June 8, 2025 • 11 mins
In scripture there is a very unique word with multiple meanings. It is a Hebrew word called Avodah and it means work, worship and service all in one word! Could we be doing work all wrong? In this episode, Sean shares that there is a better way.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good morning everybody. This is Sean Copeland. Today is Sunday,
June the eighth, and welcome to another brand new, life
changing edition of the ninety four x Kingdom Driven CEO.
Thank you, thank you, so it's so good to be
with you all. Just a quick reminder that it is
(00:33):
eleven days until my birthday. I do accept cash card. Really,
any gift will work, so please feel free to drop
that off.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It is so good to be with you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I was looking back at the week this week, and
I would encourage everyone to do that. You know. One
of the fun things for me about this podcast is
I always like to give a little summary and so
this week you just forget about all the good thing
that happened during your week. So this week I went
to Kansas City for a FED conference, which was really fun.
(01:08):
On Wednesday. On Thursday night, we ran our very first
Regent Bank commercial on the NBA Finals and it.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Was very cool.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
We talked about faith in business, our prayer team, the
daily devotional, all that great response for that, and then
Friday night we had Tulsa Tough Downtown, which is here
in Tulsa. It's one of the largest cycling events in
the country, and we had a tent there and had
(01:37):
our VIPs there and it was just a very very
fun week. And then a lot of baseball this weekend,
and we'll have baseball again today. I throughout the week,
I've gotten to run into a lot of good friends
of mine. Last night, I got to see my buddy
(01:58):
Roger ramsire and excuse me Friday night, and Roger is
a very loyal listener to us here on the podcast,
and I told him we're going to have a really
good one today. He didn't know I was going to
talk about him, but he is an amazing leader. But
he pointed out something to me that I hadn't really
thought about, and that is I do not control the
(02:18):
advertisers on this podcast. I can exclude certain categories, but
some categories just kind of sneak in.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
So if anything pops in.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Here that feels a little off color, I'm real sorry,
but I don't choose those. I also got to communicate
with two other friends, Dan Roberts and Matt Lay and
Dan Roberts and I were talking about he sent me
a text about the very topic we're going to talk
(02:48):
about today, which is the word abou dah, and it's
a Hebrew word, which we'll talk about here in just
a moment. But my friend Matt Lay also reached out
to me and it was very, very meaningful. Matt said
that he and his family he sent me a video
(03:10):
and said that it showed that he and his family
were sponsoring a community center for an amazing village in Africa.
They were really changing these people's lives. But what I
didn't expect was when the video started, they said it
was today's teaching about this word avu dah that has
(03:31):
really changed their thinking about work and worship and service.
We'll talk about it here in the second and it
is what kind of got them on the path to
being more generous and giving to this village. And so
both instances were very meaningful and it made me want
to share this teaching with you all today. So there
(03:52):
are a couple of ways that you can say this word. Okay,
there's not really a right way. I've researched it. You
can either it's either a vo dai or evada. For
purposes of this, it's spelled a vodah. It is a
Hebrew word, and basically what we're going to talk about
(04:12):
is having one life one purpose, and I'm more comfortable
with the term evada, so I'm going to use it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
But before we jump in, I want you to think
about this.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
God never intended for our work, worship, and service to
be separate. They're all part of our glorifying Him. And
I want you to think about this. Have you ever
felt like you are living in two different worlds?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
On Sunday?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Today, you're in church, hands lifted, heart open, it's worship time.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
But on Monday, everything changes. You're at work.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
It's emails, it's deadlines, it's bosses, it's time to grind,
and you basically are just saying things like I can't
wait for for Sunday to get here so I can
get back to worship. But here's the truth. Worship never ended.
We were created for Evada. It's a Hebrew word found
(05:12):
in the Old Testament that means work, worship, and service,
all three, not separate. One life, one purpose. Now let's
look at what scripture has to say about evada. So
number one, Evada means work. So let's go to Genesis
two fifteen, very well known verse. It says the Lord
(05:34):
God took the man and put him in the garden
of Eden, to work it and take care of it. Okay,
we know this verse. The word work in this verse
is evada. So before sin, before the fall, before deadlines,
before taxes, God gave man work. Work is not a curse.
