Staying Too Long At The Mountain

Pastor Ortiz preached from Deuteronomy 1 and showed Israel standing at a turning point. Moses was speaking to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had commanded him, and the sermon began by noting that Moses let God speak first. The passage remembers both God's victory and Israel's failure. God had brought them to Horeb, given them revelation, and then said, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount. They had stayed too long in a place that was meant to prepare them for movement.

Pastor Ortiz applied that directly to Christian growth. It is possible to settle for the basics and mistake them for maturity. Coming to church, reading the Bible, and praying are necessary, but by themselves they can become only the beginning of a relationship rather than the depth of it. Pastor Ortiz compared shallow spiritual life to shallow human relationships that never move beyond basic greetings. God does not want basic Christians or basic relationships. He wants believers who move forward.

Deuteronomy 1:2 says there was an eleven days' journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea, yet Israel wandered for forty years. Pastor Ortiz used that contrast to show the danger of fear, complacency, and repeated failure. If a believer is stuck in the same patterns, the same losses, and the same small victories, it may be because lessons have not been learned and steps of faith have not been taken.

Moses Could Not Bear The People Alone

The sermon then moved to Deuteronomy 1:9, where Moses said, I am not able to bear you myself alone. Pastor Ortiz emphasized that this was not weakness, but wisdom. Moses recognized his limitations. Leaders often want to handle everything themselves, but trying to move beyond God-given limits can actually limit the people behind them. Moses needed others to bear the load.

Pastor Ortiz connected Moses' words to Genesis 15, where God promised Abraham that his seed would be multiplied like the stars. By Deuteronomy 1, that promise had become visible. The people had grown. The blessing of multiplication created the need for distributed leadership. Moses could not personally carry every burden, every conflict, and every need. A growing people required more than one man doing everything.

This became a call to the church. Pastor Ortiz said the message was partly about him as pastor, but also about the people. A church cannot move forward if God's people are too busy with lesser priorities, or if they expect a few people to carry all the weight. Like Martha, believers can become cumbered about with many things while missing worship, service, and the work God has placed before them. The first priority must remain the kingdom of God.

Wise, Understanding, And Known

Moses' plan in Deuteronomy 1:13 was to take wise men, understanding men, and men known among the tribes, then make them rulers. Pastor Ortiz slowed down over those three descriptions because they reveal what kind of people were ready for leadership before they ever received a title.

Wise people are skilled in practical living under the fear of the Lord. Pastor Ortiz explained that wisdom is not merely academic intelligence. Education matters, and believers should keep learning, but wisdom is the ability to live rightly. Proverbs teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Leaders need people who know the difference between good, better, and best, and whose decisions are shaped by reverence for God.

Understanding people are discerning and able to hear between the lines. Pastor Ortiz described understanding as the ability to distinguish, listen, and rightly divide what is happening. A leader cannot jump to conclusions or react only on surface impressions. They must care enough to listen and discern what is needed.

Known people are already recognized by the community for their service and character. Pastor Ortiz clarified that known does not mean popular or charismatic. It means vouched for by the people they serve. In other words, Moses was not looking for people who wanted a title. He was recognizing people who were already doing the work.

They Were Leaders Before They Were Leaders

The title of the sermon came from this principle: they were leaders before they were leaders. Pastor Ortiz said a leader is not a leader because he has a title. A leader is a leader because he is leading. He used the deacons of the church as an example, noting that they were already doing the work before they were asked to carry the title.

That principle reached into the home. Mothers who want to lead their families must lead with wisdom, understanding, and consistent character. Fathers who want to reclaim leadership in the home cannot rely on being men by title. They must be worthy to follow by leading in prayer, service, worship, and spiritual growth. Young people also need to learn leadership now, and every good leader must first learn to follow.

Pastor Ortiz warned against the hunger for title, recognition, or control. That is not biblical leadership. Moses appointed captains over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens according to ability. The smaller assignment was not lesser value. It was still leadership. The point was not status, but ownership and order, so that the work could move forward and everyone could be involved.

What It Means For The Church

Pastor Ortiz drew three direct applications from Deuteronomy 1.

Every person has a responsibility to lead. Each believer has responsibility in the home, among peers, and in the church. Leadership does not begin when someone hands out a title. Believers must stop only feeding and start leading. Pastor Ortiz warned that people can sit under preaching for years, consume blessing after blessing, and then complain that they are not being fed. The issue may not be lack of food, but failure to use what has already been received. To whom much is given, much is required.

Each person has the responsibility to grow themselves. Pastor Ortiz called the church to grow in wisdom, understanding, and known character. If someone does not know what it means to fear the Lord, they should study it and then live what they learn. If discernment is weak, they should learn to lean on the Holy Spirit, who lacks no wisdom or understanding. If someone is not known for service and character, the answer is not self-promotion. The answer is to become faithful and useful.

We all need to recognize our limitations. Pastor Ortiz returned to Moses' confession that he could not bear the people alone. Recognizing limits is the first step of wisdom. He acknowledged that he had put too much on staff in the past and had been working to pull things from their plates, but that the church's growth would require more people to take ownership. The need is not merely for volunteers, but for wise, understanding, known servants who can carry responsibility faithfully.

The sermon closed with a call for the church to stop being only feeders and become leaders. Pastor Ortiz prayed that God would grow the church in depth, not merely in width, and that God's people would find excitement in serving him. The challenge from Deuteronomy 1 was clear: the church cannot stay too long at the mountain. It must move forward, and that happens as people lead before they are given a title.