Live Free with Josh Howerton - Why Laziness Is Killing Your Purpose | Live Free with Josh Howerton

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

Ever felt like life is stuck on pause? Idleness can silently kill purpose, and today, we’re exploring how to live with intention. Pastors Josh Howerton, Carlos Erazo, and Tim Smith discuss the dangers of the sin of sloth, its link to mental health struggles, and the biblical call to work. They also explore the role of stay-at-home dads and how living mission-driven leads to fulfillment.   Through King David’s downfall, they highlight the power of meaningful work and how to break free from stagnation. As we consider how to align our lives with God’s design, we also ask: How do we balance leisure and recreation? Can Christians play video games without falling into idleness? This conversation will challenge and encourage you to step into your calling and discover the life God has planned for you.     👍 Like, Comment, & Subscribe for more life-changing podcasts! 🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss an update!     👇 DON’T MISS OUT! Whatever your gifts are, we want to help you find YOUR Serve Team! Text "SERVE" to 20411 or visit lakepointe.church/serve Get involved with our new campuses in Sunnyvale or Royse City, TX, and serve with a team that’s making an impact. Text "LAUNCH" to 20411! We can’t wait to have you on board! 💪   ⛪ ABOUT LAKEPOINTE CHURCH: We believe that Lakepointe is a movement for all people to Know God, Find Freedom, Discover their Calling, and Make a Difference. With 6 DFW locations and programs for all ages, there's something for everyone. 🤝 Support this ministry and help us reach more people with the Gospel: lakepointe.church/give   STAY CONNECTED: 🌐 Website: lakepointe.church 👍 Facebook: @lakepointechurch 📸 Instagram: @lakepointechurch 🎥 YouTube: @lakepointechurch     🎧 LISTEN ON THE GO! ▶️ Spotify / https://open.spotify.com/show/2un6Ptn... ▶️ Apple Podcasts / https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...     #churchonline #lakepointechurch

Welcome to Live Free with Pastor Josh Howardton. Lake Point Church is a movement for all people to know Jesus, live free, and make a difference with their lives. And our prayer is these deep dive conversations about the Word of God equip you to live free in Christ. This is a test drive, and we'll decide whether or not to do more seasons based on engagement. So if this is helpful to you, if you could rate, review, or share, that will help us to know what's helpful. For more digital content, visit lakepoint.church slash livefeworth. free. And now, let's dive into today's episode. Well, hey, welcome back to another episode of Live Free Podcast. Hey, my name is Carlos, and I'm here with Pastor Josh Howardton and Pastor Tim Smith.

How are you guys doing? The Bishop. It's good to be here with you guys. We're back, man. Tim, not me. That wasn't me like telling you what to call me. No, let me. The Bishop, okay, yes. The one thing all bishops have in common is they have bald heads. Oh, lots of wisdom. Just want to say so you don't qualify and you certainly don't qualify. There's a, well, dude, Carlos has good hair. It's got the best.

Listen, I don't covet many things. Bro, I'm finding, like, there's like a couple of white hairs that I'm getting, though. My wife pointed them out. Hey, do you need us to pray for you? I, I, I, but there's a viable verse that says that they're, uh, there, you should be proud of those. That's right. Proverbs.

Great hair. Crown is splendor. It's a crown. Listen, I may get in trouble for this. Jana. I'm trying to decide if this is worth it. I think it is because I've told this. She told this story with permission.

Oh, just kidding. Okay. I don't want to. No, no, no, no, we're good. We're good. Janet, this was like three years after I got to Lake Point. Like, it was like overnight. My temples were like, boom.

Like, great, like immediately. That's an anointing, right? It's like the grayer, right, Tim? Is that right? Well, the gray or the more anointing? is either an anointing or a curse. So then, Janna,

somebody mentions this. And then I don't want to get in trouble here. It was something that we had discussed together. I'll say it like that. And then all of a sudden I just noticed that a new shampoo that helps keep color in your hair is on Amazon auto, like, repeat purchases. And Jana's like, hey, I got this for you.

Oh, man. That's sweet. It was sweet of her. Did you use it? Hey man, every now and then, I'll be like, dang, I should probably do that. And then, you know, but it's such a pain. Is it a specific color?

By the way, that's why I got, for the YouTube subscriber. You see it right there? Is it like a generic, like color filler? Or is it like a, you know, like a darker brown? Dude, if I knew, I would tell you, I don't, that's one of those things. Asking for a friend, not for me, obviously. Yeah, I'm just out of curiosity.

This makes you distinguish looking, man. That's right. Let's just go with that. Exactly right. Hey man, I like your hat. Pretty strong. And this is why everyone should watch on YouTube instead of simply audio, man. You're missing out.

That's right. Hey, can I tell for real another funny story? Please do. So last year I requested a camo Lake Point hat. You know what I'm going? I think so. Go ahead. Well, never mind.

I won't tell that story. This one came back better. You like this one more? And this one's awesome. Okay. This is a great. It's a great looking hat. It's a good hat.

Do we have the older version of the hat still? You know, I don't wear that one. Okay. I was just curious if that's still in like the LP, you know, bookstore or something. I don't know. Okay. I just know. So we gave these out, as you guys know, at Movement Friday night.

Yeah. For, I think, you know, we had 3,000 plus volunteers. They're Bishop Jobie Martin. Yes, indeed. Yes. Bringing the word. We announced, by the way, I know you guys want to get into actually talking about the Bible.

We announced new campus locations. Yes, we did. It's a big deal, man. Man, tell us more about that. Hey, why, you know, very quickly? Okay, okay, we don't have to talk about new campuses. Why do we, why new campuses, you know, isn't Lake Point too big? You know, that's what I hear some people say that.

That's so funny. So, you know, it's funny as I responded to a social media comment about that. So every now and then, somebody will say that. Hey, man, it feels like church's getting too big or just feels like growing too fast, that kind of thing. What I've noticed is nobody ever drives past a hospital and says, man, at hospital is just too big. They're just helping too many sick people. Nobody ever says that. So it's like when somebody says, hey, man, is the church too big?

Hey, the church is big enough when there are no more lost people going to hell, when there are no more orphans that need adopted by families, when there are no more marriages that need the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, when there are no more addicts that need to get free. Then the church is big enough. Until then, no, we've got a mission to accomplish. So the reason, obviously, that we do multi-site is I think it is the best stewardship of our resources to reach the most number of people we possibly can and make disciples. It's a good year. So we announced. Drumroll, we announced. We do really excited Sunnyvale campus.

