Connect

Guest (Male): Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're so glad you've tuned in today. At Connect with Skip, our mission is to help people know God more deeply through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching that brings biblical truth to everyday life. When you sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional, you'll receive biblical encouragement, ministry updates, and advance information about upcoming resources, all delivered right to your inbox.

Signing up is quick, easy, and completely free. Visit connectwithskip.com today. That's connectwithskip.com. Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: Jesus lived around people who had urgent needs, but he always focused on what is important. So, after three years of ministry, Jesus could say, "I have finished the work you gave me to do." In the little booklet, Hummel says, "Isn't that a strange thing for Jesus to tell his father? After three years, I've finished the work you've given me to do?"

He's healed some people, but there's more people that are not healed. He's saved some people; there are many more people who are not saved. How do you say after three years, "I've finished the work you gave me to do?" He says there are two things. Number one, Jesus got up every morning and spent quality time with his father. Mark chapter one, "A great while before the day, he went to a solitary place, and there he prayed."

Then he points out in John chapter two, here is the filter that Jesus used in making his decisions: "For I always do those things that please him." In other words, I get up every day and I evaluate life based upon what the Father has given me to do, what my task is, what my primary task is, not what the secondary issues are.

Change your approach, Moses. That's the first important key. Second is to instruct the people. Verse 19, he continues, "Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God will be with you. Stand before God for the people so that you may bring the difficulties to God, and you shall teach them the statutes and the laws and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do."

Get alone with God, hear his voice, and then tell people what the Lord has told you. Teach people, instruct them in his truth. That's good leadership. A good leader will never force people into a bottlenecked situation where they have to wait in line one at a time to get their needs met by one person. Jethro says, "No, as the leader, teach the entire community."

As your organization grows, whatever it might be—church, ministry, organization—high-visibility leadership will still be needed, but that role is limited and becomes more limited because you can only do so much. I'll tell you a real-life story. I got a phone call years ago from a pastor. I won't tell you his first name because some of you may recognize him if I did, but this was years ago.

He called me and said, "Skip, I'm sort of in a dilemma. I'm teaching a series in our church on marriage and family. As I've been teaching this series on the weekends, it has brought up a lot of family problems in couples in the church. They're calling me to ask me to counsel them. I have been engaged in counseling them. Now I've discovered the last few weeks I'm counseling so many couples because I'm teaching on marriage that it's taking away my study time that I would normally put into getting my message ready for the next week."

I said, "That's a dilemma. What have you done?" He said, "What I've done is I've asked my assistant pastor to fill in on the weekends while I'm doing marriage counseling." I said, "As I see it, you have one of two choices. Number one, make him the senior pastor and you become the counselor, or let him be the counselor and you go back to teaching in the pulpit."

Because what's going to happen is they're going to listen to him and they're going to get touched by what he has to say and what God is teaching him during the week, and they're going to want him to counsel them. You're going to have this vicious cycle going around and around. You have to focus on your priorities and not what is secondary.

I've found many a pastor will embroil himself in administrative details, in minutiae of people's lives, in secondary issues, and the pulpit begins to suffer. You might be thinking, "This has nothing to do with me. I'm not a pastor. I'm certainly not the leader of two million people through the desert." How does this apply to me?

In this way: if you lead anything, from a small group to a family to an organization, your task is to get the vision and to communicate the vision clearly. When you communicate the vision clearly as the leader of any organization, the questions that people have under you in that organization go down. The clearer you are in communicating the vision, the ambiguity and the questions go down.

As an example, when people are taught the word of God from the pulpit, what I've noticed is the need for personal counseling goes down. Yes, it brings up issues, but over the long run, the need for personal counseling goes down because this is a counseling session. Every Bible study is a counseling session. We are being nourished in the principles of the scripture, and the need for personal counseling will go down.

When people in an organization understand the vision, their questions will also diminish. So, a leader is somebody who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. Do that, Moses. Years ago, I had an idea for a school of ministry. I'd just been to China and seen how the Chinese churches raise up their own people. I thought, "I think we should have our own school of ministry in our church."

I wanted to get it started really quickly because I came back to the states after that trip around this time of the year, in January. I didn't want to wait for the next school year; I wanted to start it now. So, what I did is I first communicated that to my assistant pastor. He got fired up about it. We met with the entire staff, and we both communicated the vision to the entire staff.

They got fired up about it. Weekend rolls around, I give the vision to the whole church: we're going to start a school of ministry. Within weeks, maybe a week and a half, we had 50 people signed up to enter our first school of ministry. I don't know if we carried that many the first year, maybe 30, but we had enough people because the vision was clearly communicated.

So, change your approach, instruct the people, communicate the vision. Third, build a team. Verse 21, "Moreover, you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens."

And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So, it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. Here's the principle in these verses: big loads require many shoulders to bear them.

