[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. If you enjoyed that, say Amen. Exodus 18. Tonight, the passage of Scripture is going to help you understand a big lesson that we ought to have as a church.
[0:17] That is that every member ought to be a minister. Everybody ought to be in the ministry here, and everybody ought to be serving God. I'm not going to read the whole chapter to you because of the time, but also I'm going to read it to you, Tennessee Redneck style.
[0:32] So if you've got your Bible, you can kind of follow along. What happens is Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, has heard about what God's doing, and he comes, and for some reason at this time, we're not sure exactly when this is happening, Zipporah, Moses' wife and children have been with the other family, with the in-laws.
[0:52] And he comes, and they come down to meet with Moses. And in verse 8, Moses tells his father all that the Lord has done. And Jethro's excited.
[1:03] He has heard what God's done unto the Pharaoh and unto the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all that they've been through. And in verse 9, he rejoices in all the goodness which the Lord's done to Israel.
[1:13] And then, you know, it's like Moses takes a day or so off for his family, and they all get together. They take a day break, but he's back at it. Don't forget, he's leading about 2 million people under his leadership, and he is the only one who judges.
[1:29] He's the only one that makes decisions. He's the one you go to if you want to know what you ought to do. He's the one you'll go to if there's a problem. And so his father-in-law watches him, and he sees what's going on.
[1:41] And in this chapter, he says to him, Man, what you're doing is not really smart. He said, The truth of the matter is, you're killing yourself, and you're killing the people. You're killing yourself because early in the morning, you've got to get out there, and you've got to sit there all day long, and you've got to be ready all day long to deal with all the issues and all the things that are going on in church.
[1:59] You've got to be in the middle of it. But not only that, you're killing the people because they're all out there standing in line waiting on you. And I'd like to challenge you, he tells him, to set up some organization and teach the people how to do the ministry.
[2:13] Teach them how to do the ministry and let them go about doing the ministry and see the difference that it makes. And that's exactly what he does. That's a New Testament principle. It's a principle Jesus used.
[2:25] It's a principle we're taught in Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12, where God gave gifted people in verse 11 to the church. And in Ephesians 4, verse 12, those gifted people were to train the people of the church to do the work of the ministry.
[2:40] They perfect the saints to do the work of the ministry that the church might be edified. So you're supposed to be involved. It's not supposed to be a pastor-run church.
[2:52] It's not supposed to be like, Austin, you do the ministry, we'll hire you a staff, and they'll do the ministry, we'll pay y'all's job, and we'll come watch you like you do some ball team. We're all supposed to be involved.
[3:03] So if you would, go with me through Exodus chapter 18. If you would start in Exodus chapter 18 in verse 1. Just a brief overview. Word has been spreading. Jethro the pre-Semitic and Moses' father-in-law heard all that God had done for Moses.
[3:19] And so he comes. He knew that God was at work in Moses' life. He knew that God had gotten Israel out of Egypt. Moses had lived with his wife's family for nearly 40 years. He had obviously testified of the greatness of God.
[3:32] Even the names of his children that he gives his children are the story of God's grace and God working in his life. Look if you would in chapter 18 in verse 3. And her two sons, and tells their names, that Gert-Jersom means I have been an alien in a strange land.
[3:49] He was remembering that he had been a foreigner, that he knew what it was like not to belong. And he knew about that. In verse 4, he named the other one Eliezer, and he said that God was his help and had delivered him from the sword of Pharaoh.
[4:03] And that was the way he remembered what God had done. He shows great hospitality, great respect, as he goes out in verse 7, to meet his father-in-law. And he did obeisance. He bowed down to him and he kissed him.
[4:15] And they talked to each other about what was going on in their family. And in verse 8, they come back in the tent, and they rejoice over what God is doing. Jethro knew God was doing something in his life.
[4:26] And something that's really interesting is that he realizes that God's doing something big in Moses' life. They go to worship together. They go worship together.
[4:38] They take a sacrifice together. Obviously, God was doing something even with Gentiles. In verse 11, he says, Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, than all gods. For in the thing wherein thou dealt proudly, he was above them.
[4:51] And so they go worship together. In verse 12, Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. And Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses and his father-in-law.
[5:04] It was a wonderful time. They got together the family. A family that loved God. A family that worshipped together. A family that got the elders, or the leaders of the nation of Israel together. And they had had this special time.
