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Amen. All right. So keep your place there in Exodus chapter 38. We'll get there in just a minute. First, let me say thank you for having me. It's great to be here. I've only been to Shure Foundation once before with my family back. I think you were still a satellite back then, back in the old building. But thanks for the hospitality. Thanks for all the friendships. My family and I, we know many of you, most of you, hopefully at this point. But it's been great. It was a good day. And it's a fairly easy trip for us here. So hopefully, you know, we see more of each other in both directions. That would be great. So this morning, this evening, sorry, this evening, we're going to kind of try to give you a little bit of a testimony of sorts. So you're having an anniversary. And I think it's your four year anniversary, right? So I've not even been a pastor for a whole year. So we're thinking we're looking at our one year anniversary coming up here in a month. And I don't know how many of you, how many of you can remember, like how you used to think and how you used to feel about things like before you were saved, you know, it can, you know, you think like, how did I believe those things are all these kind of, you can remember that mindset just a little bit. But as time goes on, what's going to happen is you're going to kind of forget those things as you, you know, get more into the Christian life, you're going to forget that mindset, you're going to forget how you could have even believed or lived, you know, like you did before you were saved, hopefully, you're changing as you're saved. But as going from a layman in the church to a pastor, you know, I kind of think about some things of, you know, the differences, what was the difference as a church member, and now a pastor, and I can still, you know, vividly remember what it's like to be, you know, just a member serving in a church. And, you know, I can, it's very, it's a big contrast for me becoming a pastor, and I want to kind of show some of those things to you from the Bible, kind of give you a little bit of a testimony, hopefully, we're gonna have to do a little bit of Bible study tonight. And hopefully I can get this point across to you. It's not a complicated point, but there's a lot of things in the Bible that point to it. We're going to use Exodus chapter 28. So what I'm doing is I actually have a sermon series on Exodus chapter 28, where I'm going through the garments of the high priest. So I'm going through each garment and just looking at how that applies to the church, how it applies to us. You know, in Revelation chapter one, verse number six, the Bible says that we are kings and priests. So all these things, I mean, we just read this huge chapter, you know, poor CJ had to read this whole chapter with all this detail in it. But all these things mean something for us. You know, God didn't put these things in the Bible on accident. So tonight, I want to look at, I kind of want to do a cousin sermon that applies very well to, you know, a church that's having an anniversary, your church. I don't want to go through a specific garment, but I want to go through a characteristic of two of the garments in Exodus chapter 28. So first of all, you know, we looked at some of the garments already. We looked at the, just to give you an idea how this series is going, we looked at the robe already. We looked at, you know, we're looking at the colors, the details of the garment, and specifically, we're looking at where the garment goes on the body. So the robe, you know, it's blue, which pictures holiness. It covers us completely, which pictures, you know, someone else's righteousness, the righteousness of Christ covering us. You know, it's not to be torn, by the way. It was hemmed in a very specific way to not be torn. If you remember, Jesus's garment was one piece and it was not torn. All these things fit together. We looked at the mitre. If you look at Exodus chapter 28, you'll see, you'll see some bold words in what, let me see, let me go back to it myself. In verse number, you'll see some capital words in verse number 36, where, I'm sorry, this pulp is a little taller than I'm used to here. I'm like, but you'll see holiness to the Lord is listed as the mitre. That's the headpiece. And that goes right on the forehead of the priest. So that is, that was the whole point of the headpiece. And, you know, and I kind of went across this for like an hour in the sermon, but the headpiece of the priest, it, the whole point of the headpiece was to just hold this gold plate that said holiness to the Lord. It wasn't a tall hat with all kinds of, you know, you know, funny things hanging off it or whatever. It wasn't some big vein thing. The whole point was just to hold this gold piece that said holiness unto the Lord and it's right on his forehead. So again, the area on the body is very important. Why? Because the forehead is where God seals people. God was saying to the priest, God's saying, Hey, he's mine. That guy he's for me is what he's saying. Holiness to the Lord. God is claiming the priest there. And if you notice in revelation chapter 22, that's where Jesus seals us. He seals us where? In our foreheads. Where's the mark of the beast go? So what does the devil do? The devil copies God, right? The devil copies God and he changes it just a little bit. You know, in Isaiah chapter 14, the devil says, I will be like the most high. That's why he doesn't come up with his own word. He just twists what God says. He never comes up with his own original thinking. He takes what God says and he twists it just a little bit. So where's the devil seal people? In their forehead and throws in a right hand there as well. But he's just copying the Lord. Where does God seal the 144,000 that come down to the earth? In their foreheads. This is where God claims people in their forehead and he's claiming the priest. All right, so he seals them in their foreheads. That's the headpiece. That's