I love what D.L. Moody used to say. He said, "I'd rather get a thousand men to do the work than for me to do the work of a thousand men." I'll build a team; I'll put others to the task. That's leadership. Leadership is the capacity to rally many people around a common purpose. But they have to be the right kind of leaders. They have to be qualified. You'll notice there are qualifications that are given here.

You are to get able men. They have to fear God, they have to be men of truth, and they have to hate covetousness. Get people that meet that set of criteria and you're good to go; you're getting the right people. I used to have a friend who came into my office regularly and gave me these great little pearls of wisdom. One of the things he liked to say is, "Put the right people in the right place and all your problems go away."

I was struggling because I said, "This thing isn't going well." He said, "You've got the wrong person in that place. Get the right person in the right place and all your problems go away." So, build a team. They have to be the right kind of team. Here's another little secret to this: when you build your team, you want to create a leadership pipeline because you're raising these people up. You're mentoring them, you're teaching them, but teach them to teach others.

So, it doesn't stop with them. You're creating a leadership pipeline. You're mentoring them and you're telling them, "Now that I'm mentoring you, I want you to find other people that you can also train and mentor, who can also train and mentor, who can also train and mentor." You're passing it down. That's a New Testament principle, by the way.

That's Second Timothy chapter two, verse two. Paul said to Timothy, "The things that you have heard from me, commit these to faithful men who will also be able to teach others as well." That's the leadership pipeline. Now your team is self-perpetuating. You're passing the torch down generation to generation. So, change your approach, instruct the people, build a team.

Here's the fourth: trust the team. Now that you've got the team, let them have it. Walk away from it. Look at verse 22: "Let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you—if they can't figure it out, they'll find you—but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So, it will be easier for you. They'll bear the burden with you."

You step away, you let them at it. They'll love it because they're in charge and they're making the decisions. They may fail, they may stumble, they may make mistakes. That's okay. You're going to be tempted to overreach. You're going to be tempted to get over-involved. Don't do it. Eventually, they're going to get it.

Guest (Male): This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Your support helps reach people every day with biblical truth that brings hope, encouragement, and direction for real life. This month, we'd like to thank you with a special collection of resources designed to help you grow stronger in your faith. When you give today, you'll receive Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Life.

You'll find biblical encouragement to help you deepen your prayer life, experience God's joy, embrace forgiveness, and stand firm in every season with four of Pastor Skip's lifestyle booklets: Pray This Way, Technicolor Joy, Unforgiveness: Forgiveness versus Sweet Revenge, and Standing Firm in Unsettled Times. Your gift helps extend the reach of Connect with Skip Heitzig, connecting more people to God's word around the world. Request your collection when you give $30 or more at connectwithskip.com/offer or by calling 800-922-1888. We'll be right back after this special message from Pastor Skip Heitzig about a simple plan to help you grow deeper in God's word over the next 90 days.

Skip Heitzig: Learning your Bible matters. I'm committed to teaching God's word, and I want you to understand the depth of scripture for yourself. That's why I want to invite you to join me in a 90-day through-the-entire-Bible reading challenge using the YouVersion Bible app.

We call it Jesus People Grow. So, for 90 days, we're going to read together God's word. We're going to learn it, receive it, and we're going to let it shape us so that we can also be faithful in sharing good teaching with others. Join me. Let's learn our Bibles and grow in the word of God. Now, here's more from Pastor Skip.

Somebody once said the trouble with being a leader is you're not sure if people are following you or chasing you. What's good about training others to do it and letting them do it is that if people are chasing, they might be chasing them and not you. You're letting them have it. It was President Truman who used to refer to leaders as people who can get others to do what they don't want to do and make them like doing it.

Let them do it. They may make mistakes, let them do it. What will be the net result? Verse 22, "So it will be easier for you." You know, if you're leading the right way, the task won't be harder; it'll be easier. That's the goal. Let it be easier for you. Don't work harder; work smarter.

Back to something I said at the beginning. Christians are notorious for wanting to walk around overburdened, stressed out, saying, "I'm doing God's work. I'm the only one who cares." That's sick. The happiest people on earth ought to be the ones engaged in serving the Lord. There ought to be joy; it ought to be fun.

In ministry, there's always more to do. There's always more people, more needs, more stuff to counsel, more meetings to go to, more details that require attention. Build a team, release the team, let them do what you picked them to do, and it'll be easier for you. That's exactly what Jesus did.

How many men did he choose around him? Twelve. Their names are given in Matthew chapter 10. After he picks them, it says, "These twelve Jesus sent out." He didn't say, "I'm sending you out, but I'm going to be right behind you to make sure you're making the right decision and not doing something stupid." No, he let them do what they did.

They came back, they downloaded what they learned, and then a couple years later, he released the biggest task of all. He said, "Go into all the world now and preach the gospel to every creature because I'm going back home. I'm ascending to my Father. Now it's your turn. I'm passing the baton onto you. Go into all the world and preach the gospel." Pick your team and trust the team.