[5:15] That's what goes on in the first part of the chapter. And I'm not going to spend any time there. There's a lot of questions that need to be answered. A lot of things that need to be studied. And if I live long enough, and we get back around to Exodus someday, I'll spend more time there.
[5:28] But I want you to go with me to Exodus chapter 18, and verse 13. And let's go forward from there. And here's the problem. The problem is mentioned. The problem is mentioned. In verse 13 it says, And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people.
[5:43] And the people stood by Moses from the morning until the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou dost to the people?
[5:54] Why sittest thou thyself alone? And all the people stand by thee from morning until evening. So here's what's going on. Let's just kind of walk our way through it. In verse 17, what he's doing is not good.
[6:06] What he's doing is not good. Being alone, having a church where one guy takes care of everything, having a ministry where one guy takes care of everything, is not good. In verse 18 he says, You're wearing out the people of God, and you're wearing out the men of God.
[6:21] Look at verse 18 with me. In verse 18 he said, Thou wilt surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee. For this thing is too heavy for thee. Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
[6:35] He should teach, not do. And maybe you could write that beside verse 20. Look at chapter 18 and verse 20. Moses, I want you to go teach them.
[6:45] Look at what he says in verse 20. And thou shalt teach them the ordinances and the laws, and show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. So here's what ends up happening.
[6:56] The problem. Look this way just a second. The problem was that you got this one guy doing all the work. Everybody's waiting on him. Even though Aaron's not helping him, Moses is all by himself.
[7:07] And there's two million people. Who knows how many little petty fights and fusses might be going on during the week or during the day. And they come. Who knows? How many of them might want to know something that God might have to say?
[7:18] What's God's will about this matter? They don't have written Bibles yet. And so they're going to go see Moses. And so Jethro tells him, this isn't real smart what you're doing.
[7:29] That's not real smart. It'd be a lot smarter if you'd teach a whole bunch of people. If you get you something called foundation, like basic Bible discipleship, and you'd teach them, then they could teach others.
[7:40] It'd be a lot smarter if you'd set up Sunday school classes. Instead of you teaching the one Sunday school class, you'd have a whole bunch of people teaching Sunday school. You'd be doing a whole lot better thing. It'd be a lot better if you'd divide up the workload.
[7:52] Because you're killing yourself, and you're killing them too. Some people that have been in typical independent Baptist churches that may come to vision may find it a little bit interesting that I don't teach the adult Bible study altogether in this room.
[8:06] I don't just bring everybody in here and have another preaching service during Sunday school. It's done on purpose. Not that I don't like teaching. Not that I don't like preaching. Not that I don't like the limelight.
[8:17] But I really believe that our church ought to have every member as a minister. Every member as a minister. I believe every one of you should find out where you fit in so you can get involved in ministry and so you can do work.
[8:30] So work your way through this with me if you would. The solution, number three, is to divide the work. So go to 1820 if you will. He's going to show them the way to walk and the way to work.
[8:41] This is not a class on theory, but something they will see practiced in his life, in the life of the man of God. It will be life on life discipleship. Verse 20 again. And thou shalt teach them.
[8:53] And thou shalt teach them the ordinances and laws. Teach them and show them the way. Show them the way wherein they must walk. And show them the way wherein they must walk and work that they must do.
[9:06] So he was instructed by Jethro. The Lord's going to put his seal of blessing on this, but in verse 21, he was to choose the right people. You can't divide the work unless you choose the right people.
[9:19] Chapter 18 and verse 21. Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people, able men. Underline that. They ought to have the ability. Not everybody can lead. Not everybody can serve.
[9:30] Not everybody can teach. Not everybody can do anything. But we're all made differently. But I'm to get capable, able people, Moses says. Jethro tells Moses, get capable, able people and put them to work.
[9:41] What kind of men? Men that, circlet, fear God. Men that fear God. That's men that are born again. Men that love God. Men that respect God. Men that wake up in the morning knowing that God is the God of heaven.
[9:53] And he is real. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And so they fear God. Not only that, they are men of truth. These are guys that are honest.
[10:04] He said, Jethro told him, Moses, you've got to get able men. Men that fear God. Men that are men of truth. Men who hate covetousness. Men who hate covetousness. You've got to get guys that aren't trying to get money.
[10:16] You've got to get guys that aren't trying to get possessions. You've got to get guys that aren't trying to take advantage. I'd like to just throw this in for you. But in our society we live in today, many churches are run by ministries and preachers whose whole lifestyle is to see what they can get out of the church.
