Be Willing To Work And Meet God Halfway

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for being with us this week.

We’ve got a great message for you on how you need to meet God halfway. It can be kind of an interesting concept, so if this is your first time with us, please hit that bell icon, the subscribe button, to stay tuned to future sermons.

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Please consider sharing our sermons to help reach more people so we can get more new visitors. So we can have more people understand and interpret the scriptures in the Bible and get out there and start doing the will of God because we need to be doers of the Word. We need more people to live on fire for Christ.

We need more people who are true Christians rather than simply churchgoers because there are a lot of churches and a lot of people that go to church, but look around in your community. Does it truly reflect a true biblical community—a true biblical town based on the Bible, living by the Word of God? Chances are it doesn’t.

That means we need to do more to get more people to start living that way, and these sermons will hopefully help more people do that. All right, you need to meet God halfway. God wants to give you what you ask for. He wants to provide you with everything you need all the time. God wants to provide you with what you need. Let’s go to Philippians 4:19 right away.

Here we go—Philippians 4:19: “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” God will meet all of your needs now. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get everything you want. It’s everything you need. So, some song that says “I might not get everything I want, but I’ll get everything I need.”

In addition, God won’t give you everything you ask for because you might be asking for the wrong things. We have a sermon about that, “Ask God For The Right Things.” You must make sure that what you’re asking for aligns with His will. Let’s go to James 4:3.

James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” If you’re asking for a bunch of money or you’re asking for another couple thousand dollars a month so you can buy your boat, that’s not going to work unless you need the boat because you are rescuing people from human trafficking or you live on a canal and you’re bringing aid.

You know, you’re using it to do the will of God. He’s not going to give you an extra couple thousand a month so you can buy that extra car that you don’t really need because you all have transportation, but you’d really like to have that luxury vehicle. No, we have an entire playlist on asking God. You can check that out in a card.

We have several sermons in that playlist on asking and receiving from God, so when you ask for something of God, you need to be willing to make it happen.

For example, if you ask for more money, God might not give you more money in your current position, but He might say, “I’m going to give you an extra job that you can work on nights and weekends and make that extra money.”

And you might say, “I wasn’t—I don’t want to work another job, God.” Hey, you asked for more money, I’m giving you an opportunity to make more money. You need to be willing to make it happen. That’s part of that. Meet God halfway if you want more, whatever it is.

“God, I want more opportunity for ministry.” Okay, well then, you might need to be willing to get out there and do more ministry. “Yeah, it would sure be nice if I had more opportunity for ministry, but I sit on the couch at night and watch TV after work.” How about getting out on the streets, participating in some street teams?

That’s more opportunity for ministry. You gotta do! James says, You gotta be doers of the Word. We’re not see-ers of the Word or hearers of the Word. Yeah, you need to see and hear what you gotta do. You need to be willing to make that happen. God isn’t simply going to give you everything. He wants you to work for it.

He really does. He wants you to work for what he gives you. How do we know this? Let’s go to 2 Thessalonians 3:10. “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

Now this is interesting, and it can be taken out of context a lot. The point is, our God is a working God. He created the heavens and the Earth. He did work, and He said it was good. We are called to be like Him. That means you need to do good work every day. Now, does that mean you need to go to a job 9 to 5 and punch a clock? It, it, might not mean that.

It means you need to be doing the will of your Father who is in heaven. You need to do the work that He gives you. Now, if He gives you a job and that job makes money and provides for your family, then He is giving you that. That’s His work for you, but you also need to be living your calling of the Great Commission.

You could be doing that at your job. You could be also supporting people like missionaries who are doing that, and in supporting them financially, you are partnering with them in the work.

You are co-laborers with them because it is your money that’s providing for them to do that, and you are a co-laborer. Where your money goes, our heart will be also. Your heart is in that work.

You are working another job to make the means to make something else happen for a greater purpose, a greater good. God wants you to work for the things He gives you, also so that you will appreciate it more as a blessing.