the mitre. But look down at verse number, let's start with the ephod. And that's what a detail I want to show you tonight. We're going to look at the breastplate of judgment and we're going to look at the ephod. We're not going to look at the garments themselves. I want to show you something that these two garments share and how it applies to you, how it applies to me, how it applies to all of our churches. Look at verse number eight and let's look at the ephod. The ephod is the, it's like a short, it goes over the top of the robe. It's like a short vest type covering, okay? And then the breastplate goes over the top of that. Look at verse number eight. It says, And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same according to the work thereof, even of gold, of blue, of purple and scarlet and fine twine linen. And thou shall take two onyx stones and grave them on the names of the children, grave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of the names on one stone and the other six names on the other stone, on the rest on the other stone according to their birth. With the work of an engraver and stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou grave the two stones and the names of the children of Israel, thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. Ouches of gold just means like, that's where you set a stone. It's the setting for the stone. It's like a, you know, wedding ring would have an ouch to hold the gemstone, all right? Look at verse, where was I at? In verse 12. And thou shalt put the two stones, now this is important, where do these two stones go? The place on the body is always super important. Just like I told you about the forehead with laying claim to the priest. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for memorial. So there is two garments where the names of the children of Israel are engraved on them. One of them I just listed for you here and it is the ephod and on, and it's very specific, the names are engraved on the stones, the onyx stones, and they are rested on the shoulders of the high priest. Okay, now look back at, go to verse number 15. Let's look at the breastplate. The breastplate of judgment. I just did a whole sermon on the breastplate as well, but I didn't mention this on purpose because I wanted to bring it to you all tonight and have a separate sermon on it. It's so important, these two, this characteristic that it deserves a sermon by itself. Look at verse 15. And thou shalt make the breastplate, it's not just any breastplate, thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work after the work of the ephod thou shall make it of gold of blue of purple and of scarlet of fine twine linen thou shall make it four square it being double the span being the length thereof and a span there being the breadth thereof that just means four square in the king james bible just means it's a square okay it just means all four sides you know it's the span and the length of the same and thou shall set it in settings of stones even four rows of stones the first row shall be a sardus a topaz a carbuncle shall be the first row he goes through the rows go down to verse number 20 or verse number 21 so he just goes through the the stones there's three stones on each row and there's you know four rows which means 12 and look at verse number 21 and the stone shall be again here we go with the names of the children of israel 12 according to their names like the engravings of a signet everyone with his name shall they be according to the 12 tribes so the title of the sermon tonight is the names of the people so i want to look at the the idea here of why these two specific garments not every garment has the names of the people on it but the names of the people are on the ephod on the breastplate here on the breastplate of judgment and they're on the ephod the shoulder the shoulder stones of the ephod itself so first let's look at the locations and see what we can find out there first look at the breastplate of judgment turn to first kings chapter three first kings chapter three and first kings chapter three where is where is the breastplate of judgment i'll read for you verse number 29 of exodus 28 while you turn to first kings chapter three where verse number 29 says and aaron shall bear the names of the children of israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart when he goeth in unto the lord unto the holy place for memorial before the lord continually so the breastplate with the stones and the name is supposed to be over the priest's heart so why over the heart is the first question okay look at first kings chapter three and let's find out why over the heart now first kings chapter three is when solomon has just taken over the kingdom he has just taken over his dad is dead and the lord comes to solomon he's a young man he's like less than 20 years old so he's a he's a kid by all you know accounts that we would say he's just you know he's a 15 year old kid probably here and god comes to him and asks him ask me anything that you want look at verse number five of first verse first kings chapter three verse number five in the gibeon the lord appeared to solomon in a dream by night and god said ask what i shall give thee and go down to verse number nine look what solomon says first of all he goes into this this long um you know this this long humble you know statement in the next few verses on how it's just such a great responsibility and his father was so great and the people are so great and in verse number nine solomon says give therefore thy servant an understanding heart now notice notice solomon doesn't say give me a sound mind notice solomon doesn't say make me a strong warrior notice he doesn't ask for power for i mean they had enemies all around them why didn't he ask for these things what did he say he said give me an understanding what an understanding heart to judge thy people what was the breastplate called the breastplate of what the breastplate of judgment