WWUTT 1950 Q&A Demon Oppression, Jesus at Work, Alien Encounters

Can a Christian be demon-oppressed? Does the Bible say anything about how to leave your job? And is there a mention of aliens anywhere in the Bible? The answers to these questions and others when we Understand the Text.

This is When we Understand the Text, a daily Bible teaching podcast to help encourage your time in the Word. Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. And once again, it's Pastor Gabe.

And Baby Bugs. And Baby Bugs. Oh, he found my cup of water. Yeah.

We got a baby in here with us. We do. Well, what is he at now? Twenty-one months? Something like that. Twenty-one months as of the first of June. Yes. Remember when we used to record episodes and we had him sleeping next to us?

Yes. Now he's not sleeping. That's not what's happening right now.

No. He's going to be entertaining for a little bit. Well, I'm back. Okay, yes. Yes. Welcome back. Yes, thank you. How long has it been? It's been too long. Yes. Oh, oh, oh. But we have to go back and revisit a topic, a specific topic.

Like back when you were on? No, no, no, no. It was in between. Anyway, you did like a Twitter poll or something. Okay.

Do you remember this? Do you know what I'm talking about? Well, I do Twitter polls almost every week, so I'm trying to Okay, fair enough.

But it was about you turning down to be a voiceover.

Oh, okay. When I was offered the chance to be Captain America or Thor or Iron Man in a movie. You can't just leave us hanging. Okay. I'm just saying. Yeah, so I listed four things because the kids this started with the kids.

The kids said, give us four things and we're going to guess which one is the lie. Right. It's two truths and a lie. So it's three things. Oh, it was three things. Okay. So it's two truths and a lie. The one thing that was in there that was the lie was I played in the Little League World Series.

They all thought it was I had been offered the chance to play Iron Man, Captain America or Thor in a movie. And so then when I told them, no, I've never played in the Little League World Series, it took a few seconds.

And then it sunk in. And then it set in. They're like, wait a minute, our dad was going to play Captain America? So, yeah, so the story behind that was I actually won a contest. This was in 2004, 05, somewhere in there.

I can't remember exactly. Before me. Yeah, it was before Becky. So this was almost 20 years ago. And I won a contest and the contest was to play a bit role in one of the Avengers movies. And I actually I know which movie and I've seen it and its sequel in the DVD bins at Walmart.

Oh, yeah. So, I mean, the movie did get some pretty wide circulation. I've seen it since then. And it's not that great. This was. You could have made it better. This was back before. Well, no, I'm not a writer on the show.

I'm just just voicing a part. But this was back before Disney owned Marvel. Okay. So this was an animated movie that they were doing. I won a contest to play a bit role. But once I did my auditions, they really liked it.

Oh, cool. And they said they said, we think we can give you a bigger part than this. And so I was invited to do an audition and they told me they were going to give me either Captain America or Thor Iron Man.

But they had not decided which one. I think one of it, one of the roles was dependent on they had another guy that they were offering the part to. And if he turned it down, then maybe they would consider me for one of them.

I don't I don't remember how it went. And anyway, I I skipped the final audition to this day. I cannot. I did it on purpose. I didn't I did not go to the final audition. And to this day, I cannot tell you what my mindset was.

I don't know why I skipped it, but I have no regrets over it. So it was you know, it was a neat opportunity. It's a fun story. But I just I just didn't do it. And like I said, I've I've not seen the whole film, but I've watched part of it since then.

And yeah, it's, you know, mediocre. It's not a great Marvel film, but so it's something to tell the kids, grandkids. Your dad was almost Captain America. I don't know that I had anything in mind that, you know, any any sort of like conscience issues or things like that.

I just I just decided I didn't want to do it. And so I skipped out.

Yeah. Well, I still am proud of that every time I hear it.

Had I not turned it down, I would not have met my wife and had the great family that I have. Very true. It's likely my life would have gone a completely different course. Yeah. So I have no regrets in that.

I would much rather be a pastor anyway. But yeah, that's the story behind that whole. So cool. I love it. This is the Friday edition of the broadcast. We're kind of telling these stories and being distracted by a toddler running around at our feet here.

At least he's at our feet. We'll see how well we do. And if I have to do a seg, you know, if you got to take him out or whatever, I'll throw a what video on here. Sweet. And then we'll. That'll work. Yeah.

