Still Carrying it Alone?

Good morning. Good afternoon, good evening, whatever it is you want. I'm almost gonna guarantee that some of us are gonna hear this message this morning. And then they're gonna go. I think he's preaching to me. I'm kind of preaching to me too, if I'm being honest. You've convinced yourself. Nobody else can do this the way you can. So everything still has to run through you. Every question, every decision, every need. One person standing at the front of a line that that line never actually ends. And it never actually shortens. You never catch up. Moses believed the exact same thing until somebody outside his own camp, someone who'd never carried what he was carrying, looked at his day from a distance and said plainly, Amen. This is gonna kill you. Keep going like this here, this is gonna kill you. Good morning. When I wrote this episode, I thought, uh, should I? But then I decided yeah. Because there are lots of people listening from all kinds of different um I gotta get the hair out of my eyes. You know. If you're listening on audio, you you will not get to see the fact that I don't have hair to get into my eyes. That was the joke. I'm just joking ya. So yeah. I thought about it as I was writing this, and I said, well, some of the folks work, they have jobs, some own businesses. There are some that listen here that are extremely successful business owners. And then there are others who are retired. And some go to work every day and they grind it out, and they barely make it, but they make it because they don't quit. And then there are some who are people that need to do everything themselves. It's not because they think everybody else is inferior or incompetent, it's just sometimes that's what we do. And sometimes that thing, that tendency, one of these days is gonna kill you. So shalom, on that break note, I promise you it gets brighter. Anyway, shalom, shalom, shalom. I hope y'all are doing well. It is uh there's a lot going on in the country. I know we have some folks listening from overseas, and uh, we appreciate that. It means a lot. I hope you're doing well too. A lot going on in the world. The world is a lot's happening, a lot of good, and uh a lot of hard stuff has to happen, and in order for peace to come, a lot of hard stuff has to happen. And that's kind of the way it is in this world. But I'll say this. Well, I'll tell you who this is. This is true word, faith for life with Dr. Sean. I'm Sean. Exodus Exchodos, Exchodos 18. Shimot. Moses is sitting as judge over an entire nation. Oh my lands, can you imagine the responsibility? Wasn't a smooth deal either. You know what I mean? Wasn't a smooth deal. By the way, thank you. I forget to do this very often. Thank you. Um thank you for clicking on subscribe on the true word faith for life with Dr. Sean, S H A W N uh YouTube channel. That's very important, more important now than ever. Um, and I I want you to know I appreciate that immensely. But also, thank you to those who you're the audio only. You can't bear looking at this. So, and by this I'm circling my face. If you're audio only, you can't see that. Um, I have to remember sometimes, you know, they can't see. Uh, but but you know, we're on all of them: the big ones, the little ones, the ones everybody knows, the ones nobody knows. And on each of those, there's a mechanism. Subscribe or follow or whatever, add this to your list, whatever. I'd love for you to do that. And if there's a review function and you like what you hear, um, or you like what we do, sometimes you're not gonna like what you hear. Um, I would love for you to leave a review or something of that sort. It would mean a lot to me. It's a it's way more important than I think people realize. It is everything, it's the only way the thing keeps going. So Exodus 18. And I study when I can. I have trouble sitting up or you know, like this. And I have this brace called um a uh TLSO brace that I have to wear a lot of times as soon as I finish. A lot of times I have it on underneath. Today I don't have it on underneath, but I have a thing behind me to help kind of prop me up. Uh and then right after, you know, I have to lay down or try to walk it out or whatever. It just depends. But so sometimes I do uh my preparation and study and praying and thinking, I do it while laying down. Um the other day I laid down the whole day. I just, you know, I had to do like this. Anyway, doesn't matter why. But uh the point is music's a little loud today, okay? I wonder why. I've actually turned it down. Let me see here. How about that? Is that better? How about everybody else? How's how's the sound? How's the music in comparison? This this particular piece tends to be a little bit loud. Let me turn her down a little bit there. There we go. Love the music, but I want to hear you. Aww. I love that. Thank you, Susan. I love you. Y'all, I'm trying to write. Um, I'm not, I can't write very well. Um I'm trying to write a uh thank you card to you and Linda for your card. And I practiced yesterday and practiced and practiced and practiced, so you wouldn't be able to read what I wrote, but I'm working on it. I'm working on