Skip to main content

Ask Rewind

Sign in to ask Rewind about this sermon — answers are grounded in the actual transcripts.

The study, discipleship, and teaching platform built on your church's own preaching.

Product

How it works
Pricing
What's new
Churches on Rewind

Solutions

For churches
For teaching teams
For groups
For seminaries
Agency partners

Company

About
Contact

Legal

Trust & your data
Terms
Privacy
How we use AI
Accessibility

© 2026 Rewind

Never Enough | Week 3 · Rewind

Rock Point Church

68 min

Pastor Hunter Jones · Apr 27, 2026 · 4 min read · 68 min listen

The big idea

Work is a gift when it's done for the giver — that is, when we work for God rather than for ourselves.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 6Work can feel meaningless when it's disconnected from purpose.
Point 2 of 6Work is not evil — it was part of paradise before sin entered the world.

Point 3 of 6Work is not everything — it cannot give you identity, worth, or purpose.
Point 4 of 6Work is meant to be enjoyed, and that enjoyment itself is a gift from God.
Point 5 of 6Work becomes worship, and a gift, when it's done for God rather than for ourselves.
Point 6 of 6God can use you right where you are, not just where you want to be.
Take it into your week
Transcript

Ask Rewind about this message

Sign in to ask Rewind about this message

Scripture in this message

Ecclesiastes 2:18
Ecclesiastes 2:20
Ecclesiastes 2:24
Colossians 3:23

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Pastor Hunter Jones · Apr 27, 2026 · 68 min watch · 2 min read

Never Enough | Week 3

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Ecclesiastes 2:18
Ecclesiastes 2:20
Ecclesiastes 2:24
Colossians 3:23

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Work is a gift when it's done for the giver — that is, when we work for God rather than for ourselves.

Work fills half our waking life, and it was never meant to be either something to escape or the thing that defines us. When we offer our work to God as worship rather than demanding it give us identity or avoiding it altogether, we get to experience it as the gift He designed it to be.

Key points

1
1Work can feel meaningless when it's disconnected from purpose.
Pastor Hunter shares his story of working weeks at a Walmart hot food counter on paper time slips, never getting entered into the system, and never getting paid a cent for fifty hours of work. He connects that feeling of wasted effort to King Solomon's reflection in Ecclesiastes on a life poured into work and achievement, using the Hebrew word 'hevel' (vapor, fog, absurd) to describe how work can feel when it's chased for the wrong reasons.
2
2Work is not evil — it was part of paradise before sin entered the world.
Pastor Hunter names the default view that work is something to be endured until retirement, vacation, or the weekend. He points back to Genesis, where God gave Adam work to do in the perfect Garden of Eden before the fall, showing that humans were created to work, and that Scripture actually calls laziness foolishness and sin.
3
3Work is not everything — it cannot give you identity, worth, or purpose.
He tells his own story as a young married youth pastor who slowly gave more and more hours to work because he felt successful and competent there, at the cost of time with his wife and family. He warns that making work an idol is a horrible god because it always demands more, and offers the test: if you lost the ability to work tomorrow, would you still love and respect yourself the same way?
4
4Work is meant to be enjoyed, and that enjoyment itself is a gift from God.
Working through Ecclesiastes 2:24, Pastor Hunter compares work to a good meal you go out to actually enjoy, not ration. He explains that God can give a dream job, but the ability to find satisfaction in it is a separate gift God gives, not something we manufacture ourselves.
5
5Work becomes worship, and a gift, when it's done for God rather than for ourselves.
He tells the story of breading chicken at Chick-fil-A as a teenager until he hated it, then years later cooking the exact same recipe at home for his wife and loving it — the work didn't change, but who he was doing it for did. He ties this to Paul's words to the Colossians about working for the Lord rather than people, and to a craftsmanship quote about a Christian shoemaker glorifying God by making good shoes, not by decorating them with Bible verses.
6
6God can use you right where you are, not just where you want to be.
Pastor Hunter recalls being frustrated serving coffee at Rock Point's coffee shop while waiting for a youth ministry position to open, until his dad told him he needed to glorify God exactly where he was. He shifted his mindset from serving coffee to serving Jesus one cup at a time, and realized he was already surrounded by the high schoolers he wanted to minister to.

