I'm Joe Haynes from down in Spring Valley, and this is going to be our workshop on the gospel showing up in the workplace. We've already had the precursor to it in the last message time, but we're just going to kind of get a little bit more practical in some of the things that you might try to do in the workplace, some of the things that are important to remember in the workplace, and it's a workshop, it's not a preaching time. So we wanna hear from you some things that have come into play, maybe some warnings that we can take from tough experiences, maybe some learning things from experience over the years, whatever it might be, but let's open up with a word of prayer. Dear God, I thank you for each of these men here today and for our desire to share Christ, help us to learn from each other, to be better prepared, to serve you, to be aware of our testimony in all areas, and how to guard our lives and our testimonies, how to be effective in sharing the gospel, how to be involved in the lives of others. Give us strength, give us wisdom, give us clarity of mind. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. First of all, if you didn't grab a handout sheet, there's some on the middle table back there. This is not a huge outline, just a general reminder, mainly to help keep me online and on track with the things I needed to say. We've got Tim Skarin here with us. He is, I'm not going to get into the details of who he is, other than he's a deacon from our church, and he works for a Christian employer. It's not his business. But he kind of got in on the ground level of it, and it's a Christian employer, and he's going to share some of the things that they've been able to implement in their workplace, some of the things that he individually does, they do as a company, and kind of get the discussion time going for where you might be able to share ideas with us as well. So we're gonna have plenty of time for that. Just a few reminders of the biblical principles we're talking about. First of all the Great Commission there in Matthew chapter 28 We're not even going to take the time to read it not right now because if you're here you probably most of you could probably quote Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20, but of course remember we see the Great Commission Repeated in all of the Gospels as well as the book of Acts and like Brother Sturtz reminded us it's not just for pastors I have heard too many stories over the years and too many situations, some that I've heard second, third hand, some that I've heard directly from people coming to me and saying, Pastor, go talk to so-and-so. They really need to hear the gospel. Yes, that's true. They do need to hear the gospel. But the gospel is for each and every believer to be giving out, not just for the pastors to be dealing with. The other flip side of giving up the gospel in the workplace is also talked about in some of the previous comments of that using self-control, of knowing how to do things properly, how to do things right. Have a plan, work your plan, but be prepared for all the changes. What I want us to really start to think about today is there in John chapter 21, the motivation for bringing Christ into the workplace. John chapter 21, soon after the resurrection, the resurrection ministry, the disciples, they were kind of do-less, kind of not knowing what to do at this time. I don't say this in putting them down, but I think they were kind of like, wow, that was great. Being under the teaching of Jesus, following Jesus, that was all fantastic. But Christ died. What's going to happen now? favorite statements in John chapter 21 is there in verse three where it says, Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. You know, yeah, I guess it's back to normal life now, back to the work routine, the rut of what we do to be able to make a living. But how different that turned out that night, you're familiar with the story there of John chapter 21. We're not going to read through all of it there, but verses 15 through 17. When Christ had made himself evident to them, they realized who it was. You could read earlier in the chapter of Peter's shock when he realized that it was Christ there again, and what a difference it was still making. But in verse 21, or verse 15 of chapter 21, so when they had dined, Jesus saith unto Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? Am I more important to you than making a living? Is Christ really that critical in our lives? They had fished all night and hadn't found anything. Christ got involved, and suddenly they had success again. And then Peter's getting confronted here by Christ. Three main questions. It's not specifically stated in scripture here. But three things that I think come out of the times that Christ questioned him about his love for the Lord, three concepts that stood out to me was his humility, the sacrifice, and the sincerity. Are we serving God in humility, sacrifice, and sincerity? That, to me, is the key. Takeaway from verses 15 through 17 there we have to keep that in mind in the workplace We don't know it all first of all we're in the workplace is the workplace the place for witnessing Some people would say no Why would you say workplace is not the place for