it. I have a plan. Anyway, I haven't said it in a long time, but thank God for my uh VA therapists and just everybody that helps me. It's unreal. If you knew what it you may say, you may say, thank you, Robbie. You may say, you may look at me and go, you tell me you got all these people helping you physically, and you know, all the therapists and you know PT and medical people and all this, and this is this is the result. I know, I know, but if you only knew what it really is, like what it takes to do this, and you'd shake your head, it's crazy, it's just crazy, and I do it when I can. One of these days, you know, there may be a day where I just can't do it physically for that day. I'm not saying forever, but I'm just saying for that day. And I don't want to do that, but I'm, you know, I'm really pushing myself here. But I prayed for some of you who are new. I prayed, I used to do what I do, uh, two a week, three a week. I can't remember how many I did, two a week, maybe, and two episodes a week, and and then I kept praying and praying and praying. God, you know, what do you want me to do? You know, what is it you want me to do? What is my mission? And it was this walk the people through the Bible in a year, tell my story. I kid you not, tell my story. That's why I called this series uh through the Bible in a year, walking, and I just did for audio audience, I just did um air quotes and a face that says, yeah, year only. Nah, it'll pick up. But walking the story of God, and that's why. That's why I did that. So all that said to say, you know. This is what he told me to do, so I'm doing it. And as long as he gives me breath in my lungs and gives me the ability to keep after it, I'm gonna keep doing it. He has the button, the on and the off button. He has that for all of us. Yeah. So so Moses, imagine. Good morning, good morning. Imagine, Susan. Is it better? Is the music better? Because I I don't want to, I've got it turned way down, but maybe the piece is I don't hear it. I don't hear the music. I don't know if you guys know that. So, in order to do this, I have to take my hearing aids out and I put these in-ear monitors in. I hear some of the music, but I don't hear it as a percentage. Uh, I don't hear it as a percentage to sound of my voice. So I don't have any concept of how loud it is for you. Um, I see it as a percentage on my board here that I control it with. And so I estimate based on that percentage. So, you know, but I want you to be able to hear it. Anywho, oh, perfect. Great, good, great. So I I don't know, you know, put yourself in this position. Some of you know, lots of you do different jobs, different careers, and and some of, like I say, some of you are retired, but some of you did very difficult jobs. I think everybody's job to some degree. Uh a lot of times we'll throw rocks at people that work at McDonald's and we'll go, well, you know, it's just McDonald's. Why do they want $20 an hour? And I agree. It's it's a it's not designed. The the margin is not, it won't sustain $20 an hour, it won't sustain $15 an hour. And that's why you see all the little kiosks and the people disappearing. It's it's the reality, it's just reality of commerce. It's it's just how it works, and they have to be profitable. And so, but people will frequently say, turn it down another 20%. Uh thank you, Julius Caesar. He put it in my language, or she. I don't know. Could be Julius. Anyway, thanks for listening. I don't I don't remember seeing you here, but thank you for listening. Listening on YouTube. Apologize yesterday. I was losing my voice, so I tried not to talk, just except for my physical therapy and my doctors I went to yesterday, but outside of that, I tried not to talk. I talked a little bit to my dog because you know he's lonely. Anyway, for fruitless, anyway, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. Um, so Moses, I you know, put yourself in this position. You you you there's one person in particular that listens to this, kid you not, is a billionaire, uh, retired, sort of retired, um, and literally billionaire, 11 zeros. Um, and I don't ever, you know, privacy is the request, and that's what I give. But the point is, is that person worked a hundred hours a week, every week, every single week. I mean, they don't give you that kind of money, you gotta work for it, and it's super hard. When I start talking about McDonald's, um, that's how I call it McDonald's. I say it wrong. I've been saying it wrong for a long time. Not McDonald's, McDonald's. Anyway, um, it look, we can say, well, that's super easy. It's not as easy as you think. You try Breakfast Rush or Lunch Rush working at McDonald's, and you see the heat that they're working in, the slippery, greasy floor, um, the constant, you know, beeping and all of this, and just trying to keep it together and people being rude. Listen, if you're a Christian, you're a believer, you should be the nicest customer. And if you work somewhere, you should be the nicest employee, but you should also be the best. You should be the best employee. So it's things are not as easy as as a lot of people think. You know, it's not as easy as you think. One