# Quality leaders

Key Passage: Exodus 18:13-21
Date: June 7, 2024

We’re going to get back to the life of Moses. We’ve been away from it a bit. Last week we had our missionary to Israel, Brother Ron Plott, and excited about hearing from him, excited about him going back to Israel.

One thing to clear up a little bit: God used him there, and God has used him greatly over there. Start celebrating. That’s tough to start churches in Israel. Wow, it’s just amazing. God’s using him to start two different ones, to be a part of it. And praise the Lord for that. Good to hear from him last Wednesday. Actually, last Thursday was a year since we started on the life of Moses. We’ve been on Moses for a while, but it’s been a while since we’ve been on it. We’ve kind of been here, there, and yonder, so we’re getting back to it tonight.

Next Wednesday, Evangelist Randy Starr will be with us, and he’s a great guy. He’ll be a blessing to us next Wednesday. He’s got a special treat there on that. But tonight, we’re just in and out of it. We’re back there on Moses tonight.

God has led the children of Israel out of Egypt: the ten plagues, the death of the firstborn, Passover. They’ve crossed over the Red Sea. They’re in the wilderness, traveling down to the South Park there, and they’re over in Mount Horeb, that area where Moses was for 40 years. He had met his wife there, got married there, [had] two boys there. But he’s back there to that part of the world.

His father-in-law, Jethro, says, “Hey, man, he’s close by.” So he comes to visit him, brings his wife and his children there. We talked a couple weeks ago, saying, Mike, there were problems there, but God still used Moses. God still worked there. Moses tells Jethro what all God did in Egypt and how God overthrew Pharaoh and his false gods and all that.

Jethro, his father-in-law—it’s not Beverly Hillbillies, he’s okay now—Jethro says, “Boy, there is no God like Jehovah. He is the true God.” I believe he got saved because right after that, they offer up sacrifices. He offers up sacrifices with Aaron the high priest.

At the end of that, Jethro says, “Hey, Moses, I got some advice for you. Let me talk to you for a bit.” Some people don’t think this is from God. I tend to think it is.

Jay Vernon McGee, a great, great Bible teacher—he’s in heaven now—he’s the Bible Bus. How many ever heard of the Bible Bus? You’ve been on the Bible Bus before? Five years through the Bible. He doesn’t tend to think God’s in this thing. I’m just kind of open with you. He’s a great guy, but everybody’s got their opinions about it. I tend to think this is from God because of the end of this advice. He said, “Look, if God so leads you this way.”

It seems God did lead him this way. So we’ll talk about that as we get to it. Just kind of give me a little heads up on what’s about to happen here. But that’s where we’re at in Exodus 18. We’re going to start in verse number 13. Exodus 18:13.

Would you please stand as we read God’s word together for just a bit? And then after that, just for a bit on quality leaders. From this section of scripture, what is a quality leader from Exodus 18? We’ll start verse number 13. Exodus 18:13.

“It came to pass on the morrow that Moses set to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning until the evening. And when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even?”

Moses said unto his father, “Because the people come unto me to inquire of God. When they have a matter, they come unto me, and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws.”

And Moses’ father-in-law said unto him, “The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou and this people that is with thee. For this thing is too heavy for thee. Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Harken now unto my voice. I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. Be thou for the people to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God.”

By the way, remember Moses is the one that knew—he didn’t see, but he knew—the Lord face to face. And nobody really like that the Bible talks about. And so you can bring these causes to the Lord.

Verse number 20: “And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and show them the way wherein they must walk and the work they must do.” So Moses, you’re still going to teach them how to do these things. God’s still usually to lead, but you’ll be teaching them how to do these things.

Verse number 21: “Moreover, thou shalt provide out of 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.” Many say that’s really where our founding fathers came up with our form of leadership in our Republic of America from that verse right there. That’s how they came up with this. By the way, they’re not a democracy; they’re a republic. And that’s where many of them say that’s where it came from, that place right there in Scripture.

Verse number 22: “And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge. So shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so.” See, that’s what I—and God command these. He wasn’t just telling him, “Do it.” No, “If God command thee so,” then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace." So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

You may be seated.

You realize we estimated by a certain count—we estimated this is maybe a million and a half, two million people here.