that i may well now it now defines what judgment is for us right here it's like what you know people have the wrong idea of judgment people think you know judgment is just like being mean to people no judgment is so i may discern good and bad he says judgment having judgment is so is being able to tell what's good and being able to tell what's bad and look what he said he says for who is able to judge this thy so great a people and the speech pleased the lord that solomon had asked this thing and then of course god makes him you know the wisest person that's ever lived and he gives him the riches that he never asked for and he just gives him the understanding heart he gives him everything all right but look here's the here's the proof right here in verse number nine that judgment this breastplate of judgment that the priest is wearing over his heart this is what the priest this is what it means it means that he's supposed to with the names of the children of the nation he is supposed to be able to discern good and bad for them why so he could be mean to them no because he loves them he loves them because that's what solomon says he says so great a people solomon is saying this kid is saying these people are so great god help me be able to protect them that's what he's saying and that's why the breastplate has the names on it and it goes where it goes over his heart okay now let's look at the second place the second place this one's super interesting this one is super interesting turn to joshua chapter four the next one and i hope i can get this across to you i hope this isn't i don't make this so complicated that a simple idea doesn't come across because it's just there's so much on it in the bible but the the names of the second the names on the e fodder on the stones that lay on the shoulders of the priest look at joshua chapter four joshua chapter four there's a ton on this in the bible i'll just give you a few examples but look at joshua chapter four and look at verse number two we're going to look at joshua chapter three and joshua chapter four for a few minutes here but in joshua chapter four the children of israel are crossing the river they're crossing the jordan river for the first time in verse number two joshua gives a very specific command and he says take you 12 men out of the people out of every tribe of man and command ye them saying take you hence out of the midst of jordan out of the place where the priest's feet stood firm that's interesting i have that underline in my bible and i'll show you why in a few minutes it says where the priest's feet stood firm 12 stones and you shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you shall lodge this night then joshua called the 12 men who had prepared of the children of israel out of a tribe every man a tribal man so every tribe picked one man to grab a stone okay they're crossing the river at this point which is dry at this point as a miracle that god did i'll get to that in a minute and joshua said unto them pass over before the ark the ark is in the river at this time of the lord your god into the midst of jordan and take you up every man man of you a stone what upon his shoulder according unto the number of the tribes of the children of israel that this may be a sign among you that when your children ask their fathers in time to come saying what mean ye by these stones then you shall answer them that the waters of jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the lord when it passed over jordan the waters of the jordan were cut off and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of israel forever forever so it's interesting here that one man out of each tribe was to represent the tribe and he was to carry that stone on his shoulder okay now what was happening at this time so basically what i'm trying to get you to understand is the whole tribe didn't grab a stone they're building this memorial the whole tribe didn't grab a stone one man bore the burden of that stone one man did it on what on his shoulder all right now go to um well let me just explain but what happened when these men were grabbing the stones what was going on turn to joshua chapter three go back one chapter and just look at joshua chapter three because there's a bigger story here before they even grabbed the stones before they started crossing the river look at joshua chapter three joshua chapter three in verse number three so we saw one man out of every tribe grab a stone but the priest the high priest he bears all the names not just of one tribe keep that in mind he bears all the names look at verse number three of joshua three and they commanded the people saying when you see the ark of the covenant of the lord your god and the priest the levites bearing it then you shall remove it from your place remove from your place and go after it this is the beginning of the crossing right here okay the priest bore the ark now if you remember in second samuel chapter six david tried to move the ark he tried to move the ark but the levites were to bear the ark david what did he do he built a nice cart he built a nice wagon and then a a man uza i believe was his name he he saw that it was going to fall and he tried to bear the burden of the ark and god killed him and you read that in the bible especially first time you read that through the bible you're like man that's harsh i mean the guy's just trying to help it wasn't his burden to bear who was supposed to bear the ark the priests were supposed to bear the burden of the ark they were supposed to have staves they're not supposed to put it on a cart it was supposed to have rings with staves going through it poles going through it and the priest were to carry it where on their shoulders they put it on their shoulders so what's happening in joshua chapter 3 here in joshua chapter 3 the priests go to go to joshua chapter 4 in verse number 10 think about this picture think about this picture go to joshua chapter 4 and look at verse number 10 this is how the