of the things, uh, Mike Rowe, I don't know if you all have ever gotten to meet him, really super nice guy, beautiful singing voice. You used to hear him sing, good lands. He's a super nice man. Uh, you meet him one-on-one. I was friends with his cousin, and he came to visit one time. It's not that I, you know, we're buds or anything, but he came to visit his cousin one time, and I happened to be there, and uh, we visited and had lunch and just chatted, you know, regular people. He's a brilliant man. Man, can he sing? His voice is operatic. He studied opera, believe it or not. Um, he's quite amazing, but uh he can really, really sing. But he's he's a brilliant writer, brilliant thinker. But you know, he's got this groundworks thing that he's doing, and and I'm a big believer in uh trade school, huge believer in trade school, and he uh really emphasizes the value of trade school, and you might think, well, that sheep skin you got on the wall, why are you such an advocate for trade school? Because trade school works, those are the people that keep this country going, and so um I'm a big fan. Anyway, what does this have to do with all of this? They all come together, they all intersect. I I have friends who they are very successful people, but they their every day is 12 hours. That's a light day. 12 hours. Kid you not, I kid you not. They pour themselves into bed every night, they get up, then they get up early, and they get after it every day, seven days a week. And if it weren't for them, the town would fall apart. And the biggest employer. Um yeah, I you know there's this thing, there's a book called Stress for Success. If you if you want to read a really good book, there's two books I think are really good to read. Oh, oh, oh, I forgot to show y'all. Hold up. Look here, look there, huh? What about that? The other the final two Bibles, these are the ones that are gonna be. I'm gonna I have it set to give to certain family members when I pass. Isn't that beautiful? Looky there, looky there. Full yap. That's what this is called. The overhang is called the yap, and that protects the page. See how it folds together like that. Beautiful. Moose works. Melissa did a grand job. Well, look here. Look here. I love it. This Bible, these Bibles will last forever. Moose works Bible. Etsy. I'm telling you, yeah, that's a real name. Melissa and Etsy couldn't couldn't ask for a nicer person either. She's wonderful. Anyway, as you might notice, I'm struggling a little bit today to breathe. So um, pardon and bear with me. I mean, if you want, you don't have to, nobody's forcing you, but yeah, Robbie. I know they are beautiful, aren't they? Trades will last longer than any tune messages. Tune a message. I don't know what how you say that, but I like it. Trades will last longer than any other occupation. Amen. I am such a fan. Well, oh, I start to tell you. So, Mike Rowe, very humble man, extremely accomplished, and very, very successful. Uh, he we talked about the trades and the balance and imbalance of trades to white coat professions and blue-collar professions and the importance and the crossover there. But the but the people that have the power and control are the people that repair your car. Because now it's it's a computer, it's a rolling computer. Uh, the people that fix your toilet at two in the morning when the thing backs up, uh, and you have guests coming over the next day, the electrician when you flip the switch and nothing happens, and you know, welders and carpenters and HVAC and building automation systems and all of that. I it's I have mad respect for those people. Um, I love it. I did blue collar work. It shocks people to hear that, but um, you know, I did blue collar work and I was proud of it, and I am proud of it. So the thing is when when you lead, or even if you're a cog in the machine, uh I think I think a lot of times it happens such that you you just get leaning in, you get going. And maybe responsibility falls to you. This is this is Exodus 18, kind of where it resonates with me. And I tried to put myself in uh Moshe or Moses, I tried to put myself in his shoes or in his sandals. I don't know if he wore shoes, probably sketchers, easy on, easy off. They're not a sponsor. So, but I like them and I have a pair on. Anyway. So I mean he's he is sitting as judge over an entire nation. Can you imagine? And really, he's all alone from morning till evening. He's he's just sometimes it's not your own people that that tell you, hey, it's gonna kill you, man. It's gonna kill you. Sometimes it takes an outsider to come up and lightly tap you on the shoulder and say, hey, do you mind if I share something with you? You're working yourself to death. You're bearing all the burden by yourself. And you're like, and you would be Do I know you? Sometimes it takes an outsider. Look, we we can talk about the pressure, we can talk about. About all of the things that are comprised by the efforts of our day, even if you're retired. Jerry Summers, God rest his soul, loved him, loved him, loved him, still love him. And I will tell you, I love him to the day I die. And then I'll meet him in heaven because that's