A while back, we kind of tried to get that in our mind: how many people that is. That would be, if you take Davidson County, all of Nashville, the whole Davidson County, Rutherford County, and Wilson County—you combine all three of those—and you only have 1.3 million. So you imagine how large a group of people this is: a million and a half, two million people. There’s no way. No way. Specifically speaking of judging here, there’s no way Moses could stand and be the judge or the leader, if you will. No way. And there must be delegation. There must be delegation of authority and leadership. There must be that. Moses just said, “Look, not just you’re going to wear away, but the people are not going to prosper also.”

Let me say that’s so important just to learn: even in a home, it is good to delegate. Let me just say a word. I don’t know if we really have anybody in here that this applies to, maybe your children or maybe you one day, but a young couple that has kids: if there’s any way possible, I think it’s so wise for that lady to stay at home and raise those kids. You say, “How do you get that out of that portion around there?” There are other places talking about the wife being the keeper of the house and all those things, and I just think it’s so wise. But instead of two separate entities going out and working and whatnot—I’m not saying that’s a sin; my wife works part-time now as a nurse and whatnot, kids are growing up—but if a wife can stay home, she can do so many things to really help the home. You know how much daycare costs nowadays? Sometimes she’s not going to make much more than it costs to put them in the daycare, and then all the eating out, the cost of both working, and just the extra expense. I’m just saying if you can—not that there’s a higher law per se there—but if the wife can stay home and take care, maybe delegate, if she looks after some things and he’s taking care of some things, it just kind of brings a little more harmony. And here’s the big thing: she’s at home to raise her kids. Just a thought there, just a thought. We have some other time we’ll get into her being the keeper of the house and all that over in the New Testament, but it’s the thought: delegation is just part of it.

We’re talking about quality leadership tonight. It may be—you say, “I would like to find a boss like that one day.” It may be you say, “I would like to have those qualities in me so I could be a better leader,” whatever it may be, how the Lord leads you in that. But delegation is so very, very important. We’re going to apply it a little bit to the church here, just a bit.

When we started the church, you start a church, you got to do everything. I mean, you know, just, you feel like who’s the guy? Oh, what’s the funny guy? He’s an old guy. He’s in heaven now, I think. He hurt us back by doing all the different things, but he would have the trumpet and the drums and everything. Jerry Lewis. Jerry Lewis. He had everything at one time, you know. And you feel like you’re doing that when you start a church.

And boy, I remember one of the big things for me—it was such a blessing when we got someone that could lead singing. Oh, because I dreaded leading singing. I mean, I remember my hands would sweat. I was like, “Lord, please, help me get through the song service. Please bring a song leader in here one day.” By the way, I appreciate Brother Patrick. I think about leading singing; it’s not really maybe his main thing, but he’s willing to do it. That’s pretty awesome, you know.

But it was such a blessing when I could kind of delegate that thing, delegate it out, say, “Hey, man, Hugh, would you be our song leader?” What a blessing. That’s just part of things growing. And the more you grow, the more you have to give out to other people to do things. I thought about our first time we could have a treasurer. I remember back in the day, you know. I still remember this: back in the very beginning, we didn’t have a church stamp or anything. And we used to have to endorse checks, and I started writing out Rutherford County Baptist Church. I said, “That guy’s the dumbest guy in the world to make this big long name,” you know. We got to get a stamp, amen, you know.

And back in the day, praise the Lord, Ed Lannis was our first church treasurer. Did a great job. He was on the spot. Man, he knew what he was doing, did a great job. But it was just a blessing to be able to say, “Hey, man, you’ve got to delegate some things.” What a blessing. I thought about Family Harvest Days, and praise the Lord, Brother Marlin and a lot of other people did a great job of just making things happen. They did pretty much all the work to get everything going. Praise the Lord, just people. We’ve got so many good people. I kind of hate mentioning any names of people in our church today because there’s—you know, I’ll miss—there’s just so many that do so much and can do such a great, great job.

Let’s just for a bit here look at the qualities that are listed here in Scripture about a great leader. Look in verse number 21, if you would please. Verse number 21. He gives us four things from Scripture about what to look for.

He says, “Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people,” what are the next two words? “Able men.” The first thing he said you look for is an able man, or if it’s a lady, an able lady. Now, that’s pretty hard sometimes to know. Somebody can have great charisma, and people are good people, but they’re not able. Sometimes it’s hard to know. Sometimes you think they’re so able, and then you put them in a position, and you’re like, “Okay, maybe not.” It’s hard to know.

