Leadership And Those Involved In Coaching Should Always Be Concerned About The Stragglers
Let me draw some very important lessons from Exodus Chapter 19 where the Children of Israel arrive at Sinai, under the leadership of Moses.
At this point, they defeated the Amalekites and Moses has appointed some men to deal with the pastoral problems - to settle arguments - to hear cases - so that Moses would be released to hear what the Lord God was saying, and to teach that to the people.
We need to hear this in the Church of Jesus Christ today. We need to make sure that we have someone over us - that we have a covering - someone whom we can trust and confide in with confidence - someone who will hear and shepherd and offer advice or counselling or correction if necessary. The very modern term is ‘coaching’. Isn’t it interesting that people will go to someone when a new label is used? This is an old basic principle found in the Word of God.
If we do not have someone covering us in this way, then we can get into trouble, and perhaps wander off, and become a loner, and there is great danger in that.
When someone wanders off from the security of the fold - a prowling wolf - an Amalekite can easily pick you off.
How many fall away, disappear, and give up because they do not have someone who really cares for them and shows a genuine interest in them?
Moses appointed those 78,000 shepherds so that he was free to go and commune with God - and hear what God had to say - so that he could teach and feed the sheep with the Word of God.
What follows is so very practical, and we need to hear this clearly in these days.
There are two ways by which we can learn as we go through life - one is through teaching - and the other is through experience.
Jesus wants His disciples to be wise and to avoid being hurt and wounded by life - and that why Christ calls us to learn from teachers. Here we see just how much God wanted to teach His people the right way to live.
God took them - led them - to this wonderful sanctuary - and at the foot of this mountain He leads them to camp for a season.
God has this desire to impress His chosen people - and like the burning bush - everything is rather unusual and supernatural.
The fire was not in the mountain but in God - verse 18.
We also come to a point in the book
Perhaps that is why some people regard the first 20 chapters as more exciting that the second set of 20 chapters.
But to get to the Promised Land, and out of Egypt, we have to trust and obey.
The watershed is this mountain. Our watershed mountain is Calvary. We have to trust Jesus - to wash away our sins in the Blood which He shed - we have to truth Him to wash us completely. We cannot do it for ourselves.
Then we spend the remainder of our lives learning to obey Him.
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children’s Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org entitled “Word from Scotland” on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.
His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.
Sandy Shaw
sandyshaw63@yahoo.com
Tags: Bible, coaching, Education, Exodus, Fact, God, Jesus, leadership, Moses, motivation, Truth