Matthew 7:12
"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25
There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.  For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?

You might be asking yourself, what does a religious course have to do with being prepared for a job in the real world?  Over the past few classes, I hope you have noticed how God uses the physical to teach a spiritual lesson.  Think about the Tabernacle.  It was a physical representation of a spiritual design.  God uses the physical aspects of life to teach mankind spiritual lessons.  Remember what Paul said 'work out your salvation with fear and trembling'.  Ask God to open you eyes to see this lesson.

Jesus is the Lamb of God.  Jesus is your justification to go to the Father.  At the moment when you believe in Jesus, you are glorified.  Your glorification is a future event after your physical death, but God credits it to your account when you accept Jesus as your Messiah.  The time frame between your spiritual birth and your physical death is called your time of sanctification.  Do not get stuff like baptism and good deeds confused with justification.  Your deeds of righteousness are filthy rags.  You are justified only by accepting from Jesus what you can not do for yourself.  Jesus is the Savior.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  Rest in His salvation for you and work out your sanctification with stuff like baptism and good deeds.  Do not mix justification and sanctification up regardless of what any religious organization tells you because you personally will be required to give an account to God Himself. 

Now open your bibles to Amos and we will read chapter 4.  Notice that God says He caused all these bad things to happen to His people with the intent that those bad things would drive His people back to Him and away from idol worship.  God loves you and He wants His relationship with you in the right way.  Notice the phrase 'but you would not return to Me' from verses 6, 8, 9, 10, and verse 11.  God wants to bless His people, but He will not let something in your life become an idol.  The only thing that can separate me from God is me, just like the Israelites from Amos 4.  Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart?  Professions and money can become idols.

Amos 4
1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria, Who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, Who say to your husbands, "Bring now, that we may drink!"
2 The Lord God has sworn by His holiness, "Behold, the days are coming upon you When they will take you away with meat hooks, And the last of you with fish hooks.
3 "You will go out through breaches in the walls, Each one straight before her, And you will be cast to Harmon," declares the Lord.
4 "Enter Bethel and transgress; In Gilgal multiply transgression! Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days.
5 "Offer a thank offering also from that which is leavened, And proclaim freewill offerings, make them known.  For so you love to do, you sons of Israel," Declares the Lord God.
6 "But I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities And lack of bread in all your places, Yet you have not returned to Me," declares the Lord. 
7 "Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you While there were still three months until harvest.  Then I would send rain on one city And on another city I would not send rain; One part would be rained on, While the part not rained on would dry up.
8 "So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water, But would not be satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me," declares the Lord. 
9 "I smote you with scorching wind and mildew; And the caterpillar was devouring Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees; Yet you have not returned to Me," declares the Lord.
10 "I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, And I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me," declares the Lord.
11 "I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze; Yet you have not returned to Me," declares the Lord.
12 "Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel." 
13 For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind And declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness And treads on the high places of the earth, The Lord God of hosts is His name.

Job readiness starts with understanding that God is God and money is just stuff.  The entire purpose of tithing is to tell yourself that you trust in God and not in stuff.  See verse 4 from Amos 4.  The Israelites were offering sacrifices, but to an idol not God.  The Israelites were tithing, but to idols not God.  They were giving offerings of thanksgiving and extra praise to idols not God.  As a parent, when a kid takes you for granted that is the time when that child gets disciplined.  The same is true for us and God.

Now that we have the right frame of reference, we can proceed with the lesson.  Open your bibles to . . .

1 Samuel 17:37-40
And David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you."  Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor.  David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them.  So David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them." And David took them off.  He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine. 

The Spirit of the Living God was upon this young man.  The lion and the bear are two of the world's greatest killing machines (on land).  I have always told my boys to think of me like a bear.  Stay on my good side and I will be a teddy bear to love, cuddle and play around with.  Get on my bad side and it will not be pleasant.  A bear can outrun the fastest human.  Some bears can climb trees so you can not escape that way.  Those bears that do not climb trees can knock that tree over with his strength.  A bear can crush your head with one bite.  A bear can knock your head off your body with a single hit.  He can open your stomach with one slash of his claws.  David faced a lion and a bear.  I dig this kid.

Notice that David said he could not use the instruments of war accepted by society.  He had to go with what he knew and trusted.  The day before "D" Day when the Allied forces dropped troops into Normandy to fight the Germans, the military gave the airborne troops extra packs that they had never tested.  That command decision cost many troopers their lives.  You go in with what you know.  You go in with what you have tested.  I tell my little league baseball team that they will do in a game what they do in practice.  If they goof around in practice, they will goof around and lose a game.  That team is their team and if they want to lose, go ahead and goof around.  Have fun, but have a purpose to what you are doing in life.  You can not play virtual baseball on the X-box and expect that video experience to translate on the baseball field in a real game.  You will just embrase yourself and anyone associated with your team.  Have fun with a purpose to excell at what you do.

Why five stones?  Was David a bad shot?  If he was really trusting in God all he would need was one stone.  Why pick up five stones?  God saved him from the lion and bear, was David afraid this giant was just too much for the Living God?  Open your bibles to . . .

