FMH Children’s Club International
P.O. Box 640109
El Paso, TX 79904
The following letter-form was brought about as a means of teaching my children the Word of God through the mail. And of course, quite naturally so, that’s the reason I begin these letters with "Dear Children" and end them with "Love Dad". So for the rest of you who participate in these weekly messages, please keep their original intended purpose in mind.
1-8 August, 1999
Dear Children,
Now before we get into today’s hot one, let me first extend to you an invitation to visit the FMH Children’s Club Web site. It’s been a long time coming, and we’re not even finished with it yet, but without a doubt as of 8/4/99 http://www.fmh-child.org is up and running. Take a look and see for yourself!
So what did you think about my son’s (Arthur) message from the Lord that God Almighty Will Show The Tory Company He’s Still God (see Sermonet No Job, No Money, But God Will Provide!)? Well I don’t know about you but I can personally testify that it was one more mind boggling prediction. I mean just put yourself in my shoes! When I first started working for The Toro Company there was absolutely no way I would have ever guessed that the Lord would have me doing what I’m doing now. And of course the part about "what I’m doing now" also includes what we will be doing today in this message from God to Toro.
Because you see in this sermonet we’re going to talk just a little bit more about that fellow we’ve been calling the "Moses of Toro". And in order to develop what the Lord has given me to give to him, we’re even going to use a few quotations from his book. So to start things off why don’t we just read a brief description of Mr. Ken Melrose’s book Making the Grass Greener on Your Side: "A CEO’s Journey to Leading by Serving... Follow Toro’s history-from a peak in 1979 following unparalleled expansion and development in 1979, to the brink of disaster in 1981, and back again... Ken Melrose recounts his own process of refining his personal commitment to leadership principles and gaining the courage to implement fundamental changes... Melrose describes a ‘servant leadership’ model in which leaders operate from a principle-centered base by working for and serving the rest of the organization."
OK, so I realize what we’ve just read might not seem really earthshaking to you, but if you’ll just continue on with the rest of this message I think you’ll understand the "Moses connection" that the Lord has given me to give to you. Because you see what Father God has been developing for the last several messages is the very real similarities between the Moses of the Bible and the Moses of Toro (Mr. Ken Melrose/CEO of Toro). And as I hope you should be able to see very shortly, it’s these personality traits of Moses that God the Father will use in today’s little "foot washing exercise" for Mr. Melrose.
Now the key to unlocking the mysteries of why God the Father wants us writing this "foot washing sermonet" in the first place is found in Mr. Melrose’s "servant leadership model". And focusing in on this one key point we can get some pretty helpful information out of Mr. Melrose’s book by turning to and reading from the chapter entitled The Leader as Servant. Because in his own words Mr. Melrose writes: "For Many Years, I’ve collected various sayings or adages that strike a chord with me. These quotes paint a fairly good picture of who and what I’ve tried to be and how I’ve tried to live my life. The Master of Men fittingly expressed the ideal of leadership in a democracy when he said, ‘Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant.’ In my opinion, these few words from the New Testament can stand up against all the management books on the shelves today. The great leader is a great servant."
Well just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, this "Master of Men" Mr. Melrose was speaking of was none other than Jesus the Christ. And even though the Scripture that he quoted(?) can be found in several books of the Bible, the one that we will use today is taken from Mark 10:35-45: "And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory... And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
OK, so how many of you out there have already figured out where we’re heading in this message? Well don’t feel bad if Mr. Melrose’s problem doesn’t immediately become obvious, because you see Satan has a very good way of disguising his error. In fact if we’re not real careful Old Splitfoot will have even the best Christians believing that left is right, right is left, up is down and down is up. Satan is the master of deception and his very long list of those deceived even include corporate CEO’s.
But getting back to the story, the reason Jesus said what He said about "becoming a servant of all" was because James and John were jockeying for their favorite positions on the throne of God. I mean here we have two followers of Christ (disciples) who had already worked out all the details as to which one of them was going to sit on the right hand of Jesus and which one on the left. So without a doubt they knew what they wanted to get out of their relationship with Jesus! But... the one thing they had kinda like overlooked in their plan was that they were only the followers of the Son of God (Jesus) and not God Himself. You see they had gotten so accustomed to dealing with Jesus in His flesh and bone human body that they were actually overlooking the fact that He was God.
And that was right about the time Jesus woke them up with a few very hard facts about the Gentiles. You see the Gentiles were what you might want to call heathens. And seeing how heathens don’t believe in the God of the Universe, they sorta like pick and choose what they want to be their god. You might say they worship the god of "things" instead of The One Most Holy God. And that my friend is why Jesus brought up the subject of servants.