[10:33] Prosperity gospel churches are built to make preachers rich. People can say what they want to say, but they're built to make preachers rich. Those men love covetousness. He said, you choose men that hate covetousness.
[10:44] They're not trying to get stuff. And then you place them over the people. There'll be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of ten.
[10:56] He was to put them where they would be the most effective. So, you know, you don't, everybody can't do it. See, you can be able to, for ten maybe, but you're not able for a thousand. You have, but there's something you can be doing.
[11:07] He had to distinguish their ability and place them in the right place to serve. Chapter 18 and verse 21. Again, with me, if you would. Provide out of all the people, able people.
[11:18] But skip to the bottom part of the verse. It says, rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Now, everybody's going to have the same job. Now, everybody's going to do the same thing. But we're going to divide the work.
[11:30] And then he was to let them work. Look at chapter 18 and verse 22. He has to let them work. He has to learn to delegate. We all delegate everything, either to others or to time.
[11:41] So we're going to say, look, you know what? As a pastor, as a leader, as Moses, I'm going to delegate things. I'm going to let you do them. Look at what it says in 18.22. And let them judge. Underline that.
[11:52] Let them judge. Let them make real decisions. You might have come to vision. And you might say to yourself, man, Austin's not so big on making all the decisions.
[12:02] He don't go around making all the decisions. Let them judge. That's what it said in verse 22. Let them judge people in all seasons. And it shall be that every matter, every great matter they shall bring unto thee.
[12:14] And every small matter they shall judge. So it shall be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. Underline that. They shall bear the burden with you. Now, do you understand what you've got going on?
[12:25] You've got a guy who's a leader of ten. You've got another guy that's a leader of a hundred. You've got another guy that's a leader of a thousand. You've got all two million people are being divided up. I'm sure just the adults. Maybe it's only a million if you take the kids out.
[12:35] Who knows? But what you've got going on is this guy that's got, he's over ten. If he can't really figure out, I'm not sure what God says about that. I'm not sure what the Bible teaches about that. He can go to the guy that taught him.
[12:46] He can go to the guy that's leading a hundred. Or he can go to the guy that's leading a thousand. But they're all going to be in the ministry. They're all going to be working. They're all going to be doing something important.
[12:57] He was available to them when there was a problem they couldn't answer. He was available to them when there was a problem they couldn't answer. But he was to let them do the ministry. Chapter 18, verse 22.
[13:09] He was available to keep training them. Let them judge. Just let them bring great matters to you. Let them bring great matters to you.
[13:20] Let them take care of the small things. Let them take care of other things. If something's really big, it's got to be decided. They can come talk to you. Chapter 18, verse 17, if you would. He showed us that a leader should never get too big to take advice from others.
[13:34] If you're going to be a spiritual leader, you're going to be involved in ministry. You don't want to ever get so big you can't take advice. In chapter 18, verse 17, he said, Moses, father-in-law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.
[13:46] That's pretty interesting. Number one, the leader of two million people, trained in Egypt, son of Pharaoh, or family member of Pharaoh, is willing to take advice from this priest of Midian, who is his father-in-law.
[14:04] You know, maybe I take advice, but not my father-in-law. Say amen. You know? But he takes advice, and he learns from him. And I ought to be the kind of person that would take advice, and you ought to be the kind of person that would take advice.
[14:17] A danger is, as churches develop, people are like, I don't want to listen. I don't want to know. I know what I'm doing here. I'm going to give you some, quite a few more verses before I finish, but just let me, let me say to you that you've got to get involved in ministry.
[14:34] You've got to realize that you're supposed to be doing something. This is the Old Testament. This is the nation of Israel, and this is government, and it's not us. But the application is very clear. In the New Testament, guess what they're going to do?
[14:47] They're going to have deacons. They're going to have, in the New Testament, they're going to have, in Ephesians chapter 4, in verse 12, they're going to train men to do the work of the ministry. You will perfect the men to do the work of the ministry that the church would be edified.
[15:02] So there's a problem. If you're not careful, you get one guy that knows how to do everything. If you're not careful, you get one guy who carries all the keys. He knows where everything is. He can take care of everything.
[15:13] Pray to God he doesn't die. Because if he does die, we're all trying to figure out what to do because he died on us. Or he got mad and left. Or he left the church and he took the church money. So everything's going to be divided up.
[15:26] Everybody's going to be being trained. And everybody, tons of people, are going to be involved in ministry. If you leave here tonight with anything else I'm trying to get across to you, every man ought to be in the ministry.