crossing began in verse number 10 it says for the priests which bear the ark stood in the midst of jordan until everything was finished that the lord commanded joshua to speak unto the people according to all that moses commanded joshua and the people hasted and passed over think about this for a second when the priests grabbed the ark and their feet stepped into the river god parted the waters and dried up the river their feet bearing the ark is what started the crossing and then in joshua chapter 4 in verse number 10 it says that the priests they bore that burden throughout the whole crossing throughout the men getting the stones throughout everything that happened and then what ended it what causes that what caused the waters to come flooding back in look at joshua chapter 4 in verse number 18 look at verse number 18 it says and it came to pass when the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the lord came up out of the midst of jordan and the souls of the priests feet were lifted up under the dry land that the waters of jordan returned unto their place it wasn't until the priests that were bearing the ark of the covenant came out of the water and then the water came back in those men stood there with how many of you think that the the priest put the ark down in the mud they stood there with the ark bearing that burden while hundreds of thousands of people crossed the jordan river and they bore the burden the whole time what was in the ark what was in the ark many times in the bible it's called the ark of the what ark of the testimony they are bearing the burden we'll get to that in a minute but they are bearing the burden of the testimony of god is what these men were doing and look it wasn't it wasn't the people crossed over it wasn't their burden to bear if they would have put their hand on the ark they ended up like luza dead because god wanted it done a specific way are you starting to see where i'm going with this god needs it done a specific way now back to the high priest back to the high priest in exodus chapter 28 he bears all the names he bears all the names on his shoulders and he bears all the names on his heart of course this is a picture of christ the high priest i get that but this is also a picture and this is my point this evening this is a picture of a spiritual leader is what this is this is a picture of a spiritual leader and this look this is the real position that god was putting the priest in god was putting the priest in a position to bear the people's names on his shoulders and bear the people's names on his hearts that's the only place their names were in those two places so look this is a picture of this is a picture of a spiritual leader this is a picture of a pastor right here you know a lot of people think and this is the idea i mean the the title of the sermon all that all that to say this the title of the sermon is the names of the people the names of the people this is really a lot of people think you know i i haven't been a pastor for a year yet almost there almost made it but a lot of people think that you know oh man to be the pastor man to be the pastor that's you know made it you know that's where you're gonna just you got the authority a lot of people think like this just just to be the boss right think about your job and people that you know maybe that want to be the boss a lot of people think you know i if i get if i get just be the boss and people will respect me i could just be the boss you know be the man in charge you know then i will have you know i'll be able to make the rules by the way the pastor doesn't even get to make the rules but i mean just think of it just from a secular perspective then i get my way but number one the pastor doesn't make the rules but number two turn to third john chapter one third john chapter one this is a completely wrong thinking about leadership especially spiritual leadership and i'm going to show you why look at third john chapter one but a lot of people have the wrong and a lot of young people i see this with a lot of young people just have the wrong idea of what spiritual leadership actually is i mean this applies to you know a husband leading a family as well look at third john chapter one spiritual leadership is not about the preeminence it has nothing to do with it look at third john chapter one in verse number nine there was somebody in third john chapter one verse number nine who was just he was all about the preeminence all about people thinking you know he's the man he's the smartest he's the best that's not what spiritual leadership is about it's about the names of the people on the shoulders in the heart that's what it's about look at third john chapter one verse number nine paul says i wrote or john says i wrote unto the church but diatrophes who loveth to have the preeminence among them received us not look if you want to be in charge of anything in your life to have the preeminence you you want to be in charge for the wrong reasons you want to be in charge for the wrong reasons because look if you have if you've ever had the thought or you know someone that's ever had the thought like once i'm in charge people will respect me they'll have to respect me here's the thing people should respect you when you're not in charge it's actually a qualification for a pastor to even be a pastor is to have a good report of them that that are without all right look even if you are not in charge of anything you should have respect i mean it's something i mean respect is just something that if you work hard you're honest you're diligent you know you will just have respect from people whether you're in charge or whether you're the lowest man in the place i mean if you think you need to be the boss or need to be you know in charge to get respect there's a problem right there already okay turn to colossians chapter one especially if you think you need to be the pastor or you want to be a spiritual leader for those reasons because look you're not going to have