Biblical Counseling - Career Guidance - Part II
Vern Peterman · Jul 13, 2008
Biblical Counseling, No. 15
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492616304784

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, first we got these bullets which were reviewed last week. So last week when we introduced this, it was interesting, we were talking about career guidance and everything had to do with principles that scripture lays out about direction for believers. And we kind of summarized all of last week in these bullets that you see at the top half of the page. And let's quickly go over, just so we make sure we get the idea. We said these things in summary. The occupation of a believer is by God's intent from the beginning. Why do I say God's intent from the beginning? Here's a garden, start working. Here's the garden and it's the intent that you cultivate and keep it.

So there's Genesis chapter 2. Not free of its own trials and problems, Genesis chapter 3. A constructive interaction with the culture. And this is a place where Christians can sometimes lose their bearings. Here we are, we're in a culture. There are things that we do and get involved in that are part of the culture. And as we'll see in the message again today, the culture is not what determines everything, but there is a place of interaction with the culture. And this is a constructive interaction with the culture, that's the intent.

Part of the will of God for the believer's life, not the believer's most basic identity. Why would we say that? I would say that your job isn't your most basic identity. Isn't that what everybody asks everybody when you get in conversation? What do you do? Or if you're done doing it, what did you do, right? You have the answer right here on the screen. Yeah, okay. Our identity is who we are in Christ, not the job. The job is what we do.

Not the believers measure a personal value and worth, and that's really just kind of underscoring the previous point. The world puts personal value and worth on what's your occupation and how snooty is it, right? Not for accumulation of wealth for the sake of accumulating wealth or setting one's security and hope in wealth. It might be easy for some of us to say, well, it's not for accumulating wealth because that's not what I'm doing, right? But on the other hand, it's possible for a person of any economic status or income range to still set their hope on wealth and put their security there. So this is an important point here. Rich but not in worldly things. The occupation of the believer is four.

Why am I doing this? It's for provision of one's own needs, personal needs, okay? It's so as to avoid burdening the family or the church. In other words, if I'm not providing for myself, that assumption or presumption puts an obligation on the family and church. So one of the things that Paul did repeatedly is to say, I don't want to burden you. I don't want to place something on top of you.

The next thing, provisions for one's immediate family, if there is one, and for extended family. And then saving for personal, immediate, and extended family needs. Needs of your immediate family and for extended family. And then graciously giving the needs of others, especially those in the church body.

So this is the what it's for idea for work. So those are the summary points from last week. And we probably took maybe a little longer than four minutes for that, so I'm sorry. The next one, the middle of the page, we have it titled, perhaps not everyone that's bent is meant to be straightened out. What do we mean by that?

I'd like to present a view of Proverbs 22.6 that is perhaps not the universal understanding, but it's interesting, both Hal and I independently arrived at our conclusion regarding what the meaning of this verse was about. This is the one that says, train up a child in the way you should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. It is often taken, maybe even say most often taken, to mean that if you train up a child in a certain direction that he won't depart from it, and frequently assuming that that means, you know, if you give him a good spiritual upbringing, he'll stick with it. At any rate, Hal and I, independently looking at this, said, no, we think it's actually more looking at the obligation, primarily of parents, but others in the family and the church are involved as well, of looking at how is this child made? How has the Lord given him an inclination? or a bent, if you will. Let me give you an idea.

When both of my boys were younger and at a stage where they weren't driving cars but were riding bikes, I went out to the garage and I was kind of teaching them both together, here's how you work on your bike. And I said, excuse me for a minute because I had to go into the house and get something or do something.

And I came back and my son Ed was still there working diligently on the bike. Randy was gone. That gave me an indication right there of what's the bent of each one of these guys. Ed went on to get his associate degree at mechanics school some years later. Randy's doing other useful things, but that's not his bent.

This, in the way that he should go, sounds like a way he should go in terms of a moral or spiritual direction. The way he ought to go. But the literal meaning of that is according to his way. train up a child according to his way. So there's a way or a bent or an inclination that somebody already has and the training is in support of that. Okay, so what that would do is put the parents in kind of a discovery mode. What is this child made of? What's their inclination? Yeah. Where did Randy go? Well, what do you mean where did Randy go? Working on the bike? Yeah. I don't know, but he was not working on the bike. He liked doing crazy things on the bike, but working on the bike was a different matter.