2 Samuel 21:15-22
15 Now when the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. 
16 Then Ishbi-benob, who was among the descendants of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, was girded with a new sword, and he intended to kill David. 
17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel." 
18 Now it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the giant. 
19 There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 
20 There was war at Gath again, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born to the giant. 
21 When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down. 
22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. 

Why five stones? Because David was taking care of business.  He had one stone for the daddy and one for each of the four kids.  David was ready to fight.  David knew God would deliver him so he was planning his next move afterwards.  David knew that the kids might come out to fight him when they saw daddy get his head cut off.  In preparation, David had a stone for each of the four sons.  Are you taking care of business?  Have you planned your next move?  Do you trust in God to provide for you?  Are you getting organized for the next step in life? 
Open you bibles to . . . 

1 Samuel 17:45-47
Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.  This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands." 

All the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.  The battle is the Lord's.  Have you ever asked yourself why God sent ten plagues on Egypt?  Why not just go down and take His people?  Open you bibles to . . .

Exodus 7:5
The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst."

God is in the saving business.  The first step toward salvation is to know that God is God and that you are not.  Repent is the theme of the old testament and that is what Jesus preached.  I will not stand by and allow a non-believer to get away with trying to tell other people that man evolved from slime or from a monkey.  That takes God out of the equation and that is just wrong.  That non-believer is practicing his religion and I will practice mine by telling him that God created the heavens and the earth.  Man is made in the image of the Living God.  Man brought death and destruction into this world and God wants to save man from death.  Open you bibles to . . .

2 Samuel 11:11-13
Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field.  Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife?  By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing."  Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.  Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord's servants, but he did not go down to his house. 

Our giant killer is not doing his job.  His country is at war.  He should have been about his business of leading Israel, but instead he was goofing off.  In the process he had committed adultery and now he is trying to cover his sins.  I have always wondered if Uriah was really that strong willed or did God hold him back from going home.  I think it was God's hand holding him back.  We can ask God when we get to heaven, but think about this.  We know that Bathsheba was good looking so I am sure it was a true temptation for Uriah.  A soldier faces death each and every day on the battlefield so no one would fault a soldier for going home to stay with his wife while on military leave.  Open you bibles to . . .

Deuteronomy 15
1 "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts.
Do you see the lessons of grace God has been teaching the Israelites from day one? 
God is a God of grace and mercy.  Do you reflect grace and mercy with your life?
2 This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord's remission has been proclaimed. 
3 From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother. 
God makes a clear distinction between the Israelite and the foreigner because He is trying to teach the Israelites a lesson.  Understand that all men are His.  The Israelites were created by God's grace for a specific purpose.  That purpose was documented on every male child by the covenanct of circumcision.  The Israelites were God's tool to bring salvation to the world.  This was His bloodline He was going to use and they needed to understand the distinction between themselves and all other people. 
4 However, there will be no poor among you, since the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, 
I love God.  There will be no poor among you.  Wow!  Now what a great concept. 
5 if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. 
I love God, but man can be tough to love.  God loves you . . . I'm trying.  If you will listen and obey, God will bless you.  Homelessness starts with the individual.  Ministering to people takes discernment.  Some people will take advantage of a tender heart.  In prison ministry, they refer to the inmates as cons for a reason.  Some of those inmates will con you out of everything you own if you are so gullible.  Look at God and how He deals with mankind.  Learn from His actions in scripture and do what He does.  God says if you listen and obey, then He will bless.  Some people just want blessing without listening and obeying.  That is not how God works and that is not how I work. Be smart enough to mimic how God deals with mankind.
6 For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. 
Did you see how God parallels the concept of lenders to the rulers?  Apply that to your personal life.  Get off the financial grid.  Some people get off the power grid using solar or wind power.  Get out of debt and get off the financial grid.  God is showing a relationship between the power from the lender making his money work for him while the borrower is being ruled.  Get off the gird.

7 "If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; 
8 but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. 
9 Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,' and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. 
10 You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. 
11 For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.' 
Hold everything.  Verse 4 said there will not be any poor.  Remember verse 5 said if you listen and obey.  God knows the heart of man.  When I served in the military, we would have training situations where you knew you were going to lose.  Those were classified as 'Opportunities to Excel' when everyone knew they were going to fail.  But the leadership was just hoping that one person would step up and show excellence.  That is what God is providing for the nation of Israel, an opportunity for someone to show excellence. 

Beware of the base thought in your heart.  What does that mean?  It will be sin in you.  When Jesus taught, He said looking at a woman with lust is adultry in your eyes and hating a man is like murder.  We must understand that you can not fool God so stop fooling yourself.  Your religion is worthless.  God wants a relationship not religious acts.  That relationship between God and man is so personal that God understands the intent of your thoughts, not just the thoughts themselves.  He see the motivations behind your thoughts even before they get translated into actions.  The old testment law taught against the action.  Jesus went far beyond that by teaching against the motive behind the thought behind the action.  Get real with God and yourself. 

