Jake Enriquez: 00:02 Press and Reach episode number 59. Your Labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Jake Enriquez: 00:14 Good morning, afternoon, or evening, whatever this may be you, I sure hope and pray that you be found well in spirit, my friend. Hey, my name is Jake Enriquez and it is a joy, honor and a privilege to be your host today, so please let me welcome you to press and reach a podcast where we’re simply walking out our faith and encouraging others along the way to do the same.

Jake Enriquez: 00:48 Hey, welcome back to Press and Reach. My name is Jake Enriquez, your host, and what a joy and honor it is again to be with you this beautiful morning as you move forward in it. You know, before we get started, I just want to remind you to go back to Press and Reach dot com and to the website there and sign up for the devotional and newsletter that we have going out every Monday morning. It’s just a little something we drop off to you, perhaps to offer you a word of encouragement for the week to come. Speaking of encouragement, I don’t know anybody out here that doesn’t need a little encouragement. I know I do always, so, uh, I do my best to stay encouraged in different things, but you know, as we go forward in this week, I’m just taking some time to reflect and just think back on some guys that I spoke with in the past couple of weeks talking about maybe their work or their ministry and you know, I just want to make sure that you do understand as we all move forward, that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Jake Enriquez: 01:40 And I want you to remember that today. You know what? A lot of you guys, I know that you already know that, I really do. I know that you already know it, but man, I just want to remind you about today because I think it’s necessary that we be reminded as we move forward. You know, if you look out here today, you see a lot of people out here focusing on the wrong things. Of course they focus on the negativity. Of course they focus on a bad things and it’s because those kinds of things sell. And you know that you know that everybody likes to hear a, a gossip or or some kind of news. It’s, it’s negative and taking place. It draws more attention that way. But you know, as we continue to move forward in press and reach, man, our whole purpose here is to help people focus on the good news.

Jake Enriquez: 02:31 And that’s the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You know, God is great, always friend and the Lord Jesus is still saving souls out here. So I want us to be reminded that this day as we move forward, that hey, once again, your labor in the Lord is not in vain. So do not get discouraged. Do not grow weary in it. I’m praying and hoping that you actually move forward in it. Whatever it is that the Lord has called you into. But you know, I think obstacles this morning, you know obstacles are common. As we go through things, we’re all going to run into obstacles. That’s just the way it is. You know, obstacles are common. You know, whether it’d be in your business life, your personal life, whatever it is that you go through. I mean, I remember working over in the Dallas, Fort Worth area to a certain job and I couldn’t stand that job honestly.

Jake Enriquez: 03:19 I just really couldn’t stand it. But you know, I learned about talking to people over a phone, you know, and I was thinking about that just the other day. And yeah, they used to put us in some pretty tough calls or pretty tough predicaments where you would have to reason with people, you know. And I never thought when I looked back I said, man, there’s just no way this means that much. But you know, God is always using different things to build us up, you know, as I reflect back and I look at it now, God has surely showed me how to use that skill set in my own business, my own ministry and everything else is to sit and listen to people, talk things out and reason with folks as we move along.

Jake Enriquez: 04:01 But you know, you might be in a job today that you really can’t stand, you really don’t like, and you of course have to go through different obstacles. You just want, I just want you to know in this day that, hey, they’re common, it’s just part of things that we have to go through, but we’re built up with more obstacles. But one of the things that I like about obstacles is that, uh, we are reminded, we need to keep pressing through in prayer, right? So obstacles are there common for us all, but we’re pressing through in prayer ain’t that funny how, you know, it’ll really take you to the Lord whenever you have to go through some of those really tough, you know, so we always call upon the Lord. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, you know, even in our own business today is that thinking about our own business, you know, that me and my brother do, we’re always challenged.

Jake Enriquez: 04:45 I mean, we can be some great guys. We can be, um, Christian brothers and deal with our Christian brothers. But guess what, every once in awhile we’re going to run into some obstacles that we know are common, but they’re challenging. They’re going to be challenging and some of these obstacles that we might run into, they, they may or may not be similar for you, but dealing with others in business, you know, it’s those obstacles. Again, they’re necessary as well, but they’re common most of all because now everybody’s looking to accomplish their own agenda, right? So as you go forward, remember this, whatever it may be, the obstacle that stands in your way, I want you to be reminded in this day it’s common, OK? So don’t let that get you discouraged. But you know, as I pointed out earlier, they’re also necessary these obstacles, man, they’re necessary for both you and me and you know, I know people like to ask me why, why would you think they’re necessary?

Jake Enriquez: 05:40 They cause us to push more. They cause us to stretch more. They cause us to, you know, really hunker down and go for it. Whatever it might be. You know, when we faced obstacles, I want you to, I want you to be aware of this and you probably already are. When you face obstacles, something inside of you, by the way, is your spirit raises up. It wants to overcome the obstacle, so remember, they’re necessary because they allow us to grow. I’ve got a good buddy of mine, Vic, I like to point out to William whenever things may go a little tough or go a little rough, whatever. I tell him man, listen, you know there is no success in anything without friction. Friction causes growth. It causes things to grow. In other words, you’re going to have to figure out a way to get through there and the bottom line is God’s already given you all that you need to do it.