The thing that we see here, though, is that there is an inclination in the child, and so it's the parent's place to discover the inclination and to support the training. that goes along with it. I say that primarily the parent's place. The church also has a part. Nancy?

This is one of those verses that people have taken to be embraced by us, to know the truth of the word, and to be able to part from it. We know that our obligation as believers is to teach our children the truth. It's just that this is one of those verses that we've written differently. We believe the truth has been taken.

Yeah, it's not a doctrinal issue. It's a matter of what does this verse mean. It's an interpretation issue of a specific passage. Let's turn on to the next page. It's page 43 for what you got. What we have at the top is sort of a heading, but it's also a sequence. When you're looking for the bent or inclination, you're looking at motivations, interests, and aptitudes. Motivations, interests, and aptitudes.

One of the things that Randy just kind of took off on, and it's funny, we've given Randy various kinds of training. But he always seemed to want to go somewhere else. So it was kind of interesting to catch up to. He's now taken off in programming and doing extremely well at it. But it was something that we were having a hard time trying to catch up to. What is this guy inclined towards? It seemed in his earlier years that music was the way he was bent.

So we have motivations, interests, and aptitudes. Those are the bent, the inclination part of things. Then we have next in the sequence training and experience towards that. And then finally the suitable occupation. While that's the time sequence, the way that the Career guidance aspect of this takes place as a slightly different sequence. One, we have it there, determine the person's motivations, interests, and aptitudes. Second, match those to a suitable occupation in the culture. And three, provide training and experience to prepare for the occupation. So the top, excuse me, the second and third item are reversed in terms of how you go about matching those things up.

Now, why do we bother with this process? What difference does it make if we go through these steps and look for what's the fitting career and all those things? Because it goes on throughout a person's life. Yeah, one is that it makes a lot of difference over time. That's good. What else?

Save a lot of tuition. Save a lot of tuition. How many of you have known people, and maybe it's even more personal than that, how many of you have known people that majored in something that they never used? How many of you have known people that went to school and changed majors several times?

Yeah. It is, part of it's a matter of Mike's point that, you know, there's a lot of years that, you know, follow on here. So it's a lot of time, okay. It's possible for someone to get a degree in something that is very interesting to them, but it doesn't match up with an occupation. Yeah? Like marriage, a person might get married, but he needs to learn what that's all about. Okay. Yeah. It's intended to be a lifelong thing, right? Yeah. And one of the ways where this can come into play is not only saves a lot of tuition for someone that's going to school, but also you can end up with a serious many years mismatch.

Some of the statistics, and these vary I think depending on what questions people are asking, but some of the statistics are that 50 to 80 percent of the population in the United States is mismatched with their current occupation. How many percent? 50 to 80 percent, and it varies on the study and what questions. But 50 to 80 percent of the people are mismatched to their current occupation.

You mean the rich become poor and the poor become rich? No, not necessarily that, but just the idea that we look at what are the motivations, interests, and aptitudes, and what are the occupations that people are doing, and there's a mismatch in there.

Nancy? An example. We know a person in another state who's one of two sons, and his father said, I want one of my sons to be an attorney, and I want one of my sons to be a doctor, so I'm always taking care of him. This person that we know really wanted to be a mechanical engineer, but he got to be a doctor because that's what his dad forced him to do. And he's miserable. Yeah. He does not like it. He doesn't like it. Same town. Here's back in Carson City.

A fellow that I knew fairly well. His dad was an accountant, and so his dad said, you're going to be an accountant. And it has been a horrific mismatch, aside from not being able to pass the CPA exam repeatedly. It can be story after story. People just, okay, you're going to fit this mold, and it doesn't work. And in some cases, like this fellow whose dad said, you're going to be a doctor, you know, it was not so much a matter of, you know, he's a terrible doctor per se, but just it's more a matter of just completely dismotivated every day. Wouldn't you love to be one of his patients? Yeah, you know, it's kind of like, I'm here seeing you because I have to, you know. I'm glad he's not a dentist. Yes, yeah, that could be even more painful.

