Take Some of the Spirit!
Preached by Apostle Aje Pelser
Harvester Reformational Church, Cape Town

Leadership strategies that help to lighten the burden of ministry.

1. Learn from what Jesus said: “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Mat 11:28 Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

2. Recognize your own limits.
Moses understood the burden of carrying a nation before the Lord and it almost killed him:
Moses interceded for the nation when they complained and saved them from God’s fire:
Num 11:1 And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.
Num 11:2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down.

3. Pray honest prayers to God.
Moses is honest before God and almost gives up:
Num 11:14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.
Num 11:15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favour in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”

4. Take some advice from your elders.
God gives Moses a strategy similar to that of Jethro:
Exo 18:10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
Exo 18:12 And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
Exo 18:13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.
Exo 18:14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?”
Exo 18:15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God;
Exo 18:16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.”
Exo 18:17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.
Exo 18:18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.
Exo 18:19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God,
Exo 18:20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.
Exo 18:21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
Exo 18:22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
Exo 18:23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”
Exo 18:24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
Exo 18:25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
Exo 18:26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.

5. God can put His Spirit on your team of elders
God’s advice to Moses echoes the wisdom from Jethro – sometimes we should hear the ones god sends to us and receive them as sent ones, Ambassadors of the kingdom.
An apostle in our Harvester Council gave me advice about other churches wishing to work with Harvester and he advised me that all of them are not able to change their names, but really want to affiliate with us. It opened up our understanding and saved us a lot for registration money in places like Africa where each church would have had to pay a fee to change their name. Now they add “affiliated to Harvester International Ministries” onto their constitution and letterheads and banners. Taking this advice has caused our global network to treble in two years and now we are following up all these new wonderful wheels within wheels, galaxies of churches and ministries. I am at the place of raising up the Apostles and Elders in the regions to continue the work that our apostles have pioneered and to handle the running of those regions themselves, while the hard cases are brought our Apostolic Council for review and judgment.

Num 11:16 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.
Num 11:17 And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.

6. Gather regularly.
There needs to be a regular gathering – neglect no the gathering of yourselves together as is the manner of some – not just on local church, but leadership level too.
Heb 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
Heb 10:25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Whom you know – proven character – appoint faithful men who are able to teach others also
1Ti 3:1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
1Ti 3:2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
2Ti_2:2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
Tit_2:1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
Heb_5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,
Jas_3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

7. The Anointing will teach you!
John wrote to believers who were being attacked by false teachers and showed them how the anointing teaches them in that moment to counter: The ‘anyone’ refers to the false that he was resulting:
1Jn_2:27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
The Spirit that God places on your team of leaders will also teach them regarding each new case and you will see multiplication of leadership to handle the harvest that is to come!

Use anointing to pray for the sick, forgive sins and minister unto the Lord:
Jas 5:13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
Jas 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Jas 5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

The name of our Lord Jesus is anointed:
Son 1:3 Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you.

Mat 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Mat 16:17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
G5547 Christos khris-tos’
From G5548; anointed, that is, the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus: – Christ.

Rely on the anointing of the Holy Spirit to break the yokes on the people and remove unnecessary burdens from them:
Isa 10:27 It shall come to pass in that day That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.