Kind of kill some time. So being the Friday edition of the broadcast, we take questions from the listeners and you can submit those questions too when we understand the text at gmail .com. First couple of emails here have to do with some corrections made to recent broadcast.

This one goes back to last week's Q &A. It's our friend Casper's, who is now a professor of Old Testament at a seminary. Oh, cool. Yes. He's a longtime listener. Yeah. So he's the student has now become the master.

That's awesome. So Casper says. Congratulations on that. I'm not saying Casper's was ever my student, but anyway, he says, Dear Gabe, I hope you and your family are doing well. You can hear the toddler coughing in the background.

My first year at Southern has finished and what a year. I've enjoyed getting to know wonderful colleagues and the opportunity to teach God's word has been amazing. Right now we are in Europe visiting family and also doing research at Tyndale House in Cambridge.

Oh, cool. I wanted to briefly respond to your last Friday edition of the broadcast on the question of Christ's humanity and his divinity. I agree that we need to keep both natures distinct. Jesus being truly human was not some kind of superhuman or demigod, yet at the same time he never ceased to be fully God at any moment during his incarnation.

It seems to me that in places during the podcast, you use language that might lead someone to conclude as much. He quotes me saying he was also not omnipresent. He was a human being in human form. He wasn't all over the world all the time, nor did he have to be because the Father and the Holy Spirit would do that.

Unquote. I think it's important to maintain the classical attributes of God. He never changes. He never ceases to be God. The one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, also acts as one in upholding the universe.

The historic Christian doctrine of Christ's two natures is tied to his having two wills, one human, one divine. The great mystery of our faith is that as a human baby, the Lord Jesus was totally dependent on his human mother, yet as God, he was simultaneously upholding the entire universe, including sustaining Mary.

Thanks for the podcast, and keep up the good work. Kaspers, I think you summarized it much better than I did. I think that I was being more rhetorical than anything and just probably overstated my case.

But I appreciate you chiming in and bringing us back to those classical distinctions. Yeah. I like the way that was worded. Like the way he worded it? Yeah. Yeah, I told him too. I responded in an email.

I said, you know, that's just such a great summary. Yeah. That was great. To say he was upholding the entire universe, including Mary, while at the same time, he in his humanness was dependent upon Mary.

Yeah, I love it.

Wonderfully mysterious to think about. It's something that you don't really, I mean, you talk about, but you don't really stop and think about it that way, you know? Ponder and think about it, right.

Kaspers, appreciate your email as always, and God bless you in the ministry that you are doing. This next one is from Mike in Tennessee. Dear Gabe, first I want to say how much I appreciate your podcast.

My wife and I listen to them on long trips. We learn from your insights and clarifications, and we also enjoy your humor and your outtakes. I think the outtake on this video is going to involve a coughing baby.

Yeah, probably. I want to comment on your session on salt and light. This was either last week or the week before when I was in Matthew 5. While I think you made the correct point, your example missed the point from Jesus context.

You mentioned detractors say Jesus did not understand salt. I say they don't understand chemistry. There are many salts in the world beside table salt. Forty-five years ago, I was visiting a Coptic monastery near Alexandria, and I saw them harvesting big slabs of salt from a lake.

The lake fills with water from the Mediterranean in the winter and dries up in August, leaving a thick coating of salt. As they were putting the salt in the vault, our guide explained why it was so valuable.

This was NaCl, or sodium chloride, also known as table salt, and was used as a preservative and seasoning. If they run out of sodium chloride, they use potassium chloride, KCl. Unfortunately, potassium chloride breaks down and loses its flavor.

Think pool salts. When this happens, they toss it on paths as a herbicide to keep weeds from growing. Jesus followers did not need to be chemists to know that while both salts look and act the same, only table salt retains its saltiness.

Salt from the salt sea includes potassium chloride and other salts, so it loses its flavor and is only good to throw on the path. They would have understood that there would be counterfeit followers that act just like the others, but were never really followers of the way, and in time would show their true nature.

Again, we appreciate your program and your saltiness. Tell Babe that Mike and Tracy say hello from Tennessee, and we appreciate your contributions to the program as well. Regards, Mike. Aw, thanks. Thank you so much for the input, Mike.