Let's go, Sunnyvale. Sunnyvale campus. Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet church out there. Reached out to us, by the way. I do just want to make that really clear because every now and that I think some people wonder, are we like cold calling churches? We don't do that. Sweet church out there reached out to us about the possibility of becoming a part of Lake Point.

And so they'll be emergent. Tim, what's the timeline on that? Well, we're actually. Yes, horseshoes and grenades. It's great. That church is going to actually celebrate, I think, 53 years, something like that on June 1st. 53? 53.

Oh, wow. and then they'll begin to transition to Lake Point over the summer, and we're launching in August. Lake Point Sunnyvale. Lake Point Sunnyvale. Amazing people, and I always want to just a shout out to those people, a lot of saints who have been a part of that church for a long time. We've experienced this before with our mergers,

but people have been a part of a church for 30, 40, sometimes 50 years, and the Great Commission still burns in their heart, and they actually make the choice to transition to a different church because they want to keep the legacy of the work of God that's been in their family and in their friends alive. And it just takes a lot of courage to do it. And I just shout out to those people who choose that. That's amazing.

What's so sweet about that is when a church chooses to do that, those people demonstrate we care more about the kingdom of God than our little thing here. Yes, indeed. Like, you know, I won't necessarily say, which one, but there was a merger that has turned into an amazing thriving campus for us. And when we met with us, you know, there's a handful of folks left at a church that was struggling that reached out to us. And when we met with them, I think the lady was 93,

if I remember right. And somebody asked the room, why do you guys want to do this? There was a little like, should we? And a 93-year-old lady in the back, point. ended at the baptism one and said, I want to see those waters stir again. Yeah. Isn't that beautiful? Oh, man. That'll get you right in the soul. Oh, man.

That's amazing. So we're celebrating this year, obviously, every time that happens, man. We're excited. The whole church is celebrating. That's right. Church family's growing bigger. That's amazing. Man, we have a very...

I'll give an action step. Okay, yes. If we got anybody that's right. That is in because we will, when we launch something, we really, we want to do it right. Yes. And so we'll gather core team, launch team, we'll launch that campus and take off. We'll start reaching that city. If we got listeners that are in the Sunnyvale area, text the word launch to the number 20411.

You can sign up there to get campus updates for when that launches and to potentially investigate being part of the serve team. Shortest mission trip will overtake. It's cool. Shortest mission trip we overtake. While you're rolling, shout out to Roy's City. Come on. That's right. We turned, we're turning dirt.

down at the Bucky's campus. That's the Buckees campus. That's the Buckees campus. We're right by Buckees. We're turning dirt. And so, man, same information. If you're interested in being a part of our Roy City campus, man, you know, text the word launch to 201.

We'll get you connected. Man, that's the opposite of idleness. And that's exactly what we're talking about in that podcast. Oh, look at this. What a pro. Hey, by the way, I just learned today that shout out to everybody. So far, I think we've had, like, I don't know, eight, nine-ish episodes.

Shout to everybody watching, subscribing, liking. I just learned today that Live Free Podcasts is the top 200 podcasts on Apple. Wow. Did you know how many podcasts exist in the world? 206. Nope. Alobe more. We're not in the bottom 5% by the grace of God.

Yes. There are over 4 million podcasts in the world. Really? What? So top 200 on Apple, Spotify on Religion and Spirituality. by the grace of God. Hey, shout it to the Lake Point family and everybody else joining.

Dude, it's been fun too because people are commenting more. We're going to start test driving like responding to user questions or viewer questions. So if you got something, drop it in the comments if you're on YouTube. And we're going to start test drive

and respond to those. If you're on YouTube, subscribe. Actually, most views on YouTube so far it's from people that are not subscribed yet. So subscribe, notification bell, turn it on, go ahead and comment and let us know as well. Thank you for sharing

and everything else that you guys do. appreciate it so much. All right, man. We got some things to discuss. We are on week, I think it's week four of Kingslayer. It's at least five. Five. Okay, there you go. Last week was technically a Kingslayer week. I just didn't do a good job of making it clear. Okay. That's why I said four. Week five of Kingslayer. And, man, there is something that we want to kill today and this weekend and from the message. And so we're going to talk about idleness. Or sloth. Or sloth.

Use both in the sermon. Okay. And man, let's just, let's dive in. Second Samuel chapter 11. Yeah. This is a very, so first of all, it's interesting to prepare for. I've never preached a sermon on idleness or sloth. Wow.

I never have. Yeah. So, okay, a few things. That's because you're not, those two words just do not describe you at all. Well, it depends. And I may talk about this. There have been seasons of my life where I was like, I had to crucify that thing. I think that's true for everybody.

Yeah. Yeah, so I'll go a couple things like, hey, listen, a little deeper into the text than maybe made it in the message, a couple extra things, and then you guys riff on some stuff. Sure. Tim and I were talking before this. You got to tell, you got to say that thing here in a second. Tim had an observation of the passage. I was like, that is brilliant. Okay, so let me start.

So if people didn't know, obviously 2nd Samuel 11, everybody thinks, hey, if he's going to preach on David, what sin took out David? everybody thinks you're going to say adultery, lust, violence, murder. Nope. I'm just going to read it in case somebody didn't hear the message. That's great. Like everything's amazing in David's life. That's good. Then right before the Bathsheba episode.

The verse says that, do people miss this? The passage says in the spring of the year, the time, this is so important. The time when kings go out to battle, David is a, King. David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabah, but David remained in Jerusalem. So like the theme of the message is, there would not have been space in David's heart for the adultery, for the lust, for the murder, for the lying, for losing the anointing of God, for destroying his family. If he had been doing what put him on the planet to do and because he stepped away from his calling and his purpose

in sloth and idleness that's how it happens so a couple little fact fun facts here one if you don't know about David I just hear some fun David facts this stuff that never makes you know David was almost certainly a redhead so you know that you heard that Tim's probably heard that tell me why that's a fact tell me why because when we get introduced to David in Samuel. It uses the word, it says he was, quote, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Hebrew word ruddy is the word that they used for a redhead. Interesting. So Jan has always been a big fan of David. That's it. She's, by the way, redheads are all in this little club together. And every time they see each other, they just gravitate.