witnessing? Don't be afraid What's the problem with witnessing in the workplace I? I'm sorry, repeat that. Yeah, there's a liability. Sometimes I will say this and you may or may not agree with me sometimes very justifiably for that. Your workplace is a workplace. We need to be a witness. We need to be a testimony, but it is primarily a workplace. we are hired to do work. We're gonna get to that in just a second, a little bit more as well. Well, let's go to that passage. Ephesians chapter six, seven and eight. Ephesians chapter six, verses seven and eight. Of course, the beginning of the chapter there, talking about our relationship within the families, children obeying the parents, all of that. Down to verses 7 and 8, with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatsoever, did I have? I had something off there. Actually, it was the other one I was planning to look at there. Knowing that whatsoever good things man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether it be bond or free. And masters do the same things unto them forbearing, threatening, knowing that as your master as in heaven, neither is a respect of persons with him. And then over in Colossians was the one I thought I was turning to. Colossians chapter three. Verses 22 through 24. Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of an inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Jesus Christ. But he that doth wrong shall receive of the wrong for which he hath done. There is no respect of persons. How do these passages fit or not fit in the workplace? Are we bondservants to Christ? Obviously, each and every believer would say yes. Are we servants in the workplace? Yeah, what is the limit on how we are servants in the workplace? Anybody wanna think of what the limitation is there? How is that different than the bond servants, the slaves of the New Testament? How is the workplace different than being a slave in the New Testament times? Yeah, we have an option. Yeah, you're done, and I thought that's where you were going with your first statement. Yeah, you quit at the end of the day, the rest of the time is yours, but you could also quit from that job. If the workplace isn't a good workplace for you, choose another workplace. But be a testimony as you do your work. Our testimony in the workplace is so important. I remember back one job that I was working at. I had resigned my position from a Christian school because I knew I needed to, I knew God was calling me into the pastorate and it wasn't fair to leave a Christian school mid-year. So I resigned my position at the end of the year for a Christian school and was going to be going into the ministry. During that time, I worked a job at a Target warehouse and enjoyed it as far as earning a living. It was a decent workplace. They treated me fairly. But as I knew I had a position lined up for ministry, I went into my boss and said, I'm really sorry. I need to turn in my notice. But I said, OK, if I give you, whatever it was, eight working days notice rather than 10, not give him the full two weeks, his response to me was, Joe, you've proven yourself to be a good worker. You're an honest man. You can go ahead and work through tonight. But as soon as I hear that you're leaving us, I'm supposed to escort you out the door immediately. You know, they're not used to trusting people in the workplace oftentimes, rightfully so in a place like that. There was a lot of employee theft that they had to watch out for. My quick response was, is it a busy night? I didn't want to shaft the employer improperly, but I was anxious to get out of there as well. He told me it wasn't, so I said, escort me to the door then. But the workplace is a unique location for us. It's a location of ministry, but it's a place for the work to get accomplished. Don't sell your boss short. Don't sell the business short. Do your work in the workplace, but be ready to be used in the workplace. Be a testimony. Be a testimony in your work. Be a testimony during the break time. If you have that freedom to have conversation as you're working, Take it, but make sure that you give your employer his due. The statement was made of what happens if you get fired. What happens if your testimony becomes a problem in the workplace? Where can you turn? What are some helps that you can look at? Anybody got some ideas? If it's becoming a problem if it's becoming stressful get some advice from your pastor how You can be better prepared to be in the workplace. There are some protections if somebody lost their job unfairly because of their testimony simply because they Wore a shirt or they were talking during break time if you feel you've been unfairly treated in the workplace What are your options? My wife, she's a school bus driver, and she knows that God put her in there to help students do God's work by saving these students' souls. So she knows that she's been talking to a lot of Uber employer bosses. And she knows that she's doing God's will. And she does talk about it could be a possibility she could lose her job. But she said that, oh, God, we'll have to be pumping in another school bus district. And I'll apply for that. But right now? You know, she talks about that, because you want to call her in, and when she