I sure appreciate that. Yeah, that was when I was in Matthew chapter five, where Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

So appreciate some of the Middle East context that Mike provides for us there. Yeah. All right, this next question comes from Chris in North Carolina. Good afternoon, Pastor Gabe and Becky. It's been a while since I've heard y 'all referred to as the Gabe and Babe show, so I just wanted to throw that out there to keep it alive.

I have recently become aware of an Amazon Prime docuseries entitled Happy Shiny People that covers the rise of the Duggar family and the influence of Bill Gothard's teachings and movement. A friend of mine shared about some of its content on social media, stating that she had been raised in the Institute in Basic Life Principles or IBLP movement that that he was doing.

She briefly described the environment as cultish, particularly surrounding the personality and teachings of Bill Gothard. I listened to the first episode of the show and it became clear that while some of the interviewees seemed to just want to get the truth of various abuses in the open, others were using the opportunity to bash the whole of conservative biblical Christianity.

There seemed to be a conflation of homeschooling with some cultish, backwards, harmful lifestyle. I know better. I was raised in IFB circles or the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist circles and was homeschooled as well, but I do not recall anything related to IBLP.

Do you have any insights or experiences with this group, its affiliations and its ideology? Thanks. Chris from North Carolina. No, I am not familiar with any of this stuff, to tell you the truth, and I grew up in South Carolina and some of this stuff was definitely going on around me, but it just it never got into my home or my church circles when I was being raised.

It's only been recently that I've heard about this. Even when the Duggars were on the air, I never watched the show. What was it called? Fifteen and Counting or something like that? I don't remember. However many kids they had, and counting, that was...

Nineteen and Counting. Nineteen. Well, yeah, it could have been that. Yeah. Maybe at one point it was Fifteen and Counting. I think it kept going up. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. But see, I never even watched the show, so I didn't know what was...

I watched a couple episodes, but that was it. Yeah.

So, really was unfamiliar with Bill Gothard until recent years when, you know, the show went off the air. There was the stuff that happened with Josh Duggar, and then people that came out and said, well, this was the cultish lifestyle that the Duggar family was in, and so here was some of the teachings that was influencing them, and Josh was influenced by that, and all this other kind of thing.

So, it was through that talk that I became familiar with it, but before that, I really... I had no clue. Yeah. I know it was a big deal, since I've read about it since then, the different conventions and seminars they would have.

It just happened to be totally out of my perimeter when I was growing up. Didn't have any exposure to it at all. Yeah.

I was raised Catholic, so that wouldn't have been in my circle either. So, yeah.

I'm not really able to give you any insight. I've only picked up bits and pieces through the various scandals and things like that that have come to light in recent years. Different involvement that Gothard had.

I remember the accusation that John MacArthur was involved with Bill Gothard turned out to be totally bunk. Oh, really? Totally. But it's kind of like Bill Gothard is such a pariah that that name has a certain stigma attached to it.

Mm-hmm. So, if there's teachers you don't like, if you can attach them to Bill Gothard, you can... Oh, there it is. Yeah. There it is. Yeah. You can try to discredit that teacher. That's kind of the thing that's been going on.

And so, therefore, a lot of rumors, a lot of myth and speculation that's tied into some of this. So, you have to be careful with what you listen to.

Yeah. If you're actually getting the truth or not. Right.

Especially with regards to this documentary. Now, I haven't watched any of Shiny Happy People. I've seen people talk about it. I've seen people say, you know, there are some legitimate things in there in exposing the Bill Gothard movement, but at the same time, just like Chris said, they weaponize that stuff and try to make all Christian homeschool families look bad.

Of course. And it's almost like, hey, if this was happening with this family, this was a famous family, so just think about how many other families are out there.

That aren't in the public eye. Yeah.

That we don't know about. If we can get them out of the home and into the public school system, then we would be saving kids. Yeah. Yeah. So, you can indoctrinate them with their LGBTQ nonsense is really what you want to do.

So, anyway, like I said, haven't watched the documentary. I'm not sure if I ever will. Yeah. I like documentaries. You do. I might pick it up at some point just to be aware of it, because I'm sure more people are going to be talking about it.

Yeah, probably. And it's good to have an awareness of it. But yeah, just beware. This is the angle that they're taking with this particular documentary. It's just to make Christians look bad.

Yeah. That's too bad that it takes like that tone, you know.

Now, there is a book out there by Ginger Vuolo, who is one of the Duggar kids. Okay. She's married to Jeremy Vuolo, who goes to Master's, as a matter of fact. Oh, wow. She has a book called Becoming Free Indeed.