If I said to you, “Hey, you have two options. Number one: You get a million dollars right now, right here today. Number two: over the next three years, you’re going to work hard, and you will have a million dollars by the time it’s done. I’m talking after tax—everything. What would you prefer?

A lot of people are like, “Give it to me now,” because they want instant gratification, but if they had it now, what’s going to happen? I guarantee you 90% of the time that money will be squandered and it will be gone within 5 years, but if you work for it for the next three, you learn so much more because now you have that million. Guess what? During that process, you learn how to do it. Your next million might come in one year.

You will. You will learn the skill set to have that money be so much more appreciated and valued, and you will probably retain that wealth for much longer. You will also know what to do with it based on biblical principles, and you will be passing it down to future generations as God wants you to do so. When you work for things, you see them more as a blessing. You appreciate them more. Think about your children.

If you give them everything they want, do they appreciate it, or does it spoil them? Spoiled kids become rotten adults. If you give your child everything they want, most of the time, that’s spoiling them. Does someone who works do better than someone who’s enabled? You say, “Well, that’s why I don’t go out and give stuff to the homeless because I don’t want to enable them.”

Well, what are you giving to them? Are you going out there, and are you giving them the Word of God? That’s not enabling them, or are you giving them socks and underwear and food and this and that, and every time you go, they’re just wanting more and more, and that’s enabling them. Well, the Bible says to provide for their physical needs. It does.

So, go provide for their physical need as a means to draw them in and then provide with the spiritual need. Do not forget the most important part of reaching out, of doing the street team, or of going out and being in the field or doing ministry. The most important part is NOT to serve them a meal.

Serving them a meal is what brings them in because you’re providing for a physical, immediate need, but then you need to remember that you need to give them the bread of life. That is the real reason why you’re there. If you forget about that, everything else is worthless. As James says, “Faith without works is dead.” Same way, so if you’re going to do the works, but you don’t bring the faith into it, the work is meaningless.

It’s pointless. It serves no eternal purpose. It needs to be a means to the end, and what is the goal? Bring them into the Kingdom of Heaven. Have them know God— that’s the endgame. So does someone who works do better than someone who is enabled? Of course they do. Let’s go to 2 Thessalonians 3:12.

2 Thessalonians 3:12, “Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.” You’re commanded to do work. Now that doesn’t mean, again, it doesn’t mean you need to go have a job, because guess what? God is our provider, and He provides for your every need. If you do His will and what He is commanding you to do, God will provide, and you are working.

If you sit on a street corner all day doing nothing, what are you doing for the Kingdom of Heaven? Nothing but you might be getting paid to do that, but if you stand on a street corner all day and you preach the gospel and you’re not begging for tips, you might still get money because God will be providing for you. But what are you doing for the Kingdom of Heaven? You’re preaching. The point is, work as you might understand it, is not what we’re talking about here.

We are talking about Kingdom building, about doing the work God commissioned you to do, about doing the work you were created to do, about living your divine purpose and your divine calling, meeting God halfway, working for the Lord. You must meet God halfway.

Jesus was also very clear with this when His disciples had a problem with the tax, and they they didn’t really ask Him to provide the money, but they knew that they had to pay this temple tax or this tax to the government.

What did Jesus do? He didn’t say, “Here you go. Here’s the money.” He said, “No, go cast out your line. Catch some fish, and the coins will be in its mouth.” Let’s go to Matthew 17:27

Matthew 17:27, we’ll get there eventually. Matthew 17:27 says, “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth, and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

Very interesting. There’s another gospel called the “Gospel of the Kailedy.” We have a, a publication version of it on our website. You can find it online. But the point of it is there’s another story about that in there giving you some more detail about what that meant: “Go cast your line. Catch the fish.” Is the—is the coin really in its mouth? Did they pull it out in that story? No, they had to do a little bit more work.

