Community Devotions

Sharing the Weight of Leadership

12 How can I bear by myself the weight and burden of you and your strife? 13 Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads - Deuteronomy 1:12-13

The first three chapters of Deuteronomy is a look back of Israel’s journey before they conquer the Promised Land. After the command to leave Horeb Moses complains that he cannot bear the burden of leading Israel specifically judging the affairs of the people. God’s solution? Choose other leaders who can bear the weight of leadership with him. The qualifications are threefold: first, they are to be wise (Leaders must have the ability to show good judgment). Second, men who are understanding (leaders who assess situation and are aware of the issue at stake). Third, they are to be experienced (leaders who have gained a particular skill gained over a period of time).

Doing Church as a Team is not a novel idea. It’s been God’s design for ministry for thousands of years. But the weight of carrying the burden of leadership is too much for one leader to handle. It’s been said that a strong draft horse can pull the weight of 8,000 lbs but the joined effort of two draft horses can pull three times as much at 24,000 lbs of weight. As a young pastor of 36 years old I must continue to surround myself with wise, understanding and experienced men who can carry the burden of leading a church with me. Don’t micromanage every single detail of the church but delegate and trust the servants God has called to serve the church. As I sit here Saturday morning 6:30am in the community (Aina Haina Starbucks), I consider myself so blessed to be surrounded by wise, understanding and experienced men to help lead New Hope Community Church to God’s best.

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for loving Aina Haina so much that you have given the best leaders to serve your people here in the community. Thank you for blessing me with gifts of wise, understanding, and experienced men who love you and have the heart of a servant. Thank you not only for the leaders but also their whole families. Bless the Terroneses, Perezes, Chaes, Nodas, Kaneshiros, Changs, and every family that has thrown their hearts over the line to serve you and the community here at New Hope Community Church. Thank you for my wife Renee and kids (Judah, Noah and Ezra) and the grace you have given them to run this race with such a pure heart. May your presence continue to go before us so that you receive all the honor, glory and praise. I love you so much! Maranatha.

Look to the Cross

Numbers 21:7-9, “7 And the people came to Moses and said, “‘We have sinned, for we have spoken agains the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he will take away the serpent from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” 

Sin costs and it cost severely. This bizarre incident where Israel sinned against God in the wilderness cost death. To symbolize the venomous bite of sin God sent snakes among the people causing many of them to die. God killed two birds with one stone through this bronze serpent: First there’s the immediate object lesson for Israel that sin kills and only by looking at God’s provision for sin can they be saved. It’s interesting that people requested sin i.e. the serpent to be taken away but God’s remedy was his provision for them to look at the symbol of sin. Second, Jesus himself refers to himself as the fulfillment of the bronze serpent in John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”. 

We’ve all been bitten by the poisonous sting of sin. We sin by nature inherited from Adam and we sin by practice through our volition. Resistance is futile when it comes to the enslaving power of sin. It leaves me frustrated and in despair. God’s answer is to look at the cause of sin and His provision for it. Look at the cross. Believe. Have eternal life. Gaze at the cross. Fix my eyes at grace poured and love personified. Point of application:

 - Don’t take sin so lightly. Consider the severity of my sin i.e. it was my disobedience, rebellion, covetousness, etc., that nailed Christ at the cross. It should be me on that cross paying for the penalty of my sin. 

 - Fix my eyes on the cross. After considering the weight of sin, gaze upon God’s provision of mercy and grace at the cross. It’s undeserved. I can’t work or pay for it. It achieved God’s wrath on sin so that I can live a new life. I am justified. God will never count my sin against me. I am free and sinless before him. Live out the benefits of the cross with gratitude and confidence.

Heavenly Father,

I love you so much. Thank you for grace undeserved. Thank you for the cross. May your grace continue to uphold me and your spirit sustain me to fix my eyes on you. Would you continue to transform my heart and change my desire so that loving you and delighting in you would be my portion and strength? Please continue to lead and uphold Renee by your spirit as a Christ follower, wife, mother and worship leader. May you always be the good shepherd and father to Judah, Noah and Ezra. I pray that they grow to be men of God after your heart. I need your grace so that I can lead with your love. I love you. Maranatha.