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[ Silence ] [ Music ] ♪ I thank the sun and sea ♪ ♪ Now I have a family ♪

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♪ Tenderly mine ♪ ♪ Now give me heart of grain ♪ ♪ Take all my fears away ♪ ♪ Oh let me walk in heavenly ♪

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♪ Holy ♪ ♪ Light ♪ [music] [applause]

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[applause] [applause] Moses' father-in-law said to him, "What you are doing

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is not good. You and the people with you you will wear yourselves out for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it alone. Listen now to my voice.

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I will give you counsel and God be with you. You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God and you shall teach them the statutes and the decisions and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. The subject of the message, when the load is too heavy, when the load is too heavy.

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There's no question about it, life is a heavy load. It's latent with challenges and responsibilities. In a sense, life is a burden to be carried. It's not to be considered lightly. It's a heavy load. the responsibilities are significant. The servant of the living Lord is called to carry what Habakkuk calls the burden of the Lord. Now to be sure each of us talks

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about the burden we are carrying, how many responsibilities, this and that, oh I I have this burden of that burden. And many of these things that we have are not really the burden of the Lord. Some of them are burdens we need to get rid of. They're burdens we've created that we ought not have. But here the servant of the Lord, as we during this month

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and our church training department focus on what is called throughout the denomination Doctrine Month, we focus on the doctrine of the laity. And there are books, study books, that are available and I hope each one of you will get one. This is the second message that I have delivered dealing with our doctrine for this year because I feel that it is a doctrine

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that many of us have not given attention to, many of us don't understand it as one of the cardinal doctrines of our church, the doctrine of the laity. What it really means to be called to engage in a special kind of ministry. Moses was in Midian keeping watch over his father-in-law Jethro's flock and he receives a call, a call

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from God to go to Egypt to liberate the people of God in Egypt. He's called to be not just a shepherd of sheep but to be a shepherd of the people of God. Moses is God's minister, he's to lead God's people. There are those who serve as leaders who think that they're supposed to do everything. When they're made chairman of

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a committee they think that they got to do everything just to be done just because they happen to be designated as chairman. But as we consider Moses here in the journey from Egypt to Canaan, the task that is assigned to him is that of pastor. A pastor is a shepherd that includes the proclamation of the Word of

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God, it includes caring for God's people, counseling, teaching, training, it includes administration, it involves equipping and enabling the Saints. Now to be sure there are those who think of the pastor as a hired hand like you may have the yard man. He's there to do whatever we tell him to do that's what we pay him for. And this means that the

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pastor is expected by the congregation to do all of the proclaiming while they merely listen, do all of the visiting while they only receive reports, and to do all of the evangelizing while they just look at the results. And there are many people who think of it like that and that is a good illustration of a

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misunderstanding of the church and this particular doctrine of the laity emphasizes the fact that these responsibilities that I have enumerated are not the responsibilities of a single person who may serve as pastor. They are the responsibilities of all of the people of God. Now Moses is trying to do

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it all. He serves his prophet, he serves his shepherd, he serves his judge and we find him here listening to the complaints of the people. He's trying to adjudicate the matters that are brought before him and it seems that there's a backlog of cases. There's a long waiting line. The people stand waiting to be

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served from morning to night and here Moses is trying to do it all alone. The people are tired of waiting and Moses is tired from counseling and making decisions. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, observes this and when the day is over, no doubt as they are gathered around the campfire in Moses' tent, that Jethro

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says, "Let me give you a word of advice, my son. What you're doing is really not good because you're wearing yourself out and you're also wearing the people out. Listen to this plan that I submit to you. Why not divide the people into companies? Thousand, a hundred, fifty, and some ten. And then you select certain

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ones that you will teach, you will train, and let them serve as leaders under your supervision. Let them handle some of the cases and the more difficult cases let them be brought to you. You'll be, so to speak, the court of last resort. This is the plan that Jethro submitted to Moses. In other words, what he's really

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saying to Moses here in another way is that Moses your task is to equip the people you ought to enable them to help you do the work that needs to be done you're not to do it all divide them up the companies so you see the laity the very word itself means people of God so the pastoral task of the church is not

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the task of the preacher alone, it's not the task of the deacons alone, it's not the task of just a few people but all deacons, Sunday school teachers, church training leaders, WMU leaders, the Baptist men, the youth, everybody, all who constitute the family of God are to be engaged in the work of God, that we are