Saying, “Go catch some fish, and those fish will turn into money,” as in you can then work to sell them and then pay the temple tax, or go catch some fis,h and what are you catching? Are you just casting out and catching money? Is it in the mouth of the fish, or is the fish itself the provision?

The point is, in any circumstance in either way, Jesus didn’t just give them the money; He said, “I will give you the means to achieve what is needed. They needed the money to pay the tax.” And so he said, “Here’s how you’re going to get it, you’re going to go fish.”

Why, because you’re a fisherman, but that’s not your divine calling; that’s your earthly purpose. You want—I have more in store for you. I want to make you fishers of men, but so that we may not cause offense. Go do what you know how to do. Get some money, and then let’s move on. Jesus made the people work for what He gave them. Let’s go to Proverbs.

Proverbs 24: “Sluggards do not plow in season, so at harvest time they look but find nothing.” There is a season for everything, as Solomon says. A lot of times, you may hear that verse read at weddings—oh, there is a time for this, a time to plant, a time for this, a time for this.

A time for this—a sluggard does not plow in season. When it is time, he’s not doing the work because he’s lazy, but then at harvest time, they look and find nothing. Thinking God will provide my every need, so my field there will just magically grow crops—no. You gotta do the work. You gotta meet God halfway.

His disciples had to meet God halfway. God provided the blessing they provided the labor. Let’s go to Matthew. Matthew 10:10, “No bag for the journey, no extra shirt or sandals or staff for the worker is worth his keep. The worker is worth his keep, not the sluggard is worth his keep, not the lazy person is worth his keep.”

Like Proverbs says, “The lazy man does not even roast his game.” The sluggard is so lazy, doesn’t even bring his hand back to his mouth after putting it in the dish to get the food. Okay, the worker is worth his keep. That means if you are working, providing the labor, doing what God wants you to do. Your keep will be provided for you.

What is a keep? The keep is like what you need as Philippians says, “My God will provide your every need. Everything you need will be met, you will never lack.” Now it might not mean you will have 10 houses and Ferraris and Porsches and boats and yachts and all this kind of stuff, a private jet, no.

But the worker is worth his keep. So when you work, your needs will be met. Trust in God. Let’s go to 1 Timothy 5:8. 1 Timothy 5:8, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives and especially for their own household has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

This is some pretty serious stuff. We used this verse when we talked about providing for your family. We had a sermon series on “Provide For Your Family,” so check that out. You must work and meet God halfway. You gotta be willing to do the work to get the blessings. You need to provide for those around you because if you are, are lazy, or like a sluggard, then you are not working, doing what God wants you to do.

God wants you to be busy—working, not busy bodies—though remember, like what Paul says you, you can’t be busy bodies, getting, meddling in everything. He even says these people are not busy. They are busy bodies. They are trying to be busy because God says you must work.

You must do the labor. You must meet God halfway, but these people are not busy doing that. They are busy bodies, meddling in everything, gossiping, backbiting, talking about things, trying to get in all this business to keep themselves busy with all this nonsense that doesn’t matter.

Some people will do more work to avoid the work that they have to do than it would be just to do that work. You know what I’m saying? You guys are doing more work avoiding the work than the work itself would take. Those people are busybodies. You know the type they are, procrastinating by doing—they have to do this.

“Okay, well, but I was doing this. Well, I called so-and-so. Well, now I was on the phone with him. Well, I have to send this email. I got this to take care of. I got this to take care of.”

“Yes, but did you do what I asked you to do?” “Well, no, I was doing all this.” “Did you do what I asked you to do? This is what I wanted you to do. I wanted you to be busy with the work I gave you.”

The Bible also says, “He who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” God says, “I have a job for you. You need to be doing this work.” “Yeah, oh yeah.” But but no, remember what happened to Lot’s wife?

She looked back pillar of salt. Done. Do your purpose. God has a task for you. Yes, there’s an earthly purpose, and there’s a heavenly purpose. A higher calling—the Great Commission that’s your commission.

