This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is week four, day three together of our look through the book of Exodus.
And as we get together to this chapter of Exodus where Moses and his
father-in-law have a conversation about how to live with the routine details of
life, we're going to learn some things. We're going to learn some things
together about how to make it through with freedom even in the midst of things
that don't seem to be working right, especially in times when you feel burdened
in your life.

Yesterday, we reminded ourselves that to deal with the small routine things that
can steal away our freedom, whether it's irritation or temptations, one of the
things you do is you constantly consider God's care, no matter where you are,
God is there caring for you. Here we learn that one of the keys is to stop
carrying the burden by yourself. You stop carrying the burden all by yourself.

You're in it not by yourself, but with the Lord and also with others. Sometimes
the little things get you in life because you're not spiritually strong. Your
heart is focused on yourself and not the Lord.

You're not spending any time in his word. And so you struggle, you feel this
constant burden. But there are other times in life when the little things get
you because you're not practically strong.

You're spending time in the word, you're praying a lot, but you still feel worn
out. When you keep putting yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time and
getting the wrong result, you feel like you're asking more and more of yourself
and God is asking more and more of you and you're getting less and less results,
it's just not working. Many times, there are some practical things that we need
to learn in those moments of life.

Moses had to learn from his father-in-law. Listen to what happened beginning in
verse 8 to 16 when Moses met with his father-in-law and then Jethro, his
father-in-law, saw what Moses was doing, beginning in verse 8. Moses told his
father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians
for Israel's sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how
the Lord had saved them.

Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for
Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. He said, "Praise be to
the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh and who
rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is
greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel
arrogantly.

" 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 are doing for the
people? Why do you alone sit as judge while all the people stand around from
morning till evening?

" Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will.
Whenever they have a dispute, it's brought to me, and I decide between the
parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws. " Jethro comes to visit
Moses, and first he hears the good news of what God's been doing in the people,
and then he sees how Moses serves, and he looks and he sees everyone's waiting
on Moses, and Moses is the only one who can seem to help, and he realizes he has
the wisdom to see this is not a good situation.

Moses is all alone. This is not a good situation. Anytime you feel like you're
the lone ranger serving Jesus, it's just you, there's something wrong.

And Jethro sees it and he gives, there's like a bachelor's degree in advice in
just this one chapter about how to handle life when it feels overwhelming,
especially the details of life. Let's just walk through some simple things we
learned from what happened between Jethro and Moses. Number one thing you learn
when you feel overwhelmed is you've got to admit there's a problem.

Admit there's a problem. Verse 17, Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you're
doing is not good. " Moses thought it was good.

"Everybody has to talk to me. " His father-in-law knew him well enough to look
him in the eye and say, "What you're doing is not good. This is not working.

Do you have somebody in your life who's willing to say that to you? Or maybe is
the Lord saying that to you right now, even as I read this verse? How do you
know it's not good?

How do you know there's a problem? You know it from what happened in verse 18.
Jethro says, "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. " How do you know
it's not good?

You're worn out, others are frustrated, the work isn't getting done. It's not
good. So you admit there's a problem.

It's just not good. So maybe God's speaking to you right now. Maybe it's about
your business.

Maybe it's about your family life. Maybe it's about a ministry that you're in.
And right now, as I'm talking, the Lord's giving you this sneaking suspicion.

It's not good what's going on right now. This burden does not have to keep on
going on. I don't have to have a messiah complex and think I'm the only one that
can meet everybody's need.

In fact, Jesus told me not to do that. So what do I do? How do I begin to walk
out of this trap that I've gotten myself in?

A second thing Jethro taught Moses is you remember the big picture. Right now
you remember the big picture. In verse 19 he says, "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. " Jethro says, "Remember, Moses, what you're in this for. You're spending
so much time dealing with the people's problems, you have no time to talk to God
anymore.

You're missing the big picture. This happens so many times in a family, so many
times in a business. We get so caught up in the tasks of what we're doing, we
forget the reason we're doing it.

