Full sermon outline follows the handout version. Make It Count, #8
BROADEN THE BURDEN
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Numbers 11:11-17, 24-29
I. How heavy a load can you carry?
II. God can give you more than you can handle. 1 Cor 10:13
A. Most Christians think this statement violates a Bible promise.
B. The key is that God always provides a way out.
III. Moses gets some help.
A. Seventy is a significant number in the Bible.
B. They are empowered by God himself.
IV. Unusual proof of the Spirit. 11:25
A. They acted differently when they received the Spirit.
B. It was a limited sign.
C. The Holy Spirit and ministry today.
V. Sometimes God works outside the box. 11:26
A. Two leaders miss out on the main action.
B. Joshua tries to squelch it. 11:28
C. God is not limited to our system.
VI. God can use anyone.
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Rev. David Holwick ZA Make It Count, #8
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 21, 2011
Numbers 11:11-17, 24-29
BROADEN THE BURDEN
I. How heavy a load can you carry?
A. Pastor Wigginton learns the hard way.
While on a preaching assignment in Africa, David Wiggington
noticed how people there often carry things on their heads.
It fascinated him and he asked the villagers to show him how
to do it himself.
They brought to Wigginton a boy who was about 11 years old.
The pastor got down on one knee so that he could be at the
boy's level.
Two men came by and lifted the sack off the boy's head and put
it on Wigginton's.
That should have been his first clue -- it took two men to lift
the sack.
It weighed 75 pounds.
He could not even hold his head up straight, let alone walk
with the sack on his head.
The two men removed it and the villagers laughed at the silly
American.
Back in the capitol city, Wigginton heard about a lady whose
regular employment was that of being a "human delivery truck."
Her assignment was to deliver engine blocks from one repair shop
to other repair shops.
Four men would lift the engine block onto a tray that she
carried on her head.
Then off she would go across town carrying this enormous weight.
One day the lady came to her destination and found that no one
was there to help her in taking off the load.
She waited as long as you can wait with an engine block on your
head.
Finally, she decided to try to remove it herself.
In so doing, she broke her neck and died. #2797
B. Moses felt burdened like this.
1) He had been given responsibility over all the Israelites.
a) He didn't particularly want it.
b) They were complaining all the time.
2) He wasn't their mother. 11:12
a) He didn't even want to be their babysitter.
b) And here he is, carrying them all by himself.
C. Maybe you feel the same burden.
1) Problems with family members, issues at work...
a) Lots of people are leaning on you and you don't feel
up to it.
b) The pressure is grinding you down.
2) Hopefully you don't feel as low as Moses. 11:15
a) He wanted God to come down and kill him, put him
out of his misery.
b) Moses isn't the only Bible character to feel this way.
1> Job wished he were dead, or even unborn.
2> Elijah the prophet was so despondent he told God,
"I have had enough, Lord, take my life." 1Kg 19:4
3) God has an answer to the pressure.
a) Instead of killing Moses, he gave him some helpers.
b) You don't have to do it alone.
II. God can give you more than you can handle. 1 Cor 10:13
A. Most Christians think this statement violates a Bible promise.
1) Doesn't God promise to NOT give us more than we can bear?
2) Not exactly. As 1 Corinthians 10:13 actually says:
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond
what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out
so that you can stand up under it."
a) So God may send you something that is too much for you.
b) You have limits. There are tests that can break you.
B. The key is that God always provides a way out.
1) If it is more than you can handle, he will provide a
different handle.
2) For Moses, it came in the form of 70 assistants.
a) Moses is correct when he says he cannot carry all
these people by himself. 11:14
b) So God made sure he would not be by himself.
III. Moses gets some help.
A. Seventy is a significant number in the Bible.
1) 70 leaders went up to Mount Sinai with Moses. Exod 24:1
a) It is possible these are the same men in this chapter.
2) Jesus also sent out 70 disciples to evangelize Israel.
a) Seventy seems to be enough to get a big job done.
B. They are empowered by God himself.
1) God meets with them at the special tent. 11:16
a) God will come down and communicate with Moses.
b) In verse 25, God comes in a cloud.
1> This would be the Shekinah, the symbol of God's
presence with Israel.