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own mission and we're to do God's work and it means that there must be the leader who trains other leaders and so on and on it goes. Now one of the problems we face in this whole understanding and implementation of the doctrine of the laity is that of the relationship of the leader and others. In

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In other words, the leader is to lead. And we find so often that you have a situation where the Indian chief was to serve as the head of the tribe and sometimes you have a situation

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where there are too many chiefs and not any Indians. And that creates a problem. have, in case we put it another way, of too many cooks spoil the stew or something like that. This one put salt in it, the other one put salt in whatever, and then you have so

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much salt in it you can't eat the soup. And so there has to be this kind of understanding and relationship. Someone said that all of the me people had a meeting and they were trying to select a leader and they couldn't select a leader because when they asked the question whom shall we have as the leader everybody said me. So

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Moses you are to serve as the leader in bringing others together and you are to teach them and to train them you are to serve as an equipper and enabler you are to help the people do what they are called to do and that is to do ministry. To do ministry. We are called to serve. He who is greatest among you must be

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servant of all. Yes we are all called to be proclaimers of the good news of God. And so really what the minister does he is to be the teacher of the preachers. every one of us ought to be a preacher. Oh no, not me, Reverend. That's what we would say. But the word that is preached from the pulpit here ought to somehow be

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preached where we go into our homes, on our jobs, wherever we are in our everyday walk. This is what it means to truly translate into action the doctrine of of the laity. That's what happened many, many years ago and that's still our task today. We are called to care for the people of God, to heal all manner of sickness and disease.

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So the minister is sort of the head of the healing team. We go to the hospital, the doctor is not always there, but there's a healing team there. There's the vocational nurse, the registered nurse, this person and that person, all of them have to do it. When the situation is really critical, then the doctor appears on the scene.

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But there are all of those who are participating in that healing ministry all of the time. That's the work of the church when we have the church being the church in the world. This is everybody's job to preach, to teach, to heal, to cast out demons. And you know the burden is heavy.

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It's too heavy for Moses. You know why it's too heavy? He's trying to do it all by himself. So leaders strain themselves.

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Many preachers suffer from nervous breakdowns. leaders suffer from nervous breakdowns because they suffer from burnout and all of this because they try to do it all and the load is too heavy. Just so much you can do and the work is done most effectively when we share the load.

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teaching the people of God to do the work of God. Because you see Moses has adequate resources, he has the people there that he is given and there are enough people to do the job and to do that job effectively but Moses must organize the people and teach them, enable them, equip them to do the work.

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That's his job, his job of sharing. And that's what happens just as it happened to Moses. That's what happens now when we try to carry more than we can really carry. We need to share the load.

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Load's too heavy. The responsibilities of being God's people, doing God's work in the world is too heavy for any single one of us. It has to be shared by the family of God.

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We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear, and often for each other flows a sympathizing tear, bearing one another's burdens. And we are all stronger when we bear one another's burdens. Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free?

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No there's a cross for everyone and there's a cross for me. And how wonderful it is when one is carrying more than he can really carry alone for someone to say let me help you with that. The load is too heavy for you to carry alone. And that's true. Yes, that's true in the church. That's true in our lives

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individually. There are problems that we have. There are difficulties that we confront. And when we try to carry it all by ourselves, we find ourselves being overwhelmed by the stress and strain of it all. It's just too much for us. We need to share it. We need to share it. You know what's really happening here when you

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think about it, these men that Moses trains, these people, these leaders trained by Moses, they're hearing the complaints of the people, hearing the complaints of the people. And you know really when you have a problem, when you have a burden and you try to keep it all to yourself, it gets the best of you. You

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need to talk to somebody about it. But you need somehow to share that problem with someone else and somehow when you really share it, what they're doing that they're spending most of their time listening. They're listening. They're listening and really when someone listens to your problem what really

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happens is they it was taking place is that they are transferring the load you sharing that load that's what makes it all the more beautiful and that's what somehow contributes to the strength of the people of God when we share the load We share that load because it's too heavy for us. Many people today are being

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burdened down by guilt because they're trying to keep it all to themselves. When the way is already made where they can share that, when they can somehow get rid of the burden, they can confess their sins and somehow, oh what a beautiful Release is experience when they do that.