So there are reasons for matching this thing up in terms of what a person is fitted for by motivations, interests, and aptitudes and what's a suitable occupation, a key thing. We have the next one down there, discovering motivations, interests, and aptitudes. This is one where there are several different modes and it's possible that there's something I've even missed here. So if you've got another idea, that's great. Conversation with the one exploring career options, or just inquiring of them. What are you interested in? What draws you? What are you motivated towards? So that's one way. And sometimes numerous conversations can take place that way. Observation of the one exploring career options, like the difference where one son stays with the bike and the other one leaves.

Testing ranging from computer scored tests, online tests, hands-on skills testing, etc. And I learned an important lesson with that. You know those old tests where you take the pencil and you fill in this little space? Do not drink four or five cups of coffee before you take those kind of tests. I learned that lesson. You know, hands-on skills testing. Some people may be highly intelligent, but their manual dexterity just isn't there. And again, those aren't the full range. One of the things I think is important to recognize, anybody ever taken one of these interest tests?

What are you interested in? I took one of those when I was in high school, and I was really disappointed with the results. It said that I should either be a game warden or a farm machinery mechanic. Now I happen to know a game warden and a farm machinery mechanic and I can guarantee you I would hate those jobs. So anyway, be careful about some of the tests.

Yes, Art? Would a person's hobby be indicative to his aptitude? Okay, Art asked the question, would a person's hobby be indicative? Any thoughts or insights on that? Yeah? It's something to look at, isn't it? It is possible that the hobby needs to stay a hobby, but it may also be an indication.

One of the things that during his teen years, Randy was extremely interested in the music, but what he concluded was that making that a career for him was not a good choice because he wanted to be a family man, and it was real tough to make that match up.

So he kept the music, you know, he keeps it as a serious hobby. But he works, you know, for a computer programming company and, you know, writing software. But as a hobby, he writes birthday songs for all the people in the company and has a lot of fun doing it. You should hear his reggae song. Anyway, okay.

I'm just going to say that hobby. When I had to give up flying, I took up shooting as a hobby. And I never really wanted to be a bank robber. Aha! Aha! Job security is real tough with that. Bank robber 101. Yes. Yeah. Hobbies may be an indication, but they may be an indication that that's a good hobby for you.

Another one here, discussion with those in the prospective occupation. Now here's something I'm going to underscore here. It is important to make the decision not simply based on what am I interested in, not simply based on what it's like to study. One of the real problems that we have in our culture, and Christians, self-included, can get in the same mode, is trying to make career decisions by sitting in the classroom. Not having an idea of what's it like to do this. And real, real important distinction.

You know, it's a funny thing. I had been majoring in geology. When Nancy and I got engaged, I started thinking about, well I need to think seriously about what's this going to be like. I made an appointment right away with my geology instructor. I said, tell me about the jobs in geology. He said, there's three main categories.

There's one, you're going to work for the government. Two, you're going to teach. Three, you're going to work for some mining or petroleum outfit. And they're going to move you all over the place. And you'll probably be out in the boonies where the mining activity is. I looked at those three jobs.

I said, thank you very much. I walked out. I changed majors. It was just a matter of saying, what's this really like? Studying it, I loved it. But in terms of what's this like to do it, to live it out, what does this look like for my family, right away I knew this was not the right job for me, even though I loved studying it. So that mismatch is a problem. It is critical that the person looking for occupations have exposure with people that are doing it and even going to the places where they're doing it so they know what it's like. It's just a matter of telling yourself the truth. Internships in the prospective occupation. I knew one gal that wanted to be a nurse, or so she thought. She worked in a hospital one summer. She said, that's enough of that.

And so it's a matter of testing it out in reality. Again, this is just getting out of the classroom mode and what's this really like to do this? And really being able to test that out. Study and evaluation through books, movies, websites. We have more ability to do that now to match things up than we ever have. It is another way of sampling, finding out would this be a good fit? Would I like it?

What does this look like to actually practice it? And then here's the next thing, praying for and with the believer for wisdom. We talk about praying for wisdom in the book of James, first chapter there. And by the way, that's where it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, and the if means, and of course you do, So, praying for wisdom. So, these are some of the key means of determining things.

