Gospel Mentorship - John 14:15-17 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning everyone.

>> Morning.

>> Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving.

I always look forward to this Sunday cuz

it's the first Sunday I feel like it's

okay to say merry Christmas.

So, merry Christmas. Absolutely

wonderful time. Really looking forward

to the Christmas season. And what we're

going to be doing um is just continue to

march right through Galatians. We used

to sometimes do like advent series, but

we realize that uh uh if you do that,

that's almost a whole month off of the

book series. And uh I'm not sure I'll

ever get the through the whole Bible the

way we uh spend time in each book, but

I'd like to. And so we're just going to

keep marching right through Galatians.

However, today we're not in Galatians.

And the reason for that, I want to kind

of explain our philosophy of ministry at

Boon Ferry. If you go on to the website,

you can see uh that we're convinced

biblically that the mission is to be and

make disciples of Jesus. And uh that

mission um is one that we've set our

whole church up around. So uh when you

study Jesus life and the way that he

made and mentored disciples, uh he did

so uh by preaching to large crowds.

there was a group of about 500 people

that he uh that considered himself

themselves his disciples and relatively

close disciples. um there was a smaller

group of 12. And so he mentored not only

by preaching but also by um discussing

scripture and applying scripture uh in

the lives of the disciples in a smaller

group. And then he also mentored uh even

smaller groups of like Peter, James and

John's one-on-one and confronted their

issues and talked through them with it

and and guided them and he delegated

tasks to them and supervised what they

did and then evaluated with them

afterwards. So he was very hands-on in

his disciplehip. Sometimes churches will

define disciplehip too broadly as just

the teaching that happens. Um but so

we've we've basically copied you could

also look at Acts two the way the church

set itself up as a result of the

disciples having Jesus model that kind

of disciplehip to them. Um but uh the we

just basically copy what Jesus did in in

preaching uh in discussing God's word in

small groups and now we're at a stage

where we want to develop mentors so that

we have official mentors of Boon Fairy

that uh people can sign up with and and

be mentored with and if you remember uh

I've said over and over again that the

word mentor is a modern word but we

really just mean one-on-one disciplehip

or one-on-one really small group

disciplehip. You could say disciplehip,

but a lot of people have different ideas

about what disciplehip is about. Whereas

most people understand, oh, a mentor,

that's that's a a deeper type of

disciplehip, a um maybe a little bit

more intentional type of disciplehip.

And so, um since we have these small

groups, we call them disciplehip

communities. Uh they're basically Bible

studies, but we eat together every

Wednesday night at 6. Right now, we have

three disciplehip communities. You'll

hear them called DCS, just short for

disciplehip community. and we uh we eat

together every single time potluck

style. Then we study God's word and we

study God's word in

um in advance to the sermon. And I think

that's really important uh in in in

some ways what you hear from me is a

secondary source. It's uh what I've

learned from scripture and then I'm

teaching you. But I think it's really

important to go directly to the primary

source and learn from scripture

yourself. And that discussion style, it

really helped the disciples. It help it

it helps disciples like us as well. But

when they got to discuss things and ask

Jesus, you know, why were we not able to

cast this demon out? And I think it's in

Mark uh where Jesus says, "This one only

comes out by fasting and prayer." And so

he taught them how to minister to others

um in a more powerful way. And so we're

set up where you're going to study God's

word yourself. There's questions online.

You can go under disciplehip, scroll all

the way down and you'll see the

questions and the date for the

discussion. There's about six or so each

time, [clears throat] sometimes a little

bit more. And you discuss that even just

a good solid half an hour is enough time

to get pretty deep into each passage.

And these are it's a guided study, so

it's to help you understand what's being

said. Each question is helping you

understand the main point more deeply.

The main point then is listed in the

prayer focus because we'd like to pray

around that main point. And then you're

discuss after having studied at home,

you're discussing the word and then you

hear a sermon on that. And for those of

you that have committed yourselves to

it, uh I've noticed an excitement and a

looking forward to um an anticipation

for the sermon. You're excited to hear

more about the passage and you find this

system that we've developed for

disciplehip to be valuable. In fact, I

want to say this. Um uh when I met with

Brett uh last week, he wanted to know

all about our disciplehip community

program, it's because I talked to uh

what from what I can understand is

basically his chief of staff gave Car

Carter. All the pastors report to him.

He reports directly to uh Brett Meador

and I talked to him about um our

philosophy of ministry and they both of

them really have honed in on the idea of

the of the congregation in small groups

studying a passage before it's preached.

they thought that's a really great idea

and uh they wanted to know all about it.

So um [clears throat]

I think it's a really good system. I

think for those who are faithful Bible

teachers, they recognize that and see

the value in it and it's not something

every church does. Um but what it means

is there are certain Wednesdays where

we're going to discuss Galatians and

then there's a sermon. Just this last

Wednesday, we decided not to have a

disciplehip community because it's

Thanksgiving and people are hanging out

with their families. And so we give the

the leaders and the group and the hosts

a break. And so that means that that

Sunday is then freed up. And every

Sunday that's freed up like that is

going to be a sermon on training up

mentors. And that's what's happening

today. Um so I just launched in this

whole thing. I actually have an

announcement to make. So I'm going to

back up. But if you're wondering why

we're doing mentorship sermons, that's

why. I have a little bit more to say

about that. Uh last week I gave you sort

of a full orbed um presentation of where

we're at budget-wise. I would like to

have the budget slide put up. I'll just

give you a very short one today. Um our

year-end giving challenge to fulfill our

budget is to get to $310,000.

Uh the current total as of October was

200 two uh $220,000

and so our requested amount is 90,000.