the pastor is he's not in charge christ is in charge the bible says look at colossians chapter one in verse number 18 it says and he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence so look turn to first timothy chapter three turn to first timothy chapter three first timothy chapter three it's hard for me to navigate my bible like this first timothy hey i found it all right first timothy it's a different angle you know i'm looking at my bible like this first timothy chapter three look at verse number seven we're talking about the qualifications of the pastor look at what the bible says here it says moreover he must have a good report of them which are without must he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil look if if you don't have a good reputation you're not even qualified to be a pastor to even try to be a pastor is what the bible says look i i knew pastor thompson and i met him the first time in my life at the very first readout preaching conference and he wasn't he guess what he wasn't a pastor he he i think he ran the he ran the teen activity because my son uh my son went to the teen activity my oldest son but look i can tell you what he had respect of people he had respect to people why just because he was just he was diligent he was just you could tell he cared i mean he's not in any kind of he was he wasn't a satellite leader he wasn't anything he's just there volunteering his time caring about people he had the names of the people on his heart before he was anything and you could see that but this this is the main point i'm trying to get to across to you this evening i told you this was kind of a testimony right you say what was the biggest change that you could see you know from going from just a church a servant in a church to becoming a pastor of a church and i can tell you this is the main difference right here the true change from serving in a church to becoming a pastor of a church is the burden on the shoulders and the heart of the people's names that that's the biggest change that i see now i want to make sure that i like get this down in a sermon before i forget what it was like to be a church member because pastor Jimenez pastor Jimenez would he would talk about this a lot he would talk about you know what it's like to be a pastor and look i i just didn't get it i just didn't get it i mean i think i got some of it but and i think some of it you kind of you probably just won't get unless you are a pastor but at least you know you should try to to remind yourself of these things okay turn to jeremiah chapter 23 turn to jeremiah chapter 23 what's the definition you say are you saying the pastor you know i'm talking about a burden here okay you know what a burden means it's not like you know a pain in the neck what it is it's like a heavy load that's what it means that's what the bible means it means it's a it's a heavy load the true change from going from a church member to a pastor will be the burden upon his shoulder and upon his heart of the people that's that's the difference right there jeremiah chapter 23 is talking about it's kind of talking about bad spiritual leaders it's talking about bad pastors it's talking about bad you know false prophets here at verse uh verse number 36 is where we're going to look so it's talking about like how not to be a spiritual leader but notice what it calls um notice what it what the phrase that it uses here in verse 36 it says so it's talking about people that are that are like their dream and dreams of their own they're making up you know their own stuff and they're saying it's god's word that's what these people are doing right look at verse 36 and it says and the burden of the lord shall you mention no more for every man's word shall be his burden for what are these people doing you know what the burden of the lord means here it means the word of god it means that the preaching of the word of god instead what they're doing is they're making their own words and god says that's your burden it's like that's not the burden of the lord the burden of the lord is the preaching of god's word that and these people made it their burden for you have perverted the words of the living god the lord of hosts our god so it's interesting that you know what was the burden that the priests were crossing what was the burden that they were carrying they were carrying the word of god they were carrying the literal burden of the lord on their shoulders and look there's only one person that has that burden in this church and that's the pastor that's the pastor he carries the burden of the lord which is the the command to preach the word of god look it's a heavy burden it's a heavy burden that's why the names are on the shoulders because he bears the burden of the people turn to second timothy chapter two notice in in uh in jeremiah 23 verse 36 it says it says for every man's word shall be his burden you know what that is you just underline that and put liberal churches because that's what it is right you got the dreadlock preacher you got the skinny jean preacher what's he doing he's up there and he's not really saying anything because he's saying what he's saying his words he's not saying the words of the lord it's not it's not the lord's burden that he's saying why why why would somebody do that why would somebody get up and just say their own burden just have their own burden just say like just say nothingness all the time number one because that's what people like number two it's just it's easier it's easier you know what it's a lighter load it's probably not any load because you're just heaping unto people with itching ears what they want to hear that's all you're doing preaching the actual word of god to people preaching the burden of the lord to people that is a load upon a man's shoulders you say why what are you talking about but here's the thing not everybody's going to want to hear what's in the bible i don't want to make anybody mad at me tonight but sometimes you're not going