Are they like 5% of the population or something like that, redheads? I don't know. I only look at one, Carlos. Okay, great. I hear they're very small, but yes. small two you know for people don't know David

he was a musician before he was a military dude so it's like if Ed Sheeran and an MMA fighter had a baby

you know it's like you get David interesting by David his final words were a hit list I've always wanted to preach that passage

that's the last thing he says you kind of see like his inner like he was an aggressive man yeah his literally

his deathbed words are like kill these four guys like you see it kind of come out of him man after only only guy the Bible describes a man after god's own heart that's very very interesting that's huge that's huge um here's what's really interesting about David then I'm going to turn over you Tim for that thing that's pretty cool yeah so probably biblically the most important thing about we're going to do a little theology really quick like and go a layer a layer down probably theologically the most important thing

about David is in 2 Samuel 7 God establishes what what theologians call the Davidic covenant with David. This is a big, big deal. You really can't understand the Bible without understanding the Davidic covenant. So if you remember, David,

it's actually, dude, go read this passage. It's really cool. David, you know, establishes the kingdom. And then he tells God, I want to build you a house. And honestly, when you read it, like, I never want to diminish the holiness of God. So I'm going to, anytime you impersonate God's emotions, there are limitations to the fidelity of it. But it's almost like, if you read the passage, God's like, for me? Like, really?

And he literally says it. Nobody's ever thought of me before. Like that's really what he says. The matter after God's on heart. Yeah. And that's what made David Madderick's. He saw what God saw and he cared about what got cared about. Wow. So then this is amazing. I love this stuff. All right. So here's the aspects when God makes this covenant with David. First of all, we've done this before. The way you make a covenant is you cut innocent animals in half. You walk between the pieces. And you're saying, if I break this covenant, may I be like, these slain innocent animals. The promises God makes David, I'm going to read them. He says,

one, one, I will raise up your offspring. And offspring is not, you can't see it in English, but you can see it in Hebrew. Offspring is not plural. It's singular. So in English, it's actually saying, I will raise up an offspring. That's interesting. Number two, he says, I'm going to establish your kingdom. I'm going to establish his kingdom, the offspring's kingdom. Number three, it's going to be an eternal kingdom. So he's never, his throne will never come to an end. Number four, the language of Second Samuel seven is, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.

Wow. Any of this sounded familiar? Yes, it does. All right, so then you fast forward. Centuries, Jesus comes on the scene. So, like, that's the promise. So every Old Testament Israelite, they spend hundreds of years, waiting for the offspring of David. Who's he going to be? He's going to establish the kingdom.

It's going to be amazing. Eternal kingdom. God's going to be like a father. They're all waiting for this. So then you get a New Testament. Jesus, both of Jesus genealogies in Luke 3 and Matthew 1, go read them. The authors are explicit to make sure everybody knows. I'm showing you his genealogy so you know he is a descendant of David. Both of them. Both of them. Yep. Big deal.

Big deal. Then all throughout Jesus' ministry, you'll notice this. Every now and then somebody will yell at him, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on us. So they know the people watching. No, that's the son of David. Here's another one people miss. In Luke 1, when Gabriel comes to a pregnant Mary,

or like a pre-pregnant Mary, I'm going to read it. What he says to her is he will be, talking about Jesus. So he will be great. He will be called son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever.

His kingdom will never end. He directly quotes the Davidic covenant from 2nd Samuel 7. Then theologians have pointed out, God is referred to as father like a couple times in the Old Testament, but it's pretty rare. That's like all Jesus refers to God as. So in other words, Jesus is going, he's to me a father and I'm to him a son. Can't imagine even like Mary hearing that? I'm assuming she must have known.

And even like obviously you read her response later, it just makes a lot of sense. It's like, oh my goodness. Are you like what are you saying? Like you mean the Messiah, the chosen one, the one that did, you know, that would be, that be wild. She totally knew. The song's wrong. Mary knew. That's it. The song's wrong. Then I'll do a couple others because you can talk about this forever. So in John 2, you remember, because people miss this. So what they, the other thing from the Davidic covenant is God says that David's offspring is going to build a temple. He's like, David, I can't let you build it. He says you're a man of blood. There's a whole

theology behind that. You can't build it. Your offspring's going to build it. That, that theologians say that some prophecies have what's called a dual fulfillment, an immediate fulfillment and an eternal fulfillment. The immediate fulfillment was Solomon, David's physical son, builds the temple. The long-term fulfillment is Jesus as the fulfillment. Remember, Jesus tells the guys like, destroy this temple and I'll rebuild it in three days.

He's pointing out that his body is the temple, and he's going, that promise from, 2 Samuel 7 is being fulfilled in my resurrection because I'm going to rebuild the temple that was promised David's offspring was going to build in the resurrection. And to give a context, the temple and Old Testament is where the presence of God was. That's right. So Jesus is saying right here, look at me. You're looking at him.

And then last one is prophetic irony that the Romans crucifying him. They put a sign over his head, king of the Jews. and they're fulfilling the Davidic covenant and they don't know it. The Bible's amazing. That's amazing. The Bible is amazing.

All right. Now, Tim, you told me something. This is unbelievable. So we started talking about sloth and idleness. Tim noticed something about this passage. I was like, bro, where were you during sermon prep? Well, listen, I don't want to re-preach your message. It's amazing.

But go back to verse 1 in 2nd Samuel 11, where you started. They besieged Rabah, which is the capital city of the Ammonites, right? And it was basically what the biblical writer is saying is it was a fight. It was dangerous. To your point, and where is David? He's at home. Verse two, which a lot of people know the story of David and Bathsheba,

Bible says it's late in the afternoon. David is taking a stroll. The wind is blowing. It's a beautiful day. It's peaceful. So on first one, you've got to fight. Verse two, you got nothing but peace. And the portrayal here is is that David is bored.

And here's what I basically was telling Pastor Josh is that when you look at the life of David, all of David's life, he's a strategic, thoughtful, purposeful tactician. Like there is not one place when you look at scripture up until this point where you see any passivity in David. This is the guy who's like, hey man, all the Jewish people are standing around. There's a giant taunting the people and God. He's the guy who says, like, I'm going. And they're like, no, you're a little boy. No, he's like, no, I'm going.

He is a high-bias fraction, right? So here's what I saw in the passage. And if you read it, and a lot of people know the story from verses 2 through 13, you basically get into this soap opera of a story where David is. all of a sudden, like, who is this man? And my point, I think, that I was kind of, that was kind of, you know, just penetrating my heart is that David gets all of this information about this woman. He gets a plan and he takes action.

And David's high bias for action basically is released for a purpose less than his calling. And here's my point. You're wiring, you're gifting, your thinking, your frameworks, they're going to be put to use as a man. It's either going to be for the good of the kingdom or it's going to be for your own selfish thoughts. So don't settle for operating in something that's less than your calling or your created purpose. Like what you see in verses 2 through 13 because David was idle is all of his gifting begins to manifest itself in sin. And that's the destruction of living an idle life, right? It's like, what's in you is going to come out.