[15:37] Every woman ought to be in the ministry. Every person in this church ought to be responsible for something. Ministry is so much more fun than being a spectator. Playing the ball game is so much more fun than watching it take place.
[15:51] There's an argument in our churches, among churches, or Christian churches. Do you have the authority of the pastor? Or do you have the pastor and the deacons and they kind of box it out, you know, the deacons are the Congress and they fight with the president?
[16:03] Or do you have deacons and elders and pastors? I will tell you this, that's not as clear in the Bible as a lot of people like to make it sound, but it is clear that everybody ought to be involved in ministry.
[16:14] And everybody's doing something and everybody's learning and there aren't any dummies in the room. We're all serving Jesus and involved. Now if you would, go with me to Numbers chapter 11.
[16:25] The fourth thing I want you to see is God commands Moses to choose other men to help him. The verse I just read to you, Jethro is the one who gives the suggestion, his father-in-law. And so you could easily and quickly say, well, he's a priest of Midian, he's a father-in-law, he's a businessman and what he's got to say doesn't matter.
[16:41] But in Numbers chapter 11 and verse 16, the Lord said to Moses, gather unto me seventy men, elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of Israel and officers over them and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation that they may stand there with thee.
[16:58] Moses, go get seventy guys and bring them here. Get guys that everybody respects. Get guys that everybody honors. These are men that the church people, you know them to be elders.
[17:09] That doesn't mean, that doesn't mean you know how old they are. You know them to be respected leaders. You know that people in the community look and say, that's a guy you ought to follow. Verse 17, and I will come down and talk with thee there and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon them and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee.
[17:29] Thou shalt not bear it thyself alone. Now we got God doing the talking. Now he's got seventy guys, got it all divided up. He's going to divide responsibility and divide labor.
[17:42] So it's not just one guy making all the decisions. There's going to be some other people involved in that. And here's why. Numbers 11, 14. In Numbers 11, 14, Moses couldn't bear the burden of leadership alone.
[17:55] Numbers 11, 14, Moses said, I am not able to bear all this alone, all these people alone. It's too heavy for me. This may shock you. This may shock you, but they say in studies of pastors in America that one in every ten who start out as young people to be in the ministry and to be pastors will retire as pastors.
[18:17] Most pastors want out. Most pastors want out. They are tired of being the gopher. They're tired of running around. They're tired of getting fussed out about everything. I can remember when I was a young guy in the ministry in the second church we worked in Mount Calvary Baptist Church.
[18:33] The pastor and I were both extremely young. I was, let's see, I would have been 22 and he would have been 22. And boy, the deacons, man, they racked us over the coals.
[18:44] They were constantly saying, you didn't visit Susie who was dying in the hospital. We said, we never met Susie. And they said, Susie is the third cousin twice removed from the deacons. Oh, excuse me.
[18:55] We're supposed to know that. And we were brand new to the city. And everything, I mean, it was just a constant thing of all the work we had to make sure the building's clean. I remember one night, I'm 22 years old and the church bus froze.
[19:09] The water, it froze. I didn't put any antifreeze in it. We bought it. I didn't buy the bus. The church bought the bus. And one of the men started yelling at me in front of everybody. Why are you so dumb? Why didn't you put antifreeze in this bus?
[19:21] And I was like, man, I didn't know I was supposed to put antifreeze in the bus. And that's what's going on here is God said, get some other guys and get some balance and don't put it all on one guy. Oh, Moses, I can't bear it all alone.
[19:32] Look, if you would, at Numbers chapter 11 and verse 16, he was told to choose 70 men. You might underline that. Chapter 11 and verse 16, these were men that were already leaders and had demonstrated to Moses that they knew how to be responsible.
[19:47] They knew how to be responsible and they knew how to lead. It says, And the Lord said to Moses, Gathering to be 70 men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be.
[19:58] You know them. You know them. You know what they're doing. By the way, notice this. They were chosen. It wasn't volunteers. They were chosen. Moses says, I pick you and I pick you and I pick you.
[20:09] I know you to be this guy. I pick you. He was told to choose them. And God took the same spirit that he had put on Moses, the leadership of Moses, common thing among our churches often don't touch the anointed of the Lord.
[20:23] Some of our people would say something so stupid as that like as though there's only one anointed and that's me. The truth is if you're born again, you are anointed too because the Holy Spirit's in you. And there's no special.