Um, I went into a lot more detail about

where that money is going to go, what

we're going to be using it for, and why

it's urgent. Um, but I also wanted you

to know that this isn't in any way

abnormal. Uh, last year's giving uh,

amount that we requested was $80,000.

So, our budget has grown some. And so, I

wouldn't even call it a shortfall

because every pastor I've talked to,

every church I've ever been in, um, most

the majority of their giving comes in

during what's called the giving season,

during the Christmas season. Um, so all

we'd ask is that you just uh pray and uh

see if the Lord wants you to give and if

he does, how much and uh and don't do

that under compulsion. Uh scripture

clearly says that uh uh God loves a

cheerful giver. And so it's not under

compulsion. When the spirit moves us to

give, it doesn't feel like we're being

forced but moved from within in such a

way that doesn't compete with our desire

or negate our desire uh but gives us a

desire to do that. And so this church

has always been extremely generous.

We've never not been able to fund the

budget that uh that we sense that God is

leading us to set. And so um I would say

I'm full of faith regarding the giving

season. I'm looking forward to what God

does through giving. So that's all that

I wanted to say about that. So back to

this idea of mentorship.

I don't think it's enough just to

preach. I think preaching is powerful. I

also don't think it's enough just to

study God's word on your own and then

discuss it in a small group. Although if

that's all we did, I think that's

already a powerful plan. Uh just think

about how if you just commit yourself to

coming to that regularly, you're

studying God's word on your own. That's

one time of engagement with God's word.

You're discussing with others, that's

another. And then you're hearing a

sermon. And that's so basically three

guaranteed times that you're in

scripture in a deep way in a week. Um

and and really we're commanded to be in

scripture daily, but I think we're

trying to set ourselves up as a church

that helps you to do that, that makes

that um something that you just commit

to and then you're part of the stream of

other people doing that. A culture of

love for God's word. However, Jesus also

modeled mentoring one-on-one. And there

are things that happen in mentorship

that generally don't in a sermon, uh

generally don't just in your individual

Bible study, and generally don't even

just in discussion. And I can speak to

that from personal experience. I I will

say uh basically without exception, I've

never grown more um in relatively short

periods of time than when I was in a

committed relationship to a mentor. I've

had probably three or four different

mentors for different reasons. Some for

church leadership, some for preaching,

some for just general growth and and

things like that. Some for Bible study,

um facilitating development. So like

developing someone who who asks the

questions and helps lead the Bible

study. So all kinds of different

purposes, some general, some specific,

but it's just really powerful to have

someone take some responsibility for

some time for your spiritual growth and

ask you questions and hold you

accountable. That's one of the major

major things a mentor does is hold a

person accountable. What does that mean

to hold a person accountable? Should we

think of that negatively? No. I think of

it really positively. So let's say they

ask you questions about certain things

and and you're being honest and wanting

to grow and so you say, "I think I have

a weakness in this area." and then they

talk to you about what scripture says

about how to grow in that area of

weakness. But when they see you

functioning in that weakness or when

they hear you confess that you you did

something wrong in that area, they pray

for you. Um when you're not there, they

pray for you. When you're there with

you, they pray for you. Uh but they also

uh talk to you about how it's really

important to grow in that area. And it's

it's although there's grace for it, it's

not okay to just continue failing. And

so they help you not use God's grace as

a cover up. Um because people can do

that. People think, well, God's just

going to forgive me anyway, so it's not

that big of a deal. Uh, they remind you

that Jesus had to die for the sin. And

so, uh, you don't want to be continuing

in in that direction. And then I also

think of mentors as somebody, um, where

I I don't want to disappoint them. I'm

interested in um,

in being a good mentee. And so there's

somebody that actually cares about

whether you're growing, knows some of

your failings and issues, cares about

you, prays for you, instructs you, and

holds you accountable to that. And

that's a big deal because it's very easy

to hide within a congregation,

especially in large churches. I don't I

don't think there's anything wrong

biblically with being a large church,

but it's easy to hide and then people

don't really know you and they don't

really know your issues. But even if

they do know you and you're in a small

group, is that a place where you're

going to call somebody out in front of

everybody? No. And is that a place where

where people are necessarily necessarily

going to share some of their deepest

issues and problems? Also, no. But in a

one-on-one relationship, especially uh

our mentorship program will be um

gendered as in the sense that there will

be women mentoring women and men

mentoring men. And uh we won't mix that.

We don't think that's wise. But uh in

the same way that men's ministry and

women's ministry will sometimes reach to

an area in a woman's heart or a man's

heart that uh mixed gender ministry

doesn't, the same thing can happen in in

that mentor relationship where you can

actually talk about really deep things.

And a woman mentor will understand and

be able to empathize with and also have

experiences that are similar. So women

will feel more comfortable for obvious

reasons talking to a female mentor. And

the same thing with men. Uh there's a

understanding of what it's like to be a

woman and there's an understanding of

what it's like to be a man that helps

with that. So we really believe that the

next um major thing that we want to

develop is mentorship. And that's why I

think it's good to have these these

kinds of training sermons. And uh if you

think well I don't know that I'm ready

to be a mentor even want to be and I'm

not even sure I want to be uh mentored

and you think well this sermon is so

specific at one demographic. uh

everything that's being said. I write

these sermons in a way that apply to

every single Christian of all time. And

I think you're going to see that even

though the the question we're answering

today, if we can put up the very um

slide that's next or what are the what

characteristics make a good mentor? Uh

you could also just say these are

characteristics that make a faithful

Christian that make a good Christian. Um

and however they're specific to mentors.

So, if I'd asked what makes a faithful

Christian, the the answers might be

somewhat different. And so, you can see

here I've got 10 characteristics. I'm

just going to go ahead and read them.