A story from life

Pastor Hunter's unpaid two-week stint working in the Walmart hot food section during the pandemic

Application

Pastor Hunter's charge is to stop treating work as something to escape or something to worship, and instead offer it to God as worship.

Find one way to help someone at work
If work feels like something to avoid, find one area of your job you can use to help somebody and do it to the best of your ability, trusting meaning will follow.
Remember whose worth you carry before work
If your worth comes from work, remind yourself before your day starts who you're working for and that your identity was already given to you by God, not earned.
Worship God through Monday's work
Wake up Monday and start worshiping God with everything you do at your job, your home, or your studies, trusting that this is how you make a difference in your life and family.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Sign in to ask Rewind about this sermon

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“we're gonna be in Ecclesiastes chapter two, starting in verse 18, so if you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to open them up with me. As you're getting there, I'm gonna pray for us”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“Ecclesiastes two eighteen. He's writing to us and he's saying, I came to hate my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I've earned”
From the transcript
“Verse 20, so I gave up. I gave up in despair, questioning the value of all my hard work in this world”
From the transcript
“This is key, verse 24. So I decided there's nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God”
From the transcript
“Look at verse 24, here's what he says. He says, verse 24, So I decided there's nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God”
From the transcript
“He's actually This quote, whoever said it, it's a summary of Colossians chapter three verse 23. Paul, he's talking to people who are actually slaves in households, and he's talking to these early Christians and encouraging them. This is what he says to them. Verse 23, he says, Work willingly”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Day 1

Related passage

Before the fall, before the curse, before anything went wrong — God gave Adam a job. He placed him in the garden to work it and keep it. Let that land for a moment. Work didn't enter the story as punishment. It was woven into life in paradise, which means it's woven into what it means to be human. Pastor Hunter pointed to this to knock down one of the oldest lies about work: that it's beneath us, or at best something to be tolerated until the weekend. But if God assigned meaningful work inside a perfect world, then avoiding work isn't rest — it's actually missing something we were made for. That doesn't mean every job feels like Eden. Most don't. But the origin of work is good, and that matters for how we carry ourselves into Monday morning. When work feels pointless or exhausting, it helps to remember that the impulse to create, to contribute, to care for something — those aren't burdens. They're part of the image of God in you. This week, instead of asking how to get through your work, try asking what God originally intended for it. That's a better starting question.

For reflection

In what ways do you find yourself thinking of work as something to be escaped rather than something you were made for — and where did that idea come from?

Pray

Pray for a fresh, honest look at how you actually see your work — and for openness to what God might want to show you this week.

Day 2

Solomon had everything. He built, he planted, he accumulated, he achieved — and then he looked at all of it and called it meaningless. Not because the work was bad, but because he had made it carry something it was never built to carry. He had poured his identity and worth into what he produced, and when he finally looked up, he realized he'd have to leave it all to someone who hadn't even worked for it. That stings. It's supposed to. Pastor Hunter named this pattern clearly: when work becomes the source of our identity and worth, it becomes an idol — and idols always demand more than they can give back. The brutal thing about work-as-identity is that it feels virtuous. Ambition, excellence, and dedication are genuinely good things. But there's a version of each that quietly shifts from honoring God to feeding a hunger for significance that only God can fill. If you've ever felt devastated by a bad performance review, or empty after a big win, that's probably worth sitting with. It's not a character flaw — it's a signal that your heart had placed too much weight on something that wasn't meant to hold it. Solomon learned this the hard way. We don't have to.

For reflection

When work goes badly — a failure, a rejection, a thankless season — how does it affect your sense of who you are? What does that tell you?

Pray

Pray for honest self-awareness about where you've quietly tied your worth to your work or output.

