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My Job is a Place

. . . to develop & use the talents God gave me (My Ministry)
. . . to honor God by giving him my best (My Worship)
. . . to show & tell others about God's love for them (My Mission)
. . . to grow in Christlike character (My Maturity)

". . . real maturity is that measure of development which is meant by 'the fullness of Christ.'"  Ephesians 4:13 (Ph)

HOW GOD USES MY WORK TO BUILD MY CHARACTER

1. God Uses Pressure to Teach Me RESPONSIBILITY

"Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as people who do not know the meaning of life, but as those who do."  Ephesians. 5:15 (Ph)

Ways to Develop Responsibility:

• By KEEPING MY PROMISES
  
  "(God blesses the one) . . . who always does what he promises, no matter how much it may cost."  Psalms 15:4

• By MEETING DEADLINES 
  
  "One who is slack in his work is a brother to the one who destroys."  Proverbs 18:9

• By WORKING WITHOUT SUPERVISION
  
  "Don't work hard only when your master is watching . . . work hard all the time, as though working for Christ."  Ephesians 6:6-7 (LB)
  
  "Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities." Luke 16:10 (NLT)

• By CONTROLLING COSTS
  
  "If you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth who will trust you with the true riches of Heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people's money, why should you be entrusted with money of your own?"  Luke 16:11-12 (LB)

Action Plan: Rate yourself on how you are doing in each of these areas. Be honest in your reflection. Choose which one you may struggle with the most and focus on improving in that area.

2.   God Uses Problems to Teach Me CHARACTER

"We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know they are good for us - they help us learn to be patient.  And patience develops strength of character . . ."  Romans 5:3-4 (LB)

"Remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience.  And God is faithful.  He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it.  When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

"I think you ought to know about the hard time we went through in Asia. We were really crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through it . . . We saw how powerless we were to help ourselves, but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God who alone could save us.  And He did help us . . ." 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 (LB)

Action Plan: Use this as a focus for your quiet time this week. Ask God to give you a new perspective on how he might be using problems in your life to grow your character. 

3. God Uses People to Teach Me HOW TO REALLY LOVE

"Do all your work in love."  1 Corinthians 16:14 (GN)

"We remember before God how you put your faith into practice, and how your love makes you work so hard . . ."  1 Thessalonians 1:3 (TEV)

                     Types of Difficult People

• Demanding
• Dishonest
• Disagreeable
• Defensive
• Demeaning

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Romans 12:18 (NIV)

"Work happily together. Treat everyone with equal kindness. Don't become set in your opinions. Never pay back evil for evil. Do all you can to live at peace with everyone."  Romans 12:16-18

"One day the quality of each person's work will be clearly seen when the Day of Christ inspects it. On that day, everyone's work will be tested by
      fire to show the character and quality of what each of us has done."  1 Corinthians 3:13

"God is always fair. He will not forget how hard you have worked and the love you have demonstrated for his name . . ." Hebrews 6:10  

Action Plan: Check out Saddleback's Workplace Ministry for resources and tools on living out your faith at work. Click here to watch a conversation with Workplace Minister Julie Chung.  

Doable Discipleship: This week's episode of Doable Discipleship features part 1 of an interview with Jeremy Elder on how to get unstuck from spiritual dryness. New episodes release every Tuesday. To watch or listen, click here.

Talk It Over: Have you ever discussed the weekend message in your small group? Talk It Over provides weekly small group discussion questions as a way to bring the weekend message into your small group. To view this week's Talk It Over, click here.