Uh, number one, they love and obey God's

word. Number two, they are growing

spiritually.

Three, they have a sense of

responsibility for other people to grow

spiritually. Four, they have a trusting

relationship to church leaders. Five,

they're honest about their own sin

issues. Six, they are honest about the

sin issues they see in their mentees.

Seven, they're able to deal with

relational conflict biblically. Eight,

they're they order their time with their

mentees in mind. Nine, they communicate

biblically, including listening and

speaking. And 10, they do not get

sidetracked easily. Now, it would be an

absolute monster sermon to go through

all of those. And I think you'll be

pleased to hear we're only tackling the

very first one today. We may tackle more

than one in other sermons, but this is

like what characteristics make a good

mentor part one uh sermon. And um so if

you're thinking, well, I'm nowhere near

ready for that, then just think of this

or what uh what characteristics make for

a growing Christian? And and uh that

will very much be uh part of the verses

that I share with you. And I'm going to

be sharing some personal examples of

having mentored someone or mentoring

others both in the positive and negative

and meaning that when these

characteristics as we talk about them

more deeply are not present how that

affects a mentee how that affects the

life of a mentor. Um but it's the very

same thing for any Christian. A

Christian growing towards maturity will

want to be growing in these types of

qualities. So, um I do not have a main

point today other than we we could say

uh [clears throat]

faithful mentors love and obey God's

word. So, it's only the very first one

that we're going over. So, today if

you're wanting to know what's this all

about um faithful Christians or faithful

mentors love and obey God's word. So, if

you're someone that wants to be mentored

and you're thinking who might mentor me,

you could also use this as a tool to

evaluate people and you do it naturally.

So, you notice these things naturally.

It's hard when you get to know someone

not to notice these things because they

just kind of overflow out of them as a

result of the ministry of God's word in

their life. So, uh let me pray and we'll

get into it. Heavenly Father, thank you

for the opportunity to discuss what it

looks like to deepen our approach to

disciplehip by just copying what you

did, Jesus, and what your disciples

taught us to do. And I pray that you

would uh bless the ultimate goal here of

being able to have a actually official

mentorship ministry and that you just

continue to develop uh mentors and

mentees within our congregation. And I

pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

[clears throat] So I don't have a slide

for each of these. If you're interested

in having my actual notes, I could just

send those to you. I manuscript most of

my sermons and I have it actually in

bullet point here. So you could have

that. But what we're talking about today

is the first characteristics. They love

and obey God's word. And you're going to

hear me say something that I heard from

a mentor. I don't know if he heard it

from someone else. It may be a famous

quote from some famous Bible teacher uh

of history or so. But um the idea when

it comes to our relationship to God's

word is not one of mastering his word,

but being mastered by it. And uh the

goal is simply not, and I really mean

not, to master God's word. Is it good to

have an understanding of the whole

council of God's word and have a a sense

of ownership of the content and meaning?

It's great. Uh I would not say that I

have a sense of ownership of all the

content in in God's word. In fact,

usually after preaching slowly through a

book that begins to come. Um but there

have been times where I've studied books

over and over and over again and still

there are depths to plum in those books

that I had never realized. I shared with

you I think last week about uh Galatians

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 and how it talks about how the

promise is not just to Abraham but

directly to Jesus Christ to the

offspring and the offspring is singular

and that has dramatically uh deepened

the way I understand scripture to the

point where I believe scripture is

really just a promise that God made a a

progressive promise revealed throughout

the ages of a of a promise that God made

God the father made to God the son and

it's fulfilled by the Holy Spirit. And

I've been reading scripture like that

ever since I discovered this in July. Um

so again, uh they these mentors have uh

they they love God's word, but they also

obey it. Often times people will say

that they love God's word. Um but I want

to show you scriptures of what God,

specifically Jesus, means when he says

that we should love him. How does God

experience our love in a concrete

manner? And you can find that in Jesus'

words in John recorded in John 14 uh

starting in verse 15 and going on with

16. He says, "If you love me, you will

keep my commandments and I will ask the

father and he will give you another

helper to be with you forever." And so

we could bring in a lot of other

scriptures to understand that this is

not legalism. um that somehow we try to

prove our love to God by keeping his

commandments. Um but there is a link and

you could read the whole book of James.

Um James was was Jesus brother and you

could see just how much he was impacted

by his relationship to his brother.

There's no nonsense there. And he talks

about a very similar thing. In fact,

we'll be going over it uh a little bit

later in the sermon, James 1, uh of the

concept of not just being a hearer of

God's word, but a doer. Um, and so when

we talk about spiritual truths, like

let's say you're a craftsman of the sort

and uh, one of the skills that you've

learned is how to frame. Uh, there's not

an unlimited amount of things to know

about framing. You can master framing.

Over time, you can learn how to actually

frame the walls of a house and how to

how to do that in the right way that can

be able to carry a load of a second

floor, for example. Um, but that's not

true about God's word. It's not

something you master. It's something

that you're mastered by. And so when you

realize that, you might think you know a

truth. Um, but the the reality is you

only know it as deeply as you

consistently obey it. So, I'm not going

to ask for a show of hands, but I can't

imagine there's anybody in here that

doesn't know that one of Christ's

commands is that we ought to forgive one

another. And let's say you know that you

agree with that and you intend to obey

it. And then someone hurts you in a way

that is

deeper than your current conviction to

forgive people. Have you ever really

struggled to forgive somebody? Um and

and have you ever sort of thought well I

it will take me time to forgive

somebody. Uh what's happening there is

not that well it's understandable that

it takes time but it's that you're

delaying obedience because at any moment

if you surrender to the Lord uh any kind

of sin committed against you no matter

how deep and how grievous and how

atrocious the spirit's not lacking in

power to help you forgive. So that means

that any moment you take longer

than when you're convicted to forgive,

when you know that you need to forgive,

and that had to happen really quickly,

too. Sometimes people say they're not

convicted, but it's obviously that they

that they know and that they should be

forgiving. You're delaying that that

obedience. Um, and the point here is not

a guilt trip. It's like, oh, if you've

been delaying obedience to forgive

someone, what a terrible person you are.