Day 3

After all his wrestling, Solomon arrives at something surprisingly simple: there is nothing better for people than to eat, drink, and find satisfaction in their work — and this, too, is from God's hand. It's easy to read that and think it's a shrug, like Solomon gave up and settled. But it's actually closer to a liberation. He's not saying work doesn't matter. He's saying the enjoyment of work is itself a gift — not something you manufacture through more hustle or better circumstances, but something God gives. That reframes the question entirely. We tend to ask, "How do I find more meaningful work?" Solomon's wisdom redirects us: "Are you receiving what God is already giving you in the work you have?" That shift — from grasping to receiving — is quiet but enormous. It means satisfaction at work isn't waiting on a promotion, a better boss, or a more inspiring project. It's available right now, in whatever ordinary task is in front of you, when you open your hands and receive it as coming from Him. This doesn't make hard jobs easy or bad workplaces good. But it does mean joy in your work is not dependent on your circumstances — it's dependent on your source.

For reflection

Is there a moment in your recent work — even a small one — where you felt genuine satisfaction? Did you receive it as a gift, or did you move past it quickly?

Pray

Pray for the ability to receive — not just to produce — and for eyes to see what God is already giving you in your daily work.

Day 4

"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." Pastor Hunter leaned into this verse because it does something remarkable: it transforms the audience of our work without changing the task. You're still filing the same report, serving the same difficult customer, or changing the same diaper — but the person you're ultimately doing it for has changed. And that changes everything. Working for people's approval is exhausting, because people's approval is inconsistent. A good day can turn bad with one critical comment. Working to prove something to yourself is also a moving target — the bar rises every time you clear it. But working for the Lord is different. He already knows you. He already loves you. You're not working to earn something from Him; you're working in response to what He's already given. That's the shift Pastor Hunter described as the gospel middle ground — not avoiding work, not worshipping it, but offering it. When you offer your work to God, ordinary tasks carry weight. Excellence in a small, unseen thing becomes worship. And the commute, the meeting, the late email — all of it becomes part of something larger than a paycheck or a performance review.

For reflection

If you genuinely worked today as though the Lord were watching — not to impress Him, but to honor Him — what might you do differently?

Pray

Pray for a real shift in who you're working for today — not as a rule to follow, but as a genuine reorientation of your heart.

Day 5

Solomon's second devastating observation is about legacy: he worked his whole life, and then had to hand everything over to someone who may or may not have been wise. All that striving, and he couldn't control what happened to it. This is the dark side of work-as-identity that doesn't get talked about enough. If your sense of meaning lives inside your career, what happens when the career ends — by choice, by circumstance, or by someone else's decision? Retirement, a layoff, a health crisis, a season of caring for someone else — any of these can strip away the work that you built yourself around, and the emptiness underneath can be staggering. Solomon's pain here is real, and Pastor Hunter didn't soften it. But the point isn't despair — it's reorientation. If work is a gift you receive and offer back to God, then its end isn't an identity crisis. You were never the job. You were always the person God made, working for a season in a particular place. That's a much more stable foundation. And it means you can give your work fully, hold your grip on it loosely, and trust that your worth remains unchanged when the season changes.

For reflection

If your current job or role were taken away tomorrow, what would remain of your sense of purpose and identity — and what does your answer tell you?

Pray

Pray for a foundation for your identity that runs deeper than your role, title, or output — and for the courage to build on it.

Day 6

Pastor Hunter's challenge to the "work avoider" was specific: find one area of your job where you can genuinely help someone, and do it to the best of your ability. That's where meaning begins to grow. It's worth dwelling on why he framed it that way. He didn't say "find your passion" or "do what you love." He said help someone — and do it excellently. That's grounded and actionable. The satisfaction that comes from genuinely helping a person, and doing it well, is real. And according to Ecclesiastes, that satisfaction is something God gives. So the path out of work-avoidance isn't to find a more exciting job. It's to start small, be useful, and do it with care. Excellence in craft — whatever that craft is — is itself a form of worship, Pastor Hunter said. That's a bold claim, but it's rooted in this verse. Working as though for the Lord means bringing your best to what's in front of you, not because someone will notice, but because the Lord already sees. Your talent, your time, your skill — these are forms of treasure that can be offered. Start with one person, one task, your best effort. See what God does with that.

