November 6, 2020
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I was zipping down the Interstate one day, and I came up behind this big, black truck with bright red letters on it. And then I noticed what it said: County Bomb Squad. Woah! Needless to say, I did not stay real close to that truck! I didn't want to be behind these guys, but I'm actually glad they're around.
I mean, they're in most areas of the country; these men, brave men who go into places where a bomb has been planted. They find it, they carry it away in that big truck (which, by the way, I was speeding to get past as fast as I could), and then they defuse it. Now, actually, God has got a bomb squad. You might be on it, and you might need it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Bomb Squad."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is from Exodus 18, and it's the story of a two-legged time bomb. His name was Moses. He was a man in spiritual leadership about to blow. I know many people in spiritual leadership today who are just as explosive. Maybe you're one; maybe you're near one.
Here's the story: "The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, 'What is this you're doing for the people? Why do you sit alone as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?' Moses answered him, 'Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws.' Moses' father-in-law replied, 'What you're doing is not good. (Leave it to a father-in-law, huh?) You and these people who have come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.'" "Boom!" (That's not in the Bible, that part.)
And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, becomes history's first management consultant, and then recommends to him that he appoint many judges that will share in the load so that there will be lots of people doing the work with him.
Now, here's the picture: the leader is burning out. And the people are about to get burned out, because their needs just aren't being met. And his strength to meet those needs is being destroyed.
Now, there are a lot of people who are carrying out God's assignments who are in the same position as Moses - the work's too heavy for them. I know that feeling. Well, remember this: an over-burdened leader is a ticking time bomb. He's going to burn out; the people are going to get burned up and disillusioned.
Now, you may be one of the bombs, or maybe you're one of the bomb squad sent to diffuse it. If you know a leader who is stretched to the max, do what Jethro did here. Tell him what you see. Help him see that he isn't God's only channel. Show him ways that he could give away some of what he's doing. Start by offering to pick up a piece of it yourself.
And if you're a leader with a heavy load, why not listen to the advice that kept Moses able to minister for many years. Give some of your ministry away. Use some time to select and train others. Ask yourself as you look at your life and your leadership, "What could I give away?" Don't be like a television that would only have one channel everything has to come through.
People who think that God can only come through one channel - them, well pretty soon there will be no channel because their screen will go dark. I remember hearing from a pastor friend. He said, "I was liberated by five words somebody shared with me that were spoken by John the Baptist, "I am not the Messiah."
God may have just intercepted you today on this broadcast to just say, "Stop! Get some help, man! Give some of your ministry away. Or He may want you to help diffuse a ticking time bomb; a spiritual leader who's got an overload, by showing them the impossibility of what they're doing, and showing him people who can help, by being one of the people who can help. You could save a ministry by being the one who delicately diffuses an over-burdened Christian leader.
God needs people who will be His bomb squad.