Exodus 17:8 - 19:15
Matthew 22:34 - 23 :12
Psalm 27:7 - 14
Proverbs 6:27 - 35
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This is a tool to help you read through the Bible in a year. Each day there is a reading from The Old Testament, The New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. There is also a place to add comments on what you've read. Just click on the date and you will see any comments posted. Click the scripture verses to read the passage.
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Exodus 18:17-26
ReplyDeleteMoses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."
Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
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There is so much wisdom in Jethro's advice to Moses here. I think that people outside of the church look at churches that are structured around one individual as not being the way Jesus intended. I am reading a book called "unChristian" that is based on a few years worth of statistics and it echoes this throughout the book.
Churches are much more healthy when they have a group of leaders working together to make the church happen. They are also less susceptible to being attacked and falling apart. It's much easier to take down one person than it is to take down a whole team.
I watched a PBS special on Jim Jones and the People' Church last night. I can't stop thinking about how crazy he was and how he had 909 people follow him to their death. He was the center of their whole church and everything revolved around him, so there was no accountability when things got weird. I know this is happening right now in some churches. If the Pastor is the beaming center of attention of a church, all his good traits and BAD traits become the personality of the church. I've seen this happen before and I've noticed that they will usually draw people who are a lot like them, so there ends up being a church full of the same kinds of people. But if a church has multiple leaders who are accountable to each other and work as a team, the church is much more diverse and relevant to a broader group. It is harder for the enemy to attack a church like this.
Jethro told Moses, "You will wear yourself out if you try to be the church superstar."
It's so true.