The point is, you ought not to think a

sober evaluation of your faith. this

Paul talks about how we ought to have a

sober view. Um, and I don't I don't

think he really means like non- drunk,

but what he means is like just a rubber

meets the road concrete view of where

our faith is actually at the measure of

our faith. So, if you're measuring your

faith along the lines of your

understanding of forgiveness, you ought

to not measure it on the idea like,

"Yeah, I know and I've memorized some

scripture about it." But it's how

quickly and deeply you actually forgive

somebody. What do I mean by quickly?

Well, as soon as the Holy Spirit

convicts you, you surrender to him. And

you have a track record in your life of

uh the tracks are laid for quick and

speedy forgiveness. Um when it comes to

depth there, I have thought in my life,

I don't know if you've experienced this,

where you you've you've asked God to

give you the power to forgive someone

and you've said in your heart, I forgive

them. and then you're driving and you

have a little revenge fantasy about

them, like maybe an opportunity to get

back at them someday. And whenever that

happens to me, I'm like, you know what?

I I cannot believe that I've really

forgiven them truly and deeply if I'm

still thinking about getting back at

them. And so, what do you do? You say,

God, this shows you've revealed it to

me. Uh because I do not have revenge

fantasies about people, even mild or

serious, about people that I've actually

forgiven. So, I said I forgive them. I

thought I did. I meant to, but I didn't.

You need to drive it deeper. Okay. So, I

look at that and it hasn't happened. I

can't remember the last time that

happened. But it has happened recent

enough, like probably within the last

two years, that I know I'm capable of

thinking I've forgiven someone, but not

actually having forgiven them. And then

God shows me the symptoms of my heart

that show that. Um, in other words, you

can be blind to the idea that you

haven't forgiven someone as deeply as

you ought to. Um, so I look at my

obedience to God's word. I look at my

understanding of the concept of our the

command to forgive others and I evaluate

myself based on how quickly I forgive

and how deeply I forgive. Okay. So that

means that my evaluation of myself, if I

can think of an example within the last

years, two years where I fooled myself

into thinking I'd forgive something

someone but then have a revenge fantasy

that I don't think of myself too highly.

Well, I'm such a deep forgiver.

Evidently, not all the time. You know,

you have you cannot just look at your

successes in forgiving people. You also

have to look at your failures and put

those together in a sober evaluation of

yourself. Okay? All of this, everything

that I just said was not actually about

forgiveness, but it was about the idea

of actually obeying what you know, being

mastered by it. So with the idea of the

command of forgiveness as an idea within

being mastered. So how mastered are you

by the command to forgive? It's not just

about knowledge, it's about obedience.

They go together, knowing and obeying.

And you can't have one with the out

without the other. uh it doesn't mean

that we um just sort of get a pass when

we don't know that we were so to be

obedient about something. It's always

available to us. Uh God has put his

spirit in our heart. So he tells us

things that are wrong that we didn't

necessarily even know are wrong from

scripture. At the same time though, the

command is to actually read scripture

daily. So you ought to be getting to

know it um in in a deep way but also in

a broad way. Um, and and so the

knowledge and the obedience are really

important. That's what I mean about our

goal is not just to like know everything

there is to know about scripture. It's

it's actually to be known by God. And

being known by God includes obeying his

commands. So when Jesus says, "If you

love me, you will keep my commands. I'll

ask the Father and I'll give you another

helper to be with you forever." It's

that helper in us that helps us actually

obey the commands, that writes God's

word on our hearts, that gives us the

power to obey. That whenever we're

tempted to do something, let's just go

back to forgiveness, tempted not to

forgive, he gives us a way out.

You ought never to trust a teacher that

says you can be sinless. That almost

always means that they think they're

already sinless. And there's no such

thing biblically. In fact, you make God

out to be a liar. But we have to walk

the line of the fact that there's never

a time where not God is not giving you

the power by the spirit not to sin.

So you actually have the power of God

living in you by his spirit, the

fullness of God

to give you the strength you need to

resist any and all temptation. So the

fact that we're still not going to be

sinless and not not to claim that is not

a deficiency in God, it's a deficiency

in ourselves. And uh so that ought

really to drive home just how deep uh a

faith God is looking for. Faithfulness

is a matter of degrees. It's not just up

here. Yeah, I know that. It's down here.

I have a track record of obeying that.

So I spent a lot of time on that one.

You can also go to chapter 15 of John

verse 15 um about obeying God's word and

I I want to go there here. Uh this is

15:15. Uh no longer do I call you

servants for the servant does not know

what his master is doing but I've called

you friends for all that I have heard

from my father I've made known to you.

He's kept nothing secret. What I want to

focus on there within kind of one of the

first ideas to talk about they love and

obey God's word that drives it deeper

than just write reading ink on pages um

is one of the characteristics of a

faithful mentor. The first one that I'm

me one of the first ones that I'm

mentioning under the heading of they

love and obey God's word is they have a

deep and personal relationship with

Jesus. You could say they have a deep

and personal relationship with God. But

we know as Christians that you cannot

have a deep and personal relationship

with God the Father unless you first

have a deep and personal relationship

with Jesus Christ. That's how that

works. And what do I mean by that deep

and personal relationship with Jesus

Christ? Um you know I think there are

people that read their Bible pretty

regularly that don't have a very deep

relationship with Jesus. Um how can I

say that? Well what about the Pharisees?

an oppositional relationship with Jesus.