[20:35] When I walk, when I walk, I walk just like a regular person. There's nothing special, nothing spooky about me. So he said, Hey, I'm going to take the spirit I put on you.
[20:47] I'm going to spread it out on a whole bunch of guys. I'm going to spread it out on a whole bunch of guys. That's what was going to happen in Numbers chapter 11 and verse 17. Look at Numbers chapter 11 and verse 25.
[20:58] The Bible said, And the Lord came down in a cloud and spake unto him and took of the spirit that was upon him and gave it unto the 70 elders. And it came to pass that when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and they did not cease.
[21:13] They got involved. In Deuteronomy chapter 1 and verse 9, God's man takes ownership of this principle of leadership. In Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 9, I don't have time to read all this.
[21:25] So let me just kind of walk you through it and you can check me out later. In chapter 1 and verse 9, again, he recognizes his own limitations. And I spake unto you at that time saying, I am not able to bury you myself alone.
[21:38] I can't take care of everybody. I can't be at every birthday party. I can't be at every marshmallow roasting. I can't be at every funeral. I can't handle this. There's 2 million of you.
[21:48] I can't handle that. Chapter 1 and verse 12, he said, how can I myself, we're in Deuteronomy in case you have forgotten. Deuteronomy chapter 1 and verse 12, how can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, your burden, your strife?
[22:01] How can I put up with all this fighting and fussing? There are times at this church I'm like, Lord, help me. One more fight. One more little petty thing. And we don't have very many at all compared to most churches.
[22:13] He said, how can I bear that? He couldn't deal with all the strife. He recognized God's blessings on the ministry and he didn't want to hinder it. Look at Deuteronomy 1.10.
[22:23] The Lord your God has multiplied you and behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many, more as you are and bless you as he promised.
[22:37] But I can't take you by myself. Got to have some help to do the leadership of this place. So he told him in Deuteronomy 1.13 again, choose the right people.
[22:48] Choose the right people. The verse says he was to choose wise men. That'd be men of wisdom that understand the word of God. The wisdom we need here is not the wisdom in business, the wisdom of the word of God.
[23:01] Men of understanding, it says in the verse, much more than just knowing the Bible, they need to know how to apply the Bible. They need to be recognized men. Men that the people see their ability and the people know their leadership.
[23:15] The people recognize the need and wisdom of this principle. Chapter 1 and verse 14. And you answered me and said, the thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. The people of Israel said, man, this is wise.
[23:28] This is smart. You're not a king. You're not a Pharaoh. You're not a dictator. Amazingly, today we have allowed ourselves to believe that people do not understand this principle. Or maybe we're afraid that they do believe it and we will not be so important.
[23:41] That's talking to us preachers. He placed the men in positions of leadership. Chapter 1, verse 15. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them heads over you.
[23:53] Captains over thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens, and officers among your tribe. He had to know them. He had to choose. And he put them out there. And then he charged them in chapter 1 and verse 16.
[24:04] Would you read the charge with me? Read the charge. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren and judge righteously. Between every man and his brother, the stranger that's with thee, you shall not respect persons in judgment.
[24:21] Now what that means is, if a guy comes in and has got more money than another guy, he don't win. If a guy is more popular, he doesn't win. You show no difference in the way you treat people.
[24:32] You'll hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man. For the judgment is God's and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it to me and I will hear it.
[24:43] I command you at that time all the things that you should do. So they organized leadership in the nation of Israel. Now would you look this way? That's a lot of verses and I didn't preach it very much because of time.
[24:56] Let me just go over some things with you. As a church, I want to see vision influence the world. I think it has already influenced the world to a great degree. I spend my life training young men to be in the ministry, which means I'm probably not a very good typical pastor.
[25:13] I don't even know where many of you live. I've never been to your house. You hadn't invited me to your house so I hadn't gone to your house. You hadn't had a crisis so I hadn't gone to your house and I'm not asking to be invited either.
[25:25] So you know, I'm not asking to be invited. But what you need to learn here is, you know, the pastor of the church that ran 100, the pastor of the church that ran 60, the pastor of the church that wasn't training in the ministry, man, he was at everybody's birthday party.
[25:38] I remember the first church I worked in, I went to so many Christmas parties. We went to every Sunday school class this Christmas party at Dykes Creek Baptist Church. It was good for me. Betty and I were young and every class gave us a gift.