comes home in, they'll say, we need to talk to you. Because it means you heard that you're talking about the Bible, you know, and stuff, and these kids are talking. But my wife wants to do what God had told her to do, to witness and to save these young souls before they are lost. So she prepared, and she gets busy. realize the consequences, but do what's right. Don't make, guess what? She can't pull the bus over to the side of the road and start giving out the plan of salvation as the bus sits her on the side of the road. Do your job. But particularly with kids, kids ask all sorts of questions. I as well. I'm bivocational. I'm a pastor. I love the pastorate. I love the people of the church. It's the greatest job in the world. But to help make ends meet, I as well drive a school bus. I take great delight in taking extra. curricular sports runs or field trips where you drive the bus and then you sit there for two hours. Several of the athletic families in town will good-naturedly pick on me because I take great delight in letting them know that I have my Bible there, I have my Sunday school material there, I have my computer there. And while they're having fun in the game, I'm there on the bus studying the word of God and the greatest part The greatest part is to tell the people, hey, I'm getting paid by the public school district to study the word of God. How much better can it get than that? It's a great opportunity. But when it comes to the driving, when it comes to whatever the job might be, they deserve our concentration. They deserve our time. They deserve our energy. As far as that getting fired for it if you are wrongfully fired there are Organizations out there talk to your pastor if you feel that you ever face a improper persecution or difficulties at the workplace. Your pastor might have some good helps for you. Christian Law Association, CLA, National Center for Life and Liberty, NCLL, two good legal Christian organizations. By the way, it's not about lawsuits, but it's about protecting yourself from things. So take advantage of that. Another one I wanted to hit on was some of the resources, some of the helps that are available to help you in the workplace. You don't have to know everything to be able to help somebody in the workplace. It might be somebody going through divorce. It might be somebody going through grief. It might be somebody dealing with anxiety. Don't feel like you have to have the answers immediately. Research. Do your homework. Do things. A lot of churches have some of these booklets out. Simple little booklets. These are put out by CCEF. Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation This one is why worry how to get to the heart of anxiety? finding hope again in grief different things You can research find the topic get a little booklet read through the booklets yourself before you give them to somebody else then give them out these little booklets are three four or five dollars and You can get them either through Westminster Press or through Faith Biblical Counseling. Google either of those two. Get some of the booklets for a particular situation. They're inexpensive, anywhere from $3 to $5. If you need $3 to $5 to help out, see Brother Hubscher. There you go. He was willing to help out there. So be involved, realize you're not in it alone. Seek for the prayer help from other people at church, but be a proper biblical example in the workplace. I wanted to give a couple of examples personally just to get the ball rolling on thinking about how it comes into play in the workplace. This is not just story time. But to get us to think a little bit more about some principles, I'm going to give two. Then we're going to have Tim come up and give us the way it has worked in their workplace. And then you guys need to be ready to loosen up. Give us some examples or some questions about your interactions in the workplace. First of all, John is my first example. I wanted to talk about how we need to be patient. in the workplace. John was a lifelong IBMer, a farmer, and then in retirement became a school bus driver. Myself, I came down to Spring Valley to the pastorate and they had me pegged as a bus driver before I ever came to town because They were so short and we had a Christian school up in Coon Rapids where I'd come from before so they had me all paid to be a bus driver before I even came to town So it was a good fit for me. It was a good fit for John in retirement, but I'd always try to talk we're a small district and we had about eight drivers at the time sitting around the room and we'd talk about things. And I kind of got picked on for being a Biblicist, for believing the Bible, for being a Christian. They picked on me. Imagine that. You guys have never experienced anything like that in the workplace, have you? Well, some of you have. But thankfully, in most cases, it's good nature. And this was definitely good nature. John would talk to me all the time, and he'd ask me if I had my overlay ready. And at first, I thought, what in the world is an overlay? An overlay, by this man's definition, was reusing a Bible message. You know, I'd pull out my notes from a message I'd preached a year before, two years before, I don't know what he was thinking. But that you never