Fiveamprayer

Matthew chapter 9







Today we are walking in: Potential and Priority Of Work







Job 34:16




If now thou hast understanding, hear H8085 this: hearken to the voice of my words.











UNDERSTAND





Today we look to the word-UNDERSTAND- H8085 shama`--to hear with attention or interest, listen to understand (language)










The Torah testifies...............




Genesis 11:7




Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand H8085 one another's speech.










The prophets proclaim..................




Nehemiah 8:2




And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear H8085 with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.











The writings bear witness...........................




1 Kings 3:9




Give therefore thy servant an understanding H8085 heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?




Potential and the Priority of Work

Potential is never realized without work.




Have you ever noticed who Yah uses? Yah uses busy people. Truly Yah loves busy people because their busyness shows that they are willing to work. Yahusha’ preference for busy people is evident in His choice of four fishermen who were preparing their nets, to be His first followers.




The priority Yahusha put on work is also evident later in His ministry as He went through the towns and villages of Galilee and Judea, teaching in the synagogues and healing the sick. He saw there many people who were so helpless and harassed that He likened them to sheep without a shepherd. With compassion, He instructed His disciples to pray for workers to meet their needs:




Then [Yahusha] said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers [laborers] are few. Ask the Most High of the harvest, therefore, to send workers [laborers] into His harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38).




Yahusha needed workers. He needed people who would give their best to bring others into the Kingdom of Yah. He told His disciples to pray that Yah would send somebody to work.




Yah hasn’t changed. Work is still a priority for Him. Nor have the needs of our world changed. Helpless, harassed people still need what Yah stored in us for them.




But we don’t appreciate Yah’s ways. We want results without the process. We seek promotion without responsibility. We desire pay without work. You will not participate in the creative power of the One who says, “I’ve given you the ability to produce. Now work to see what you can do” until you cease to be a reluctant worker. You must stop refusing to work, unless someone is standing over you, giving you the work, and making sure that you do it. When Yah commanded Adam to work in the garden, there was no supervisor, manager, or time clock to motivate Adam or to force him to work.




Yah expects us to understand our natural need to work. The world at large, must recover Yah’s principle of work because there can be no greatness without work. We must accept the truth that we need to work because Yah worked and He created us to work.




YAH WORKED




Yah set the priority of work when He called the invisible world into view.




Before there was anything, there was Yah. Everything we now see existed first in Yah, but it was invisible. If Yah had done nothing to get started, the world we know would not exist. The universe would have stayed inside Him. But Yah chose to deliver His babies by working. He took His potential and, through effort, changed it from potential to experience.




Yah’s efforts in making the world are noteworthy. He determined the number of stars and called them by name (see Psalm 147:4). He covered the sky with clouds, supplied the earth with rain, and made grass to grow on the hills (see Psalm 147:8). He formed the mountains by His power see (see Psalm 65:6) and set the foundations of the earth (see Psalm 104:4). The moon marks the seasons by His decree and the sun sets at the appointed time (see Psalm 104:19). So vast and marvelous are Yah’s works in creation that He pronounced them good when He stopped and looked at what He had made. He savored the joy of seeing the wondrous beauty He had brought forth.




Yah saw all that He had made, and it was very good... Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day Yah had finished the work He had been doing (Genesis 1:31;2:2a).




Yah didn’t create the world by dreaming, wishing, or imagining. He created it by working. Indeed, Yah worked so hard that He had to rest.




So on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And Yah blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done (Genesis 2:2b-3).




Rest is needed after a long, laborious experience, not a tiny task that requires little effort. Yah’s effort in creation was so extensive that He rested.




Too often we think that coming back to Yah means we don’t have to work anymore. How wrong we are! Yah loves to work. He delights in pulling new things from His Omnipotent Self. He also requires you to work.




Yah CREATED YOU TO WORK




After Yah finished creating the world and planting and organizing the garden, He put Adam in the garden and gave him work to do. Indeed, Yah had work on His mind before He even created human beings.




When the Most High Yah made the earth and the heavens—and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Most High Yah had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground—the Most High Yah formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:4b-7).




When Yah created Adam, He gave him dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the living creatures that move on the ground. Although we understand dominion to be sitting on a throne while others obey our every command, that is not Yah’s intent. Yah equates dominion with work. Every assignment Yah gave Adam required work. The care and protection of the garden required work. The naming of the animals required work. The subduing of the earth required work. Work was an essential part of Adam’s life.




The same is true for you. Yah created you to work. He didn’t create you to rest or retire or go on vacation. He didn’t create you to punch a time card or to stand under the eagle eye of a boss or supervisor. He gave you birth to experience fulfillment by completing tasks through effort.




