Hard Work Equals 10,000 Hours

HARD WORK = 10,000 HOURS
October 30, 2011 9:00 & 10:45 a.m. Ecclesiates 3:1-8
San Luis Rey Valley United Methodist Church

Today I have selected as my sermon title,
“Hard Work = 10,000 Hours.”
I need your help!

(Select three people; tools: shovel, crescent wrench, bucket
Shovel—dig a hole; crescent wrench to remove plug to crank
of car; bucket to pick blue berries
Music: “Chain Gang” Sung by Sam Cooke

Let me first say: “Hard work doesn’t hurt anyone.”
…And they say: “There is no free lunch.”

When I was a young boy growing up in Hawaii, we were all poor.
I came from a family of three boys and three
girls. To make ends meet, my dad also raised a lot of vegetables.
My older brothers and I helped my dad load manure from
horse stables. My dad was a true gardner—we always
had fresh vegetables on the table: cabbage, lettuce,
carrots, beets, and the best string beans. I learned the
value of hard work and sacrifice.

When I was in high school, for two summer, I worked in the pineapple fields.
One summer I worked on the island of Molokai. The field was full
of ripe pineapples. One evening we harvested 52 truckloads of
pineapples. I learned that money does not grow on trees.

When I was in college in Iowa, that first summer, I worked for the Toledo
Construction Company. It was a really good paying job.
We were tearing down old fiber glass furnaces. We worked with
air hammers,
steel bars, and sledge hammers.
My parents were right: Get your college education!

Hard work is just a part of how life is.
It all started in the Garden of Eden.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were thrown out
of Paradise.
God cursed the ground and told them, your days will be
days of toil and sweat.
That’s how it all started. Any question?

The book of Ecclesiastes that was just read says: 2
There is a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to pluck up what
is planted.

There is a saying:
My grandfather had a farm,
my father had a garden,
I have a can opener.

There song that says, “Oh, the times they are changing.”
That is true.

Today, our economic situation is bad.
Unemployment is 9.1%

In the October 10, 2011 Time Magazine, it gives a breakdown
on how we each budget of funds.
In 1950 -- 22% of our budget went for food;
2010 it’s 7%
In 1950 --13% of our budget went for housing,
2010 it’s 18%
In 1950 --3% of the budget went for health care;
2010 its 16%.

Several years ago, at the Get Motivated Seminar I heard
Suzy Orman, the financial whiz. She had one suggestion:
“Get your credit card balance down!”

The point of my sermon today is, we have a lot of work to do.
Jesus told us a parable where one man
was give five talents and he invested it and he made five times more.
The second man had three talents, invested it and got three more
The third man had one talent, was afraid so he buried it
and it was taken away. (Matt. 25:14-30)

Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, says that to succeed
in anything, we have to put in the time.
It will take hours of work.

Take Bill Gates. He was a math whiz. He was drop out from
Harvard. So how did he become so successful? When
he was in junior high, his parents sent him to private
school in Seattle called Lakeside. At Lakeside his mother 3
and some parents raised funds to open a computer
center. When gates was in high school, the University of
Washington opened an all night computer center. Gates
says, “I skipped athletics. I went up there at night.” He
got really good at computer programming. Then he and some
friends got hired by TRW, a technology company. Then he
started his own company. Any hear of Microsoft? That’s Bill Gates.

Bill Gates became good at computers, because he put in
10,000 hours. Malcolm Gladwell calls this:
“the 10,000 Hour Rule.”

And then, there are the Beattles:
John Lennon, Paul McCarthy, George Harrison, and Ringo Star.
They came to America in 1964. In 1960 they were just a struggling
high school band in Liverpool.

They didn’t develop their repertoire of music until they were
invited to a club in Hamburg, Germany. Most bands will be
for two to three hours and they will play the same music. But
when the Beattles went to Hamburg, they had to perform for
eight hours every night, seven days a week. They had to come
up with new music. For example, on their first trip they had to
play 106 nights. They got good when they got to 10,000 hours.
Listen! (#26 “Let It Be” The Beattles)

Wisdom: Yes, in this age, we need wisdom.
Proverbs 13:11-12 “Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle
but those who gather little by little, will increase.”
….little by little

Jesus came to teach us to develop our spiritual nature.
God gave to us three gifts:
the mind
the body and the soul.

Wisdom: yes, in this time, we need wisdom.
John 6:27-34 “Do not work for food that perishes,
but for food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of man will give you.”
Then Jesus said: “I am the bread of life.” “Seek first the kingdom of God.”


Wisdom: Attitude is Everything. 4
Jerry was the manager of a restaurant and he always
told his workers—always look for the positive side.
Jerry says, “every morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘Jerry,
you have two choices today: you can choose to be in a good
mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.”

Jerry says that each time something bad happens, I can choose
to be the victim or I can choose to learn from it.
One day, Jerry did something he should never had done.
He left the back door to the restaurant open. Three robbers
came in and had him at gun point. When he was opening
the safe, he was so nervous, the robbers panicked and
he got shot.

He was taken to emergency. He thought he was okay until he
saw the faces of the doctors and nurses and he got
scared. A big burly nurse began shouting at him with
questions: “Are you allergic to anything.” He said, “Yes.”
The doctors and nurses stopped everything. He said,
“Yes, bullets.” Everyone started laughing. Then he said,
“Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead!” After 18 hours
Jerry survived.
In these dire times of the economy: Attitude is Everything.

The disciples lived with Jesus for some three years.
They saw him feed the 5,000 with five loaves
and two fish.
They were with him in Bethany when Jesus raised Lazarus
from the dead. Lazarus was dead for four days.
When Jesus was crucified, they all fled. They still
had doubts about Jesus.
When Jesus was resurrected and appeared to them, they finally believed.
They believed that Jesus is the Messiah! They were with him 10,000 hours.
Amen!

(Mozart Medley, #8, Andre Rieu in Concert)
Video Station: …..Start playing softly ….
Mozart began composing music at the age of six. But psychologist
says, his early works were not outstanding. His early pieces
were probably written by his father. His first master piece was not
composed until he was 21. A music critic says, Mozart developed
late. His greatness started after he put in 10,000 hours.