Really no relationship with them all

except for opposition and hatred and

contempt and murderous desire. And yet

they read the scriptures and knew them

well. They memorized giant portions of

it. Uh so when we're talking about our

relationship to loving and obeying God's

word, it really comes down to the idea

of being friends with Jesus, being

friends with God. And that's one of the

reasons why I mentioned this. I no

longer no longer do I call you servants

for a servant does not know what his

master is doing but I've called you

friends for all that I've heard from my

father have made known to you. So if

you're considering being a mentor, if

you're considering being mentored by

someone or if you're just looking to

grow as a Christian as we all ought to

be looking, we need to evaluate how deep

our relationship with Jesus actually is.

Um that's foundational. And instead of

going into depth about that right now, I

want you to consider everything I say

from here on out in every scripture that

I mention as a diagnostic tool to look

at how deep is my relationship with

Jesus right now. Do I have a deep and

abiding relationship with him? And this

is all under the heading of loving and

obeying God's word. Remember, nobody

that hears God's word and then just

generally doesn't obey it has a deep

relationship with him. Why? Because

Jesus said, "If you love me, you'll obey

my commands." So, you can't say, "Well,

I love him, therefore, we're close, but

not obey his commands." Yet, I can't

tell you how many times I've heard

people say that, that I love him, but uh

I'm just in a season of not obeying

right now. Uh real, genuine, sober love

for Jesus is one that surrenders to his

Holy Spirit and therefore obeys.

So, let's continue. What are we doing?

We're looking at characteristics within

the heading. They love and obey God's

word. I want you to notice another thing

too. None of these are performative and

none of them are competence-based.

Um they it's it's not as though when we

minister to other others in terms of

disciplehip of any kind, but especially

mentorship that there are aren't certain

core competencies that are necessary. Uh

but I find that the church in general uh

focuses too much on human competence.

Um, oh, he's a really effective

preacher. He's an effective evangelist.

And the more that I learn and the more

that I grow and the more experience I

gain as a pastor, the more I realize

there's simply no such thing. Um, it's

not about being an effective evangelist.

You cannot be effective in evangelism.

What do I mean by that? When you look at

toothpaste, there's a certain active

ingredient. Depends on the toothpaste

what it is. that active ingredient has

an effect. Uh we don't have the active

ingredient inside of us uh it naturally

to cause something to happen in

evangelism. In other words, when you

tell people the gospel, it's not up to

you to be the active ingredient in that.

That's the Holy Spirit. Faithful

evangelism is what you ought to look to.

So I I would recommend strongly and I'm

convinced of this that we just strike

the word effective like what makes an

effective mentor not what I'm saying

what makes a faithful mentor is what

we're talking about and that makes a big

difference because when you start

talking about being effective you end up

glorifying human characteristics. Oh

he's a perfective effective preacher.

He's such an effective communicator.

What's important about communication

when it comes to a mentor? We're kind of

skipping ahead here to another category,

but notice if you put that slide back

up. I think this was like eight or nine

or something. Uh, not that these are

listed in rank order except for the

first one. But they communicate

effectively. They communicate well.

They're really good communicators. No,

they communicate biblically, including

listening and speaking. Is there anybody

in here that cannot based on their

personality, talents, and gift set

communicate biblically?

For example, take gossip for a second.

Uh is there anyone here that based on

competence or incompetence or

personality or talent or gifting or

something god-given uh is better at not

gossiping than another person? Or is it

simply a general matter of obedience? We

know we ought not to talk about people

negatively uh with a wrong heart in a

spirit or a mean-spirited way in an

unloving way towards others. Right? So,

it's it's about faithfulness. It's not

about effectiveness. A faithful

evangelist is someone who shares the

gospel and then gives the results to the

Lord. A faithful preacher is someone who

teaches God's word and gives the results

to the Lord. It's why I don't spend that

much time. I think it time preparation

is all good, but it's not about how many

quotable sayings I have or how many

funny stories I tell or how engaging I

am. those things have a degree of value,

but it's I'm looking at faithfulness in

that and that's true for every one of

these characteristics. So the the reason

that that's so important is that there's

not a single person that cannot

surrender to a degree to be a good

mentor or a good mentee. It's not based

on

god-given talents and and and core

competencies like the world would like

to make it. Um, so that's true for a

deep personal relationship with Jesus.

Another thing I'd like to mention, we're

just going to walk through all of these

and then conclude about uh how a

faithful mentor loves and obey God's

word. They're reading it regularly

themselves and growing in their

understanding. There's not a person in

here that cannot choose to read God's

word regularly. They're reading it

regularly and growing in their

understanding. Now, I could go to many,

many different passages about this very

idea, but I'd like to go to Psalm 119.

If you want to see a display of someone

who loves God's word and is in it

regularly, um Psalm 119 is uh a perfect

example of that. Um but Psalm 119 105

says this, "Your word is a lamp to my

feet and a light to my path."

Faithful mentors recognize that without

God's word, we walk in darkness.