Let me just say a word about that. So often, that starts very small. I remember when I was a teenager, my boss hired me at Samson Metal and Machine, and I had a very, very important job. I mentioned it before: I was the broom operator. He gave me that broom; that was my instrument, you know. He was probably testing me because he wanted to see if I would take that responsibility, if I would be diligent at it, if I would try to keep the shop clean and whatnot. And I tried to do a good job of that. And praise the Lord, he said, “All right, well, let him do a little bit of machine shop work, a little bit of fabrication shop work.”

I’m saying it’s hard to know sometimes that someone’s an able leader unless you see how they handle responsibility. It’s so very, very important. I was talking to a pastor, Steve Goforth, not too long ago, and he was talking about way back in the day he was a Sunday school teacher. He was talking about how God just used him to build a Sunday school class, and they had good numbers and a good time in that Sunday school class. He worked it and tried to get people in, and God would bless that. I thought, well, no wonder years later he’s pastoring. He took a Sunday school class, he grew it, he worked it, he built it; God did it through him.

So, the able men—so much is so very often, “How are they doing with the responsibility they have now?” Because it’s hard to know if they are able men or not. But he said, “Look, won’t you look for someone able?”

Now let me say something about that. There are a lot of great men who are not able in this one certain category. They’re just not ones that like to be or made to be over other people. You hear me often talk about my dad. I love my dad. My dad was one of my heroes. I love him. He was a great Christian. One of the godliest men I know. He was a great soul winner. I’ve never seen as faithful a soul winner in all my life as my dad. He never missed an opportunity. Great man, great Christian, one of my heroes.

But can I be honest with you? My dad never taught a Sunday school class. He preached as an assistant pastor for a while, five years, but he may be—I don’t know if I’ve ever heard my dad preach more than five times. He didn’t like to preach. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a great man. He’s a very great man. He’s led people to the Lord who are pastoring today. But it just wasn’t his calling. It wasn’t his position. He wasn’t after that. He wasn’t trying to get that.

So when we talk about quality leaders, it doesn’t mean, “Well, if you’re not here, you’re not right with God.” If God doesn’t want you there and you try to get there, you’re against God. God’s not going to bless you. Sometimes God wants us to be content where we’re at. God makes us all a little different. It’s not a right or wrong. But just look in these things where he says, “Hey, able men.”

Let me say something else about that. Some people will work at a company for 30, 40 years and not really get into leadership, and they’re content. Make a good paycheck. Sometimes they’re happier like that. I was over here in the mechanic shop maybe a year or two ago, and a teenage boy came up trying to get a job there. He and the owner of the shop were talking. The owner is a good guy; sometimes he does some work on our buses for free. I heard him tell that teenage boy, “Son, sometimes it’s better to help the man than to be the man.”

I thought that was good advice right there for that teenage boy. So I’m not saying everybody ought to try to be the leader. Just be where God wants you to be. Be what God wants you to be. Don’t get stuck on it. We’re just trying to study this portion of Scripture that God has for us here.

He gives four qualities here. First thing he says: number one, able men.

Let’s look at the next thing he gives here about these leaders he wanted to get right here. What’s the next thing? He says, verse number 21: “Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people, able men, such as what?” All across America, I believe this is happening: great leaders are leading in churches across America, great leaders, but not spiritual men. And you have big churches because they’re great leaders, but no spiritual power and no long-term eternal effect, impact for eternity. Great leaders, able men. But he says, able men, then he says, “such as fear God.”

If you get a great leader—and we’re talking a lot about church here; it could be elsewhere—by the way, wouldn’t it be great if we had some great leaders in D.C. that feared God? Woo, that’d be a good thing right there. We got some good leaders, great leaders, but boy, they don’t fear God at all.

Along this line, we’re trying to move along quickly: there is a difference between worldly wisdom and wisdom from above. Look over in 2 Corinthians very quickly—excuse me, 1 Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter number two.

This is so interesting. Of course, this is coming from God, but he’s coming through a man named Paul, who penned—excuse me—he penned 13, probably 14 books in the New Testament, started 20-something churches, spread the gospel around the western hemisphere, just used so greatly by God. Let’s see what it says here, 1 Corinthians 2, look at verse number 4.