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Transfer the load, share it. We have what is called the elevator. What kind of society would we have today if we didn't have the elevator? Buildings with many, many stories.

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You can somehow go in and you step on the elevator and it just lifts you right on up. And in some countries it's called lift, lift. And we need a lift. Christ is our lift.

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He lifts us when we are down and out, when we don't know where to go, when the burden is too heavy, we can cry out, I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,

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I cannot bear these burdens alone. So we have someone to whom we can go. Now Jethro, you see, is sort of a mediator, he's a go-between.

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Now Moses been talking with God all the time, but he needed Jethro to bring to him this practical approach to a problem that was really getting him down.

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So Jesus, you see, is our mediator. He's our go-between. Then he comes to us and he says, now the load is too much for you,

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do it in my name, share it with me. And somehow in sharing it with Christ, somehow we're able to carry it for him. He says that my yoke is easy

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and my burden is light. When the load is too heavy, got to share it. Share it. There's an elderly woman trying to make it to catch a train and she ran and she finally was able to get on. Then she got on the train

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she was holding her bag. She was still standing there holding the bag and the porter said to her, "Madam you can put down the bag now. The train will carry it for him. And the burdens that we carry that somehow when we take them to Christ and when we somehow put them in his hands, when we take our burden to the

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Lord and just leave it there, he'll carry it. He'll carry it for us. And that's good, that's a good word. Take your burden to the Lord when it's too heavy, when it's more than we can do alone when somehow we have done all we know to do. Take it to the Lord and Lord here it is. Yes, you take it. That's redemption, that's release, that's liberation for us all. As we sing now, take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

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We extend the privilege of the church. [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat music) [MUSIC]

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[MUSIC] [MUSIC] ♪ For this you are earning, Lord ♪ ♪ How can I forget along with you again ♪

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♪ 'Cause we have learned in this way ♪ ♪ How we can be your biggest friends ♪ ♪ Take your hand to the Lord and lead with him ♪ ♪ Lead with him ♪

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♪ Beware, beware ♪ ♪ Take your burden to the Lord and be aware ♪ ♪ If you trust and you're doubt ♪ ♪ He will surely be your God ♪

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♪ Take your burden to the Lord and be aware ♪ ♪ If your body's under strain ♪ ♪ And your help will never fail ♪ ♪ And your soul will always be ♪

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♪ In the midst ♪ ♪ Jesus knows what men are feeling ♪ ♪ He can save and He can heal ♪ ♪ In your presence to the poor and the weak ♪

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♪ We pray ♪ ♪ We pray ♪ ♪ He is there, He is there ♪ ♪ Take your hand to the Lord ♪

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♪ He is there ♪ ♪ If you must enter a dark ♪ ♪ He will surely lead you out ♪ ♪ Take your hand to the Lord ♪

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♪ He is there ♪ ♪ Take your hand to the Lord ♪ ♪ And your heart be in the place ♪ ♪ Don't forget that God is ever looking after you ♪

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♪ He will make a way for you ♪ ♪ And you'll be saved ♪ ♪ Take no breath, no longer be afraid ♪ ♪ Be prepared ♪

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♪ Be prepared ♪ ♪ Take your burden to the Lord and He will carry ♪ ♪ If you trust in the Lord ♪ ♪ He will surely bring you home ♪

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♪ Take your burden to the Lord and He will carry ♪ ♪ If you give your youth to faith and hope ♪ ♪ He'll only give you hope ♪ ♪ When your body's missing, you can always find ♪

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♪ Leave your pain, oh leave your pain ♪ ♪ Leave your grief, leave your pain ♪ ♪ Take your prayer to the Lord and give His hand ♪ ♪ Give His hand ♪

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♪ Give His hand ♪ ♪ Take your plans to the Lord and be prepared ♪ ♪ If you trust and you love ♪ ♪ He will be with you when you cry ♪

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♪ Take your plans to the Lord and be prepared ♪ ♪ Be prepared ♪ ♪ Be prepared ♪ ♪ Take your prayers to the Lord and He will answer ♪

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♪ If you trust Him, you will go ♪ ♪ He will surely bring you home ♪ ♪ Take your prayers to the Lord and He will answer ♪ [MUSIC]

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