Date: January 29, 2019 ()

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Today we are going to talk about how to find the right follower or the right person for the job. Not everyone wants to be a leader and that is okay. Not everyone is a leader. In fact, there is a saying, “too many chiefs and not enough Indians.” You cannot do anything big or great without a lot of workers. There have to be a lot of “worker bees.” In Proverbs it says to look at the ants. They do not have anyone leading them and making them do something. They are just there busy and working. They have a hierarchy in an ant colony, but it is not like they are people.

How do you find a good follower? How do you find the right person for a job? If people prefer staying in the background, how are you going to find out about them? Usually someone will make you aware of them. For instance, if you are a good web designer people may say, “I know this guy. He is pretty quiet and he doesn’t really say much, but if you want a good web site designed, he is the guy.” There are many jobs that must be done in an organization to make it function and all are important. If one of them is missing, it is not going to do as well. Everyone has to do their job. Just try doing it without some of these smaller, less important in the eyes of the world type of jobs. Today, I was walking down the hall here at God’s Learning Channel going to lunch. I looked in every room as I walked out to get in my car. In every room, there was one person in there by themselves working away at their job and doing a good job.

What kind of worker do you really want for the right person for the job? You want someone about whom you can say, “If I give them a job, I never have to go back. I know it is going to be done and be done right.” I know people like that. I have a woman who has helped me for many years. When I call her and say, “Joanie, would you be willing to do such and such,” she says, “You bet.” I never have to call again because she was the right person for the job, whatever it was. I remember times that I have said to the Lord, “God, I would like to be the person that when You are thinking about who can I get to do this job, You will think Betty would do it, and I would do it, Lord, in a way that you are pleased with.” If you do not have this person near you, you might have to search for them. You might have to go on someone else’s recommendation. They might have a reputation that precedes them.

I doubt you have ever heard of the man in the Bible that we are going to study today. You might have, but I would be very surprised. His name is Huram. He was from Tyre, and he had a king whose name was Hiram. Some translations say his name is Hiram, but the one I worked with called him Huram. Who was this man? He had a great reputation as a person who could work in bronze. It did not say he had a great reputation for leading a mighty army. He had a great reputation for one thing. Sometimes you might feel like you are a one talent person, but if your one talent is brain surgery, that is a pretty important thing to be able to do, especially if you are working on my brain. Huram lived during the time of King Solomon. You will recall that Solomon was the most outstanding king you could ever imagine. Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba. God said, “I am going to bless this little boy.” God had said, “Ask me for what you want.” So Solomon went to God and said, “I need wisdom. Please give me wisdom to know how to rule these people.” God said, “I am going to give you that. Because you have not asked for riches and honor, I am going to give you that, too. I will give it all to you. Your name will spread far and wide to many countries. You will be very famous and people will come from everywhere to know about you, how you do things, and your great wisdom.” It began to happen. Who helped Solomon build those temples and palaces? Who helped him do all that great work so that when all the people came to see his wealth and riches, it was there and it was done, and it was worth looking at? Huram is the man that helped him.

Solomon also built a palace for himself. It took 13 years to complete the construction. One of the buildings was called the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. Lebanon was very famous for its cedar forests. You have heard about the cedars of Lebanon. They were very tall and beautiful. This particular palace was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. That is about six stories high. There were four rows of cedar pillars and great cedar beams rested on the pillars. Everything was cedar. It said he also built the Hall of Pillars. All of this was cedar, and it was another big one. Then he built the throne room known as the Hall of Justice where he sat to hear legal matters. You know there were a lot of people coming there. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling. If you have ever had a cedar chest or a room like a closet that was paneled with cedar to protect things from moths, you know the great smell that cedar has. It says Solomon’s living quarters surrounded a courtyard behind this hall. The living quarters were also constructed the same way. Then it says he also built similar living quarters for his wife. From foundation to eaves, there was a lot of cedar. There was also another thing, high quality stone cut and trimmed to exact measure on all sides. What kind of a worker do you think you would have to have that could be a stone cutter or stone mason? This would have to be a very detailed person, who could be analytical and take their time to work carefully. The people who did this were not even named, but they had to do a good job. Solomon just kept building these buildings.

Then the day came when he was ready to decorate them and he wanted to do it in bronze. In 1 King 7:13, it says that, “King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram, whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was from Tyre and a skilled craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.” You have probably never heard of this man and never even thought about him. This man was specially brought to do all of the metal work, and there were many buildings involved.

(Look at this picture of a Lebanese man and woman. Aren’t they handsome? You can tell from looking at the picture that the man is a small-framed man. The woman is very beautiful. I had a neighbor for 11 years who was from Lebanon. She was from Tyre. I asked her, “You mean that city in the Bible is still there?” She said, “Yes, it is still there. It is a major seaport.”