Because you see a person can only become a child of God after they’ve first decided to follow the example of Jesus (Christian/Christ like) . And the example Jesus showed was none other than that of a servant walking in complete obedience to His Lord and Master God the Father. So it was in this same role of total obedience to God the Father that Jesus gave the following Scripture: "but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all."
So now do you see Mr. Melrose’s problem? Not yet? Well in order to fully expose error we must first understand the Truth. And by digging just a little bit deeper into this Scripture we can uncover two very important words (minister and servant) which will help us do exactly that. Because you see a minister is one who executes the commands of another (does what he/she’s told to do), and a servant is one who gives himself up to another’s will (not concerned about his/her desires but the desires of another). And seeing how nobody is going to do what anybody else tells them to do unless they agree to it first, that’s the very good reason why nobody can actually take on the role of minister until they first become a servant. And if you’ve really been following along with what’s been said, it shouldn’t be any too hard to figure out that the word "another" in this Scripture is none other than God the Father.
So in order for Mr. Melrose’s statement "The great leader is a great servant" to hold true from the Scripture that he quoted, it is absolutely necessary that his "‘servant leadership’ model in which leaders operate from a principle-centered base by working for and serving the rest of the organization" be totally focused on God the Father!!! And even though Mr. Melrose’s "servant leadership model" might look good on paper, it just ain’t a gonna hold water until he first becomes a minister and servant to Him! Mr. Melrose must worship God the Father and not the organization of Toro!!!
In fact relating back to what Jesus said about this servant/minister model, Paul does a very nice job of summing it all up in Romans 12:1-2: "I Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:1-2).
OK, so that’s my introduction to this week’s message but now it’s time to get-it-on-down with the nitty gritty details. And in a effort to help you see the Mr. Melrose of Toro through the Mr. Moses of the Bible, let me share with you the following which was taken from The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary: "Moses was in a sense peculiar to himself the founder and representative of his people. And in accordance with this complete identification of himself with his nation is the only strong personal trait which we are able to gather from his history [Num. 12:3 - Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.]. The word meek is hardly an adequate reading of the Hebrew (word), which should rather be much enduring. It represents what we should now designate by the word disinterested. All that is told of him indicates a withdrawal of himself, a preference of the cause of his nation to his own interests, which makes him the most complete example of Jewish patriotism" (Smith, Dict., s.v.).
Now if you don’t mind I’m going to go ahead and show you where we’re at before preceding with the rest of the story. Because you see with this last bit of information we have now discovered that not only Mr. Melrose but also Mr. Moses believed in this "servant leadership model". They both wanted to be ministers and servants to a nation (Toro/Israel), but the question is did they worship it (the thing: Toro/Israel) more than they did God the Father???
Well that’s the question, and believe you me I’m more than ready to give you God’s answer straight from His Word (The Holy Bible). Because you see I found the clues to understanding Mr. Melrose’s problem by investigating the life of Moses. And Exodus 2:11-15 is about as good a place as any to start things rolling: "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand... Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well."
OK, so what you have just read was the way Moses celebrated his fortieth birthday. And even though Moses had a pretty exciting life up until then, we’re not even going to cover all that today. Because the part that really matters in our "Moses message to Mr. Melrose" starts when he finally got so fed-up with seeing the Hebrew people get beat-up that he took matters in his own hands and killed an Egyptian. And seeing how the Egyptians didn’t take this murder any too kindly, Moses had to hi-tailed-it on out of town just to stay alive.
So by the age of 40 Moses had already developed a very strong love for his people (the nation of Israel) that would eventually be used by God. In fact it was only after 40 additional years of training that God the Father finally called him into the ministry. And by continuing on with the story in Exodus 3:1-10 we find: "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush... And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father... And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey... Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt."
So this was that very special moment in Moses’ life when he finally got his calling from the Lord. And even though this God-called-job was a pretty tough one at that, God let Moses know real quick that He was more than able to give him everything he needed to get it done. I mean after all, He was the God of his fathers... and He could make bushes burn without ever burning up. But even though that was all grand and glorious, Moses still wasn’t any too sure about the whole situation. Because picking it back up in Exodus 4:10-17, "And Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue."
You see Moses was just a little bit concerned about all the public speaking this new job was going to require. So he kept on telling the Lord that he couldn’t handle it, and the Lord just kept on telling him that he could: "And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."