I remember it was a long time ago somebody told me the 80/20 rule. He said, "20% of the people will do 80% of the work; 80% of the people will watch 20% do all the work." I remember hearing that thinking, "That's a very dismal statistic." If that's true, why is that true? Here is what I've come up with.

If it's true, it's because the 20% have never brought anybody else in and taught them to do anything. They just keep doing it, keep doing it, keep doing it. Also, the 80% have never discovered and experienced the thrill of fruitful service for themselves. What it ought to be is not 80% watching 20% doing; it should be the exact opposite.

It should be like an iceberg. The church ought to be like an iceberg—I don't mean cold and uncaring. I mean you only see 10%. The 90% are active people under the surface doing the work, getting the job done, that you never see because they're overlooked typically. We had a staff and volunteer get-together before Christmas. It was a large group.

What I heard from my staff especially, but also a lot of the volunteers, is "I had no idea how many people are involved in ministry like I am." Thousands of people involved to the glory of God. Now, if you happen to be part of that 80%, you just come and all you do is show up and listen. If you only come for the teaching, then don't call this the body of Christ.

It's not a body; it's a mouth. You're coming to hear the mouth. The body is when all of us are involved under the surface bearing the load, getting involved, doing the work. So, we have four principles: change your approach, instruct the people, build a team, trust the team. If I were to put it in another form, I would say it's not about me; it's about we.

That's the first principle. Second, the leader's role is not to pressure you; it's to instruct you. Third, you are not a spectator; you are a participant. Fourth, I don't want to tell you how to do it; I want to just trust you to do it. Number five, the last principle: take advice. Take good advice. Always be open to good advice.

I want to take you to the last couple of verses of this section. Look at verse 23. Jethro says to Moses, "If you do this thing and God so commands you—he's sort of pulling rank on Moses like, 'I'm speaking for God now'—God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace." You're not going to wear out; they're not going to wear out.

Verse 24, one of the best verses in the section: "So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law." How many of you listen to your father-in-law, your mother-in-law, and see them as perhaps the voice of God in your life? Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. That's a good leader.

A good leader always sees room for improvement and will never be closed-minded, saying, "It's either my way or the highway." He just says, "I'm open." Take advice, take good advice. Change your approach, instruct the people, build a team, release your team, take good advice. Those are the principles.

Did you know that the New Testament has a very similar example to this? Let me just tell you about it. In the sixth chapter of the book of Acts, the organization is growing. The church is growing. There are multitudes of people; there are more demands for the leaders. It says in those days, Acts chapter six, verse one, "When the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution."

Then the twelve—these are the leaders, the pastors, the apostles—the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom—there's the qualifications—over whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word."

Very similar. You've got needs. The apostles don't say, "Okay, here we are. You line up one by one. We're going to hear all of you one at a time." What they said is, "We ain't doing that. We're going to pray for you and we're going to get in the word to hear from God and tell you what God says in his word. But this is a burden that must take many shoulders to bear. So, let's find qualified people. Let's release ministry to them."

Verse five, "And the saying pleased the whole multitude." They chose Stephen, a man full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas—all their names are given—whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid hands on them, and the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Spiritual problems were met by spiritual priorities and spiritual people. The result is God added; he multiplied. So, the leaders, instead of doing all the work, they were sort of like divine talent scouts. "You know what? You see that issue, you see that problem? You seem really good at that. I'm going to let you be in charge of that issue." And they released it to them. And the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied.

Coming up next month are the Winter Olympics. I thought back to the Olympics in 2014. They were in Sochi, Russia. What I remember is watching on the screen how the torch had to go through all these communities and finally taken to Olympic Stadium and the torch was lit to inaugurate the beginning of the Olympics.

What I remember is that the torch was taken over land, sea, on snowmobiles, through over 1,000 different little communities in the area. 14,000 torchbearers were responsible until the ultimate last torchbearer brought it into the stadium and lit it aflame. I thought about that: that's the church, that's the organization, that's leadership.

It's not one person going to all the communities bearing the torch; it's 14,000 people lighting a flame for the glory of God. That's exactly what John Wesley said. He said, "Give me 300 men who hate nothing but sin and love nothing but God, and I will light a flame that will burn across the world." Just people who will bear the torch, people who will get involved, people who see the body, not the mouth. They bear the torch along with all of us.

Guest (Male): We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, here's a reminder: when you give $30 or more this month, we'll send you Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Life as our thanks. This special collection of four lifestyle booklets from Pastor Skip Heitzig offers biblical encouragement for prayer, joy, forgiveness, and standing firm when life feels uncertain. Your support helps keep this Bible teaching ministry reaching people around the world with the life-changing truth of God's word. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time.