The way that God's wired you is going to come out. It's either going to be for kingdom good or for your own devastation. That's exactly right. Wow. It's like you can take the warrior out of the war, but you can't take the war out of the warrior. And it's like, you know, every person is going to channel that energy towards something. That's right. And it's like if you don't, like Tim, if you don't channel it.

towards the purposes of God, it will be channeled towards the purposes of Satan. That's what makes... So that's a misconception people have about sloth and idleness. We could get into that if you wanted to be. That's a misconception people have about... A lot of people think, oh, you mean like sitting on the couch doing nothing. The biblical word or the concept in church history is not doing just doing nothing. is channeling your energy towards the wrong things.

And that's exactly what you see in David. It's funny when you read verse two, again, which is just kind of take a step back and see there's David, who's the king on a couch on a late afternoon. Like what is any guy doing on a couch late afternoon? Like nothing good, right? And so he's there. And again, I want to, before we dive into the idleness,

I want to get into a little bit of the contrast between King David and the soldier Eurya. Yeah. It's interesting. You know, here's David, who's a king. Here's Uriah, who's a soldier. David is comfortable. Uriah is a discipline.

He's steadfast. He's committed. Obviously, you know, Uriah, people know this story. It's Bathsheba's husband. David's mighty man. And that's right. Uriah serves David. And, you know, David, in this case, obviously,

really wants to get rid of Uriah by killing him because of what he did with Batshiba. There's a couple of things. here that I wrote is really interesting. Tying it back to the gospel, every part in scripture points to Christ. And so, you know, David's sin brought death and destruction. And yet in the midst of that, David and Bathsheba had a son called Solomon. And it is through that lineage that comes Jesus Christ. And so, you know, the Messiah comes from the mess. That's one thing. Oh, that's great, which is interesting. That's great. That'll create. Because people would say, well, that was not supposed to happening yet in the midst of that disaster from the man who is after God's own heart.

So good. The mercy and grace of God just operates and here comes the Messiah from the mess. And then if you zoom out again, you compare these two characters. It's just fascinating to see King David didn't go to war. And so he then sins and he sent an innocent man to shed his blood and die in a mighty battle to cover up his own sin. bro we sinned king jesus did go to war and he said i will be an innocent man who will shed my own blood to die in a mighty battle against satan sin and death and i will do this to cover up

your own sin david was a king who took and sinned jesus is the king who gave and saved that's a romans chapter 5 it carlos come on man that's the gospel man I love it so much. I think we're done here. Good pod. That's the beauty of the gospel in every single page of the Bible. So back to idleness and sitting on a couch in a late afternoon, while you're supposed to be out there in war.

Man, let's go deep on that. Can you click on just, let's talk about idleness? And, man, just actually, no, let's start with this. Let's go theology of work first. If anybody were to ask, man, what does what does the Bible say about work? Let's start from the basics. Well, first of all, I think like for anybody this listening, like this is so important. One of the major takeaways in this passage is a board, I'm going to use man. A bored man is a very dangerous man. That's a dangerous man. And honestly, I'd say that about a woman too. A bored man or woman is a dangerous man or woman. Why? Well, it goes back to what Tim said.

you were designed, and I'll get to that on theology of work, you were designed. Like think about David, he traded one conquest for a different one. He traded a righteous conquest for a wicked conquest. Everyone is going to make that choice in their life. The question is not what will you build, or the question is not whether you will build. It's what you will build. The question is not whether you will accomplish. It's what you will accomplish.

Some people accomplish things like making disciples, building businesses, raising families. Some people accomplish things like leveling up their Zelda character. And it's like, hey, man, hobbies are fine. We get to that in a second. But it's like, where are you going to channel the energy that God designed you have? So if you go like, I'll do a quick theology of work, and then you guys kind of riff on this for a second. The big takeaway for any Christian, this is so important, man.

So I'm going to read it. This is Genesis 2. It says the Lord God took the man, put him in the garden, to work it. So like, just pause it. That's what he was designed to do. Now, if you guys remember, this is Genesis 215.

This is before the entry of sin into the world, and it's before the fall. So remember, at this point, there is nothing, not good in the world. So the theological implication for us is work is a good thing. And if you do not engage in that good, thing, real bad things happen. So God says, put him in the garden to work it. Men and women were

designed to work. I'll get it at a second. And take care of it. And then it says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. So here's the order that God's designed you to every man and woman to move through. So work, get a job, leave, leave father or mother. So move out. become financially independent, you know, get on your own two feet, work, leave, cleave, then get married, then become one flesh, then have sex. So that order, and that may sound very basic to people who are Christians, but that's like not basic to the world that we're disciplining. That's right. That's the order that God design. Get a job, move out of mom and dad's house, get married,

then have intimacy with your spouse and become one flesh. So. Seems like our culture, It's got it backwards right now. I mean, it's just kind of literally like, if you go through the order, just reverse, that's kind of our culture. That's actually great point. We kind of tend to do, I'm riffing here. We tend to do like, okay, sleep around.

So we're going to become one flesh first. And then maybe I'll work at Annie Ann's when I'm 18 after I've slept with like four people. So we go, become one flesh, then work. We're definitely not leaving yet, mom and dad. So we go, become one flesh, work. cleave and then leave. It's a disaster out there.

Sequence is important. Okay, so he just used the word. Dude, this is so interesting. Were you talking about success sequence? No, you go. So I like when sociologists discover what theologians were already saying. So dude, this cracks me up. It was like three years ago, like sociologists were mine.

Their minds were blown. This was like trending on Twitter for like two weeks. like, we can't believe what we just discovered. You'll never believe what we just discovered. What was it? They discovered. This is what they were saying. Their minds were blown.

We discovered, they called it the success sequence. And they were like, we can't believe what we've just learned. And the sociologist went, what we figured out is if somebody goes in the order of finishing high school and then getting a full-time job. and then getting married, and then having sex and having kids, if they do that, their life goes amazing. Wow. Breakthrough. I'm going like, bro, we've known that for 5,000 years.

There's like a statistic. It's like a 97% that you will not end in poverty. That's it. Something like that. Amazing. So if you just literally just do those things, 97% or something like that, very high chance you will not end in poverty. You nailed it.

Yeah. It's that only 3% of people who move through this success sequence end up in poverty. By the way, what's significant about that, regardless of race, class, or upbringing. So I'll just like, this whole different conversation, like people will talk about this kind of privilege and that kind of privilege. The greatest privilege in America is two-parent privilege. So I just want to let that sink in. Like, if you're raised in a family that disciples and raises you to work, leave, cleave, become one flesh, you got a 97% chance.