He says, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom.” Wow. We so often strive to have enticing words with man’s wisdom. We have by thanks, we got all that. But he says, “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect [that is, mature], yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes [that’s the leaders of this world] that come to nought. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of these princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

Oh, friend, be careful. Somebody might be full of the world’s wisdom but not a lick of God’s wisdom. The world’s wisdom may build empires, may make money, may do all that, but they don’t change lives permanently. They don’t see souls saved; see, eternal impact. Big difference. And he said, “Look, able men, but such as fear God.” I’ll be so careful putting great leaders, but no spiritual—they don’t have a spiritual side.

Sometimes it’s good when you’re looking for somebody maybe to be a leader somewhere or something, you know, just listen to them and talk about their prayer life a little bit. Paul—maybe they talk about, “Man, I just enjoy getting up in the morning and getting my coffee.” Somebody who’s—amen right there, you know—just something about getting along with God, and you just hear them talking, and you think, “Hey, that’s a good thing. We don’t have just maybe an able man here, but we have a spiritual man here.” Big difference.

And he said, “Look, Moses wants to get able men such as fear God.” How’s their walk with God, if you will? I thought about this man when I was studying this, a man named Rick Martin. Haven’t even heard of—you know of Rick Martin. Went to the Bible college that I went to, but a little before, years before me. He’s a great, great—I think—well, I’ll get to that in a second here. I heard him preach in person, shook his hand, had him sign my Bible, all those things. I know him at touch.

Rick Martin, there’s nothing, if you look at him, there’s nothing dynamic about him. He doesn’t look like an able man. He really doesn’t look like that. I had the—just an interesting little thing I don’t begin to—but I actually was with him, or by him, I should say, when he was under fire at one time, just somebody just coming after him. And he wasn’t like, you know, a dominant leader, very humble about the situation.

But can I tell you about Rick Martin? He was a little before my time at the Bible College, but there’s a lot of talk about it because it’s such a great mission today. And this is what you often hear about him: Well, he used to go—there’s wood, there’s kind of woods behind the college up there, and just dirt roads and woods—and they said you’d find, you’ll find, back in the day if you were here, you would find Rick Martin often up there in the woods walking with God, having his prayer time. That’s where he, just away from everybody. Then he had a bus route. He’s a bus captain. He just kind of worked this bus route and did his thing and tried to make a difference while he was in Bible college on his bus route. And he spent a lot of time up there in the woods, just walking with God in the woods. I think probably he’s one of, if not the greatest missionary lives today. He’s been in the Philippines for years and years, and thousands and been in and through his church. He’s got a Bible college that sent out 100—literally hundreds—of missionaries out of his Bible college, starting churches all across the Philippines. I mean, literally, maybe the greatest missionary life today. And, you know, they say, “Well, you always just find him up there in the woods.” And able men, but such as fear God. That’s the kind of leaders you want.

Let’s keep going here. What does he say? He gives four things about these qualities of a great leader, verse number 21 right there. Help me out. Number one, he said, what kind of men you want? Able men. Brother Frank’s on it. Able men. Such as what? Fear God. And here we go. Men of good—all right, let’s get the last thing in here. What’s the next thing he says? Let’s look back at verse number 21.

He says, “Able men such as fear God, men of truth.” Truth. Now, several different ways you can go up that. We may hit a couple different ways, but have you ever heard here of Honest Abe? Oh, yeah. Would to God we had leaders like that today in D.C.? You’ve heard the story, I’m sure, of how he ran that store. He was at the store, and a lady came in, and he overcharged her six cents. Now, I understand, you understand, six cents back then went a little bit longer than ours today. I mean, can you get anything for six cents today? I don’t know. I have to look pretty hard and find that. But you get a whole lot more. But still, just six cents. And they say it bothered him, and he walked three miles to give her six cents back: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, I overcharged you.” Amen, a man of truth.

You know, something can be said for a man you just kind of see what you get and get what you see. There’s no airs putting on airs. They’re just dead honest about it. Just men of truth. I like to be more like that: just totally honest through and through. You can just kind of tell. Can I say it this way? No manipulation about it. No exaggeration. Have you ever been around somebody after a while, you’re like, “Eh, I just heard so many things; I don’t know if I can believe that or not.” No, these men of truth. They’re just dead honest. No exaggeration, none of that. No, no, just men of truth. That’s what you’re looking for in qualities of leaders: men of truth.