Okay. So, if you want to know something about the movement and you want to get it from a solid source. Right. Then I recommend that you look up her book. When I was at ShepCon back in March, I saw her book in the Shep Shop.

Oh, that's neat. Bookstore there on the Grace Community Church campus. So, I would encourage you to check that out. Pick up her book and that'll give you some better insight into this instead of trying to weed out all the myths and speculation stuff.

After all, we're told to stay away from myth and speculation and pursue the truth. And as it says in Ephesians 4, to speak the truth and love. Yes.

And get it from a firsthand witness. That's right.

Well, this kid here needs to go to bed. Yeah. I think he's ready now. All right. So, why don't I play? Say night-night. Night-night. He's waving to everybody. Night, bubs. Can he say it? Yeah, night.

He's still just waving. All right. So, I'm going to do the video thing. You go put him to bed and I'll see you in a minute and a half. All right. Sounds good. You got a minute and a half to put him to bed.

90 seconds. Do you think you can do it? We got this. All right. Did you know that Jesus talked about money more than any other subject? 11 out of 39 parables are about money. One of every seven verses in the Gospel of Luke are about money.

He talked about money more than faith and prayer combined. After the kingdom of God, money was Jesus' favorite topic. And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. It's a common myth and megachurch pastors love to repeat it, but no, money was not Jesus' favorite subject.

Sometimes Jesus used money as an illustration for something else, like in the parable of the talents or the parable of the lost coin. That doesn't mean the subject he was addressing was money. If you were to list the subjects Jesus talked about most, God is at the top of the list.

That seems kind of obvious now that you think about it, right? Next, he talked a lot about the kingdom of God and heaven. He also talked a lot about hell, warning about the final judgment and eternal fire.

In fact, no one in the Bible talked about hell more than Jesus did. Jesus made many references to himself as the son of man, son of God, the good shepherd, his death and resurrection, his return, his word, and so on.

He talked about sharing the gospel and making disciples. Other big topics include faith, prayer, love, and good works, salvation, holiness, sin, and the Old Testament scriptures. And somewhere down the list, Jesus talked about money.

It's certainly an important topic, but it was not Jesus' favorite subject. Only by faith in Jesus Christ can you be forgiven your sin and have fellowship with God. Jesus is the most important subject of all when we understand the text.

Now, that really didn't have to do with what we were talking about. No. But, yeah, just trying to buy some time. Well, I'm back. Yep, welcome back. Thanks. You did that rather quick. Yep. He went down pretty easy.

He was ready. Good deal. Finally. You know, he does go to bed really, really well. He does.

I mean, the kids put him to bed even for nap times and stuff like that, so he does. He goes to bed really well, but he's got his cough, so that's not really letting him sleep.

I mean, as chaos as he is, and as much of a full-time job as he is when he's awake.

He is either go or stop. That's right. There is no in-between. He's got two speeds.

Go and stop. That's pretty much it. Now, this next question comes from Nanya. Nanya? I'm guessing short for Nanya Business. Excuse me. So, now you've got that cough. I do. We got rid of the coughing kid and now still have the coughing wife.

It tickles. Nanya says, good afternoon. Question, can someone who claims to be born again be demon oppressed? If so, what can be done about this? Thank you in advance. Demon oppressed? Can you repeat the question?

Yeah, sure. Can someone who claims to be born again. Okay. Be demon oppressed? Oh. If so, what can be done about this? Now, she says claims to be born again. Right. That's true. So, I'm going to just, I'm going to say she's asking if someone is born again, can they be demon oppressed?

Okay. So, take the claims out of it. She's asking, can someone who is a Christian be oppressed by a demon? Now, oppressed, yes. Possessed, no.

Yeah. Okay. I was going to say, because, I mean, Job was. He was oppressed by Satan. He was.

Yeah. I don't know enough about it, though. Now, the example that I would give would be the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. Okay. So, in verse 7, he says, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations that he had received, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh.

Yeah. Okay. A messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. Mm-hmm. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.

Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and hardships for the sake of Christ.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. Mm-hmm. So, you have there Paul's testimony that he was being oppressed by a demon, by a messenger of Satan. Yes. Now, the other side of that being, you can be demon oppressed, but you won't be demon possessed.