Jake Enriquez: 06:36 Now, how you go do it is going to be up to you, but guess what? He’s already given us all that we need in order to push through this obstacle that we’re being challenged with on this day. So remember that obstacles are necessary for growth, but also that one of the things we may or may not like about it all is that every obstacle we encounter, and no matter what it might be, it always causes us to find a place where we will trust God. You’ll have to trust God in it. And I know people like to say, you know, man, that’s cliché. What do you mean by that? Well, if you’re not used to it, then you wouldn’t know about it. But as a fellow believer and a Christian, a follower of Christ Jesus, no, this, it will cause us to trust God. So as you go and you move forward in this beautiful day, just remember and understand, hey, obstacles are not a bad thing.

Jake Enriquez: 07:26 As long as they’re causing us to trust God, we can get through this thing. Keep pushing, keep praying, keep understanding that God has called you into something great. You know, as I reflect back on some of the recent episodes that we did, uh, I’m thinking about my good friend, Mr Kevin Bailey and Pastor Kevin, I gotta tell you, I’ve known him a long time and I know at one time he sure was ready to get out of that place and you know but God had called him into a place to keep pressing and it is for a reason. You better believe that because as he’s out here now leading and as a pastor, he’s faced with challenges that God is addressed with him long ago and showed it to him long ago that you would deal with this and He had already prepared him and he’s doing a great job in it.

Jake Enriquez: 08:09 Now I know it, as he looks back and he reflects – man, those things that God has given him, nobody can take away. Not only Kevin, but I think about Mr. Rob Decker, I don’t know if you had a chance to listen to his story, but man, he wrestled with God forever and you know, God brought him to a place where he would know and understand that it has he and he alone. That’s going to see us through and man, I tell you right now is rob presses on in his life and he has got a brand new perspective of brand new perspective and he’s able to go off and do the ministry that he does have helping people through faith and fitness. But you know, all these things work together for good, for those who love the Lord are being called or been called according to his purpose.

Jake Enriquez: 08:54 Same thing with my good friend Joe Doherty. Joe faced a hard time man and learning how to love people and love them through current situations, wherever he may be called. And um, and I tell you, he’s really pressing on and pressing forward to doing great things and God is truly using that guy really. But I got to tell you, you know, if I think about Nathan, Nathan Tabor, the guy that was on, he and you may have heard his episode talking about making a lot of money and a lot of us out here, hey man, we want to make that money right? But truth be known, Nathan was talking about, we’re focused on the wrong relationships. But as we move forward in the weeks to come, I certainly want you to meet the new guests that we have coming on the show who are going to share their testimony and what they’re doing out there in the name of the Lord.

Jake Enriquez: 09:40 But here’s the thing. Have you ever noticed that there is something common, there’s a common theme about each and every body who’s come out here to share and that thing is that they’ve all had to overcome obstacles. They’ve all had to push through and press through in some very daunting times. I say that because I want you to know again that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. It is not in vain. You must continue to push forward in whatever it is He has called you to do. Things will break through, you will push through, but it’s going to require faith. It’s going to require trust. It’s going to require perseverance. All of those good things, and we’ve got to really push forward in it. So it’s one thing to listen to a testimony of somebody else, but I gotta ask you, what about you?

Jake Enriquez: 10:29 What about you in this thing? What has God called you to do? What are you working on? What are you pushing forward in? If I could ask you, how can we help you in this time to move forward? Have we heard about you and your ministry, the things that you’re doing? Listen, I love to help people get their message out there. If you’re in the Lord and the Lord in you, man, listen, I want to promote what you’re doing. I know the urgency behind it. I know the support you need behind it and we want to be a part of it. You know, I look at the church today and say, man, what’s going on with the church? Well, guess what? The church is us. We are the church, the people, the community that God has called that are believers. So as you move in it, do understand, as you walk through this thing, you have support from your brethren and from your fellowship out here that would want to see you succeed.

Jake Enriquez: 11:22 Succeed in whatever it is you’re doing and you have a business and you do it in a godly manner. Come on, let’s promote it. If you, if you’re a have a ministry and you’re doing it and doing those things for the Lord and you might feel like you might need a little support, we’d love to help you and promote you and what you may have going on, but you know what? It’s important to connect with community. That’s the reason why we’re out here doing this thing. By the way, as we move forward in pressing reach. As you know, we’re always focused on the good news like I told you before, because we believe again that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. We know that. We understand that. God’s going to see you through, but you just have to trust it right now.

Jake Enriquez: 12:02 OK? So as you go forward, again, I want you to come back to press and reach dot com, and I want you to connect with us. Reach out to us. Sign up for the newsletter, sign up for the devotional on Mondays. Reach out to us through the contact form. If you have any questions or concerns or maybe you just want to talk about what you have going on in this time, we really want to hear from you. We’re praying for you. We’re pulling for you. We believe in you, so keep pressing forward. Again, this episode is really, really simple for your labor in the Lord is not in vain. God bless you. We love you. We thank God for you always and for the show notes on this episode, simply go to press and reach dot com forward slash pr 59.

Jake Enriquez: 12:46 Once again, it’s been a joy hanging out with you, so please keep pressing and reaching and remember that you are not walking out your faith alone out here, for He has promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you. Have a blessed and wonderful day.