actually study the Bible, you just pull out some old papers and re-preach a message. So John would always ask me about that. And he'd pick on me almost incessantly while there were eight drivers in the room. But anytime there was one driver in the room, John's tone always changed. And he'd say, you know, my grandfather used to always want me to read the Bible. And he made me promise him that I'd read the Bible through before I died. And I haven't done it yet. Guess what, I took note of that. That was the way I could always start up the conversation with John whenever it was just us in the bus garage. And as we'd get down, I'd say, hey John, how's the Bible reading going? Are you making progress? And I'd bring it around and talk about spiritual things. I witnessed to him numerous times to no avail. After a few years, John stopped driving. Couple years later, I heard John had cancer. And I said to myself, I got to get out and see John. I don't even know where he lives. I know he's on a farm north of town. I got to find out how to get a hold of him. I put it off. I didn't do it. Finally, I heard John's in the hospital. He's not doing well at all with the cancer. I kicked myself a couple times. and pushed myself to go up to the hospital, went into the St. Mary's Hospital, went up to his room, the door was closed. I thought, ah, this isn't necessarily good. I knocked on the door. I called out, John, this is Joe Haynes, can I come in? John was a big, burly, old man at this time, and he just blared out, he says, Joe, get in here! You're just the man I've been waiting to talk to. John got saved that night. I never led John to the Lord, but John got saved that night. He was ready. He had been reading the things that we had talked about. I just reviewed a little bit with him, talked to him a little bit about his prayer. But John was ready to be saved. We need to follow through. Be patient with people. Don't give up on people. The worst, orneriest person in the workplace might be the person that needs to hear from you the most. Your faithfulness, your patience with them is so important. Just keep following it up. Be gentle. Know when you have to be bold. And don't be afraid to be bold when you have to. But be patient with people. The second example was Jim. Jim is an example of humility. We don't know all the answers, nor do we have to know all the answers. Jim was the emergency services director in our small town. He ran the ambulance, coordinated the ambulance service. It was, I don't know, government funded type of thing, but he led it in our town and he did training in all the towns in our area. Very important man in the medical world. And in a small town, People call the ambulance, then they call the pastor. Many times I got to somebody's house either before or at the same time as the ambulance got to their house. And I would often be there praying with the family, praying with people. when they had a medical need, sometimes even helping out the ambulance crew in a small town, helping them carry something, hold something, lift somebody, whatever it might be. And Jim Cooper was the ambulance director, and he was at many of the calls as well. And he started joking with me about ministry and saying, you're at these calls before we get to the call sometimes. Why don't you just join the ambulance crew? And we laughed back and forth about that for multiple years, had many encounters with Jim. And then one day out of the clear when I came home, there was a voicemail message on the phone at the church telling me that this was Jim and he had some bad medical news. Could I come and talk to him? Had the opportunity again to go over to his house in this case, and present the gospel to Jim Cooper, to study the word of God with him for a little bit. He never got saved. I went over a second time. He never got saved. I went over a third time. And as we were finishing up the third time, he says to me, looks very bewildered, and he says, you've been in a lot of these scenes. I've been in a lot of these scenes. When does somebody die? I wasn't ready to answer that question, really, especially to somebody with all sorts of medical and first aid training. And I said, Jim, if you're talking from a medical perspective, I'm not really sure. It might be when the heart stops beating, It might be when the brainwave activity stops. It might be something in between those two. I don't really know. But what I do know and I shared with him from Corinthians that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and took that into another round of witnessing that we can know for sure what's going to happen to us when we die. Jim said, ah, okay, I'll think about that. Still, no reaction, no response. A couple weeks later, On a Monday night, nonetheless, with the Vikings playing a very important Monday night football game, I get a call from his wife saying, Jim's in the hospital. He's not doing well. Can you come up? Yeah, love to. And all the way up, in fact, I think I even had my wife drive me up to the hospital that night so I could prepare myself what to say. And I went in, and my wife went in with me. There was a room full of people there. His son had just flown in from Texas. He had some in-laws there. He had a neighbor there. His