Yah gave you birth to experience fulfillment by completing tasks through effort.




Work is a gift from Yah. Every assignment Yah has ever given required work. Noah worked to build the ark (see Genesis 6). Joseph worked to provide for the Egyptians during a seven-year famine (see Genesis 41:41ff). Solomon worked to build the Temple (see 2 Chronicles 2-4). As each accomplished what Yah asked of him, he fulfilled Yah’s purpose for his life. His willingness to do the work Yah gave him blessed himself and others. Through work these people and many others have met the various responsibilities of their lives.




YOU NEED TO WORK




Work is honorable. Yah designed you to meet the needs of your life through work. When you refuse to work, you deny yourself the opportunity to fulfill your purpose, because Yah created you to act like He acts, and Yah worked. The release of your potential demands that you admit that you need work.




Work Profits the Worker




All hard work brings a profit... (Proverbs 14:23).




The plans of the diligent lead to profit... (Proverbs 21:5).




..by providing for physical needs.




Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands.so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).




Work profits the worker by allowing him to meet his financial responsibilities. The apostle Paul provided for his own needs by making tents (see 1 Thessalonians 2:6-9). He did not rely on the provisions of others, but whenever possible, worked for his living.




The same is required of you. Don’t become a burden on others. Work to provide for yourself and your family. Settle down and get a job. Put your roots down and do not allow yourself to be easily deterred from your responsibilities.




Yah gave you work to earn the bread you eat.




..by revealing potential.




Yah also ordained that work would show you your potential. Although all work brings profit, the reward is not always a financial one. You may feel like you are working hard but you’re not getting paid what you are worth. Keep working so you can reap the profits of your work. Yah does not lie. Even if no one ever pays you, your work profits you because you discover what you can do. It is better to deserve an honor and not receive it than to receive an honor and not deserve it.




...by unveiling the blessings of work.




Work is much more important than honor because it brings the learning that releases your talents, abilities, and capabilities. It is also more valuable than a paycheck. When you stop working for money, you’ll discover the blessing of work.




The laborer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on (Proverbs 16:26).




...by giving the opportunity to rejoice in achievement.




A commitment to work will also permit you to develop a perspective that rejoices in achievement more than pay. Then you can find happiness in your work even when the pay is less than what you expect or deserve. Administrators give those who are busy more to do because they know the busy people are willing to work. If you want to be promoted, get busy. Become productive. Refuse to live for coffee breaks, lunch hours, and quitting time. Take your tasks and do them well. When you work, work because you want to know what you can do, not because you are trying to get paid. You may not be noticed immediately, but your promotion will come. Excellent work always profits the worker.




...by building self-esteem.




Finally, work profits you by enhancing your self-esteem. If you feel worthless, find some work. Get busy. When you have something to do, your ability to feel good about yourself can change overnight. As you take the opportunity to focus on the results of your labor instead of the losses in your life that tempt you to feel unloveable and incapable, your estimation of yourself will grow. Work keeps you healthy, physically and emotionally.




Work Blesses Others




Share with Yah’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality (Romans 12:13).




Work affords the opportunity to help others. Indeed, the Gospel of Matthew records a parable in which our willingness to help meet the needs of others is the basis on which our faithfulness or unfaithfulness to Hamachiach is judged (see Matthew 25:31-46). The apostle Paul notes the benefits of sharing when he commends the Corinthian church for their willingness to help those in need (see 2 Corinthians 8-9). He advises them to give generously, not grudgingly, with the promise that what they give and more will be returned to them:




Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for Yah loves a cheerful giver.. Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion... (2 Corinthians 9:6-7,10-11a).




SO WHO’S STEALING?




If I were to ask you to describe a thief, you would probably talk about someone who entered your home and took your possessions. This is certainly a legitimate definition, but the thief doesn’t always have to sneak in and out to take what isn’t his.




Many of us go to work and steal from our bosses. We come to work late, take extra long lunch hours, and go home early. Or we take home the pencils, paper, pens, and paper clips that belong to the company, we make private copies on the boss’s copy machine, and we conduct personal business on company time. These actions are no better than those of a thief who enters your home and takes your possessions because both result in the loss of goods that someone else worked to provide.




In an even broader sense, a thief is anyone who relies on the productiveness of another to provide for his needs because he is too lazy to meet them himself. If you are able to work and you’re not working, you are stealing from those who are working. You’re requiring them to provide what you could get for yourself if you would work. If you are eating but not working, or you are living in a house but not working, you are a thief. Taking the benefits of work without participating in the effort is theft.