to want to hear what's in the bible sometimes you know you're going to hear the burden of the lord preached at you maybe maybe i mean i'm sure there's nothing like this here but i'm just saying like maybe there's a problem that needs to be preached on where there's a some error in the church or some doctrine that's going wrong or something that needs to be corrected and maybe some people don't want to hear that but that is the burden that only one man has upon his shoulders in the bible look at second timothy chapter four look at verse number one because he has this charge i charged thee before god and the lord jesus christ who shall judge the quick in the dead and is appearing in his kingdom oh man we better listen to what comes after this it's like i charge you it says preach the word preach the burden of the lord is what the bible is saying here bear that burden upon your shoulders be instant in season when people want to hear it out of season when people don't reprove rebuke maybe times when you know that's not a fun thing but that's a burden that the pastor bears exhort exhort means to to to like encourage strongly like to strongly encourage you i'm sure you get exhorted like every single service here just to encourage you strongly to do what the the burden of the lord is telling you to do with all long suffering and doctrine it's like hey do all these things but it has to be the burden of the lord it has to be out of the bible it can't be your burden all right and that's the that's the mistake that all these liberal churches are making they're not bearing the burden of the lord they're they're doing what they want to do because that burden is heavy that's why even if they know the the bible even if they're saved and they have the right gospel most churches aren't doing it because it's heavy it's heavy upon their shoulders that's why they're not doing it i mean i can't imagine being those priests standing in the muddy river while hundreds of thousands of people crossed over like i mean imagine how long that took pack up the tents cross everybody over get the kids get everybody over and then everybody's over and they're like go build a memorial and they're like oh they're like even longer but they bore the burden the whole time so look folks that was the biggest change was was to bear the the burden of the lord and look just like solomon that aside from preaching there's protecting there as well just like solomon it's it's protecting it's it's being that shepherd and that comes that comes that's why it's over the heart that's why the names are over the heart as well because that's the perspective that god gives that wise and understanding heart that that can judge the people not not like to be mean to you but to protect you to protect you look a pastor that doesn't preach the word of god is not he doesn't love you i mean don't you just want to scream that at people when you're out soul winning sometimes you meet like really good people you meet like super nice people maybe they even get saved you know and you just want to like just like just like you're going to this church for how many years and you didn't know this and and it's even worse when the pastor's saved of their church and he doesn't tell anybody in the church how to get saved it's maddening but it happens all the time so look from that perspective that's why god gives the pastor that perspective he bears that burden of the names of the people that's why he's what is he he's not to be a novice i mean you can't be you can't be a pastor that's supposed to bear the burden of the lord bear the testimony of the lord and not know what the testimony of the lord says you know he's to have a wise and understanding heart so you say all right i see where you're going with this but what's your point what's my action out of this so i'll give you i mean i'll just give you some actions it's your anniversary you know what i'm trying to get you to understand is the biggest change that i have seen going from a church member to a pastor is that the pastor bears the burden of the people on his heart and on his shoulders that comes with preaching the word that comes with with seeing seeing things that are going on in people's lives and and caring about that look you know what the thing about this this burden that the pastor has with the names of the people on his heart and shoulders it goes for the good people and the bad people what do you mean by bad people i mean maybe people that are maybe just going off a little bit in their life look that burdens the pastor he sees those things and then he can he can try to correct those things he can try to preach what the church needs he can try to try to get that prescription that the church needs but the first thing so your first action is this just understand this understand that you know when there's there's something going on in the church i actually have an example of your pastor of this when there's something going on in the church there's only one man that bears the burden i'll give you an example of what this is a couple of years ago at the red hot preaching conference i won't mention any names but we were we were at a gathering we were at a gathering and there there must have been two dozen people at this place there was a lot of people there and there was a phone call that came in and the phone call said that somebody there was two people in your church that were in in an accident of some kind and and you know look everybody it was nobody really knew how serious it was you know it wasn't something that seemed like it was good at the time nobody really knew anything and don't get me wrong everybody was concerned i i was a i was a satellite leader i believe at the time and i was just thinking like everyone was concerned like oh we hope everything's okay and you know all that but there was only one man in that house that was physically visibly seriously upset and that was the pastor and that look that stuck with me that stuck with me because i was just like