(05:54):
It is a calling. Your job, your business, your daily grind.
It's holy ground and done unto the Lord. The scripture
that we go over every week with our company is
Colossians three, twenty three and twenty four. Whatever you do,
work at it with all your heart as working for
the Lord. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
(06:17):
You are not serving your boss, the board of directors,
the shareholders. You have an audience of one, and it
is the Lord. He is not just watching our Sunday
morning posture. He's watching our Monday morning attitude.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
One of my.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Favorite stories is about three bricklayers who are asked what
they were doing, and one said, I'm laying bricks, and
another said I'm building a wall, and the third set,
I'm building a cathedral. Is the same work, but a
different vision. So what are you building? When your heart
sees your job as a platform for worship, the ordinary
(06:54):
becomes sacred.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And what I love about this.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Is when people basicly live their lives as if they
are in disguise. Okay, I am a missionary. I am
a Jesus follower who is disguised as a bank ceo.
My job is to bring light and bring Jesus into
the world. But I'm going to do it through my
(07:19):
work because that's where I come in contact with the
most people. Point number two. Avada means worship. So now
let's jump to Exodus eight one, which we also know.
Let my people go so that they may worship me. Okay,
this is the Israelites breaking free from the Egyptians, and
(07:40):
that word worship in that verse.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Is also evada.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Wait, it's the same word as work.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It sure is.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
In Hebrew thought, work and worship were not divided. All
of life was meant to glorify God. There was no
sacred versus secular. We've bought into a that worship only
happens when we sing songs in church.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
But worship happens in.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
The boardroom and the classroom and the living room, at
the dinner table and the pickup line at school. Romans
twelve to one says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holly and pleasing to God. This is your true and
proper worship. Worship is not about where you are, it's
about who you are. And there's a famous story of
a janitor who cleaned toilets at NASA. Someone asked him
(08:28):
what he did, and he replied, I'm helping put a
man on the moon. That's evada, that's worship. He saw
his small part as being part of something greater. So
ask yourself, is my life a living act of worship?
Even when nobody is watching?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Number three?
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Evada means service in Joshua twenty four fifteen at verse
we all know, it says, but as for me and
my house, we will what serve the Lord? Serve? You
guessed it is the word avada, And that crazy service
is not something we squeeze into our weekends.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It's the lifestyle of a disciple.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
You serve God when you fold laundry with love, mentor
a student, feed someone who's hungry, listen to a hurting coworker,
pray with a stranger. Jesus said in Matthew twenty three eleven,
the greatest among you will be your servant. Evada reminds
us that every act of service is worship, and every
active work is service if done for God. Think about
(09:32):
the teacher who spends extra time helping the kid who struggles.
That's not just good work, that's not just serving, that
is worship. It is all evada. So here's the big idea.
God never intended for you to live in compartments. Your
Sunday morning, your Monday meetings, your Thursday dinner, your Saturday chores.
(09:53):
All of it belongs to Him. And when you embrace evada,
you stop living a divided life and start living having
a devoted life. Corinthians first. Corinthians ten thirty one says,
whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do
it all for the glory of God. So this week,
ask yourself this every day is my work a reflection
(10:14):
of God's excellence? Is my worship limited to church or
expanded to all of life? Is my service making Jesus
visible to others? Here is the deal. I believe we
are doing work all wrong. I believe that God intended work, worship,
and service to all happen together. We are the ones
(10:38):
that separated it out. It was never intended that way,
and when you bring it back together, it is absolutely
magical and it is what God intended. So thank you
so much for joining us today on this ninety four
X Kingdom Driven CEO.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
And please let me close this out in.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Prayer, doing fund now that we thank you for the
gift of Evada, That our work, that our worship, that
our service are all acts of devotion to you. Help
us to live undivided lives. Remind us that scrubbing a floor,
leading a meeting, helping a neighbor, raising a child, all
can be holy. May our lives be living offerings, one life,
(11:21):
one purpose, one savior. We love you so much, and
help us to be a light unto others and live
Evada this week in Jesus' name. Amen, and I want
to thank you all so much for joining this very
important edition of the ninety four X Kingdom Driven CEO.