This talented man lived in this area. He was part Jewish and that made Solomon want to work with him. Sometimes the qualifications that someone has for selecting a worker might not be what you would see on the list of the 10 best ways to pick someone, but they are important to the person choosing. King Solomon, King David, and King Hiram all had a good relationship. King Hiram had a good relationship with King David before Solomon was born, before any of this happened. After David died, King Solomon had the same relationship with him. It was mutually beneficial for both countries. Do you know why? Tyre was a seaport and Jerusalem needed access to the water. Jerusalem had overland trade routes and Tyre needed trade routes to get their goods to the people inland. Plus, they just liked each other. I did a lot of research on this. It was very interesting to see what it was all about. In some of the research I did, there was a story that was not in the Bible. This story said King Solomon and King Hiram traded riddles with each other to see if they could stump each other. They had a very good friendship going and really enjoyed each other. Out of this, Solomon probably had a conversation at some point with King Hiram about who he got to do his bronze work. Have you ever done that? In ordinary conversation, you might say, “Do you know anyone? Who do you use? Did you like them?” I am sure King Hiram said, “There is a man here who is actually half Israelite who is the best worker in bronze that I have ever seen. You should use him on your palaces.” Huram came on the recommendation of another person, and then did this great work. When you are working at something and you need the right person for the job, what are some things that you need to go over with them and discuss with them because the job is going to require a great deal of talent and commitment?

You want to be sure they know what they are getting into when they say “I will do it.” I heard a man telling another man about a job, a business offer. The man said, “You know, I am kind of crippled, but I am interested. I need you to tell me everything that goes with the job.” The man said, “All right, here is the good and the bad.” He told him everything and the worker said, “I don’t know. It sounds good. Just tell me if it will be worth it.” The man said, “It will be worth it.” Think about Huram when he finished. What kind of pride did he have saying, “Look what I got to do?” I am not talking about the bad kind of pride. I am talking about the good kind, the job satisfaction of a job well done. Can people say that about you? Anytime you leave a job, can they say, “Yes, I can recommend him. In fact, I wish I had a hundred like him.” That is what you want to hear. I heard a man say to his wife, “I have hired thousands of people, but I only remember the good ones. I don’t remember the bad ones.” When you sit down with them, you need to tell them the sacrifice that will be involved. Then, when they get in it, they cannot say, “I was tricked. They did not tell me it was going to be this hard.” The real people that want to work will say, I don’t care, I just want to do the job. I am glad I know what I am getting into so that I can be prepared.” You need to understand that not everyone will stay when the sacrifices start popping up.

Another thing you need to do is go over the job requirements with them. You need to say, “This is what I need. This is what I am looking for.” Then let them say, “I think I am your man.” Try as much as possible not to choose them based on emotion. Some people can sell themselves really well and then when they actually get to the job, they are a disappointment. Just think it out carefully and get your recommendations. You know that there are tests in every job, every job has its challenges. They are going to be tested at doing it. The good ones are going to conquer and go on and grow from it. How do you make sure that they do not have overwhelming discouragement? How do you make sure they have encouragement to keep going? The best thing you can do is just check on them and make sure they are doing all right. Just go by and say, “I just wanted to see how you are doing. How do you like your job? How is it going? Is there any way I can help?” I heard about a man that had a very large manufacturing company in America with hundreds of employees. That man has stopped at the work station of every single person that works for him just to talk to them. Maybe he was not involved in the hiring process at all, but he goes by just to say, “How are you doing?” He knows their names and even knows about their families, and he can remember it. People like to know you appreciate what they are doing. They will work their hard if they feel like you think they are doing a great job and you really appreciate it. You need to show that appreciation. You need to speak appreciation. It is not enough to think that they should know and that you would tell them if you didn’t like what they were doing. It always needs to be more than that. You need the right person on the job and you need to tell them, “I like what you are doing. I appreciate it.” If you do not like it, then you need to tell them in a way that it is not defeating and does not make them angry or frustrated. You can just say, “Here is something I think you could do better. If you need any help, let me know.”

Sometimes you are asked to take on a risky person. It is possible that what we would call a risky person in another profession could have just been in the wrong job. They could have been a square peg in a round hole. Then you have the place that their square peg is going to fit great, but you talked to the person in the round hole business. They might say, “Oh no, you are taking a risk when you hire them.” Yet, because you have an interest and you have a concern that maybe the other boss did not have, you get one of the best workers that you ever had. Even King David had that happen. He had a band of 300 discontented men, but he was able to inspire them with his leadership. So, risky people sometimes work. However, you need a team player. They might be quiet and their job might be small, maybe they need to be off by themselves. They need to feel that they are a team, everyone is in this together, everyone’s job is important. If any job does not get done the way it should get done, this thing will not be as good. So they are needed.