The more I study about Jesus, the more I love my Lord and my God.  I do not understand all aspects of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, but I do understand that I approach the Father by way of Jesus and His sacrifice made for me.  Jesus is alive and intercedes for me to the Father while the Holy Spirit convicts, leads and guides me in this life because of my relationship with Jesus as my Messiah.  Do you see that? 

12 "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. 
Your kinsman either male or female.  Again God is teaching the Israelite to distenguish between themselves and other nations, but now He makes it clear that He made them male and He made them female.  Gender created roles and responsibilities based upon the gender, but God created them both as equals.  They are equally different.  Other nations served idols.  God wants them to understand the distinction. 
13 When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 
When not if, but when you set him free do not send him away broke.  Can our country learn a few lessons from this passage?  Our civil war was about the power struggles between strong state governements and the strong federal government.  Slavery was the powder that set off the explosion.  God allowed people to sell themselves into bondage due to life situations, but He expected the owners to conduct themselves in a certain way.  God did not allow slavery to be a life long event unless that was the desire of the person as you will see below.
14 You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. 
15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 
16 It shall come about if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; 
17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. 

18 "It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do. 
I hope you see tithing in the statement above.  Some people struggle with giving money to God.  Some people do not give the first fruits (the best of the best).  This is a reflection of your heart.  Repent and confess your sin.  Then walk in a different way.  That is what the Word of God is suppose to do for makind.  The law was givne to show man what sin is in his life. 

19 "You shall consecrate to the Lord your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 
Tithing is the firstborn.  Job readiness is getting a handle on what money is all about.  When money rules you, then it is your God.  When you rule money, then you have room for Jesus to be your Messiah to take you to the Father and live a life via the Holy Spirit.  God is not saying not to work, but He is saying to set aside the first fruits.  God expects man to work.  The owner would set aside the firstborn cattle and sheep and seperate them fromt he rest of the animals all year.  They were set aside to die.  Again this was a lesson for the Israelite regarding the Messiah to come.  The High Priest of the israelites sacrified a lamb every morning and one lamb every evening for the nation.  Another lamb was slain each Sabbath.  An additional lamb was sacrified each month for the new moon.  You planned your tithe.  You took care of your tithe by feeding and watering it every day, but God said you shall not work it or use the animal like it was common.  It is set aside for a spiritual purpose.  Do you plan your tithe?  Do you honor God by how you handle the tithe spiritually?
20 You and your household shall eat it every year before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses. 
21 But if it has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 
22 You shall eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as a gazelle or a deer. 
23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water. 
Were all the first born 100% prime beef?  No, some had issues just like the rest of the world.  God is gracious with our world and says set the animal aside as a tithe offering, but do not disrespect God with a defective offering.  God say enjoy the animal as a meal, but do not eat the blood.  What is the deal with blood?  Life is in the blood. 
 

Deuteronomy 24:10-15
"When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge.  You shall remain outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you.  If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.  When the sun goes down you shall surely return the pledge to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before the Lord your God. 
God knows all about respect.  It would be disrespectful for the lender to go and prowl around in a borrower's home for the pledge.  God wants mankind to respect each other.  God demands respect from mankind.  Remember the golden rule from Jesus in Matthew 7:12; however you want people to treat you, so treat them.

"You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns.  You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you. 
As many times as God wanted the Israelite to make a distenction between them and foreign nations, here God shows His love for all humanity. 

How many parables did Jesus use that related to working or employment? 19+

Wise and Foolish Builders; Matthew 7:24-27, & Luke 6:46-49
Sower and the Seeds; Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23, Mark 4:3-8, 13-20, & Luke 8:5-8, 11-15
Net of Good and Bad Fish; Matthew 13:47-50
Lost Sheep; Matthew 18:12-14, & Luke 15:4-7
Unmerciful Servant; Matthew 18:23-35
Workers in the Vineyard; Matthew 20:1-16
Two Sons; Matthew 21:28-32
Evil Tenants; Matthew 21:33-44, Mark 12:1-11, & Luke 20:9-18
Faithful vs. Wicked Servant; Matthew 24:45-51, & Luke 12:42-48
Talents; Matthew 25:14-30, & Luke 19:12-27
Growing Seed; Mark 4:26-29
Money Lender; Luke 7:41-43
Rich Fool; Luke 12:16-21
Unfruitful Fig Tree; Luke 13:6-9
Cost of Discipleship; Luke 14:28-33
Prodigal Son; Luke 15:11-32
Shrewd Manager; Luke 16:1-13
Master and his Servant; Luke 17:7-10
Pharisee and Tax Collector; Luke 18:9-14
 

Matthew 21:28-32
"But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the vineyard.'  And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went.  The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, 'I will, sir'; but he did not go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.  For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

Mark 4:26-29
And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows-how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.  But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

Luke 13:6-9
And He began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.  And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?'  And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"

Luke 14:28-33
For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.  So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

Leviticus 25:39-43
'If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave's service.  He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee.  He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers.  For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale.  You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God.