Okay. Because as a follower of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. Mm-hmm. And so, no demon can do so. Right. The Spirit is not giving up ground to Satan to dwell in the same place where the Spirit dwells.

Praise the Lord. Amen to that. So, yeah, while there will be occasions in which Satan may try to tempt you. Mm-hmm. Resist Satan by drawing near to Christ. That's in James chapter 4. Mm-hmm. When you have Satan trying to oppress you by something that's going on.

And when I say Satan, I'm speaking more of the powers of Satan. Satan's not omnipresent. Right. He's got something else that he's up to. So, his messengers or his minions may come after you. But, yeah, all of a sudden, I had in my head that Satan's minions are these little yellow guys with single eyes, look like walking Twinkies.

I just distracted myself by calling them minions. Funny. Yeah, demons. Anyway, so I say that very loosely when I say, you know, Satan may oppress you or he may try to rob your joy or God will allow a demon to test you in some way.

Just like Paul. And Jesus. Yeah, and Christ was tested by Satan in the wilderness as well. That's right.

But he wasn't ever possessed. No. So, yeah, that would make sense.

So, God may allow that. Mm-hmm. But he certainly won't give you over into the devil's hands. Right. Just like with Job, the example you gave at the beginning. Yeah. God said, you may do these things to Job, but you cannot harm his body.

Right. And then after that, he was even able to afflict Job with sores. Right. But he could not take his life. Right. The Lord may allow that to happen and he does that for the purpose of testing us. Mm-hmm.

For as 2 Corinthians 1, verse 9 says, these things happen to teach us to rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. Right. So, it causes us to draw all the more near to the Lord. Definitely.

Good question though, Nunya. Yeah. And I hope that's an encouragement to you. This next question comes from Danny. Hello, Pastor Gabe and Becky. Hope everyone's doing well. Better. Thank you. Question.

What does the Bible say about resigning at your workplace? I understand that it says that we need to submit to our masters and leaders, and I've been very patient in working through the toxicity and stress for 11 years, but I don't see any improvement.

All the employees are being overworked and undervalued. They have not listened to my request to evaluate my salary and workload. Thank you for all that you do. God bless. So, what does Scripture say about resigning?

Well, it doesn't say that you need to give a two weeks notice. Isn't that the standard? Yeah. You know, like if you're going to quit a job, you're supposed to turn in your two weeks notice or something like that.

Two weeks to two months, I think. Yeah. Somewhere in there.

Depends on your job, I guess. It does say that we are to submit to our earthly masters. Now, this is with regards to slaves, Colossians 3 .22. You're not a slave at your job. But still, hear what's being said to those who are slaves.

Slaves, in all things, obey those who are your masters, according to the flesh, not with eye service as men-pleasers, but with integrity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord, rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.

Serve the Lord Christ. For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. So even though that is an address made specifically to slaves, and in case I didn't give the reference there, it's Colossians 3 .22 -25, even though that's said to those who are in indentured servitude, nonetheless, I think there's principles there that you can apply even to a workplace where you're free to come and go.

Sure. If you want to quit your job, you can. But understand this principle, verse 23. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord, rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.

Serve the Lord Christ. So there, in your workplace, Dani, you're not being valued, you're probably not being paid what you're worth, or you're not being paid for the job that you actually do. Mm-hmm.

And whether or not you choose to stay is between you and the Lord. Right. I don't see, at least by the scenario that you've given to me in your email, that you're going to somehow be sinning if you were to quit your job.

Mm-hmm. But do it in a respectful way. Right. And it's okay for you, too, to express, you know, I'm underworked and undervalued. Mm-hmm. I'm not getting paid for the job that I do. I've brought these issues up in the past.

I've said things about it, and yet nothing changes. Right. And so it is better for me, for my family, if I quit this job and I go try to find something else. Mm-hmm. I mean, you're perfectly free to do that.

There's nothing scriptural that says you are obligated to have to stay at the job that you are at. You know, just whatever you do, consult the Lord. Mm-hmm. Pray about it. Mm-hmm. Pray with your spouse if you're married.

Mm-hmm. If you are part of a church, talk to a pastor. Yeah. Talk to a Sunday school teacher, somebody who's older. If you are a woman, ask a senior woman's advice. Mm-hmm. If you've ever been in this situation before.

If you are a young man, ask an older man. Mm-hmm. And gain some wisdom from those who have experience in these kinds of things. And maybe they know something about you, and they know something about your job.