Now putting yourself in Moses’ shoes, don’t you think that just maybe you would tend to believe what The Lord of Heaven was trying to tell you? Well believe it or not but Moses didn’t, and the Lord wasn’t any too pleased about it. Because Moses went on to say, "And he said, O my LORD, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well... And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs."
So this is what I consider the very first occurrence of Moses’ character defect that would haunt him for the rest of his life-long journey for God. You see although Moses did believe in God, there were certain situations in which he just flat out refused to trust in what "thus saith the Lord". And seeing how it takes a total of three strikes to get you out of the ball game, let’s turn to Exodus 4:19-26 and watch Moses make strike number two: "And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand... And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision."
And what do you think about that one? Well I don’t believe that anyone will argue with me when I say this was definitely what you would call strike two on Moses! I mean that’s cutting it pretty thin when the Lord gets so upset with you He’s ready to terminate your life. So you see even though Moses was "the man of God" who was "called of God", he still wasn’t all that perfect. And the reason for his imperfection was because he chose to honor his wife Zipporah more than God. You see Moses got married to a woman who wasn’t what you would call "a believer in God". And it appears that when it came time to circumcise their son according to the law of God ["And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant." (Genesis 17:14)], Moses felt it was easier to ignore God’s requirements than to argue with his wife about getting it done.
So up to this point in the story we’ve seen Moses swing and miss at two of Satan’s sucker balls. But before I give you all the details of his third and final strike, let me first paint you a picture of a few of the events that took place in between. Because by reading the story of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 32:1-34 we find: "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us... And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves... and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the LORD his God... And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people... And it came to pass on the morrow... Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt not forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee... And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made."
Now the reason I tossed in this part of the story was so you could see how Moses (even after two strikes) was about ready to swing at yet another sucker ball of Satan. You see Moses still hadn’t learned that God is God, And if you paid particularly close attention to the details, you should be able to see by now how Moses actually challenged God Almighty’s Divine Ability to make perfect decisions. I mean get real Moses! It just doesn’t matter how important your God-called job might be, He’s still The One Who not only called you but also created you!!!
And after having brought out that one very important incident, it’s now time to take it on down to strike three. Because reading on into Numbers 20:1-13 we find: "Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin... And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying... wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink... And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beast drink... And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beast also."
So have you ever heard that old saying "the straw that broke the camels back"? Well this was exactly that moment in time when Moses dropped a thousand pound bale right slap dab on top of that poor old camel’s back. Because when Moses finally lost his cool with God’s chosen people he also lost respect for God Almighty. You see when Moses "beat-on" the rock that he should have been "speaking-to", he failed to show the nation of Israel the true respect God demanded of him. And seeing how this was Moses’ third and final strike (three strikes, you’re out), the following was how the Lord gave him the bad news: "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them."
Would you believe those had to be the toughest words Moses ever had to digest? I mean just think about all those long hard days Moses spent on this journey... and only to blow-it-all right there at the end. Well tough as it might have been, there just wasn’t any doubting the fact that God meant what He said. Because reading on into Numbers 27:12-14 we find, "And the LORD said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin."
Now even though some might say that Moses took a bad rap, by going back to the beginning of this journey we’ll be able to see how Moses really made out like a bandit. Because reading from Leviticus 9:23-24 and 10:1-3 we find: "And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified."
You see after being around the Egyptians for so many years, the nation of Israel (children of God) had kinda like forgotten exactly Who God the Father really was... so He had to teach them... but it wasn’t any too easy. And it just so happened that these two sons of Aaron the priest were one more mighty fine example of what happens to those who don’t respect God. He is God... and He is Holy... and anyone challenging His authority could end-up a very small pile of smoking rubbish.
So as I hope you can see by now, it was only through the grace of God Almighty that Moses ever lived long enough to give his very well documented departure speech in Deuteronomy. And in closing, what better way to shut this one down than Deuteronomy 34:1-12: "And Moses went up... And the LORD said unto him, This is the land... I have caused thee to see it with thine own eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him... And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated... And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him."
Now even though the Moses of Toro (Ken Melrose) has a sincere love for the people of Toro, and even though the Moses of Toro has been called of God to help those same people of Toro, Toro’s journey into the promised land has not really gone as planned. Because you see just as the Moses of the Bible continually refused to walk holy before God, so has the Moses of Toro (see Sermonet God Warns The Moses Of Toro Three Times!). And seeing how it was our God Who said to His servants "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God", the same must hold true with him.
So to the Moses of Toro (Ken Melrose), God says: "And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the LORD God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." (Ezekiel 36:23)
And having said all that, Keep on keeping the Faith In Jesus!!!
Love,
Dad (Bruce Hallman)
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