wife was there. A room full of people. And I thought, oh, great. You know, how am I going to give out the gospel to Jim And Kathy, my wife, started talking with the other people there, and I just leaned up to Jim and started to talk to him about if he knew what was going to happen to him when he died. Right away, he said, yeah, I know 100% now. And in between the times that we had talked, He had prayed based upon what we had said. And he talked about how important it was that I hadn't just gone to some biblical answer and thought that I knew the whole thing. That was my temptation, to try to sound so theological and so knowing about facts that I could tell him exactly when somebody died. I wasn't ready for that. But that was exactly what he needed to know that people don't have the answers, but the Bible does. And Jim told me he had gotten saved that night, or had gotten saved before that night. So then I prayed with him and I was all thrilled. And then a son that had flown in from Texas says, pastor, can I talk to you for a minute? And I thought, oh no, here it comes. His son from Texas called me over to the hallway outside of the room and pulled out his phone, says, I just flew up from Texas to be able to see Dad. Read this. And he was writing out his testimony. He had gotten saved down in Texas. He was writing out his testimony and how he wanted to present the gospel to his dad that night and how thrilled he was that his dad had already gotten saved. Once again, patience, timing, humility, to don't think we know all the answers, but to be willing in the workplace. For me, the workplace is mostly the pass trick. It's kind of expected. But the school bus driving comes into play as well. Whatever your workplace situation is, it has opportunities for you to be able to share the gospel, opportunities without you getting in trouble. Yes, you can get in trouble. We need to be sensitive to that. We need to be good workers. We need to be upfront and honest with our employer, but be prepared to give out the gospel. Tim's going to come tell us what it looks like in a, not a ministry workplace, but a Christian-owned workplace, not even Christian-based. He'll tell you, maybe tell him a little bit about what you do, because I can learn more. I don't know exactly what he does. But Tim's going to give us a little bit of his example. Then we're going to turn it over for either questions or opportunities. of what you've had in the workplace and how it has or hasn't worked. Don't be afraid to tell us something that hasn't worked. We can all learn from that as well. Tim, come on up if you would. Yeah, like Pastor said, I kind of have a unique perspective on ministry in the workplace, given kind of the unique setting and what I do. I work for Stewart Contract Packaging. We're a food and supplement co-manufacturer. So basically, we will blend powder and liquid products, like cough syrup, or a throat spray, or a protein powder, or a drink mix, or something like that, and then package it for our customers. It's very common work. There are a ton of companies in the United States that do exactly what we do and have the exact same machines that we do. And it's interesting. Certain people love the machines. I am not that guy. I started out where the company was pretty small, like Pastor said, and so I did a lot of that stuff. And as we've grown, I've kind of gotten the opportunity to do more of the HR tech side and side of the business which I really enjoy. But anyways, that's all neither here nor there. What makes Stewart Contract Packaging a good place to work is the way that we do our work. That's typically what I tell people who come in and want to work with us or have a question about what makes us unique as a company and I always say it's the way that we do our work and I had the opportunity when I first started working at the company to help create our mission statement and it basically boils down to our mission is to glorify God and create a transformational workplace. That's really what it boils down to. There's other aspects of the way we make that happen, but it's about those two things in particular, glorifying God and creating a transformational workplace. And those are actually two of our company values. One of our values is work is worship, and it comes right from what Pastor was talking about there in Colossians, working with all your heart and diligence as an act of worship to God. And what's really cool about that is it gives the opportunity for us to talk to all of our team members about those biblical truths, right? And, you know, we are a Christian company, we are not shy about our faith, and the people that come and work with us get exposed to that a lot. And it's not a requirement that someone's religious to work with us, obviously. It would not still be a company if we tried to require that. But it does give us the opportunity to message really clearly with those things. So working as worship means that we work with excellence and integrity. You know, we would tack on to the end of it as an act of worship to God, but excellence and integrity are the standards that apply whether someone's a Christian or not. So if you come into our workplace, you're going to be expected to work with excellence. You're