Do you realize that as a Christian you should be praying for your helpers? What do I mean by praying? Think about what their needs would be. Think about how they would like to be prayed for. Pray for their families. Pray for them to grow in God and to become more committed to the Lord. Pray for their talents and skills to get even better. Sometimes when people come with their own set of skills and talents, if you are not careful you might think this is the best they can do. You do not know that. Maybe you could pray for them and your prayers could be the thing that God used to increase them and grow them beyond anything they ever thought they could do. Much greater job satisfaction will ensue because of that.

What about if you are selecting Christians for ministry work? They have to have a prayer life. They have to have a good reputation so you better check it out. They have to have a good reputation in the community, and they have to have a private life with God that backs up their public life. You have to check all of that out and let God tell you. The Holy Spirit may give you a little check in your spirit. It is just that little nagging feeling that something is not right about this worker. Because of that, you might not be able to use them.

Look at Isaiah 58:8-9. “Your godliness will lead you forward and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer ‘Yes, I am here’ and He will answer quickly.” As King Solomon was trying to do great things, he had to rely and know that by praying for these people and by caring for these people, by looking for someone who had a similar background, the Lord was able to protect the whole situation. In I Kings 7:41-50 it names all of the things that Huram made for the temple of the Lord, and everything was burnished bronze. There is a place in there where Huram began to realize, “I am not doing this for the king. I have a higher call than that. I am doing it for the Lord. I get to do work for the temple of the Lord.” What a great honor and what a great thing that his vision could be lifted.

What are some of the things Huram made? He made two giant pillars. Then he made two bowl-shaped capitals on the top of that. He made two interwoven chains that decorated all of that. He made it all out of bronze. This guy could do everything. He made 400 pomegranates that hung from the chains, 10 water carts holding 10 basins, and then he made a giant basin that had 12 oxen under it, all in bronze. He made buckets, shovels, and bowls. It says in verse 47 that Solomon did not weigh all of these things because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be measured. You saw a picture of him. He was a small man, but he was very strong.

What are some other things that you need to do in looking for a good worker? You should allow them to make mistakes and do not come down on them. One of the greatest fears that people have in stepping out and doing something different and better is, “If I mess up, I will get fired.” You want to have the kind of organization where you say, “I want you to try, I want you to get out there. If you make a mistake, come talk to me. We will talk about it and figure out what we have to do. Then you can go back and do better than ever.”

They must be teachable and correctable. You have to be able to say, “I don’t like this, I need you to change.” Then they say, “Okay, so sorry.” Have you felt that you will never find the right person for the job? Have you been listening to this lesson thinking, “I have been looking for the right person and I don’t know if I will ever find them.”

Sometimes a person can grow into a job. You do not know why but you just feel like, “This is the person and they are not what I need yet, but I believe they can grow into it.” That happens all of the time. People get into a situation and they discover that they have talents they did not know they had. They get in there and learn it. You might say, “I live in this little, tiny town. There isn’t anyone.” You would be amazed at what would happen if you took the time to pray about the people you needed to help you. There is a book called In His Steps. A man wrote a book about what would happen if people decided to follow in the steps of Jesus and do just what He did. A very interesting thing happened out of that, in all types of work and in the community. What does God want from his workers? Does He tell us how to be known as a good worker? In Isaiah 58 God says, “I want you to feed the hungry and help those in trouble.” Sometimes the talent and ability you have as a worker is the very answer people need. You are someone’s answer to a prayer. God says, “I will guide you continually. I will give you water when you are dry. I will restore your strength and I will see to it that you are like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.” God can so fill you with His Spirit as a worker, as the right person for the job, that you can go as long as He needs you to go. As long as you are on the job, you are like a well-watered garden. You are like an ever-flowing spring. You are constantly producing. You are there and every time you do your best it is a good job. What a great thing to say.

I pray for you, right now, that you would open your heart to the Lord Jesus, and say, “Come in, Jesus. I want to be godly. I want to be a good worker. I want to use my talents. I do not want to sit around and be bored. Use my life, God. Put me where they need a really good worker. Put me where they are praying. Let me be the answer to someone’s prayer.” I pray for you. I pray for all the people who watch this show. I pray for you a lot and I hope you pray for me, because we need it. You know God loves you. He has a place for you. Go with God and let Him lead you.

QUIET TIME QUESTIONS

1. How do you find the right person for the job?
2. Why is it important to finish a job well?
3. What characteristics do you look for in finding the right person for a job?
4. What other factors are important when considering someone for a job/ministry position?
5. How do the above questions come into play with being the right person for God to use?

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