If you are able to work and you’re not working, you are stealing from those who are working.




Thus, a son who plays baseball all day then comes in and messes up the house his mother spent all day cleaning is a thief. He has stolen her energy. Likewise, an adult child who is out of school, but lives at home, steals from his parents if he goes into the kitchen and eats from the pot that is on the stove without helping to provide what’s in the pot.




Theft goes even farther than relying on another’s effort. You are pregnant with babies that need to be born. You have talents, abilities, and capabilities that Yah wants you to share with the world. But you will never see them unless you begin to understand Yah’s definition of work and His purpose for giving you the opportunity to share His creative powers. Your potential is dying while you are sitting around doing nothing.




If you steal something, you don’t stop and look at it. Instead of admiring your efforts, you worry about who’s going to take your things from you. Or you are so busy seeing how little work you can do without being caught that you have accomplished nothing at the end of the day that merits the pride of accomplishment. The absence of work is stealing. Likewise, the cure for stealing is work—doing something useful with your hands.

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands... (Ephesians 4:28).




Usefulness is more than a job. It’s making a profitable contribution to the world. It’s gaining so you can give. It’s finding wholesome, legal work that helps and blesses another, instead of immoral degrading behavior that harms and destroys. Usefulness recognizes the accomplishments of others and tries to complement them.




THE PENALITIES OF LAZINESS




Sitting around is no more acceptable to Yah than taking what does not belong to you. You rob yourself and others when you are lazy. Like any theft, laziness carries many penalties. The first of these is hunger:




The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied (Proverbs 13:4).




Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry (Proverbs 19:15).




Even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).




A second penality of laziness is isolation and shame:




In the name of the Most High Yahusha Hamachiach, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle.. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed (2 Thessalonians 3:6,14b).




A poor man is shunned by all his relatives—how much more do his friends avoid him! (Proverbs 19:7)




A third penalty of laziness is others’ reluctance to take you seriously, because lazy people always have an excuse why they aren’t working.




The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!” or, “I will be murdered in the streets!” (Proverbs 22:13)




A fourth penalty of laziness is lost opportunities for advancement because jealousy and overconcern for the progress of others prevents you from doing your work.




Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men (Proverbs 22:29).




Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herd; for riches do not endure forever and a crown is not secure for all generations (Proverbs 27:23-24).




A fifth penalty of laziness is the inability to see your own need to get up and work:




The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly

(Proverbs 26:16).




A sixth penalty of laziness is an increasing loss of ambition:




The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth (Proverbs 26:15).




Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers it food at harvest (Proverbs 6:6-7).




A seventh penalty of laziness is the desire to sleep:

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed (Proverbs 26:14).




An eighth penalty of laziness is the inability to take pride in what you have accomplished because you haven’t accomplished anything.




The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions (Proverbs 12:27).




A ninth penalty of laziness is slavery:




Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor (Proverbs 12:24). An tenth penalty of laziness, and the most severe, is poverty. Poverty is the

cumulative result of all the other penalities.




All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty (Proverbs 14:23).




How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man (Proverbs 6:9-11).




Lazy hands make a man poor... (Proverbs 10:4).




A sluggard is a lazy bum—my mother used to call them “grassy bellies.” When I was young I didn’t understand what my mom meant. But one day when I was sitting in the library at the university I realized that Mom called sluggards grassy bellies because they lay on their bellies long enough for grass to grow on them. The Greek word for poor, as used by Yahusha, is poucos, which means “nonproductivity.” That’s what poverty is. To be poor doesn’t mean you don’t have anything. It means you aren’t doing anything.




Poverty is cured by hard work. If you don’t work you will end up begging. Or you’ll become a slave to your boss because you refuse to work for your own satisfaction in completing the job and wait for him to force you to work.

Poverty is cured by hard work.




Look at the birds. Yah provides food for them, but they have to go and look for it. They have to dig and pull it out of the ground. So it is with you. Yah has given you many talents and ambitions to bring satisfaction and fulfillment into your life. But you have to go and look for that fulfillment. You can’t sit back and wait for it to come to you, because it will never come. Work is Yah’s path to an abundant, fulfilling life that reveals the wealth of your potential. Yah established your need to work when He worked out His potential in creation and demanded the same of Adam.




PRINCIPLES




1. Yah worked, and He created you to work.




2. Subduing and dominating the earth requires work.




3. When you refuse to work, you deny yourself the opportunity to fulfill your potential.




4. The absence of work is stealing.




5. You rob yourself and others when you are lazy.




6. Poverty is cured by hard work.