going to be expected to be diligent, to give your best effort on every day, and to work with integrity, to work in a way that's that's open and honest with your co-workers and with our customers so that they can come into our plant on any day of the week and watch their product be made and be pleased with the manner in which we're doing work for them. And then it's for the purpose of creating transformational change. That speaks to how the company is structured. Being a growth-oriented company, we change all the time. We change equipment, change processes, change products. regularly and that involves a lot of change, but it's also and most importantly about the change that can happen in the lives of our employees. We've had different ones partially through the influence of working with us. We work with a large group of Amish in that area. We've had people that have, we've never told anybody to leave the Amish, but they have as a product of, you know, God working in their lives, but also the opportunities we've had to witness and to model what godly living looks like outside of the Amish community. And there's other examples that I could give as well of how saturating someone in an environment and in a workplace that is geared towards glorifying God first and making money second can produce a real meaningful change for those people in their lives. And it's something I'm grateful for. I'm grateful that I don't have to be shy about what I believe when I'm at work. But it's also a responsibility, and I kind of wanted to emphasize a couple of things as well, and that is that even in a situation like I have, where I have no concerns about giving the gospel at work, I will not get fired for doing it. That's not going to happen. But that's all the more responsibility, the Bible says, to who much is given, much is required, right? And so we have, I have, an opportunity at my company to be faithful above and beyond somebody who may work in a more hostile environment towards the gospel, to be consistent with my life and practice and to, with what I declare about the scriptures while I'm at work. And I think it starts for each and every one of us As we're on the way to work, we need to be preparing our hearts for ministry. And I know for myself, a practice that I've tried to get into is not catching up on like sports scores or anything like that on my way to work. What I try to do as I'm heading to work, I have about a 20 minute drive, is I'm either going to listen to my devotions again, or I'm going to listen to some Christian music, or meditate on some different verses or something to prepare my heart to be ministering while I'm at work. And if you head into your day starting it with that mentality, having had a good devotional time before you left the house, and then meditating on those things before you get to work, you get to work thinking about Christ, not what you had to do that day. And that positions you in a much better mindset to minister while you're at work. The second thing is, like Pastor said many times, is be a good employee. There's people that are willing to listen to me at work because I've been alongside them for years, and they know that I'm genuine, that I'm doing my job, that I am working hard. And if you're not doing that, if I'm not doing that, people will not care what you have to say for a second. If you're a subpar employee, if you're late, if you slack off, if you try to find ways to not work, Your co-workers will not care what you have to say about the scriptures in the slightest. They'll think of you as just another hypocrite. So be a good employee. Be excellent. Be above the standard. Go above and beyond. Not because you care about your job that much. It's good for your job to do that. But because you care about your Savior that much. And He demands excellence of you in your work. And so if you do those two things, you will have opportunities. Whether your workplace is friendly to the gospel, like mine, or whether it's more hostile, people notice those who stand out, who separate themselves from the pack. And it causes tension, it causes conflict. But in that tension and conflict, there is great opportunity to witness and to just declare Christ boldly to people who really need it. If you work 40 hours a week, you spend eight hours a day at your job, at least, you might as well use that time to glorify God and to spread the gospel. So just a few things unique to my experience, but things that are also not unique that we can all work on together. So, Pastor, are you going to come back up for questions now, or comments, or whatever you want? OK. But do, in case the question is specifically towards your workplace. Questions? Comments? Examples? Concerns? What do we have? Yes, sir? And I actually have a mic I can pass around if anybody else needs that as well. So just a couple of things. It's great to stress that if you are an excellent employee, that will be a witness in itself. And then when you also somehow, not maybe overtly, but somehow, you know, you've got a Bible on your desk, or somebody says, you know, you're really peaceful, what is this? And you say, well, I honor God, and I think that's because of him. Then they will connect your excellence to your faith, and that puts