If you’re a believer in Christ, many other things God commanded you to do. Love God. Love your neighbor. So much falls into those two things. Do those. You’ll be following the commands, but whatever you ask for, you need to be willing to work to receive it.

Remember, God’s not just going to give you stuff. Yes, okay, He could say, “All right, every month I’m going to bring you—what’s your monthly expense—5,000 bucks. That’s what you need to survive with you and your family.

“Okay 5,000 a month. 60 grand a year. Every month, I will bring you a paper sack with $5,000 in it, and it’ll be dropped by a raven on your back porch.” He could definitely do that. Remember, He took care of Elijah in the wilderness. The ravens brought him food. Okay, He could definitely do that, but if He did, what would you be doing?

Living your best life. I hate that. “Oh, he’s out there living his best life.” “You’re living your best life.” You’re not going to stop living your best life and start living God’s best life for you because you need to be living for Him, not for you! Living your best life—forget it! Live for God! You’re supposed to be dead anyway, crucifying the flesh, living for Christ.

Whatever you ask for, you need to be willing to do the work to receive it. So if you have a need. Instead of just praying for God to meet your need. Pray for Him to meet your need and for the discernment and willingness to know how He wants you to fill that need. Maybe He wants you to do something.

Maybe He wants you to not do anything. But whatever it is, it’s not going to be something earthly or worldly. “God meet my needs. I’m a professional poker player.” That doesn’t make sense. You know what I’m saying? “God meet my need. I want to make pornographic films.” No, that’s not going to work. “God meet my need. I’m going to be a liquor sampler.” No. Doesn’t work.

You can’t expect God to meet a need if you’re going to do ungodly things. “Meet my need, God. I want to play video games and waste time all day.” Now of, of course, these things could pay you, but if you want to be living on mission—on fire for God—you need to be doing what He wants you to be doing, not what you might want to be doing.

So be willing to realign your priorities and meet God halfway. There’s a, another story from that Gospel of the Kailedy that I’ll end with here. It says, it’s just a saying, but in there, there’s so many good nuggets. It says, “God provides water from the ground or the sky which produces the weeds and the grass, but in order to produce food, water from the brows of men must be added.”

That means you need to meet God halfway. God provides water from the ground or from the sky, and things grow, but in order for the right things to grow, people have to do the labor. “Water from the brows must be added,” meaning sweat needs to drip into that earth and grow.

Now, I’m not saying it’s sweat. I’m saying it’s the labor which causes the sweat and growth. That’s the point. It’s like a parable. It’s telling you, you gotta do the work. Meet God halfway. Be willing to work for what you receive. Work how God wants you to work. doing what He wants you to do.

Let’s pray.

Father, thank you so much for this message. I ask that the clarity would be revealed that people would really understand this, that they would the that the confusion, the shroud of confusion, would be removed on working and what work is and jobs and tasks and provision and money and, and all of this, that that would be removed, that they would know without a doubt what work means in your mind.

That they would put on the mind of Christ, that as believers, they don’t cling to old things like “Oh, your ways are higher…” No, they’re not.

If you are a Christian, they’ve renewed their mind, and they need to have the mind of Christ—that means your ways AGE their ways and your thoughts AGE their thoughts, that their thoughts are your thoughts and their ways are your ways, that they would be working with you, doing exactly what you tell them to do.

Working for you, working the job you have them to do, and that they would meet you halfway, that they would do the labor, that their work would be worth their keep, and that they would see your provision, that you would provide for them in every way, that they would learn to rely on you and to do what you want them to do every single moment of every single day.

In Jesus’ name, Amen. I really hope you’re inspired to dive into this more. We don’t have time to really break it all down, but there is so much more. Dive into these verses, get into what it means, and understand that you need to do what God wants you to do, and He will always provide.

Have a great week, and God bless.