where he is. That guy didn't understand what retired meant. He had no interest in it. Unreal. I used to say to him all the time, I said, I think you misunderstood the meaning of retired. Some people, you don't, their life is lived without balance. I started to tell you about two books, and I want to finish telling you that. You might want to rate these down unless you're driving. Um Stress for Success by Dr. Jim Loore. Uh L-O-E-H-R. Wonderful man. Brilliant. Such a nice man. Really good, what he does, and and stress for success. And it talks about the difference between linear stress and oscillating stress. You know, weightlifting or exercise is oscillating stress. You can't lift weights, even a lightweight, for 24 hours. That'll destroy your body. But if you do it for an hour every day or every other day or whatever, I'm not giving help advice. But you have to have that time to put your body under stress and then let it relax and heal and then go back up. Thank you, Tammy, and then goes back down, you know, that whole deal. And he writes about that in a way that's very easy to understand. It was a light bulb moment. These books are old, they're like from the 90s. And um I, you know, just an amazing. And I took a seminar and eventually uh, you know, advanced in that program where you really learned uh you learn that what's behind it, the research and all that, and how to present it and all that. Anyway, but then there's another book called Good to Great, and that's by Dr. Jim Collins, and wonderful, wonderful person. Um, Wanda Fay asks, Good morning. How you feel about UFO? Some people believe they're falling angels. First of all, welcome. Thank you for listening. Welcome, Rocketman 232, and several of you others I see popping up. It goes too fast for me to catch a lot of it. You guys might be surprised to know that. And it's just buzzing the thing, and I don't know how to stop it. So like click on it. I've tried that and that doesn't work. And every now and then I can catch it and put it up on the screen, but um yeah. But uh, how do I feel about that? Well, it's not germane to what we're talking about. I have done some episodes uh that are related to extra, you know, out there stuff. And so, you know, I don't know. I I would love to tell you that I know a lot about it. My personal belief is that I don't care. That sounds so dismissive, but I don't care. I don't care about UFOs, I don't care. A can't affect it. Can't affect it what they are, what they aren't. Uh they could be any number of things. Do I believe that there are things outside earth? Yeah, of course I do. Why wouldn't there be? But do I care? No. When I get to heaven, um, and I'm not trying to be dismissive to you. This is just really what I feel about it. Um, when I get to heaven, you know, maybe I'll meet some of them if they know the Lord. I fallen angels, I don't think so. I don't think so. If they were nefarious, we'd know it by now. That's kind of where I stand with it. That's the short and the sweet on it. Anyway, so uh so in Good to Great, uh, that's a a book with uh also from the 90s. Um I've I've sat under his teaching um as a professor, and good to great is still, I think, the best-selling business book of all time. And so he um he writes this and he has this team of researchers, and they do all this research on why a company goes from good to great, and other companies go from that's just what you know, Kodak, to all of a sudden where are where are they? And then he then he really goes granular on the research on how do certain certain companies go from good to great? What's their strategy? And then others, you know, what what's their CEO like? Is it personality driven? Is it research driven? Has the person leading the company or founding the company or whatever? Uh do they have a backup plan? You say, what in the world has this got to do with anything? It has everything to do with it. Do they have a backup plan? Uh do they have a succession plan? Or does the company die with them? Listen, if you're self-employed, there's a difference between being in business and being self-employed. If you're self-employed, you're the one the business rises and falls on you. You don't go to work, the business doesn't, it just falls away. And if you don't have a succession plan, it will fall away because at some point you're going to close your eyes for the last time. And if you know the Lord, you'll open them to the face of Yeshua. But my point in all that is this is that we get in that grind and we don't know it. And some get in that grind and they're proud of that. That's what they want. They they want to be that. That's their identity. Their work, their their leadership, all of which is good because it employs people, gives people a way to pay their bills. They never have it easy. I've I've protected many billionaires and they work harder than anybody I've ever seen. Honestly, I didn't, I mean, I knew I've worked 18-hour days on a regular, but man, the stress on those folks. It's wild. So sometimes it takes an outsider to say, hey man, hey lady, you go and die, you keep this up. Now, if it's a person that doesn't have two pennies