Somebody might say, somebody might hear that right now. I'd be like, well, see, this is why I'm where I am because of my. And I would say, change starts now. In Christ, you're a new creation.

This is why the conversations like these matter. This is why what you do today matters because you're creating a new legacy. Well, all that just goes back to, like the big idea, work is a good thing. What we tend to think is, man,

to happier I'll be. Like, I'll just tell you right now, we can talk about this all you want. That is, that ain't true. Like, a bored man is a dangerous man. A bored and idle man is a miserable man. Why? Because work was a good thing created by God

to be a blessing to men and women. Listen, there's a lot of indications in scripture that we're going to work in heaven. That this, the whole idea of work being, it's an eternal thing. And I was reading Revel, relation 21, 24, and it basically says there twice in that verse that the kings of the earth will bring the glory of the nations. And then there's a reference in Isaiah 65, which is

prophetically talking about what the New Jerusalem is going to be. And it says, it describes life and work in the New Jerusalem, saying there will be the building of houses, farming, and work. But the difference is the work is going to be no longer in vain. In other words, there's some sense in which when we get to heaven. It's this whole demonization of work, which is crazy. A lot of things are going to cease in heaven. We know this. Sin's going to cease. War is going to cease. Tears are going to cease. The Bible says all that. But work's not going to cease. And it's one of those things where, again, but it's going to be all the good parts of work. In other words, the idea of accomplishment, we're going to enjoy work. It's not going to be to be toilsome. It's not going to be frustrating.

It's all the good things about work that speak to the fact that we're made in the image of a creator who creates and does things. So this is coming all the way back to idleness, is we were made to do things because we're made in the image of God. Yeah. And to add color to what you guys are saying, I mean, the Bible starts with a garden and it ends with a city. Oh, good job. Yeah, that's good. And so what you see in Genesis, you see God putting Adam and Eve in a garden that's just raw. And this is what theologians would call the cultural mandate, where he will say, hey, like, I'm putting you here to exercise dominion, go basically make this garden into the city.

That's it. And so transform whatever I've been giving you that's raw and build something and work, convert into the city. I mean, Genesis 1, God is the first worker in scripture. Like literally towards the end of creation, the Bible says that he completed the work. You look at Jesus. Jesus worked. Before he started his ministry, he was into manual labor.

Swinging a hammer. That's it. And so, yes, it makes sense what you said, Tim. Dude, and I'll just, you know, because here's what I'd say, there's probably a lot of people listening to this, that they'd be like, well, sure doesn't feel good.

Like, I hate my job. My boss is terrible. I'm unfulfilled. I'm underpaid. Nothing ever goes how I want. But the thing to remember is, that work is good, but there's always going to be thorns in the garden now

as a result of the fall. That's right. So to Tim's point, the work is good, the frustration, sometimes the futility, the fact that things backfire, machines break and people get sideways, that's the curse of the fall.

So the analogy that I'd have, like I'll do my, what I do for work and give an example. and then listeners can maybe do the same thing. Like sermon prep, preaching is not easy for me. There's some pastors that it's really easy for. For me, it's like writing with my left hand.

It takes a ton of energy. It does not come supernatural. And I'm tired when I'm done. So, you know, it's a lot of, it can be a lot of stress, like leading up to it. Like, oh, okay, 30,000 people are going to judge how this went. Okay, let's see how this. But.

Plus the internet. Of course. But thanks, Carlos. They're always positive, Carla. I'm here to encourage you. Oh, you're right. Tim sees a different side of the internet that I do. All right.

Okay. Back moving on. But every now and then, and Janet knows, you know, I never preach a sermon where on Saturday night, I don't think, well, that was rough. Yeah. So that's the curse part. But every now and then, there'll be a sermon. that just like it just came easy to the Lord downloaded it the outline just fell perfectly all the

illustrations just right the emotional flow was great and I finished preaching at walk off stage and I go that was amazing yeah in the new earth every single thing that we do will feel like that that's awesome and there is such a satisfaction to go like that made a difference in people's lives and I had a blast doing it in the new earth. Everything will feel like that. I have a question for you guys that, you know, because I feel like for my generation and below, I think it was honestly Steve Jobs. He was one of the most influential voices when he once said, and he repeated this every time, he said something like, find what you love and do it. And then don't stop. And so if you haven't found what you love, keep looking. And so I think this in some ways, this.

created a generation of people that were basically just unhappy because they're like, well, I really love, I don't know, biology. Playing Zelda. Yeah, playing Zelda. Or Fortnite, either way. Every now and I'll play Zelda with the kids. No shame. Hey, man, the kids were playing Fortnite, to my knowledge, I'm not into that space.

But anyways, I love playing video games. I love, honestly, social media. I love just anything else. But my job just is terrible. And so what I think created is a generation of people that are extremely miserable doing having a job that they don't want to do what would you say to somebody that says man i thought i was supposed to be looking for my passion and i'm supposed to enjoy my job and the reason i have i've had six jobs in the last two years is because i just they weren't fun they were i did not have a good

a good time and my i did not like my boss because he was not funny or he was not my friend or my buddy tim i'm curious what would you say it to what would you say to that i think it's i mean again honestly I mean, you go back to those, you know, basically we're talking about work. We're talking about work in the garden before the curse. Then we're talking about work after the curse, right? I think there's a third, I think there's a third category. I want to just put this out here before I answer your question. There's the work and the gospel under the curse.

And then there's work, what's going to be work in heaven, right? And so we've talked a lot about one and four. That question is really about in the meantime. And listen, if you approach work while we're under the curse without mission, where the gospel meets your work, and you only choose personal fulfillment. So the heart of that answer to that question is, is when people only choose personal fulfillment without understanding that they're on a mission, it's impossible to be happy.

So again, you know, the vortex there is, is like there's got to be something more than your personal fulfillment for you to find joy. You're saying there's a higher purpose than just trying to make me happy is what you're saying? And that's where, that's where, again, even under the curse,

where the work meets the gospel, is there's the possibility of attaching really hard things to a bigger mission. Dude, so I want to talk about this because I think that's huge. I don't think most Christians realize that what they do with their lives, day-to-day careers, can actually be leveraged for eternal purposes. And when they catch a hold of that, why, it changes stuff. And actually, I'll give some examples of some business men and women from our church

that are doing some super creative, extremely compelling things here in a second. That's good. So I would say a couple things to the person that you just said, Carlos. It's like, ah, it's not, you know, I've had six jobs. It's not fun. Like, no, no, no, no. You know, one, I'd just say, well, let's remember our theology. Don't have pre-fall expectations in a post-fall world. Like, if you're expecting, it work to generally be easy, always go awesome, and always be fun. Well, that's how it was before the curse of the fall, you know. So we'll get that again someday. It's coming. Yeah. It's coming. But not right now.