So you remember the big picture. Remember the reason you started that business.
Remember the reason you started that ministry.

Remember the reason that you wanted to have kids. Remember the reason you got
married. Remember the big picture.

You bring that to mind right now. It's one of the keys to beginning to live a
new way. You remember the big picture.

Okay, this is what it's all about. This is, okay, I go back to where I started.
This was my dream.

This was my vision. It's being buried right now under all the tasks, but if I
can just take a few minutes to get them all out of the way, this was the
picture. Then what's the next thing you do to get out from under the burden?

Next thing that Jethro teaches Moses is you do what only you can do. You do what
only you can do. In verse 20, teach them the decrees and laws and show them the
way to live and the duties they are to perform.

Moses had heard it from the Lord and he needed to teach it to all the people. So
you do what only you can do. If you're not doing what only you can do, if you're
not leading like only you can leave, if you're not loving like only you can love
in your family, in your business, in your ministry, then obviously you're going
to be overwhelmed and burdened every day of your life.

What's the one thing that you do best? Do that mostly. Do that mostly.

But what about the other things? Everything else that needs to get done? That's
the next thing.

That's probably the greatest thing that Jethro teaches Moses that day. You share
the load. You don't do it alone.

Verses 21 to 23. But Jethro said, "You select capable men from all the people,
men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain, and you appoint them
as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Have them serve as
judges for the people at all times and have them bring every difficult case to
you.

The simple case is 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'll
be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.

Share the load, Jethro says. Now notice he says you do it with the right people
and you do it in the right way. First the right people.

Capable men, men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain. Many
times when we get weary, when we get worn out, we get to a point where we think,
I'll just throw anyone into the mix. I mean, I just need help.

So the first person that walks down the hallway, the first person we see, we say
I need help and we get them involved. And the problem gets worse because they
weren't the right person. In fact, they might be just the wrong person.

And so then we end up saying to ourselves, see, I have to do it all myself. Well
the problem is you didn't remember to do what only you can do and to get above
it and to focus on who are the right people. You take the time to get the right
people and then you do it the right way.

Jethro had a plan. They had thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Somebody has
a problem, they take it to their leader of 10.

If the leader of 10 can't figure it out, they take it to the leader of 50. If
the leader of 50 can't figure it out, they go to the leader of 100. If the
leader of 100 can't figure out the answer to the problem, they go to the leader
of 1,000.

And if the leader of 1,000 can't figure it out, they take it to Moses. So
there's all these opportunities for somebody to help all along the way. You do
it the right way.

You get a lot of people involved. You get a lot of process even involved.
Processes that involve people in meeting needs are good processes.

Processes that frustrate people by putting them in a line somewhere, and that
was Moses' process, I'm the only answer, are terrible processes. So you do it
with the right people. You do it in the right way.

You look at what Jethro taught Moses that day. He teaches us that I've got to
first of all admit there's a problem. Second I've got to remember the big
picture.

Then I've got to do what only I can do, make sure I'm doing a lot of that. I've
got to share the load. And one final thing is you don't just agree there's a
problem, you act on the problem.

Verse 24, "Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. " You
could listen to this Bible study today and think, oh yeah, I agree, there's a
problem, and then just keep on doing what you're doing. You don't just agree,
shake your head up and down and think, well, I've done something about it
because I agree there might be a problem.

What's the use of agreeing unless you do the next thing? Moses listened to his
father-in-law and he did everything he said. Our Father, help us to listen to
you.

When we get overwhelmed, when we get overburdened, we get irritated, we get
selfish, we get self-focused, and sometimes it's hard for us to hear you.
Breakthrough, help us to hear you. Help us to realize that Jesus did not come to
give us a greater burden.

In fact, he came to give us a greater freedom and to make our burden light. So
help us to see where we might be trying to do it all. Might be trying to do
somebody else's job in the body, in the family, in the business.

Help us to see that, Jesus, and then help us to act on what we see. We ask this
in your name, amen. Tomorrow we're going to see what happened at Mount Sinai.