Now, anybody got any other ideas? Something I might have left off the list? Yeah, that's possible. Any other thoughts as to how you might explore job possibilities? Let's ask a question. Is this something you should pray about? Or is it just too mundane? Yeah, of course you should pray. Why? Okay, bring everything to it. Sure, sure.

We know our Lord's occupation. We know Paul's occupation. We know that many of the disciples were fishermen. Here's Matthew, a tax collector. The occupation is something that certainly isn't going to last forever. And some of you would say, thank heaven. But it's not going to last forever. But on the other hand, it is of significance. It's of substance. And working is something that God's Word says is valuable and something that Christians should pursue.

Can you reverse the, you have not because you ask not? Yeah, you have not because you ask not. Basically, Lord, I need wisdom here. I need insight. Or maybe even praying for opportunities. How about that? Praying for opportunities. It's God's will that all men should be saved. It is a matter of testimony, isn't it? Someone who is a mismatch, that can be a testimony issue. And I've seen exactly that. Let's look at matching a suitable occupation. It's critical the person exploring career options do so on the basis of what it's like to do the actual work, not just what it's like to take the classes or training to prepare a person for the work.

It is possible that you love the study and either hate or cannot find the job. I know when Nancy and I were first back in college, I mean, Nancy and I met two months out of high school. There were six times as many psychology majors as there were jobs in psychology. It's like, wow! So a part of it is, what are the options and opportunities out there versus what I'm studying? So it's not just, what's it like to do it? Can I get a job doing it? It's another possibility.

The typical school environment is typically not the best by itself to choose an occupation. And that's why, part of the reason we got the flipping, you know, changing majors, changing majors, changing majors after changing three, four, five times, graduate and find out still not the right one, right? Schooling can cost a bunch of money, lots of money. I know if you go to some of the upper end price tag schools, $30,000 or $40,000 a year is not out of the question. It can get really pricey. That's a lot of money for not knowing what you're doing.

For guessing. I think it's important to realize too, you've been trained for a particular job. Working it for a time and moving to another occupation, that doesn't mean you're training and experiencing that first job. yeah working in the dealerships He does work some mechanical work on the side and probably if he had a choice would still go back to it. Here's my situation here. These are some of the jobs I've done all the way from working on the farms and not just my own farm but other people's farms. So a bunch of different things. And it wasn't because I had no idea what I was doing. It was because I would develop an interest in different things.

And by the way, most of those jobs were with three different companies. In my work history, I've worked twice for three different companies. I worked there and then went back later after more education three times. So a lot of those, most of those jobs are with just with three companies.

It's not a matter of switching around between companies. In some cases, two, three, four bullets for the same company. I went through a bunch of different schooling, but it wasn't, each time it was useful. In other words, I actually worked in it, not flipped around. Then I went and pursued a bunch of certifications.

Now, in case you think that Vern's full of himself and just highly arrogant, here's Kaylee's picture of me from a few minutes ago. Okay. And by the way, all certifications have expired, every single one of them. Okay. So yeah, there is a possibility of changing.

But it's a question of, is this useful and am I going to use it? versus am I spending a lot of time studying it only to discover that this is a waste of time and I hate it. Where there aren't any jobs in that occupation. There's also a matter here of exploring the character of the occupation, such as specialties, typical pay scales, entrance and maintenance requirements, as well as lifestyle and work conditions that go along with the work. When I was talking to the geology instructor and saying, what are the jobs?

I'm thinking, all right, I'm going to be out in some place called armpit Nevada. Either I'm going to have to travel out there all the time and be away from my family or I have to move my family out to armpit Nevada. I don't want to do that. That's not the option I want to choose. So I might enjoy, I might love studying it. It was great fun to study, but I don't want to put my family through that. So what's it actually like to do this?

That's an important question there. Here's another one. The pay scale market for the occupation needs to be sufficient to provide for the anticipated future. needs to be sufficient. And that was one of the reasons why Randy decided he loves music. But aside from having to move all over the place and go on tours and all sorts of things like that, there's also kind of an instability in the income. And he just said, I don't want to go through that.