a lot of, you're in the spotlight, right? So you have to be accountable to that, but that can be really powerful. I also wanted to mention that, and this has played out in my own workplace, it's not just the lost who can benefit. There have been two cases where somebody has told me, you know, boy, you were really calm in that meeting. You didn't fly off the handle and all that, or something. They've noticed something. And they've given me a chance to say, I think God has given me, you know, giftedness and the peace I have in him and whatever. And they've come back and said, I thought you were probably a Christian. And then it turns out that we get into, you know, good conversations, and we strengthen each other and encourage each other. And now you have a contact in the company, and you can help each other. And one of the other times, it was a really weak and struggling Christian, and I was able to help them as well. So I just wanted to share that. And I have a mic for anybody who wants to share. Thank you. Light and salt. Excellent. Just some comments. So I feel like I've dealt with this a few times, and I think that in the past I have often tried to pray for walking that line between boldness and annoyance, which I think is a tough thing to do. An example of that was, say you're working for someone, which you probably signed a contract saying that you would give of your time to that person. You're working for someone you're trying to, you know, witness to customers or something like that. Like, yeah, you're witnessing customers, but your employer or your supervisors or whatever, they're watching you as well. And you might not be doing what they want you to do. Aren't you supposed to be witnessing to them as well? Like, our co-workers are just as much witnessing to and opportunities to as the people that we interact with. So just a word of caution, I guess I would say. Because, you know, the Lord says, give unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, go thou out there and infiltrate and convert. It says, go and work and do a good job. And, like you said, the opportunities will arise. I mean, if it's that much of a problem, pray for opportunities. They'll come up. So, just a word of caution and encouragement, and I'm always trying to walk that line of being bold, but not absurd, which is a tough thing to do sometimes. And as Brother Sturt said, there with Old Navy, be aware of who's watching you, because yes, they are watching you. I was a public school teacher for 38 years, or 39 years, and I set a Bible on my shelf so the kids would see that when they came in the room, the parents. At Christmas time, my wife talked about this, we'd bring give the kids a candy cane, and then we'd talk about the red and white stripes and things of that sort, the story that goes with the candy cane about being a Christian. And then we'd see this video that was dealing with, not evolution, but dealing with reptiles, with snakes, it was a snake movie, and then they would stress how the lizards lost their legs and they became snakes, and they'd show a little skink that has really short legs, And they talk about how in so many million years, they're going to be a legless lizard and be like a snake. And I'd always stand up and say, and I'd stop the movie and say, you don't have to believe that. I don't. You don't have to either. And I could always see several kids shaking their heads. Yeah, that's not right. That's just a scientist. I said, a lot of people believe this, but you don't have to. retired now, so I give reptile shows that go around at schools and libraries and daycares and things of that sort. And then some people, I'll bring out my snakes and I'll say, a lot of these are really, really pretty, but the ones I have might not be. This is what they look like in nature. This is the way God made them. That's what I like. I like the way God made them. But you get all these fancy snakes that are really pretty, the same kind, but it's not the way they are in real life. It's not like that. Those are man-made snakes. And then sometimes people come up and say, I appreciate you saying that. I appreciate you bringing God into the equation. Almost every time you say that, somebody will come up after the show and thank me for that. And then, I was at a church one time, and those daycares in the summer they have at churches, and I think it's okay to say this, and I'll say, you know, with this ball constrictor, you can see where the legs are right here, they look like they're They're just bones that stick out. I said, those aren't legs. They never were legs. Some people believe that, but it's not. So when they say that's where the legs used to be, they're just vestigial legs now, it's really not that way. God didn't do that. It's just God made them the way they are right now. So I try to bring it in in those different ways and talk about it that way. to get the conversation going. I was at a church when a kid brought it up last year. He says, now they got these old legs. Will you show us where the legs are? And I said, they don't have that. It's a big, big deal. And I talked about God a little bit for that whole program. And it was at a church called VBS. So that worked out really well. I think they were surprised