man he must really care about those people i mean it's not like i don't care about them or the other people in the house that were friends with them didn't care about them there's only one man who was like i was just like i was taken aback by it and and that this is why because his names your names are on his heart that's why that's why there was only one person in the church that was physically upset over that situation in that house it it's his god-given role to bear that burden so like the first thing your first action is just to understand that just to understand that understand that the pastor carries a load that you all don't have to carry that you all can't carry it's you're not it's not your position to carry but he carries that load so understand that understand that here's a second action for you listen to your pastor listen to your pastor why because your name's on his heart that's why because your name's on his heart so he's trying to protect you from things he's trying to protect the church from things because he bears that on his heart he bears that on his shoulder the pastor like many times the pastor doesn't know things that are going on in the church but he's trying doesn't know things that are going on i understand that too but many times the pastor does see things going on before people even know what's going on in their own life seeing seeing problems that that people are maybe getting into that maybe they don't even recognize and maybe he can he can tune he can give that prescription out of the word of god for those issues and but look you have to listen you have to listen to what's being prescribed to you because he has that he has that wise and understanding heart that god has given him and and he he bears those names on his shoulders and on his heart here's another one say what else you should understand this first of all just understand that understand that you'll never really understand i guess it is a is a good way of putting it because many times i have just kicked myself you know as i went through this 10 11 months or whatever it's been so far and i was like man pastor he meant us he talked about that all the time i could remember those sermons it's like why didn't i get that so just understand that you'll never really understand okay and then listen listen to what's being prescribed to you because he's there to protect you he's there to help you it's it's that breastplate of judgment and that means that means discerning good and bad for you for your children for your families and it look it's a it's a load that he carries all right here's this here's the third one support your pastor you're like i do support my pastor i mean this is an easy one but the thing is it's not pleasant all the time protecting it's not pleasant all the time exhorting it's not pleasant all the time preaching the word i mean a lot of times you know i'll preach a sermon and and i'll kind of ask my wife like how do you think that was taken you know but it had to be preached it had to be preached you know it's not it's not pleasant worrying you know i can guarantee that your pastor worries about things that you wouldn't even think about in the church it's not you know it's not easy caring you know about people all the time all right so like it's different than a than a church member is what i'm trying to get you to understand he he bears that burden upon his shoulders and upon his heart you know and his family bears it too by the way his family bears it too you know a lot of times you know i i've seen with pastors i've seen with your pastor i've kind of explained to you already but when things happen to somebody in the church because that god has put those names on his heart and on his shoulders it's almost like it's happening to him or his family that's that's how it comes across um in a pastor's life and that look that's way different than just being somebody that's serving in the church it's way different it could wear a man out turn to exodus chapter 17 he'll support him you say what do you mean support him i'll tell you why you should support him i'll give you a selfish reason to support the man of god who has your name on his heart and your name on his shoulders go to exodus chapter 17 exodus chapter 17 very famous story in the bible the children of amalek were coming up to war against the children of israel and god kind of made it to where god kind of made it to where every time moses would hold up his hands you know moses had to hold up his hands and they would win the battle moses was up on a on a overlook on a cliff and he would hold up his hands and they would win the battle and then he would get tired and put his hands down and then they would start losing the battle so it came to pass look at verse number exodus chapter 17 look at verse number 11 and it came to pass when moses held up his hand that israel prevailed and when he let down his hand amalek prevailed so look here's why you should support your pastor so of course aaron and her they come and they they get a chair for him or a rock for him to sit on and then they literally stand on each side of them and they hold they're like we want to win like we want to win so they hold up his hands for him moses even moses needed support but here's the thing that you need to understand moses's victory your pastor's victory is your victory the children of israel moses's victory was theirs though by aaron and her holding up his hands they won the battle who doesn't want to win who doesn't want to win the christian life i was talking to brother robert he picked me up today and i i'd never i'd never met brother robert before so we went out to went out to breakfast and had a great time just talking to him about you know job family you know what what guys talk about right job family and i was just thinking i was like i was like man you have like uh you have a you have a job that's going really well you have like a really good family and a really good wife great wife he says like i got a great