By the way, we have a couple of resources there on the footnotes. There are others, but these are ones that are, I think, pretty good and pretty reliable. You can check out what's it really like to do this in part through some of the books that are out there. Okay, let's go to page 44. There's another area to look at and that is...

In addition to understanding the principles in general for believers regarding a certain occupation, it's also important to study the biblical principles that might impact whether a specific career is advisable, or things to be careful of in the career. Now, what do we mean by that? Can you think of some occupations that are perfectly legal but not advisable for a Christian to take up?

An abortion clinic. Yeah, an abortion clinic. That might be a tough one. Owning and running a liquor store. Yeah, owning and running a liquor store might be when you look at it and say, that's not for me. Yeah. What else? Yeah, you might say, here's the tobacco industry. There are a number of things out there you look at and say, oh boy, this isn't something I want to sit there and put year after year after year in it.

It's a funny little side story. When I was in Carson City, which is the capital, it's a small capital and so you run into people all the time that in a larger state you wouldn't tend to do. So you cross paths with a governor and that sort of thing. Well, I play racquetball and every time I go out and play racquetball, I happen to go out there at the same time as the guy who was the head of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. By the way, his name was Bill Bible. Okay, anyway.

But the thing is, yes, one is there are occupations that are, for a Christian, it's like, well it's not a good choice. But there are also, in an occupation, there are things to be careful of, or things to be aware of, even if the occupation itself may be a good choice. One of the areas that I bring up as an example, in the area of accounting, You saw on the list, that's one of the things I've done as well in the area of accounting. Is it a valid occupation?

Certainly. Are there spiritual and ethical issues and moral issues? Oh yeah, lots of them. I can tell you firsthand. One of the big problems that we have in this country and have had, and it's raised its ugly head worse and worse and worse, is people that have training in accounting But even if you give them a business ethics course, they don't know the difference between right and wrong. And so we have big corporations, some of the big name recent ones like Enron, where fraud within the company ends up taking place. And the accounting is frequently, not always, but frequently the area where that happens. Accounting decisions that are fraudulent. and sending them to business ethics classes does not solve it.

Why? One is the loopholes. Nancy? Because it's a secular society and if the person is not a believer, they don't have core values to biblical understanding of what's right and wrong. And sometimes as a believer, people will separate their Christian walk from the job that they do and forget that those principles still apply in their job. Sure. It is possible for a job to be legal but not advisable for a Christian. It is also possible for something to be perfectly legal within an occupation but still not advisable for a Christian.

So both of those things are an area. This is an area when we talk about career guidance. This is an area where thinking about and talking through, here are some of the issues you're going to get into. As an engineer, it's, you know, you're out there, you're looking at things and, you know, hey, they're not building this thing the way it's supposed to be. You know, you just kind of turn your eye and look the other way, especially if there's a lot of pressure to do so. Or do you hold to it and say, no, this needs to be done this way? So, and lots of occupations have those kinds of ethical issues that come up.

Frequently, it is possible in the short term to get away with things, but in the long term, there's a mess. Yeah? What if the tax codes are wrong? The tax codes are wrong? Yeah, what if, you know, I don't think the tax, income tax book that you have to read every year is right. Oh, you are quite correct. I mean, we have 8,000 pages of tax code and there's a lot that's debatable.

But I think the thing is what you got to look at, what are the biblical principles that apply? And it's interesting, Peter was asked, you know, does your master pay this temple tax? And so Peter brought it up with Jesus and said, you know, do we pay this? And Jesus talked her over with him and they said, in fact, we are not obligated to do so. But in order that we not offend them, let's pay it anyway.

And that's when he told Peter, you know, go fishing and when you catch the fish, there will be a coin in its mouth and pay it with that coin. But that was a mooshd, which happens to eat a lot of coins. If you throw coins out, it'll eat them. And that was a kind of fish.

So at any rate, that's an instance where, okay, here's what's allowable, but what does God's Word say? And not using the world's standards, but using God's Word as the standard for here's what we do. And I've just seen it time and time again. There can be lots of pressure. There can be money pressure. I've had a situation where the boss above me, you know, a situation got a little bit snarled and he said, the party line is, which is clue for this is the lie we're going to tell them, right? No, we're not going to do that. Okay.