There's going to be thorns in the garden now. That's what the Bible says. Expects some thorns the garden. The other thing, this is the old grandpa saying is a love me a good grandpa saying, man. Yeah, this is this is an old grandpa saying is son, you don't get up and go to fun, you get up and go to work. Yeah. It's like, you know, hey, let's level set expectations. Honestly, that's kind of the difference between being a child and an adult. It's like adults do what needs to be done even if they're not. It's not fun. Children live by their feelings. Adults live by commitments. You guys know our good friend John Tyson has a good rift on this. And he says like, I already love it.

It's John Tyson. Well, he says, man, how a man views God makes all the difference in the world and how he practices his faith. So, you know, how you see God has a, it affects how you're going to work out your faith. And so this is really important in the job that you have. And he says, his view of God determines his view of himself. So here's what John says. He says there's a lot of metaphors that are out there in regard to a Christian,

in the, you know, just in the world. And we fixate on two or three of those. He says, obviously we all know God as a shepherd, Psalm 23. We all know God is a gardener that we're going to abide. We know God as a father. But he says, you know, there's another view of God. God is a general. He's mighty in battle.

He's skilled in war. And this is what our good friend, John says, yeah, yeah, you are sheep in some points. Yes, you are a branch. You are a child. but as a Christian, you're also a soldier. That's right. And, you know, so, like, one of the things is that between self-fulfillment and boredom is mission.

And if you don't have mission, all you're going to do is make personal choices that basically fulfill your flesh or you're going to be so bored. And I like what John says. He says, the context of our faith determines how we live out our faith. and if we see ourselves in a garden, we live one way. But if we see ourselves on a battlefield, we live another way. And, you know, we can be loyal to sleep with apathy, and there's nothing to do, nothing to become, and nothing to fight.

But he says, man, you know, choose to be a soldier when you go to work and see yourself on mission. Dude, that's... Anyway, shout out to John Tyson. Shout out to John Tyson. Shout out, who's spoken at Lake Point, has been on the podcast before. That dovethe,

one of the things that did make into the message, so Ephesion 6, 5, and through 8, we don't have time to go into this. It's a passage addressing slaves. Side note, slavery in first century, Rome was different than colonial slavery in America. So there's a lot of nuance. So just set that aside for a second.

What Paul says is, listen to this language. He says, slaves, so essentially he's talking employer, employee. That's really what he's doing. He says, Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart.

This is it. Just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eyes on you, but as servants of Christ doing the will of God from your heart, serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord.

And then it says the Lord will reward each one. Now to Tim's point, man, if somebody's like, man, I hate my job, especially because I hate my boss, what that person's got to remember is, man, ultimately I'm a soldier on a battlefield and my general is King Jesus. So, hey, when you want to work, your boss is above you, but above your boss is the Lord. So then you're going, well, my boss doesn't really see how hard I work. Yeah, but your Lord does.

Okay, well, my boss doesn't reward me. Yeah, but your Lord will. That's good. And so you walk in going, okay, man, like, he or she may not. but Jesus will. So I'm going to serve. I'm going to have humility. I'm going to work hard.

And really, Christians ought to be the best employees on planet Earth. I agree. That's good. That's good. Help me understand, you know, somebody's listening and I'm just,

that's great. You're a pastor. You guys are doing ministry. You guys are doing church work. But I am in business. I'm not preaching. I'm in education. I'm in,

politics. My space is a quote unquote secular space. How can people connect what they do day to day with the kingdom of God with everything that we're talking about here? So you want to? Well, listen, I think my simple answer is it's 1st Corinthians 1031, man. Whatever it is that you do, you do it for the glory of God. And I'm convinced that what our world needs to see, and we've had points in times in history where this has been true. And God grant grace to this being another season of it. Where the greatest artist in the world were Christians. Were the greatest, I mean, leaders in the world were Christians. They were believers. The greatest teachers, the greatest philosophers. So I do think, Carlos, you know, when people say that, it's like it's not like what we

do is not more sacred than what they do. There's a sacredness to what we all do if we're offering it unto the Lord, which is for first, you know, Corinthians 10 says for us to do. I think probably when people ask me that question, and I've been asked that question many times, it's just the fact that people have, they have a shortened vision of what they might can see happen in the place or in the realm in which they're working. And I'm so thankful for this church. There's so many people in this church that I think get this, where they are industry leaders in their space. And yet, you know, they're doing their job unto their employer as to Pastor Josh's point in an amazing way. But really, they're working as unto the Lord. And basically, they're just showing,

it's the thing with Shadrach Nishak and Abindigo in a Babylonian captivity. This whole idea of, man, the way they were going about doing what they were called to do pointed to someone who was greater than them. I think that's the thing is it's not, the question is a good question, but the vision is too short if you're not doing whatever you do unto the Lord. It's a long answer, but that's my thought. No, that's the answer. So you remember when Jesus gives the great commission and he says, go therefore make disciples of all nations, we sometimes think, oh, go. That means like, quit your job, move to Zambia, and go share the gospel. Well, the Greek is, I think it's called an imperfect tense.

I can't remember what the verb tense is. But what he's saying is, as you are going, in other words, hey, in your normal life, everywhere you go, leverage all those moments to make disciples of all nations. So what we've seen, I mean, we, Tim and I see this with a lot of people. Lake Point is very blessed to have a very unique number of thriving, successful businessmen and women who have worked hard, crushed it, done well, and leveraged it well. Very unique concentration at Lake Point. Well, I've noticed talking these people is their life got a whole lot more. fun when they realized how they could connect their job to the eternal mission.

Yeah. So like, you know, I don't, you probably don't want me to do this. Way back when I went through like four different models of how to do this. And if we want to get into that, we can get into that. But interesting, Billy Graham before he died, one of the last things he said is that the next great awakening he thought would happen through business leaders in the workplace. Yeah, yeah. He was like, I think that's how it's going to happen the next time.

So I'll give like some examples. Jan and I got dinner with with Randy Hudson and Sheila Hudson. Amazing people. Shout out Randy and Sheila. I love them. We had a sweet time with them. Randy sells insurance. But I was like Randy, what do you like that dude, you can't spend two seconds with him without him talking about how much he loves his job.