Good morning everybody. This is Sean Copeland. Today is Sunday,
June the eighth, and welcome to another brand new, life
changing edition of the ninety four x Kingdom Driven CEO.
Thank you, thank you, so it's so good to be
with you all. Just a quick reminder that it is
(00:33):
eleven days until my birthday. I do accept cash card. Really,
any gift will work, so please feel free to drop
that off.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It is so good to be with you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I was looking back at the week this week, and
I would encourage everyone to do that. You know. One
of the fun things for me about this podcast is
I always like to give a little summary and so
this week you just forget about all the good thing
that happened during your week. So this week I went
to Kansas City for a FED conference, which was really fun.
(01:08):
On Wednesday. On Thursday night, we ran our very first
Regent Bank commercial on the NBA Finals and it.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Was very cool.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
We talked about faith in business, our prayer team, the
daily devotional, all that great response for that, and then
Friday night we had Tulsa Tough Downtown, which is here
in Tulsa. It's one of the largest cycling events in
the country, and we had a tent there and had
(01:37):
our VIPs there and it was just a very very
fun week. And then a lot of baseball this weekend,
and we'll have baseball again today. I throughout the week,
I've gotten to run into a lot of good friends
of mine. Last night, I got to see my buddy
(01:58):
Roger ramsire and excuse me Friday night, and Roger is
a very loyal listener to us here on the podcast,
and I told him we're going to have a really
good one today. He didn't know I was going to
talk about him, but he is an amazing leader. But
he pointed out something to me that I hadn't really
thought about, and that is I do not control the
(02:18):
advertisers on this podcast. I can exclude certain categories, but
some categories just kind of sneak in.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
So if anything pops in.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Here that feels a little off color, I'm real sorry,
but I don't choose those. I also got to communicate
with two other friends, Dan Roberts and Matt Lay and
Dan Roberts and I were talking about he sent me
a text about the very topic we're going to talk
(02:48):
about today, which is the word abou dah, and it's
a Hebrew word, which we'll talk about here in just
a moment. But my friend Matt Lay also reached out
to me and it was very, very meaningful. Matt said
that he and his family he sent me a video
(03:10):
and said that it showed that he and his family
were sponsoring a community center for an amazing village in Africa.
They were really changing these people's lives. But what I
didn't expect was when the video started, they said it
was today's teaching about this word avu dah that has
(03:31):
really changed their thinking about work and worship and service.
We'll talk about it here in the second and it
is what kind of got them on the path to
being more generous and giving to this village. And so
both instances were very meaningful and it made me want
to share this teaching with you all today. So there
(03:52):
are a couple of ways that you can say this word. Okay,
there's not really a right way. I've researched it. You
can either it's either a vo dai or evada. For
purposes of this, it's spelled a vodah. It is a
Hebrew word, and basically what we're going to talk about
(04:12):
is having one life one purpose, and I'm more comfortable
with the term evada, so I'm going to use it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
But before we jump in, I want you to think
about this.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
God never intended for our work, worship, and service to
be separate. They're all part of our glorifying Him. And
I want you to think about this. Have you ever
felt like you are living in two different worlds?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
On Sunday?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Today, you're in church, hands lifted, heart open, it's worship time.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
But on Monday, everything changes. You're at work.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
It's emails, it's deadlines, it's bosses, it's time to grind,
and you basically are just saying things like I can't
wait for for Sunday to get here so I can
get back to worship. But here's the truth. Worship never ended.
We were created for Evada. It's a Hebrew word found
(05:12):
in the Old Testament that means work, worship, and service,
all three, not separate. One life, one purpose. Now let's
look at what scripture has to say about evada. So
number one, Evada means work. So let's go to Genesis
two fifteen, very well known verse. It says the Lord
(05:34):
God took the man and put him in the garden
of Eden, to work it and take care of it. Okay,
we know this verse. The word work in this verse
is evada. So before sin, before the fall, before deadlines,
before taxes, God gave man work. Work is not a curse.