wife and he's like i got you know and he's like and i got a good church i'm like man what more could you want in your life think about that you got a good church you got a good family yeah things are going well i mean what more could you want in your life that's victory in the christian life and look the church the church kind of like holds all those things together and helps you build those important things in your life so look support him thank him thank him as you go through your you go through your anniversary weekend and all this i mean i can't imagine you know all the things you know here's the thing all the details that it takes to run a church you think about all the the silly things that it takes to run a church from the bulletins to the music ministry to all the different things that people do to the cleaning and then the more cleaning and more cleaning and more cleaning to the activities and all this stuff and just the planning that goes into all this but here's the thing all those things can really be delegated out and look you should help and support where you can but for people to get i mean just think people that like get upset over details of the way things are done in a church it's it's really silly because the main thing in the church is is bearing the burden of the people is is the man that has the names on the heart and the names on the shoulder and guess what all those other things so if you're thankful hey say thank you but be thankful too you know do something get involved go soul winning do whatever your pastor can help you to do but the whole thing is look ministries ministries are limited by manpower not ideas you know ministries are limited by manpower not ideas but you can delegate here's what i'm trying to get at you can delegate all these details you can delegate all these details but that burden cannot be delegated i mean david tried to delegate it uza tried to delegate it it can't be delegated it's his and it's his families so look find out what else you can help out with find out where else you know you can support and guess what the more energy he can put into that burden and and those names on the heart and you know then he can he can handle more names on the heart he can handle more names on the shoulder that that's how ministries grow right that's how ministries grow here's the other thing you should do you should you should understand this you should support him you should be thankful you should say thank you but be thankful you know i mean that's what the whole bible's about right the bible's about i mean we're saved that's great but the bible's about action i mean this is what the world does is they take they take words that always are attached to action and they take the action out of it like love right no love is sacrifice love is action i'm glad jesus didn't just say i love you you know he actually did something right so to be thankful is to actually do something here's another thing you should do and i don't think people do this enough and pray for him do you pray for your pastor do you pray for his family you know that's what you can do look because they bear the they bear the burden too but here actually do it though actually have a prayer time and put these things on your list pray for your pastor why because he bears your names on his heart he bears your names on his shoulders it's not in those locations by accident on the priest you know he was he was he was respected he was respected by me and my family before he was ever a pastor before he was ever a satellite leader because he was involved he cared and then god just kept promoting him that's how it works you want to go into the ministry be respected now start writing people's names on your heart and acting the part you know start doing those things and then god will just promote you because guess what this is why there's all these qualifications for a pastor and you think like man who could who could fit these qualifications because like many people would break under that load many families would break under that load many people not bad people just people that's why god is so specific about who can go into the ministry is because god is saying kiddo you want to go to the ministry it's like you're going to bear a load you're going to bear a load and you can't you can't break under that load your kids can't break under that load your wife can't break under that load it's a heavy burden it's a heavy burden even moses needed somebody to help hold his hands up and guess what you think about the good and the bad that maybe have happened over the last four years you know and and you can think about maybe battles the church has gone through but all the names are there all the names all the names are on his shoulders and all the names are on his heart the good ones and the bad ones you have to remember that that that's something that uniquely he bears himself and that's why it's in these two specific places in exodus chapter 28 and again in exodus chapter 39 which is a shorter chapter i guess i could have had cj read but that's why they're in those specific places in the bible so when you read a big chapter like that and there's all this detail every single one of those details is there for a reason all right happy anniversary sure foundation let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer dear heavenly father i thank you for this church i thank you for four years of of just a great strong ministry with a strong leader and a strong leader's family a strong pastor's wife word i thank you for families and men who would who would step up to bear this burden that you put upon them i pray that you know that you raise up more men that would that would be willing to bear this burden that they would have upon their shoulders and and have upon their hearts lord that they could start more ministries we get more people saved and just god bless god in the name of jesus just bless this church and bless this man and bless this entire ministry in jesus name amen