Like he loves what he does. I was like, like he could be retired on a beach, you know, collecting seashells. inside joke I was like Randy what do you love about your job so much and he was just like man I just love helping people he's like it's not as much about this

selling you know he's sold he's like not as much about I just like helping people and then Randy has this thing I've literally seen him do this he's got a daily devotion that gets emailed to him and whenever something strikes him he just sends it to all his

Well, not all. I don't know about that. But I know he sends it to a lot of his clients and just goes, hey, this bless me today. Don't know if this would encourage you. And he'll do these little things to like, let me open up a little gospel window. And he's, think about that, dude, he just leveraged his entire business to be, you know, an appropriate, non-weird gospel conduit. We got another, I won't say his name because I don't have permission. There's a lawyer in our church. This dude is legit. And he just told me. He's like, here's his. So if you're a listener, I'm going to give you a couple ideas. And then you need to figure out, okay, in my job, what might it look like? Because your job gets a whole lot more fun when you connect it to eternal purposes. He was telling me, he's like, man, in the legal profession, I constantly am meeting people at the worst moments of their life. So his play is this.

If he feels like there's any relational openness at all, he gets to the appropriate point in the conversation and he says something like this, hey, there is zero pressure. If this makes you uncomfortable in any way, say no, and I'll never bring it up again. But I'm a person of faith. Would it be okay with you if I prayed with you or if I prayed for you? And he says it's like a 95% yes rate. And do you think about that, like somebody who's operating with integrity, this fighting for your family's best interests. And then in that moment, like, that's nuclear. Yeah. That's nuclear power, man.

It's huge. I got a bunch of other examples, but stuff like that. That's great, man. I think this is also, in addition to what you guys said, this is why I hear at Lakeman, we will say we'll be very infatigated about just inviting people, hey, we want you to serve. I mean, at the end of the day, God has given you gifts and skills and talents. And so, man, as a church, we want to say, man, here's what I know how to do.

If this is helpful to the church, if this is helpful for us to advance the mission of God and for the glory of God and the kingdom of God, man, here it is. And so, man, I would just say, again, you talked about this this weekend. Just, you know, man, if somebody's joining right now and they are not yet serving, we would say, man, come join the movement. And so, you know, literally, if that's you right now, man, I would invite you, like, text the words serve to 20411. We want you to be a part of using what God has given you as skills and talents

and for you to make a difference. Well, that's one of my models. So that's the tent maker model. Paul in the New Testament, like there's no evidence. He just love making tents. Yeah. But he was like,

I'd do this on the side so that I can serve the body of Christ. And that's where my satisfaction comes in. That's great. So if somebody's gone, you will, dude. I mean, all of us have seen this. You know, we all of us here,

we work for a church. That's where the check comes from. but then I know all three of us, there are things that we do. They got nothing to do with our jobs. We serve. We serve. Like, I'm disciplining guys.

Jan is a discipleing ladies leading a rooted group. You know, it's like, that has nothing to do with my paycheck. That's just like, I just like serving the body of Christ. And if somebody's going like, okay, man, you know, what would that look? Because that's fun. When you start going like, I'm changing lives using the way God's wired me. That's fun. And here's what I'll say, and then they can figure it out,

and you guys can add color here, is look for the thing that's at the intersection of ability, affinity, and need. Ability, what am I good at? Affinity. What is the thing that my heart just gravitates towards that I'm passionate about? Oh, man, the thought of kids not having great role models

in their lives, like, I just can't stand it. Well, then you probably need to be in kids ministry. or you probably need to be in student ministry. So ability, affinity, and then need. Like, ask your church, whether that's late point in terms or ask your church, hey, where y'all need me that's going to make the biggest difference to advance the kingdom of God? You find what's at the center of those three things, ability, affinity, need, and you're going to find a calling. That's great.

Yeah, amazing. Anything y'all had had out there? I think it's what you just said, man, is the convergence of those things is where people find incredible fulfillment and mission. Yeah. And so, I mean, I just encourage people to find a great place to plug in and to serve. There's joy when you align your life with the purposes of God for your life. And there's there's lack of joy and lack of purpose when you are not aligned. And so agree 100%. Man, I want to, you know, as we get close to our time here, I want to make sure we get this in. We live in a mental, there's a mental health epidemic right now. I'm glad you brought this up.

And so here, I'm just, go ahead. Give me, I've heard you talk about this before. Yeah, this is another thing that didn't make it into the sermon that I wish had. So here's what happened. You want to talk about how does somebody get sucked down into the death trap of idleness or sloth? So here's what happened. You'll experience some depression or anxiety. By the way, I'm speaking from personal experience from 2019.

when you get in that spot, every instinct you got is towards sloth and idleness. I just want to sit in a dark room, think about my feelings, see nobody, and do nothing. The other thing I didn't get a point out in the sermon is David is isolated in this moment. All his friends to this point, he sent him off to war. It's the first, this is really, it's the first time essentially in his whole narrative. that his guys are not with him. So he's isolated, he's bored, all these things. So you'll get into depression or anxiety thing,

and you're like, I don't want to see anybody, I don't do anything, I want to sit in a dark room. And if you listen to your instincts and go into the sloth and idleness, it will absolutely consume you. So I think what I'd say is interesting. You don't have to like or agree with a guy. Somebody asked president,

I'm not going to quote him because he used a guss word. somebody asked President Trump in a it was like a press conference they were like what do you something about depression it came up and he said well you know what you do to get out of depression now I'm going to edit him he said you work your butt off he's totally right yeah he for real he's totally right yeah when in 2019 while I went through that season everything in me was like tell them you need two months to for counseling whatever um But if you do that, sloth will devour you. So here's the big takeaway.

Like for somebody that experiences this, the way out is through. Whatever is the thing that your depression or anxiety is telling you, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. Do your fear or do the resistance. And the more you do it, the more it shrinks, you kill it. Yeah. So you don't, you don't feel your way into working. You work your way back into feeling.

Wow. And so I just, I wanted to get that out there because I know so many people experience those mental health issues and that little death cycle crush them. I heard somebody say, try to find somebody that's working to get a six-pack and they're depressed. You won't find them. Oh, wow. Because when somebody is, I don't know anything about that.

I mean, me neither. Me either. Tim knows. We don't. I'm a one pack. That's why I said, I heard somebody say this. I'm assuming it's true. I mean, but you know, the whole point is...

We'll ask Josh Rangel. The whole point is when you have a goal and a clear mission and a clear purpose and you're focused and you're working towards it, the pressure. depression just doesn't fit inside of you. That's right. And so I agree. I think, you know, and I think it's a lack of motivation, a boredom, idleness. It's just so dangerous because it removes your eyes and your attention from your purpose and your focus. Yes, man.