For reflection

Is there one specific person at work or in your daily life who you could serve more genuinely and excellently this week — not to be seen, but simply to help?

Pray

Pray for the motivation to bring your best to one concrete task or relationship today, as an act of worship rather than performance.

Day 7

Looking back at the whole passage this week, the thread running through Solomon's wrestling is really a question about source. Where does your worth come from? Where does your meaning come from? Where does your satisfaction come from? If the answers are all "from my work," then work will crush you — because it was never designed to hold all of that. But if the answer is God, then work becomes something different: a gift you receive with gratitude, a calling you step into with freedom, and an offering you bring with care. Pastor Hunter described ordinary Monday-morning work becoming something sacred — and that's not a motivational metaphor. It's a theological claim rooted in Genesis, Ecclesiastes, and Colossians. God created you to work. He's present in the middle of it. He gives the ability to enjoy it. And He receives it when you offer it back. You're not trying to earn anything. You're expressing who He's already made you to be. That's the gospel middle ground — neither despising work nor worshipping it, but receiving it, doing it for Him, and trusting Him with the outcome. That's how a Tuesday afternoon email or a Thursday meeting quietly becomes an act of love toward God and the people He's placed around you.

For reflection

As you think about the coming week, which default pulls at you more — avoiding work or letting it define you? What's one small thing you can do differently, starting Monday?

Pray

Pray for the grace to carry this week's truth into next week — not as a new pressure to perform, but as a genuine offering of who you are and what you do.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Work takes up a huge chunk of our waking lives — and yet most of us have never stopped to ask whether we're thinking about it the right way. This message from Ecclesiastes 2 digs into that question with some of Solomon's hardest-won wisdom.

Discussion questions

1
In Ecclesiastes 2:18-23, Solomon describes someone who has poured everything into their work and ends up in despair. What do you notice about what he actually expected his work to give him — and where those expectations led?
2
Then in verse 24, the tone shifts: Solomon says there is nothing better than to eat, drink, and find enjoyment in work — and that this enjoyment comes from God's hand. What does it mean for satisfaction in work to be something God gives rather than something we earn or manufacture?
3
The message points to two broken defaults — treating work as something to escape, and treating it as the thing that defines your worth. What do you think makes each of those postures so easy to drift into?
4
Colossians 3:23 says to work heartily, as though working for the Lord rather than for people. How might that shift in audience — from people to God — change the way someone approaches a task they find tedious or thankless?
5
Pastor Hunter challenged people who tend to avoid or resent work to find one area of their job where they can genuinely help someone and do it to the best of their ability — because that's where meaning begins to grow. What do you think connects helping a specific person to finding meaning in a job more broadly?
6
Pastor Hunter described ordinary Monday-morning work becoming something sacred when it's offered to God as worship. What would it look like for a group like ours to actually encourage one another in that direction week to week?

Pray together

Receiving work as a gift from God's hand and offering it back to Him — whatever it looks like this week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Sign in to save this message.

Go deeper

Continue the series

Never Enough

Week 3 · 5 messages

Where these passages are preached

Ecclesiastes 2 Colossians 3

Explore related topics

Finding Meaning in Work Identity and Worth Idolatry of Achievement Work as God's Gift Work as Worship

Related sermons

More | Week 3
Pastor Bill Bush · Apr 25, 2018
Shares scripture
Weekday Warrior | Week 1
Pastor Bill Bush · Jul 6, 2026
Shares scripture
Never Enough | Week 2
Pastor Bill Bush · Apr 20, 2026
Shares scripture
Armor of God | Week 5 | Message
Pastor Rocky High · Apr 13, 2025
Shares scripture
GREATEST OF ALL TIME | Week 2 | Sermon
Pastor Daniel Goulding · May 6, 2024
Shares scripture
OLD SCHOOL WISDOM | Week 4 | Full Service
Pastor Scott Rodgers · Jun 26, 2023
Shares scripture

Powered by Rewind · make your church's Rewind →