Right. And they're able to speak into that situation and give you wisdom that's specific to your situation. Mm-hmm. But yeah, again, in all things, you are serving the Lord Christ. Honor the Lord. Don't try to think that maybe if I pray about it, God will give me a voice.

Yeah. From heaven. I've counseled people there before. Somebody who tells me, well, I think God is telling me to do this. No, he didn't. Yeah. Whatever it is that you're going to do, just do it. Yeah.

And do it to honor Christ. And be good steward of it, of your job. I mean, you don't think of it like a thing, but it is a thing that God has gifted you. Yeah.

And so... You're able to make ends meet through... Yeah. ...this provision that God has given you, this job, so that you can get paid and... Yeah.

Yeah, pay your bills. So, I mean, there are very, very hard jobs out there that pay very little, but the impact of them is very great. It's more than just, oh, I hate this job. I'm going to quit. Yeah, right.

So... More to think about there. Yeah. Most people don't like their jobs. Right. Yeah.

That's pretty common. Every time I had a job, it was like, oh, I got to go to work. Yeah. You know? But I mean, I even love my job, some of them. And I have the Jane of all trades, I guess, with how many different types of jobs I've had.

But anyway...

Yeah, you've worked way more secular jobs than I have. Yes. In fact... Yes, a lot. Yeah, I have worked a secular... I've worked at secular radio stations. Yeah. I think that was about the extent of any secular jobs I had.

Yeah. I don't think I had any jobs that were not secular. That were Christian. Yeah, right.

Yeah. Even when I worked retail, I worked at a Christian bookstore. Oh, that's funny. Yeah. Just about every single job I had was Christian in environment, you know? Even if it was a for-profit company, it was still...

Yeah. The environment was still Christian.

Yeah. So, anyway, you were saying nobody likes their jobs.

Well, I had interrupted you because you were talking about the different jobs that you've had. Oh, well, I was just... I don't remember what I was saying now. Like, you worked at a rock quarry. Yeah. I drove a 60-ton haul truck.

That was crazy to me. I only saw pictures of it, but I was just like...

I was also a daycare leader, you know? I had my own daycare classroom and...

That is two vastly different worlds.

Completely different worlds. I don't know. I went from the toys to the Tonka, you know? I mean, like... It's a great big huge... It's a great big Tonka toy. Tonka truck. Yeah, that's right. So, I got to drive it and it was fun.

Anyway, I think you were talking, though, about how nobody likes their jobs.

I said that, but then you had come into talking about the different jobs that you've had. Even in ministry, though, there are jobs that aren't enjoyable.

I remember when I was... I was just basically agreeing with you in the vast differences of jobs that I've had. It's still the same attitude towards it of, you know, I've got to go. I've got to put this work in and I'd much rather be doing this instead.

It was just...

It was never the right attitude. Yeah, it was like my dad used to tell me when I was a kid. You've got to have the want to. Yeah. Plenty of jobs you're not going to like to do, Gabe, but you have to do them.

And you have to want to do them. Yes. Yeah. Because can you really do the job well if you don't have that desire in your heart to do it well? Right. And in this particular case, in this counsel that's being given in Colossians 3, you're serving something higher than the job that you're doing.

You're serving something even higher than the emotions that you feel or, you know, how you consider your circumstances. Yeah. You're serving the Lord Christ. Yep. And even the way that you behave at your job, you can do your job to the glory of God.

And there's eternal reward in that. Yeah. Now, see, as Christians, we understand that. Whereas even a job that you would ordinarily not like or isn't pleasant, and maybe even your coworkers and your employer don't truly appreciate you, yet there is still something about that job that is eternally rewarding.

It rolls up into praise to God. Yes. And it sanctifies you. Mm-hmm. Going back to even the statement before from 2 Corinthians 1, the hardships that Paul and his missionary brethren went through taught them to rely on God.

So it can be the same thing at your workplace. Yeah. You're underappreciated, but it teaches you to rely on God who loves you. Yes. And you know you're not a disappointment to your Father who is in heaven.

Right. Definitely. And so in this way, you have that growth that you experience in Christ, in the spirit that dwells inside of you, when you obey this instruction to do your work heartily. You have the want to.

Right. But it's not a want to please your employer necessarily, although that's a good thing to do. Mm-hmm. But you work for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord Christ you receive your reward.