when I brought all that stuff up, because usually I just really enjoy seeing them and touching them and holding them. But here I brought in the thing about Jesus with it. So anyway, that's what I do. And I don't worry about getting fired or anything. They just have to hire me again if they don't want to. But I'm just surprised how many people come by and say, thank you for bringing God into the equation. I just out of the blue, I say, are you a Christian? Yeah. Do you homeschool? Oh, yeah, I do. And I say, I just go with my kids, too, on this and that. So it's really fun. Amen. Didn't know there were such things as Christian public school teachers. I'm just being snarky. I praise the Lord. I went to the public school, had a chemistry teacher in high school that waited until the last day of the year. And I personally knew him and knew he went to a reasonably solid church. And then the last day of the school year, he stood up in class and he said, you know, all of these facts about the chemicals and the periodic table and all of that, he says, I agree with, but I don't agree with some of the teaching behind it, how it all came about. I have a different view and I'd love to talk with you. He wasn't endangering himself at all. But yet opening up the door to be able to talk with kids it might not be super bold, but do what you can somebody else? questions examples anything else oh Right over here I I work in IT at the local community college and I I I think the times when I've been able to share, it was always prefaced with prayer. And kind of to your point, just my personality, I'm not the kind to go out. Even though Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation, it's not my personality to just go and share with just some complete stranger. I feel like there has to be a relationship first. There was an example at my workplace where I have a Muslim coworker, and his office was in a different part of the building, and he got moved up to my area in the cubicle next to me. And at first, he would play a Muslim call to prayer on his computer speakers three times a day, which I found extremely annoying. But rather than be annoyed, I decided, you know what, every time that Muslim call to prayer comes on his computer speakers, I'm going to pray for him. And so I continued to pray for him and eventually he stopped doing that. And I was like, hallelujah, I don't have to listen to that annoying call to prayer anymore. But by this time I had done that so much that I had kind of created a habit where now I was praying for him three times a day regardless of whether that came on some speakers. And then a few months later, you know, it just so happened too that a couple of my co-workers, they left for lunch or whatever and then Firas, my Muslim co-worker, came in and he He came up to me with this little, it looked like a fake million dollar bill. And he's from Iraq, and I was thinking, does he not know that this piece of paper is fake? There is no such thing as a million dollar bill. And he said, no, no, no, on the other side, what does that mean? And so he turned it over. And it was basically a gospel tract that said, the million dollar question, if you were to die tonight, would you go to heaven? And so he had me read that to him and essentially share the gospel with him. And I think the point I'm trying to make is that I'm not a very bold person. You know, normally I'd be like, it's really scary to share, especially with a Muslim. But, you know, and I've heard, too, where in those moments, God is going to give you the words to say. And in that moment, God literally gave me the words to say. There was no doubt what I needed to do. It was a solid gospel tract that I was able to share with my Muslim coworker. and had an extensive conversation then, too. And I mean, after that, he said, I'm going to take that million dollar bill with that gospel tract, and I'm going to laminate that and take that home with me and keep that. So I mean, you just never know what's going to happen. But preface the opportunities with prayer because it's really God that's orchestrating this stuff behind the scenes, and he's going to give those opportunities to you if you're open and willing. That's neat. I've never heard of the Muslim call to prayer as an opportunity to be turned around for the Christian prayer life. Great reminder there. Great application. Anyone else? All right, we got about seven minutes, eight minutes before we start in with the next session. So get a drink, relax, but let's close with a word of prayer. Dear God, help us to continue to coalesce some of these things that we've heard and to be able to look at how we can better be a testimony, a witness, a proper example of a believer in the workplace. Lord, be with those that have been particularly challenged by that, that they haven't been. Help them to realize that you are a God that just continues to give us opportunities to make the most of those. Help us to have a plan to be the type of testimony we should be. And most of all, help us to rely upon sensitivity to your Holy Spirit. on what we should do and how we should do it. Strengthen us, use us, help us to be examples for your honor and your glory. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.