And so anyway, again, here's a place, career guidance isn't just a secular issue. It is something that down the line, across the board, there are spiritual issues involved in selecting it and as you enter it, knowing what the biblical principles are.

Okay, now, next thing, providing training and experience. Depending upon the career chosen, the training and experience may be as simple as on-the-job training. A good many of the crafts are done in that way. Or as long, as costly, as involved as college followed by professional schools and internship. So you've got the whole range. Everything from the start of the job and kind of work up, you know, apprentice, journeyman, master. And it's more of an on-the-job thing all the way up to something that takes lots of schooling. And so it's important to take a look at that. Now, the motivations, interests, and aptitudes for the chosen occupation are necessary to begin and sustain a person through the time of training and experience.

Oh, I think this might be interesting, but I'm not motivated enough to go through what it takes to get there. So that's a problem. That is part of the difficulty with someone who is told you're going to do this without any assessment of is that a good idea. You can have a mismatch there.

Additionally, the support of the family along with the arrangement for the appropriate circumstances and location will need to take place. If your son needs to go to Australia to go to school, then by all means, get him to Australia. Depending upon the occupation chosen, the cost for schooling can range from minimal to substantial. Take it for instance, I said $30,000 to $40,000 a year just for four-year colleges on the upper end. So it can be pricey. And then if someone's talking about going to some sort of post-graduate training, some training after the bachelor's degree, I mean, this can get costly. Yeah, Nancy? Margaret Echol told me that people who go into medicine today will probably never in their career pay off their student loans because it's so expensive. Isn't that wild?

Yeah, exceedingly expensive. And that's one thing, here's this friend that Nancy and I know in Carson City whose father said, you're just going to do it. Well, wow, that's an expensive thing to get forced into and to just have dictated to you. And wow, what an expensive mismatch, you know, really costly. It can run well into the six digits for some kinds of training. Okay.

Funding options and the word fun in there is not going to imply anything. One, parents, other family members, or spouse saving up for the expenses or paying for the expenses as they come due. Of course, we have a link there for a savings program that's tax-advantaged. Student working to save up for expenses or working while going through school. By the way, what would be some particular advantages for that? The student working to save up for or while going through school.

Pardon? Sense of value. They're having some input into accomplishing this thing. It's not all just handed to them. Right. Okay. Yeah, that could be an important one. Another one that I would say is that it avoids debt. Because that would be an inclination. More likely to do something they can make money with. There could be a disconnect there if they don't. It makes for better probabilities. Grants or scholarships is another one. These days, the internet can make for amazing connections.

When I was going through engineering school, I found my disadvantage was As a matter of fact, even before that, my disadvantage was that I'm white, Anglo-Saxon, at least categorically Protestant male. But anyway, and even at one point, I had just gotten through taking a surveying test and I had just approached, after taking the test and finding out that I passed, I approached the surveyors union in the area where we're at. They said, we just had a court decision. We can't hire you because you're a white male.

So, yeah, it can be a tough one. But Branson Scholarships, they have them for all sorts of odd things. You know, strange things about a person's background. Sometimes it's based on, you know, writing or speaking engagements. A lot of times on school grades and things like that.

Employer paying for all or part of the expenses. And this is a good one to look for. I myself have taken advantage of that. So that can be real helpful. Some cases even paying for time in schooling. Pay for the schooling and for the time in the schooling. And I've seen that as well. By that you mean that if you have to take a class during normal work hours that you would still be They pay the salary and the tuition.

I've seen that as well. So that's a possibility. Military service accompanied by training or funding the training after military service. So both of those are options. I've known a number of people who have taken advantage of that. They look at it and they say, well, college is pretty pricey. How about if I get some help, I'll go in the military and I can both do military and schooling in parallel or use the money once I get out to do schooling. So both of those are options. Student loans is the last one.

Now I have some principles here to lay out. We're running out of time. Principle number one here on the bottom of page 44. Full consideration of all the points in the prior page and the above needs to be made so that the funding from whatever source is money well invested. That is, make sure you've got a match before you've got the money.

