourself, "Oh, God, where are you?

Do you hear the cry on my heart? I just want these kids to grow up and sleep. Oh, I can't wait for these kids to grow up." And last week, some friends of ours who have a 2-year-old dropped their baby off so the Smith family could watch the baby and they could go on date night.

The baby arrived and I ran into the living room. I was late actually. No one told me that the baby had arrived. And so I ran into the living room and I was like, "Oh, hey buddy. How are you, buddy?" And you could see all my kids kind of look like, "All right, Dad.

You're so excited. What what was happening to me? Tell you what happens. All those parents out there, your babies aren't babies no more." You realize it was so precious. It was so sacred. And I didn't let it sink in all the way. I was so tired. I was like, "Lord God, Jesus, please get me out of this season.

I want them where they're like self-contained and they can drive themselves and do their thing." And listen, I'm not telling you. It is nice. It is nice. We got like we got almost three drivers now. All three kids are driving. I mean, this is good times. But that old chubby baby comes around and I realize that was so precious. that was so sacred.

I don't want to live every successive season regretting that I didn't see its significance. For every day and every chapter in every season is a gift and it it's significant. Lastly, and in conclusion, responsibility work. It's about thanking God and serving people. The reason what's in your hand today is significant is because by honoring it, being grateful for it, working hard at it, that's a way you get to say, "God, thank you for this."

And I hope that you use whatever is in your hand to serve your fellow man in humanity. What a privilege that is. And so, the scripture says, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." In other words, whatever your daily life brings, do it with enthusiasm and passion and thank God for it and use it not to serve yourself but serve people.

This is the time where I'm hoping that you take this content and reshape your view of work, reshape your view of your responsibility and start to ask yourself, do I see work as a gift? Do I focus only on my dreams and minimize the daily? Do I see work as significant?

Do I recognize that by doing work passionately with a sense of purpose, I get to thank God and serve people? Honestly, this is one of those messages where if the only result is that you go, I'm blessed to have a job. I'm blessed to have something to do.

I have a model that I developed in my 30s and I don't even know how it happened. I really can't remember what had happened. But when I'm kind of bummed out on the course of events in any given day, I tell myself, it's a true story. I tell myself, hey, it's something to do.

It's something to do. And if you've never had something to do, you know how precious something to do actually is. Hey God, I got somewhere to go. I got something to do. I got people to serve. That's a privilege and that's a gift. And so today, I'm going to do it with all my heart.

Now, the scripture makes it clear. You will find fulfillment in that. You'll find meaning in that. You'll find satisfaction by being thankful to God and serving those people around you. Maybe, just maybe, you go to work different tomorrow. That'd be fun. Maybe, just maybe, you get a little pep in your step for what God has given you.

It's just the way I see it. I know some jobs get toxic and you got to walk away or you get let go and that can be painful. Jesus will meet you there. But what if in general truly actually we saw what we get to do every day including going to school.

Come on students. God has something to do. I get to learn and grow. Help me to apply myself. Give myself to this. Why am I saying all this? Cuz hard work's good for you. Well, sure that might be true, but it's more than that, isn't it? This is the path to purpose and fulfillment. meaning this is a part of that place beyond just okay.

This is an environment where your soul can thrive. So in conclusion to the whole month of July I'm going to say it one more time. Here's the practice and here's the exercise I participate in and I have done this more times than I can count. I look at these four elements once sin is solved and it is through the person of Jesus.

Now I look at my relationships. I look at my practice of rest. I look at my use of restriction and no. And I look at my responsibility and my work. I rank them one to four to see where I need to ask God to help me focus my attention to maybe just see responsibility in a new way, to see rest in a new way.

And I just spend some extra time there often times just asking God to help me. Talk to Chelsea about it. Talk to my friends about it. Talk to people I work with about it to help me. The only thing I can tell you is it has helped me get past just okay.

It's helped me get past just making it and getting through. And I've experienced some some wonderful days of fulfillment, meaning significance, and flourishing. And that's what I want for you this month. And I'm hoping this month is one of those carryover times where perhaps you'll tuck this away and carry it with you for the rest of your time and your journey here.

I love you, church. I hope that I hope that you're kind to yourself today. The world is not what it used to be. The world is changing by the day. In some cases, by the minute and by the hour. God is gracious. God is good. God loves you.

God's proud of you. And perhaps the very thing you thought would be your undoing, God will work it together for your good. I'm believing for that. I'm believing that you can find this place with Jesus way past okay. You can find this place called fulfillment, peace, and joy.

That's my prayer for you, God. I thank you for all the time we've spent this month just thinking about these aspects and elements. But we will not forget. It's all in you because of you, through you, and about you. Jesus, you are the great example. You learned carpentry with Joseph.

You were faithful with daily responsibilities while on earth and we see it and we want to look like you and live like you and love like you. Help us. Help us today thinking about people who are really bummed out about their their job. Grant them the job that's in their heart, but in the meantime, give them the energy to be passionate and grateful for the current job they have.

Help us, God. If you're watching this and you'd like to receive the free gift of forgiveness that only Jesus offers, you can do that. Just say, "I do. I want to be forgiven. I receive it." And it's done. Let us know if we can help you in any way.

Pastor chat is available. I love you, church. And uh well, I'll see you in the month of August. Holy >> are you, Lord God Almighty. >> Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. For you are holy, holy. Are you Lord God? Almighty, worthy is the Lord. >> Oh, worthy is ((music playing)) glory.

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