I don't know if you've ever been outside

uh when it's dark and there's cloud

cover and there's no moonlight. It it

can get so dark you cannot see your hand

right in front of your face. That's what

it's like without God's word. But you

can only see that by faith because you

could walk out of here not a Christian,

not believing that God's word has any

special power, but it's just written by

some men that said a bunch of stuff

that's not necessarily true. Sometimes

valuable, sometimes not. And you look

outside, it's a bright day. It's a

beautiful day. You can see you can see

the dangers ahead of you. You can see

the things that you need. So in the

flesh you think you see things but with

spiritual eyes you recognize just how

dark the world is and just how dark our

lives would be if we did not have God's

word to light up our path. What this

what this uh this verse is actually

saying is that you need a lamp

[clears throat] to just light up the

pathway ahead of you. How often do you

need that? All the time. every day and

every moment. And so if you realize

that, you don't think, well, I should

probably read God's word a little bit

later, but you need it right now. You

need it on a regular basis. You need it

daily. And so faithful mentors recognize

that our path is through darkness, and

we need God's word as a light. Uh, it'd

be like being in pitch black darkness

and also all kinds of dangers, people

and spirits wanting to do you harm

though you walk through the valley of

the shadow of death. You know that we're

walking through the valley of the shadow

of death. Uh

other than God and potentially the

Archangel Michael, um Satan is the most

powerful being in the world that exists.

And he's prowling around like a roaring

lion seeking someone to devour. And he

has all kinds of servant de servant

demons under his control. So he doesn't

even have to know your name. All that

has to happen is some demon knows about

you and is trying to tempt you. You

don't see those things. I'm not meaning

to scare you like there's a demon under

every rock. Not the point. But there is

terrible spiritual danger.

Someone was telling me recently about

how many men have just walked away from

the faith. Men that seemed faithful, men

that seemed like they cared about God's

word and the church and the enemy got to

them and now they're off in the

darkness. And who who knows how far they

will fall before they repent? And you

think, how can that happen? Well, it can

happen to anybody who strays from the

path, who turns off their lantern. It

faithful mentors know that just ceasing

to be in God's word regularly is like

turning off your flashlight, not only in

the darkness, but in a perilous path

with enemies around every corner. So,

faithful mentors understand that the

word is a lamp to my feet and a light to

my path. And it's not about, oh, well, I

kind of already know the word. It's it's

each time you get into it, your path is

lit. No matter where you go in God's

word, he can direct you through it. Uh

another um speaking of so not all of

these passages or even most of them are

directly about mentorship, especially in

their context. That's not the point.

It's the principles of the verses

applied. But if we go to Joshua 18,

Joshua was directly mentored by Moses.

He was a a mentee of of Moses. And

Joshua 1:8 says this, "The book of the

Joshua 1:8

law shall not depart from your mouth,

but you shall meditate on it day and

night, so that you may be careful to do

according to what all that is written in

it. For then you will make your way

prosperous, and then you will have good

success.

Shall not depart from your mouth." The

book of the law um is a a way of saying

the Bible of that time.

So if you're going to be a faithful

mentor, it's something that you ought to

meditate on day and night. Does that

mean that what God's actually commanded

is that all day long you to spend your

time in God's word? No. In fact, God's

word says that we ought to work hardly

as unto the Lord and not as unto men.

And so whatever job or vocation you've

been assigned, there are times where you

need to focus on that. If you're a

framer, frame well as unto Jesus. Not

just to like get a promotion, but do it

because it it glorifies God for you to

work hard in that job.

But if you spent no time recently in

God's word, then your mind and heart are

not mentoring on it. I've done some

framing. Not that I have a whole lot of

skill in that, but I've done some

framing. And there were times where uh

or as a labor on a contract crew where

I'd spent God time in God's word in in

that time. And some tasks when you're on

a labor crew or when you're a labor on a

crew like this, they're not they don't

require constant focus. Like painting

did not require constant focus for me.

And so my mind, the Holy Spirit would

direct my mind back to God's word

because I'd been in it that morning. And

that's that's the way God can work. When

you spend time in his word, he helps

your mind reflect on what's what you've

been learning and apply it throughout

your life. But if you don't spend that

kind of time, it's like baking with last

week's stale bread. It it's still

somewhat nutritious, the things you

learn in the past, but it's not fresh.

It doesn't have the same power.

Colossians 3:16. I'm just going to go

Colossians 3:16

off the screen here. Says this, "Let the

word of Christ dwell in you richly."

And and this one really is there's a

degree of mentoring in relationship to

others involved, teaching and

admonishing one another in all wisdom,

singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual

songs in with thankfulness in your

hearts to the Lord. I can't imagine

there's anyone in here that doesn't want

to have powerful experiences in

worshiping God and and also powerful

experiences of worshiping God on Sunday.

Well, the more deeply as a congregation

of individuals we allow God's word or

Christ's word in this Christ to indwell

us, the more it enhances the power of

our worship. The And I I don't mean the

effectiveness, but the way that it

glorifies God's word. When Christ's word

dwells in you richly, you're able to

admonish one another in all wisdom, and

you're singing psalms, hymns, and

spiritual songs with thankfulness in

your hearts to the Lord. So think of

your heart as

like a place where God's word can be

deposited and evaluate your life. How

often are you depositing God's word in

that place in your heart? Mentors,

faithful mentors have a a rich deposit

of God's word in their heart and they're

continuing to deposit more in in their

on a daily basis. And just like anything

that's worth doing in life, it's not

about,

you know, binging one day and then

that's enough. It's about small deposits

daily. It's about regularity. It's the

same with working out. It's the same

with dieting. It's the same with

anything. You do what God's called you

to do in that day and you wow, 365 days

later, you're you're you can't believe

how much you've grown and how much

deeper your understanding is. Uh so

again um faithful mentors are reading uh

God's word regularly themselves and

growing in their understanding. Uh next

topic they are surrendering to what they

read and not just hearing but doing.

Let's go to James 1:22-2.

But be doers of the word and not hearers

only deceiving yourselves. Stop right

there. Sometimes when we think doers we

think that we need to like do something.