The worst thing is to have a bunch of student loans for a mismatched, insufficient job. That's the toughest spot to be in. There are countless stories of people who have gained degrees that are unmarketable or that are never put into practical use that become an expensive hobby. Really expensive. With the expense of most of today's educational programs, missing this one point can be a significant error. It can be really costly. Going to college because you don't know what else to do, also not a good idea. It is expensive, one, and two, it's not by itself a real good place to figure out what it is you're going to do.

Most people don't do work that looks like the classroom. Most people. Okay, 45, top of the next page there. Principle. Saving for education and training is likely part of the biblical principle in 2 Corinthians 12, 14. For children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I would say that today and in today's world that may be a more significant factor than it has been in the past.

The other one, and this is what a lot of this last If you have an appendix item with four pages there, this is about debt, principles regarding debt, biblical principles. So when you talk about student loans, this is one of the things to take a look at. What are the biblical principles regarding student loans? I think we've got a couple of extraneous pages that hold into a lot of your sense. So anyway, so that's one thing to look at.

I'll put this out, when you start stacking it all up, I'll put it this way, to put it simply, taking on debt for the sake of education and training is rarely the prudent and biblically founded path. Student loans to schools, love to just give them out like water, because they're a whole lot easier to pursue and process, easier than even going through scholarships and everything else. But I think biblically they're not eliminated, but it's not encouraged as easily as the schools would tend to encourage them. If you go to an office where they provide financial aid, a lot of times that's one of the first things that they'll go towards. And in reality, biblically, that's not as easily supported. Okay.

Pursuing meaningful work here. The church body can help with pursuing meaningful work in a number of ways, which may include helping to put together or at least review resumes and cover letters. I've done that with a number of brothers and sisters in the Lord over time, and it can be a huge help. And these days with the ability to just fan resumes all over the place, Doing that very carefully is extremely valuable. Another one, making connections with job prospects through contacts in the church body, job listings sent to the church. By the way, the church here gets job listings fairly regularly, and so we don't go posting them on the bulletin boards and that kind of thing, but if we're aware that somebody has a need, we can use that as one source for making connections. Praying for those pursuing meaningful work. Asking the Lord to open up the right doors. So praying with a believer. It can be as simple as that.

A restatement and teaching of the principles outlined in these prior pages in order to provide a clear context of biblical perspective and principles regarding work. And then finally, pursuing the study of biblical principles applicable to the specific occupation chose, what are the things I need to know before I get into this and before I get into the difficult circumstance? employer situation.

I walked in one Monday morning and I had been a civil engineer and they said, Vern, as of this morning, you're now the company's financial controller. Oh. I went in and started taking a look at the finances and was in shock for a few days. But, I mean, there were a lot of issues that came up because, you know, there were people not being paid that should have been paid. There were a lot of ethical issues to sort through. And it was in the midst of that, you know, real important to kind of keep biblical bearings and not just the world's bearings. Yeah. That puts you in some type of legal liability. This particular circumstance didn't, but it could. That was one problem, but there were ethical issues. I had to go and talk to them about this needs to be addressed. We can't keep doing things this way.

And one of them is just simply people need to be paid and they need to be paid in a timely manner. And you take on an obligation, you don't want to be essentially lying to people if you do not have the wherewithal to pay them. So there were issues to deal with and I sometimes had to say things rather strongly about where we need to go and what needs to be corrected.

But being aware of what some of those issues are ahead of time and what the biblical principles are that apply are real helpful rather than have somebody get all caught and tangled up in things. It can be extremely important. We had a next door neighbor in Carson City that found themselves in legal trouble stepping into something that I, knowing the fellow, it wasn't something he was aware of what he was getting into. But that's one of those things where, you know, knowing what you're getting into and what are the principles that apply and knowing when you're in trouble, that's important, especially knowing before you're in trouble that this is an issue. Yeah. And that's where he ran into a problem.

Let's pray because we're running out of time. Lord, as we look at this, we know that various people in this church body at different times, perhaps some even here at this moment, need or soon will need guidance in this area. And we're just thankful that you have laid out a great number of things before us out of your Word and wisdom within the church body. regarding these things. We look to you to guide and lead us and direct us, and we're thankful for all that we can count upon in you. In Jesus' name, amen.