[25:50] And so there were probably 30 classes and that was 30 gifts and hallelujah. But we were glad to go. We were young and broke and we'd take anything we'd get our hands on. But that takes up a lot of time.
[26:01] I can remember December, it was like, pick a day, we've already got a party that night. Sorry, party every night. And we're going to a party. I'd go to parties with people I didn't know.
[26:11] Most everybody gave me socks and brute, amen. You remember Mike saying he preached about the brute? They did. And so, still using some of that stash. I got it 40 years ago, still using it. All right. And so, here's what he was saying.
[26:23] If you're going to build a church, this is what he said to Israel. If you're going to lead the nation of Israel, there's going to be some organization. If you're going to lead the nation of Israel, it can't be just one big shot guy. If you're going to lead the nation of Israel, you're going to have to spread out the leadership.
[26:37] So we have two good deacons and by the grace of God, we'll have more deacons. And that may not be as normal as what you might think. They won't be yes men. They won't be men that just say, yes pastor, whatever you want.
[26:49] They'll be men that help lead our church. And they'll be men that'll carry responsibility. They'll be men that'll make a difference. There'll be Sunday school teachers here. A blunt honest truth. I'd like to just take over all the Sunday school classes.
[27:00] Let's just bring everybody in here together and I'll just teach them all. I mean, I'm a good guy. I like me. So let's do that. But I don't think that's God's way of doing it. God's way of doing it is for everybody to get involved.
[27:11] So you've not been involved in discipleship because you've been saying, well, I'm not a preacher. I'm not the big shot. I'm not in charge and I'm just a regular guy. Well, you're wrong. He put people in charge of tens and hundreds and thousands.
[27:25] And maybe you're not a thousands guy and maybe you're not a hundreds guy, but you can probably handle ten. And everybody in the church ought to be involved in ministry. And you ought to have real responsibility and you ought to do real work.
[27:36] Every person in our church ought to be involved. You ought to be involved in discipleship. You should get in the foundations program and you should say, I am going to help train other people about Jesus. You should take Sunday school very seriously.
[27:49] You should take the ministry. Tonight, this is just an example. Tonight, I put on the microphone I want to use, which is my ear microphone. Andrew comes back in there.
[28:00] He's in charge of that. I do not tell him what to do. He came back and he said, I'm not going to be using that microphone tonight. My smile on the side I wanted to say, you never use it. I always use it. And he said, we're going to be using the other mic.
[28:13] And this morning he said, and by the way, put it inside your shirt. I'm going to be his daddy. But you see, if we're going to have the kind of church God would have us have, we ought to be working together.
[28:26] And he's got expertise I don't have and he's got expertise you don't have and you've got expertise I don't have and I've got expertise you don't have. But everybody ought to be in the ministry. And some of you have been awful lazy.
[28:38] It's time to sign up and say, where do I go to work? You know, some of the reasons that church is exciting to you is you don't feel the load. You ought to get in here and say, I'll take part of the burden.
[28:50] I can't do much, but I can take charge of 10 chairs. I can't do much, but I can take charge, I can help in the nursery this time. I can't do much, but I can be a Sunday school helper. I can't do much, but I can be involved.
[29:01] Because God's plan is that we're a body and we all work together and the body's not one, it's all of us. And so the microphone's in my shirt, not on my ear, and he's turning me on and off when he gets ready.
[29:15] Amen. Now, in my youth, I don't think I would have taken that. But, you know, the Bible's teaching that right here in Deuteronomy, isn't it? And can I challenge you to get busy?
[29:27] Can I challenge you to say, I'm not going to just come to church anymore? I'm not just going to sit on the, don't just do your duty. You'll have so much more fun if you catch a few passes.
[29:39] You'll have so much more fun if you run a few touchdowns. You'll have so much more fun if you do something that you know is making an eternal difference. You'll have so much more fun in this if you help train that next missionary that goes out.
[29:51] We need yoke fellows. That's not a big responsibility. We're still got like six families that are missing a yoke fellow. Step up. Get involved and say, I'm in here to work and to make a difference.
[30:03] Every member, a minister. Father in heaven, I love you and I praise you and I thank you for what you're doing and I pray that you direct our people and grow us and I'll give you great honor and glory and praise for what you do.
[30:15] I thank you for your word. I thank you for the chance to serve you and I pray, dear Jesus, that you would put everybody to work and you'd help everybody to be excited about it and to realize they are vitally important to the future of our church and no one, no one is just here.
[30:30] Everybody counts. God do something in our lives. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.