That's true from this passage, too. But

there are when he says being doers of

the word, that also means having the

attitude that the word tells us to have.

And we don't normally think of doing

attitudes, right? Attitudes is something

that we would describe as something we

have, but that's still very much in the

category of doing. If the word says to

actually do something and you don't do

it, then you're hearing only and there's

the deception there. Um, that's not what

the word is about. It's about hearing

and doing. Uh, hearing without doing is,

I'm not trying to exaggerate, but it's

worthless. It's worse than worthless

because actually hearing builds a

certain amount of knowledge of scripture

that you're then accountable for, but

when you don't live by, it puffs you up

in in pride. Paul says that it puffs it.

Did you I mean I want to say this

carefully, but you know that there's a

way of engaging God's word that will

increase your pride.

Have you ever thought about that?

There's a way of getting into God's word

that if your attitude isn't if your

heart disposition isn't right will

actually increase your pride. It

happened with the Pharisees. And the way

is to think about it just be like,

"Yeah, I know that. Yeah, I know that.

Yeah, I know that." Paul actually says

in Corinthians, I think it's chapter 8,

that um you may think you know

something, but you don't yet know as you

ought to know.

And that's always true. I found out I

wish 20 years ago I already knew that or

knew it as deeply as I know it now

because I realize over and over and over

again that there is not a single thing I

know from scripture that I know deeply

enough yet.

If I if I knew it so deep, then I could

say with certainty that any future

temptation I will definitely overcome.

But I have enough examples of having

fallen to temptation in different areas

to know I simply can't make that claim.

And so I say by the grace of God, help

me overcome the next temptation that

faces me.

So it's always about deepening uh that

sort of um understanding.

And otherwise, next verse, this is what

we're like according to the brother of

Jesus, according to God himself. For if

anyone is a hearer of the word and not a

doer, he's like a man who looks intently

at his natural face in a mirror. The

next verse, for he looks at himself and

goes away and at once forgets what he

was like. It's this what God looks at

when he sees people who are reading and

understanding God's word but not

applying it in their lives through the

power of the Holy Spirit is spiritual

amnesiacs.

It's like you have some kind of

spiritual disease where what you learn

does not stick. And I believe that can

happen to genuinely saved Christians for

seasons at a time and even longer than

any would like to admit. But there's a

warning in scripture. I think it's in

second Timothy about how uh there will

be these people who oppose God and

oppose God's people and they have all

these negative characteristics but one

of them is that they're always learning

but never arriving at the knowledge of

the truth. I like to think of like a a

gadget or mechanical device that has

gears. And

what God is saying is that some people

have their gears stripped. And so the

wheels are turning, but there's there's

no catching. There's no power. Nothing

moves. And but on the outside, they

might seem like, "Oh, they're really

learning and growing." But it never

leads to actual obedience. There's no

surrender to the authority of God's

word. And so to some degree, I think for

seasons, we can spend time stripping our

gears. You know, obedience begets

obedience. Discipline begets more

discipline. Uh, but disobedience begets

more disobedience. Have you ever done

something you knew was sinful and then

thought, "Well, I've already done it. I

might as well continue." That's stripped

gear thinking. That's learning but not

arriving. That's that's never true. The

very best thing to do after having

fallen to temptation is ask for

forgiveness and for the power not to do

it again. You know, why wouldn't the

enemy just try to press the sin even

deeper in your life the moment after

failure? Uh so again, we need to be

hearers and and doers as well. And that

doer word needs to be defined correctly.

Obeyers is a good way of putting it. All

right. Next, and we're about halfway

done here. So, um a little bit over

halfway done. Uh they spend regular time

in prayer. This is also about obeying

God's word. And I'd like to connect that

to a deep personal relationship with

Jesus. Um and I'll go to a couple verses

here, but what's your prayer life like?

If you're thinking about I'd really like

to be a mentor and you're evaluating,

you know, I think I can't imagine that

any of you are disagreeing with these

concepts. None of them are particular

controversial or or they're pretty 101

basic Christianity. But if you're

evaluating yourself soberly

as a mentor, you're going to have an

extra step of responsibility for praying

for your mentee. But if you're a husband

or wife and you never pray for your wife

or husband and you never pray for your

children, uh do you think you're ready

in this season to add another person to

be responsible for praying for? And what

you do is like, well, I'm definitely not

ready, so condemn yourself. No. Start

praying.

go home and the very first thing you do

or right before lunch or after lunch

spend five to 10 minutes actually

praying for meaningful things for change

in your life for growth in your life

going back to this for loving God's word

what if you're sitting there it's like I

just don't I don't love God's word what

should you do well our relationship to

God is unique this wouldn't work with

your wife like uh God can you or uh

honey can you help me love you more it's

probably something you never to say you

know uh but with God you can actually

say that and it does not offend him.

Did you know you can't even love God

without the Holy Spirit? So, it's a

function of God for us to love God. I

don't know if you knew that or not. So,

you can just ask him, "Help me love you

more. Help me love your word." I

remember um I'll just say a person,

anonymous person in our uh disciplehip

community um was relating to someone

else talking very honestly about how

they just don't really get that excited

to be in God's word. and and she said,

"Uh, I I felt that way, too. And then I

decided to ask God to pray. I ask God to

give me passion for his word." And he

did. And now I get excited. And when I

discover things, I get even more

excited. And there's this growing

passion for his word. Uh the very same

thing you can do with prayer. You can

ask God to make you passionate about

prayer. And more prayer begets more

prayer. Ask him for specific things. And

maybe if you're forgetful regarding what

you've asked him for, write it down. And

then when he answers, write it down and

then complete the prayer by praising

him. According to Jesus, only one out of

10 people comes back and thanks him for

answered prayer. So don't be the nine

out of 10. Be the one out of 10. And

here's what happens when people pray and

then they see answered prayer. And

believe it or not, God answers so much

more prayer than you think when you're

not praying. When you start praying,

there's just a lot of stuff that start

falling into place. and then you praise

him for it. It increases your passion

and desire to keep praying. It I would

say it's almost natural for that to

happen, but it really is spiritual. It's

not a natural thing. So, let's go to

Colossians 4:2.