Can I say this? You know, there’s a fine line between working the crowd and manipulating the crowd. Men of truth. He said, “Hey, the leaders you want are someone that’s just men of truth.” Now let me say this: men of truth. You know, “Thy word is truth.” Amen. And boy, you know, in our day and time, everybody’s got their opinion. All right, fine, whatever. You got your opinion. But what’s God’s opinion? Amen. Opinions are like feet; we all got them. They all stink. Amen. The Bible’s what matters. By the one day, we’re not going to be judged according to what everybody else thinks or the polls or the pensions. We’re going to be judged by that book right there. Men of truth—I want to go by the book. I want to be a man of truth. That’s what you look for.

He says, “Able men such as fear God, men of truth.” I was impressed. I mentioned to you several times Bobby Robertson, one of my heroes. He preached for us years ago. One of the nights I introduced him, and I said something like he runs about 3,000 in his church, and he did for years and years. But I was impressed. He got up, one of the first things he said, he said, “We didn’t have 3,000 in church on Sunday.” He said, “I can’t remember what”—I don’t even know if he gave a number; I think maybe he said 2,700, whatever—but he just wanted to be truthful about it. “We didn’t have that.” Men of truth. Men of truth.

He said, “What kind of people you look for to lead, Moses?” He said, “Men of truth.” But I’ve got to get you participating. Help me out. What kind of men? Men of—good, good. I’m sorry. We’ve got to go back to the first here. First of all, what kind of men? He says, first of all, he said, what kind of? Able men. Such as what? Fear God. And here we go. Men of good—all right. Let’s get the last thing in here. What’s the next thing he says? Let’s look back at verse number 21.

He says, “Able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating what?” Covetousness. Isn’t it amazing—y’all listening? Y’all out there with me tonight? Think about this for a second. Isn’t it amazing, and you can put different names in there—I won’t use a certain name, I won’t use Nancy Pelosi, but I won’t use me—but you can put some name. Isn’t it amazing somebody will go in Congress and they just start off with a little bit of money? They make, I think, $174,000. That’s a pretty good paycheck annually. But they’ll come out a multi-millionaire. Multi-millionaire. Isn’t that funny? It’s the kind of leader you want: someone that hates—they hate—covetousness.

Now, money for sure is there, but covetousness can mean so many things. It can mean coveting money. It can mean coveting someone else’s position. It can mean coveting their popularity. It can mean coveting their car, it can be coveting their house, it can be coveting their spouse, it can be coveting their position. So many things. It’s just someone that is not content. They’re not content where they’re at. And so find someone that just hates—by the way, that doesn’t mean they’re perfect at it, but they hate—they’re hating covetousness.

Isn’t that interesting? You put someone in leadership that’s covetous, you’re probably going to have a lot of problems, a lot of turmoil, a lot of issues. And he said, “No, the kind of leader you want: able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.”

I thought about years ago, years ago, we had a good choir leader doing a pretty good job, but we had a man that sat in the back along here, just minded his own business. He sang, did his job. I never really knew how much, honestly, how much musical ability and talent and knowledge he had. The guy that was leading choir at that time did not measure up as far as—and I’m not trying to be mean, I don’t think about it, I don’t think—besides my wife, he had much more knowledge than the choir leader. But he never said a word about it. He just sat back, saying, was happy. Great spirit, great attitude. Drove a bus for us, helped out the bus ministry. One time he ate a worm. Amen. Just to get kids—I’ve literally, I mean, I’ve seen goldfish. Did that myself. But this guy ate a worm. I’m talking somebody like, “Ooh, what in the world?” You know what I mean? He was on this back porch right there, and I remember he had a worm, and he had to pull it up and bring it back out. Big old earthworm. Finally, just boom. That guy was gone. I mean, he’s just involved and happy, and no problem, wasn’t just satisfied being there doing what I wanted him to do. And the choir leader moved on, and we needed a new choir leader.

I just felt led—let me take a drink of water—maybe on that, you know. But I asked him, and I was amazed how much knowledge he had. He had led choirs that were on the radio sometimes, very talented, very able, great leader, great attitude. And boy, he stepped up and did a great job with our choir. Now here’s the thing: Brother Adam’s doing a great job. I’m not trying to say anything about it. But here’s what I’m saying: I don’t know how long he just sat back in the choir, never told anybody, “I could do a better job than that.” Never did any of that. Just content, happy where God had him. And God said, “Hey, time, time for you.” And his time came. God used him greatly. We’ve had musicals, you know, Christmas musicals and things when he led our choir and did a great job. And we used to have, sometimes we’d have plays and draw all that, you know, just Christmas time. He was a very able man.