to rub together, they're not probably going to pay any attention to you. They're going to be like, hey, I employ a hundred thousand people. You can't pay your bills. You're telling me about balance, you're telling me about success, you tell me about achieve. Well, I don't think so. You know what I mean? You get where that conundrum is. By the way, wrote a book, wrote a couple books, but one of them is called True Word Faith for Life. It's available in TruewordFaithforLife.com in the store. Love for you to get it. Get to. Somebody, you know, somebody, if it's not you, you know somebody that's been trying to carry something alone for far longer than they were ever meant to. So today's question, I promise you this is gonna pick up pace here. Are you trying to carry this alone? And by this, I mean you put whatever you want in the this. You know what I mean? Put whatever you want in there. The this that I'm saying, who knows? Who knows? Could be any number of things that's your this. Retired, working, doesn't matter. Are you trying to carry this alone? So, Jethro. Jethro, uh, this is Moses' father-in-law, his wife Danny, and a priest of Midian. He hears everything God has done for Moses and for Israel, and he brings Zipporah, was her name, and her two sons out to meet him at the mountain of God. Her sons carry names that told their own story, Gershom, meaning I have been a sojourner in a foreign land, and Eliezer, meaning God of my father was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh's sword. Ooh. Even the names Moses gave his own children were small acts of testimony, and it's quite amazing. Hebrew. The ancient Near Eastern language culture and context of Hebrew Aramaic. It's everything has a meaning. There's very few words in their vocabulary, but so many things mean many different things depending on where they are and what they do, how they're used. It's a phenomenal language. Not just it's a phenomenal, amazing language, it's a phenomenal language, meaning things change based on context. That's why learning the ancient Near Eastern language, culture, and context is so important. If you want to understand, it's my belief that's what you gotta do. That's why I'm here. So Moses gave his own children. They they were they were small acts of testimony, the same discipline this whole week has already traced back to the song of the sea. Specific, spoken, never left vague. The two go into the tent, and Moses tells them everything, every plague, every hardship, every deliverance. And Jethro rejoices over all of it. And he says, Now I know the Lord is greater than all gods. Amen. He offers a sacrifice, and Aaron and the elders sit down to eat bread with him before God. Then the next day arrives, and Jethro watches Moses go to work. Moses sits to judge the people, and the people stand around him from morning until evening. Every dispute, every question about God's statutes funneled through one man. Can you imagine? Jethro asks him directly, What is this you're doing? Why do you sit alone while everyone stands around you all day? And Moses explains, the people come to inquire of God. And when there's a dispute, I decide between them and I teach them God's statutes and laws. Jethro, his response doesn't soften anything. What you're doing is not good, he says. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and the people with you, because the thing is too heavy for you. You're not able to do it alone. Then he gives specific counsel. Look for able men from among the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy, who hate a bribe, and place them as leaders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Let them handle the small matters. Bring only the great matters to you. If you do this, Jethro tells him, God will direct you, you'll be able to endure, and the whole people will go home in peace. Moses listens to his father-in-law's voice and does exactly what he said. He chooses able men from all Israel, sets them as leaders over the people, and he lets them judge the smaller cases while the hardest ones still come to him. Then Jethro says goodbye and returns to his own country. There's heavy theology here. Four things in this chapter carry a whole bucket worth of weight, and that makes it worth going, let me put it back into first gear here for a second. Number one, first notice that notice who delivers this correction. Jethro isn't an Israelite. He's not a Jew. He's a Midianite priest. He's an outsider to the covenant. And God still uses him to hand Moses wisdom. Moses badly needed. Apparently he couldn't see it for himself. Isn't that the way we often are? Truth doesn't stop being true because it comes from an unexpected source. Second, Jethro names the real cost with total precision. You will wear yourself out. Both you and the people with you. This wasn't only Moses' problem. Every single person standing in that line all day was paying for the system too. Waiting hours for decisions that never needed to reach Moses at all. Third, the solution was never Moses stepping back entirely. The hardest cases still came to him. This wasn't abdication, it was right sizing, it was matching