And then you end up doing other things that have nothing to do with what God has called you to do. And that's a dangerous place to be. Dude, the happiest people in the world don't have less problems than you. They just have a purpose this bigger than you. their problems. Yeah, that's it. And so it eclipses all the, that's why the apostle Paul, he has more problems than any of us like, we're going to kill you, we're going to torture you, you're going to sit in this prison cell. And he's just like, I'm good, man, because if you torture me, well, then I don't consider the sufferings of this present world worth compared to the glory

this can be revealed to me. If you put me in a prison cell, fine. I'm going to write letters that are going to last thousands of years until Jesus returns. You know, if you kill me to live as, to die his gain. I'll go see him. He let me out. I'm going to spread the gospel. It's like he had a purpose bigger than his problems that he lived for. That's why he was happy. Man, and our self-regeneration, I mean, what I hear you say, Josh, is take care off of you and fix your eyes on a purpose that's greater than you. Amen. And man, that's the kingdom of God. What purpose could be greater than the kingdom of God and the glory of God? There's nothing greater than that. Man, I want to, there's a couple rapid fire things I want to throw out there because I want to hear your take based on what

what we're talking about because we're running out of time here. Number one, let me just throw it out there. Stay at home dads. Man, I love what Tim has to say about this. Tim was ready. That's what I meant to say. Tim, stay at home dads. We're talking about work. You want me to do or you want to do it? I think you should do that one. I'll do it and you can have color. You probably have to define it for me. She's like, I don't know what that is. Let's nuance it as much as we can. So let me just first of all just say, are there unique medical situations? Somebody gets paralyzed. By the way, I'll just say this.

My least favorite thing about 2025 is no matter what you say, everyone finds the unique exception and is mad at you for not speaking to the unique exception instead of the norm. That's like my least favorite thing. Cancel mobs do. So here's what I would say is we really shouldn't have stay at home in normal situations. some of the least politically correct Bible verses. You have Genesis 1 and 2. The man was created to work the garden and to keep it.

The woman was created as a helper for the man. That's why the book of 1st Corinthians says, now this one's got a wick coming out of it. This is a dynamite. This is like a read it and a dynamite can go off. I love that. By the way, I love that imagery. I just, I'm ready for it.

That's an old Driscoll. Oh, that's great. So here's the 1st Corinthians says that man was not created for woman, woman was created for man. What it's pointing to is the Genesis reality that the structural design of a family is that a man is oriented primarily towards a calling, and the woman is primarily oriented towards helping the man. Now, go to the book of Proverbs.

That doesn't mean that a woman can't have a job outside of the home. Proverbs 31, she's doing her. So my little riff is a woman's place isn't the home, but a wife's priority is the home. You can work outside the home, but the purpose is to bless the home, all the things. We get into that later.

So anyway, if you reverse it and you go, if a dude turns to a wife or a woman and goes, you get out there and work, I just want to point this out. He's saying not only, he's saying to his wife, not only do you need to bear the curse of the fall for women and childbearing, but get out there and bear my curse too. That was work being hard.

So he's saying to his wife, you bear both curses, I'll be at home. It's like, that's just not how God designed it. So the home works best when, you know, a man is primarily oriented towards a calling and a work, and a wife is primarily oriented towards helping him. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And going back to what you said, I think sometimes the most,

dangerous men are men who aren't living in the order or purpose of God. It's just, man, it just puts a man and just puts a man in places where, you know, our opportunities to find stupid and do stupid are all in front of us, and we'll choose it. So, I mean, there's a, there's a, there's a kindness to God's order, and there's a kindness to God's purpose that leads us into good places. Amen. That aggression has to come out somewhere. Yes. let it come out in building something redemptive for the glory of God. Exactly right. Last one, video games and Christians.

Well, man, so here's what I would say. Zelda. Listen, I play Zelda with my kids sometimes. I'll sit up there and play Zelda with them. So here's what I would say is we should, where the Bible speaks, we should speak. And where the Bible remains silent, we should remain silent. So where it doesn't speak clearly, there's freedom. I will say under normal circumstances, there's not much, there's not much,

redemptive about a guy spending a ton of time playing video games really any time in his life, but especially if he's over the age of 12. You know, I think what I would say is, especially if you're in, you know, hey, we're all in different seasons of life. You've got a real, real young one. Tim's, you know, you're getting closer to, you're not there, but empty nest season. I got 14, 10, and 5. And, you know, I think especially for guys my age, your age, Carlos. Tim's still kicking it. Man, his house still full. I think what I would say is, hey, man, it's okay to have,

it's okay to have a hobby. You probably just need one. Like when people kind of ask me, hey, what are your hobbies? My hobby's kind of playing with my kids. I go fishing about once or twice a month. When I, you know, I would just say, you're going to video games. I would just say, I think what I would say is you're going to channel

your building aggression somewhere. Don't fall into the trap of leveling up a Zelda character instead of leveling up a career that's going to bless your family. I want to add something to that because, I mean, just real quick, I think you guys know, I mean, guys your age, up to guys my age, grew up playing video games. And there's so many guys that I know still in their 30s or 40s that they find an escape by doing that. and for me personally is like, I agree with everything Pastor Josh just said. It's not the idea of a video game. Man, any hobby that makes you a distracted dad in your house

is not a good thing for you. Like be where your feet are, be present in the season that you're in. And man, be careful of what you're modeling for your kids in the way that you manage your own time and point to purpose. We're picking on video games. I mean, we can talk about bench, watch,

I mean golf. I stopped playing golf the second way of kids. Bench watching Netflix, social media scrolling on TikTok. I mean, there's a whole list. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. That's great.

That's great. I nailed it. Well, that's helpful for a friend of mine. Honestly, just kidding. Actually, I stopped playing video games, I think, in high school because I just, you know, PlayStation 2 is my last video game that I had. So there goes a little bit of. Well, me and Felicity will sit down.

For some reason, Felicity, loves playing Zelda with me. So it'll look like 30 minutes before bed. Dad, let's play Zelda. They're going to mess around with me. That's great. All right. Well, anything else? You guys, any final words?

Idleness, busyness, work. You're good, man. This is great, man. That's amazing. Well, thank you guys. And Pastor Tim, could you pray for us? Yeah, I too. Lord, thanks just for the purpose that you've given us.

And Lord Jesus, just for every listener today, wherever they are and whatever it is they're doing, I pray that you would give them a mandate to do it for your name and for your glory. I pray that you would find and help them see the meaning and the work that they're doing. And Lord, we pray that we would be a blessing to you as we build. And Lord, we look forward to sitting with you in the city of God where everything has purpose. And so we bless you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Thanks for joining us. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our Lake Point Church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all the digital resources of LakePoint, visit lakepoint.church slash live free.