2) The Spirit will be distributed. 11:17
a) This sounds like Moses' portion of the Holy Spirit will
be diluted, but this is not the case.
b) Instead, the other men will have the same spiritual
power that energized Moses.
c) They will have whatever they need to accomplish their
task.
1> Their main task -- help Moses to help others.
3) There is a wonderful description of leadership here.
a) Church leadership should be more than meetings and
policy decisions.
b) It involves caring for people and helping them through
life.
c) It is not a job for one person.
1> Ministry is most effective when it is shared.
IV. Unusual proof of the Spirit. 11:25
A. They acted differently when they received the Spirit.
1) The passage simply says they prophesied.
2) Prophesying can mean different things.
a) Foretell the future?
b) Preach spontaneous sermons?
c) Tongues or ecstatic behavior? (most likely)
1> King Saul seems to have done this when he got the
Spirit.
2> The disciples did the same thing on the day of
Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.
B. It was a limited sign.
1) After this event, they did not do it again.
2) Moses remained the primary speaker for God.
3) So the prophesying seems to be a sign to the people that
these 70 men have God's approval.
a) They are helping Moses but not replacing him.
C. The Holy Spirit and ministry today.
1) Should leaders in our church expect supernatural experiences?
a) I cannot rule it out.
b) In the book of Acts and the letters of Paul in the New
Testament, unusual things happened to Christians.
1> On the day of Pentecost, onlookers thought the
disciples were drunk.
A> Peter had to point out that it was too early to
be intoxicated - with booze anyway.
2> In 1 Corinthians, Paul says spiritual ecstasy in
their church services would make outsiders think
Christians were crazy.
A> However, all the New Testament churches don't
seem to be like this.
B> Some were quiet and staid, like ours.
2) The key is having the Spirit, more than experiences.
a) Paul's description of spiritual gifts emphasizes service
more than the supernatural.
b) Whatever we do for God, we should ask him to give us
enough power.
1> Our service should point to him, not us.
V. Sometimes God works outside the box. 11:26
A. Two leaders miss out on the main action.
1) We don't know why they missed the meeting.
2) However, they also receive the Spirit and prophesy.
B. Joshua tries to squelch it. 11:28
1) He apparently sees it as a challenge to Moses (and by
extension, to Moses' right-hand man, Joshua).
2) Moses does not -- he sees God's hand in it. 11:29
a) "I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets
and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!"
b) This is a very generous response on his part.
1> It did not come true in his day.
2> However, it did come true in the New Testament.
A> Every genuine Christian has God's Spirit on them.
C. God is not limited to our system.
1) He often does his work through unexpected people in
unexpected ways.
a) Sunday Schools were resisted by established churches,
then later caught on.
b) Foreign missions were seen as a threat to the local
church.
c) Evangelists like Billy Graham usually don't rise up
through regular church structures.
2) Truly spiritual people recognize this. Mark 9:38-40
a) When Jesus was told someone was using his name to
deliver people from the power of Satan, he endorsed
it. "Whoever is not against us is for us."
b) In the book of Acts, ordinary Christians began doing
miracles and evangelizing while the apostles holed
up in Jerusalem.
1> The apostles accepted it when they saw the spiritual
fruit that was being produced.
2> The ultimate unexpected ministry - Paul, the former
persecutor.
VI. God can use anyone.
A. Baptists are open-minded in this.
1) We have ordination, but we don't limit leadership to the
professionals.
2) All of us can serve God in our own way.
a) Baptists call this the "priesthood of all believers."
b) It is one of our Distinctives.
1> You can pray to God directly.
2> You can serve God directly.
A> Visiting the sick.
B> Leading communion.
C> Baptizing someone.
D> Giving a sermon.
B. God can not only use anyone, he can use YOU.
1) He has given you enough spiritual power to accomplish
whatever He puts on your heart.
2) And if you think it is too big for you, ask Him to send you
some helpers.
3) We are not alone -- there is a whole Kingdom behind us.
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
#2797 “Carrying An Engine Block On Your Head,” by Rev. David Wiggington,
Dynamic Preaching (www.sermons.com) Disk A, July 1, 1993.
This and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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