the weight of each decision to the person actually equipped to carry it. And then fourth, the qualification for these new leaders wasn't primarily talent or availability. Able men who fear God, who are trustworthy. Who hate a bribe. The character came before competence in every single requirement Jethro listed. Character. Imagine that. Character came before every competency. Put together, this chapter says something that cuts against a very, very common instinct. Wisdom can come from outside your own camp. The weight of doing everything alone costs everything around you, not just you. And the structure, by the way, was never no structure or all structure. It was neither, it was neither both of, you know, well, we're just not gonna, we're gonna freewheel it here. No. And it wasn't, oh, we gotta have a meeting to discuss having meetings and a committee to discuss having committees. No, it was it was a a balance, the right structure carried by the right people. Here's where this gets personal. Because, you know, most of us have, we've run our own version of Moses' morning to evening line. We're convinced that if we don't personally handle every decision, every need, every question, something essential will be lost. Something critically important won't be handled the way it should be handled, and everything will fall apart. That conviction usually is packaged as devotion. This chapter suggests it might actually be a blind spot, one that costs the people around you as much as it costs you. Now, let me address something really quick. I talk a lot about Shabbat or Sabbath, and I do I've done multiple episodes on it. I've done thousands of episodes, so they're all free at True Word, Faith for Life with Dr. Sean. You want the one that has just under 4,000 subscribers. You want that one. The other two, they are backup. Just in case I ever get deplatformed, which can happen. It has happened, and I'm getting throttled now, as you noticed. Keep engaging, comments, likes, all of that. It's critical. Seems like a small thing, but it's not. It's everything. That way you overcome the algorithm. Anyway, so look, I would put this kindly and gently and not judgy. There are times in our lives where big decisions have to be made and we have to make them. That's the way it is sometimes. But we don't need to micromanage everything. And by the way, Moses wasn't lazy. We have this weird sort of blind spot, probably similar to Moses, and this is what kind of one I want to tell you here. Is some people will reject Shabbat observing Sabbath. And notice I'm not saying going to church or uh Sunday, any of that. We're not going to address any of that. I've taught on that a million times. Some many will say, I don't go to church because you know I'm I'm busy. I run a business, or I'm I have this important role at this company, and if I'm not there, I have to feed my family. I have to, I have responsibilities. So I get it. I get that. Hey, I'm just being responsible. I'm just being dedicated. I love the Lord. I'll I'll pray on my way to and from work. I'll pray on the plane, flying from place to place. I'll I'll pray on the way to this job site or that job site. But I I can't stop and go worship. Forsake not the assembling of the saints. Churches are jacked up because we're jacked up. You find a perfect one, it will no longer be perfect when you go. I'm imperfect. I will never find the perfect church because as soon as I walk in, it will no longer be perfect. You gotta stop. And you gotta breathe. Part of the biggest part of Shabbat is setting aside time where you're not being hammered by all the stuff of the world. Shut the TV off. Shut the radio off. Maybe, maybe listen to things that are uplifting or educational, but not you know, they get you all angst up. Listen to worship. Listen to good preaching. I have someone who listens to this who we've been talking on, and he gave me permission to discuss this. I'm not going to discuss by name, but he doesn't go to church because his it's you know it brings up memories that are very difficult for him. So he worships at home. When he goes to church, he gets full of anxiety, literal anxiety, can't breathe. There's another person that listens that shares my um claustrophobia. I never was claustrophobic until I got trapped and uh couldn't get out and had to be cut out. And so, yeah, yeah, now I'm claustrophobic. How about that? And um, sometimes you get a little claustrophobic with a bunch of people around you. There's a million and one reasons, and I don't I don't minimize any of them. The biggest one that I say that's so important is this. You gotta fight through. You gotta fight through and look around and see other people worshiping and hear them worshiping. And be led. And be taught. Because you're not alone. Are those people perfect? No. Listen, I have a lot of blind spots, there's no doubt about it. This is one I I unfortunately figured out too late. So I want you to notice that Moses, he wasn't being lazy. He wasn't being unfaithful by sitting there all day handling everything himself. He was being dedicated, he was faithful. But he was if he was faithful in exactly the wrong