(05:54):
It is a calling. Your job, your business, your daily grind.
It's holy ground and done unto the Lord. The scripture
that we go over every week with our company is
Colossians three, twenty three and twenty four. Whatever you do,
work at it with all your heart as working for
the Lord. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
(06:17):
You are not serving your boss, the board of directors,
the shareholders. You have an audience of one, and it
is the Lord. He is not just watching our Sunday
morning posture. He's watching our Monday morning attitude.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
One of my.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Favorite stories is about three bricklayers who are asked what
they were doing, and one said, I'm laying bricks, and
another said I'm building a wall, and the third set,
I'm building a cathedral. Is the same work, but a
different vision. So what are you building? When your heart
sees your job as a platform for worship, the ordinary
(06:54):
becomes sacred.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And what I love about this.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Is when people basicly live their lives as if they
are in disguise. Okay, I am a missionary. I am
a Jesus follower who is disguised as a bank ceo.
My job is to bring light and bring Jesus into
the world. But I'm going to do it through my
(07:19):
work because that's where I come in contact with the
most people. Point number two. Avada means worship. So now
let's jump to Exodus eight one, which we also know.
Let my people go so that they may worship me. Okay,
this is the Israelites breaking free from the Egyptians, and
(07:40):
that word worship in that verse.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Is also evada.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Wait, it's the same word as work.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It sure is.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
In Hebrew thought, work and worship were not divided. All
of life was meant to glorify God. There was no
sacred versus secular. We've bought into a that worship only
happens when we sing songs in church.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
But worship happens in.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
The boardroom and the classroom and the living room, at
the dinner table and the pickup line at school. Romans
twelve to one says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holly and pleasing to God. This is your true and
proper worship. Worship is not about where you are, it's
about who you are. And there's a famous story of
a janitor who cleaned toilets at NASA. Someone asked him
(08:28):
what he did, and he replied, I'm helping put a
man on the moon. That's evada, that's worship. He saw
his small part as being part of something greater. So
ask yourself, is my life a living act of worship?
Even when nobody is watching?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Number three?
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Evada means service in Joshua twenty four fifteen at verse
we all know, it says, but as for me and
my house, we will what serve the Lord? Serve? You
guessed it is the word avada, And that crazy service
is not something we squeeze into our weekends.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It's the lifestyle of a disciple.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
You serve God when you fold laundry with love, mentor
a student, feed someone who's hungry, listen to a hurting coworker,
pray with a stranger. Jesus said in Matthew twenty three eleven,
the greatest among you will be your servant. Evada reminds
us that every act of service is worship, and every
active work is service if done for God. Think about
(09:32):
the teacher who spends extra time helping the kid who struggles.
That's not just good work, that's not just serving, that
is worship. It is all evada. So here's the big idea.
God never intended for you to live in compartments. Your
Sunday morning, your Monday meetings, your Thursday dinner, your Saturday chores.
(09:53):
All of it belongs to Him. And when you embrace evada,
you stop living a divided life and start living having
a devoted life. Corinthians first. Corinthians ten thirty one says,
whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do
it all for the glory of God. So this week,
ask yourself this every day is my work a reflection
(10:14):
of God's excellence? Is my worship limited to church or
expanded to all of life? Is my service making Jesus
visible to others? Here is the deal. I believe we
are doing work all wrong. I believe that God intended work, worship,
and service to all happen together. We are the ones
(10:38):
that separated it out. It was never intended that way,
and when you bring it back together, it is absolutely
magical and it is what God intended. So thank you
so much for joining us today on this ninety four
X Kingdom Driven CEO.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
And please let me close this out in.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Prayer, doing fund now that we thank you for the
gift of Evada, That our work, that our worship, that
our service are all acts of devotion to you. Help
us to live undivided lives. Remind us that scrubbing a floor,
leading a meeting, helping a neighbor, raising a child, all
can be holy. May our lives be living offerings, one life,
(11:21):
one purpose, one savior. We love you so much, and
help us to be a light unto others and live
Evada this week in Jesus' name. Amen, and I want
to thank you all so much for joining this very
important edition of the ninety four X Kingdom Driven CEO.
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