That’s what God’s saying. He said, “Look, the thing you’re looking for”—by the way, praise the Lord for all these years, all the great leaders in our church. I’m so thankful for that. Praise the Lord for just people coming in and leading here, there, and yonder. What a blessing. I thank God for those people.

Now, here’s the thing. You put those kind of people in leadership by God’s direction, and here’s what you get. Look at verse number 23. Look at verse number 23. Verse number 23: “If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in what?” Peace. That’s what you get. Not everyone, but often will have a guest preacher come through, and he’ll say, “You know, there’s such a good spirit in the church there.” Can I put it this way? He’s saying, “You got peace there.” And when you get the right kind of leaders—the ones that got the qualities God mentions here—you get peace. I praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord for people over the years who are just content and serve where God wants them to and they’re leading here, there, and yonder. It just brings a good—I love it. Family Harvest Day, some of the testimony—I know at least one, maybe more—said, “I was just really impressed how all the workers could work together in unity.” Peace.

When God—and praise the Lord, God’s given us such wonderful leaders: able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.

Look over in Psalm 133, just very briefly here. We’re going to be done for tonight. Psalm 133. We’re going to read the whole chapter. It’s only three verses. Trying to see if you’re listening or not. Y’all are quiet tonight. Is anybody tired out there tonight? I thought so. I thought so. Let’s just get these three verses in. We’re going to go home. And you get peace or unity, this is what happens.

Look at verse number one. Psalm 133, verse number one: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” It’s a wonderful thing. Notice what else he says. He said, “It is like the precious ointment that”—that represents the Holy Spirit of God—“that ran down upon the head, even Aaron’s beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments.”

By the way, he’s got the priestly garment on. One of the things it’s got is that breastplate that’s got the 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. Most think the skirts—more it starts even up here and goes down the skirt of the priestly garment. Now, here’s a little bit I think what it’s talking about: When the brethren dwell together in unity, it’s like the Holy Spirit, the precious ointment, that’s poured on the high priest, and then it just comes down through the beard, the mouth along there, and the word changes the words, and then it even flows down to the people, the tribes, the children of Israel—just the Holy Spirit working. By the way, remember over there in Acts, they were all in one accord in one place, and that’s when the power of the Holy Spirit came. You get unity here, and he said, “Boy, just like the oil of the Holy Spirit being poured, and it just comes down, yes, through the leadership there, but even just to the people, tribes of the children of Israel.”

Look at the next verse here. He says, “As the dew of Hermon, which descended upon the mountains of Zion.” The dew represents prosperity. Dew is the moisture; it would water the pastures; you would have green grass; you would have fruit; you would have harvest; you would have things produced; you would have life. He said, “It’s as the dew of Hermon, as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.”

“For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.” Well, you call that salvation? Eternal life? Life forevermore? You say when you get that in the Holy Spirit’s work, you know what happens? He draws people unto Jesus. People get saved.

Well, I tell you what, when you have that peace, and you have people in leadership that are able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness—

It may be you say, “Lord, I like to be the leader you want me to be. I want to aspire to those four things.” It may be you’re training your grandchild, a grandson, a granddaughter, a son or a daughter. Maybe you just got a class. I like to have some leaders out of it. Hey, teach them those four principles. That’s what they need, according to God’s word: able men, yes, such as fear God and men of truth, hating covetousness. Isn’t it interesting God put that in? Hating covetousness. Oh, it’s so important. So very important.

Glad you’re in church tonight, and I appreciate you being faithful. Amen. Just glad you’re here. Praise the Lord for God’s people. And God is good. Only three more Saturdays until the fall. So let’s be faithful. It’ll be done before we know it. Amen. So let’s stay in there for the Lord and see what God will do for it. Don’t forget Sunday. Fill your room Sunday. Looking forward to a good day in God’s house on Sunday morning, and looking forward to God blessing in a great, great way. Brother Joshua, would you dismiss with prayer, please, brother.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Quality leaders - Wednesday PM 10182023