shape. Oh, you know what? I just figured out this just popped into my head. I know why it was louder, Susan. I didn't change any of the settings. In fact, it's down. By four four settings. I don't know what percentage that is, but um, because I'm shooting in this live is in a higher resolution, which also brings the sound. Interesting. I just thought of that. Listen, Moses was working his face off, doing what he believed God called him to do. Let me tell you, Moses did a good job. This man was carrying weight that actually God never asked him to carry all by himself. And the correction came not from a rival, not from somebody trying to undermine him, but from someone who loved him. Someone who loved him enough to say this hard thing in plain words. This is going to tear you up. It's going to wear you out, brother. It's going to tear you up. It's already wearing out everybody waiting in that line that's been waiting for days. If somebody in your life's never said a version of that to you, then you brush it off because they didn't fully understand what you carry, and maybe you didn't give much weight to what they were saying. Maybe you didn't give much weight to them. This chapter asks you to consider that they might have seen something true you genuinely couldn't see from the inside out. What would it actually cost you to hand the smaller matters to somebody trustworthy? So the hardest ones could finally get the attention they deserve. Listen, there's absolutely a risk. You you someone may appear to be really squared away and have all of the character and even the competencies to do good in a deacon role, leadership role, a support role. And they may look like that, and then but they may be jacked up in real life. And that eventually begins to show, and the cracks in their character begin to show. Centuries later, that the apostles found themselves in almost exactly Moses' position, overwhelmed by the daily needs of a growing community, followers of the way, until they appointed seven men full of the Spirit and wisdom to handle what was rightfully theirs to carry. And that freed the apostles to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. Because it's hard. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie to you, but there's many of my friends have said, dude, we don't hear from you anymore. Well, this. It's Exodus 18 all over again. Wise structure, character-qualified leaders, and a burden finely sized to the people actually meant to carry it. Yeshua himself, Jesus himself, he modeled this before any of it. He had unlimited capability and still he chose 12. You ever think about that? He had an unlimited capability, but he chose 12 men. And then he sent out 70 more. Unlimited capability. Chose 12 and sent out 70 more. Good lands. He distributed the work of the kingdom rather than insisting it all run through him personally, even though he alone could have handled every single request himself. And when the weight finally does need to land somewhere, it can actually be carried without breaking. He's the one who says, Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Look, the hardest cases of Exodus 18, they still went to Moses. The hardest case of all, the weight of every sin ever committed went to the cross, carried by the one who never needed help to hold it up. He's not asking you to carry what was never yours to carry alone. And that's sin. That's your hurts, habits, and hangups. He never asked you to carry all that by yourself. He already carried the one thing that actually required it. You say you want a way to obey in a concrete way. Okay, I'll give you some ways. First, name one area where you're currently doing everything yourself, and you could look that could genuinely be shared by somebody trustworthy. Number two, identify who around you has the character, not just the availability, not just they can talk a good talk. I mean, they have the character. Can they carry? You need to identify somebody can actually carry some of that weight and carry it well. Third, bring only the hardest matters to the place they actually belong. And let go of the rest without guilt. Look, Shabbat is an amazing thing, it's a beautiful thing. And you know, postmodern Western evangelical Christianity says, well, yes, um, but the new covenant and in church, and we're the covenant, and we don't have to do and this and that, and they pick and choose from the commandments and the covenant. I'm gonna obey this and I'm not gonna obey that because this is different. No, I didn't stop. You shall not commit murder, still stands. Don't covet, that still stands. So does Shabbat. This isn't a message about Shabbat, but it's a message about why Shabbat is there in the first place. Why is the Sabbath there in the first place? It's rest. It's letting go of the mountain on you. I have for you today a challenge and a choice. And it took us a long time to get here, but we're here, and none of that before this was a waste, and neither will this be. What line have you been standing at the front of morning to evening, convinced it all has to run through you? Who's already trying to tell you this is wearing you out? And what's kept you from actually hearing it? Here's the choice today: keep carrying every matter alone until it wears you and everyone around you out. Or do what Moses did, listen to the wisdom however it arrives, and let the right people carry the weight they were actually equipped to carry. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, in the name of your son Yeshua, thank you for sending wisdom through people we don't expect, and for the courage to actually listen when it arrives. Thank you that you never asked us to carry what was never ours to carry alone, and that Yeshua already carried the one weight that truly required it. For everyone standing at the front of a line that it's wearing them down. Father, I ask that you send them the counsel they need, the counsel they'll hear, and the humility to receive it in Yeshua's blessed name. Amen. Look, maybe, maybe, maybe the weight you're most exhausted by isn't a task at all. Maybe it's the burden of trying to carry your own life without God, without the Lord. He's been offering to carry it with you the whole time. If that's you, I want you to pray with me. Pray it and mean it. Resolve it today, handle it. Simple. Yeshua, I need you. Pray it and mean it. Yeshua, I need you. I believe you died for me and rose from the grave. Listen, if you don't believe it, there's no point in praying it. I believe you died for me and rose from the grave. I surrender my life to you today. He'll know if you're serious or you're not. I surrender my life to you today. Forgive me. If you don't want, if you don't want that, if that's not what you want, because you don't think you need forgiving, then ain't no point in praying it. But if you mean it and you understand it, Father, forgive me. Fill me, lead me. I'm yours. In your name. Amen. If you prayed it and you meant it, welcome to the family. True wordfaithforlife.com slash contact. I'll help you. I've helped countless other people. I'm happy to help you. I really am. Kind of what I live for. So if this is your first time, you know, tuning in, which many of you here are, see. This is your first time with us. We've been walking through scripture chronologically since Genesis, starting at day one, and here we are at 74. This is Friday, this is Shabbat, and and Sunday we meet again at 6:30 p.m. and we go over all the things that we couldn't cover. And and here's the thing: I do a blog post and a study guide. It's detailed, it's detailed. And every week, the end of the week, you'll have that available to you. It's free. True word, faithfullife.com. The only thing I ask, you can copy it, you can share it, you can use it as devotions, you can use it as Bible study. Uh, there's a couple people that are using it for their small group. They meet once a week, they take that and they work their way through it. I give you discussion questions, I define Hebrew words that maybe we didn't get to, give you a little bit of you know, structure of the words and that, and then I give you an annotated uh bibliography, uh Torabian style bibliography and uh annotated footnotes throughout whatever sources I use, you have them. The only thing I ask is when you copy it, copy the copyright line as well. That's all I ask. I don't charge a thing for it. So I'd love for you, if you've just tuned in, you can listen, go back and listen to all of these episodes. You can start at day one, and you know what? You can also listen currently, but during the week, listen to day one, maybe on your drive to and from work or on your drive to and from the hospital to visit people or the grocery or maybe walking around the grocery, whatever, whatever you can listen to it. It's free. A line. I want you to imagine this in your mind, a line morning until evening, and one man carrying what was never his to carry alone. And here comes an outsider's voice, plain and unafraid. This will wear you out. So whatever you're carrying by yourself, right now, it was never meant to end at your door alone. If somebody you know has been standing at the front of their own line for far too long, send them this episode. Tell them it's time to let the weight land where it actually belongs. I'm gonna pray this blessing over you in Hebrew and then I'm gonna translate it to English. I want you to receive this until Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. By the way, I love to hear from you all. Uh, I love it. I love when you send me messages and emails, and some of you have my personal direct contact and you send me that. I love getting the contacts through the website. I love all of that. It shows me this is landing, even just a little bit. Now, I want you to hear this and I want you to feel it. I'm nobody special. I am, I trust me when I tell you, I'm nobody special. I'm just telling you in the language of God, I'm telling you in the language that he communicates with, that he chose for Yeshua, his son, to communicate with. And then I'll translate it in English. Are you ready? May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace until Sunday at 6 30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Shalom Bashem Yeshua. Shalom Alakum Shabbat Shalom.