Colossians 4:2

Um, continue steadfastly in prayer,

being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Um, so steadfastly definitely means

regularly, not easily distracted from to

to not pray and being watchful. A a

faithful mentor will rec recognize that

one of the ways that we watch out for

danger for ourselves and for others, but

also are looking for God's will in our

life, waiting on him when we're looking

for help with the decision and wisdom

from above is prayer. Prayer is an

active way to use the lamp of God's

word. You could read God's word, but

then never pray, which doesn't really

show that your relationship to Jesus is

particularly deep. Because I don't know

about you, but when I'm reading God's

word, it it it inspires me to pray. I

not just about things that I need, but

about

simply put, I don't know if it actually

is simple, but in simple words, that

that things in my life would be like

they would be if I was in heaven, that

God's will would be done on earth as it

is in heaven. you begin to desire to put

his kingdom and his righteousness first

when you're reading God's word. Uh in

one obvious way is because when you read

God's word, let's say you're reading

Proverbs and it says something like

train a child in the way that he should

go and when he's older he will not

depart. And your child's departed uh

even though you trained them up well and

they're living in the wild country. Well

then something in your life on earth is

not happening as it should be in heaven.

and you see that God's word says

something that your life doesn't reflect

or your child's life doesn't reflect.

Well, what does that make you want to

do? Ask God to reconcile those things

and so that your child would stop

departing, would come back from the wild

country. I don't know that Jesus was

thinking of an actual person about the

prodigal father, the father longing for

but in that story you can only imagine

how many times he prayed for his son to

return.

So, there's a real need to pray and

faithful mentors recognize that need.

Um, if I was ever going to say anything

controversial, it would be this, but I

don't really even think it is. Let's go

to 1st Samuel 12 23. And I don't know if

you knew this. Uh, but according to

Samuel, there's a sin uh related to not

praying. Moreover, as for me, far be it

from me that I should sin against the

Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I

will instruct you in the good and right

way. I chose this one in particular

because it's related to mentoring. Um,

does does Samuel seem to have a sense of

responsibility to pray for people? He

does. And he's even saying that it would

be a sin for him to stop praying for

people. Um, so that that

we might as well not dull the knife of

the conviction there. If you've just

ceased praying, uh, there's a consistent

sin in your life. And what do you ever

do if you're being convicted right now

when you find sin in your life? You

confess it. You say, "Lord, I'm sorry

for not praying. I've been avoiding

communicating with you. I'm sorry. Help

me overcome that. Forgive me for that

and lead me in the way everlasting." And

that would be a great thing to do at

communion.

And so, especially though for mentors,

you're going to have a responsibility to

pray for your mentee, for those in your

charge spiritually for that time. And uh

and yes, it would be sinful to just not

do that when you committed to do it. Uh

next next one, and we're three-4 way

done here. Uh they're willing to change

their minds about things when the word

clearly calls for it. And I'm tempted to

go into great detail. I'll tell you a

short story right after we go to

Ephesians 4. Let's go to Ephesians 4 uh

verse 20- 24.

[sighs and gasps] But that is not the

way you learn Christ. Paul says,

assuming that you have heard about him

and were taught in him as the truth is

in Jesus. Next verse, to put off your

old self which belongs to your former

manner of life and is corrupt through

deceitful desires.

Verse 23, and to be renewed in the

spirit of your minds, and to put on the

new self, created after the likeness of

God and true righteousness and holiness.

That verse 23 is the one I wanted to

highlight. to be renewed in the spirit

of your minds.

I have you ever thought very deeply

about what that means? It's not actually

about your mind in the earthly sense

like something that brain scientists

could discover. It's about the spirit of

your minds. And just if we back up a

verse here, the old self

is delights in deceiving itself because

that's one way to avoid conviction and

having to uh you know confess sin and

and it allows you to have a sense of um

callousness toward sins that allows you

to continue doing it which is according

to the desire of the flesh. But the

former manner of life is corrupt through

deceitful desires. And just because

you've come to faith in Christ and you

have his righteousness superimposed on

you so that that's what God sees when he

sees you. He sees the righteousness of

Jesus Christ, you are truly righteous uh

does not mean that you're not to

continue to put to death the flesh. And

here's what I mean by they're willing to

change their minds about things when the

word clearly calls for it. Um it's good

to be convicted about scripture. It's

good to be convicted about doctrine.

That's an important thing for it's if

you're just not convicted at all.

totally like a reed swayed by the wind

and you're just able to be taken in by

anything. But there are times when we're

wrong about our convictions.

There are times where we've been

studying scripture and all of a sudden

we see something that's just deeply

incompatible with what we thought

scripture said. And I don't know if

that's happened to you, but it the best

thing to do in that moment, maybe not

immediately cuz but when you know that

something you've been believing is not

what scripture teaches, you simply the

wise and spiritual and humble thing to

do is to give up what you believed.

Here's the problem. If you've been in a

faith tradition that teaches something

that's not actually true, for example, I

think it's

I I might be wrong about this, but I

think it's Church of Christ that says

that you um if you're not baptized,

you're not saved. Okay? And that makes

baptism a saving work. That's legalism.

That's really deeply wrong. But imagine

if you're just a kid who's meaning to be

faithful and that's all you've ever been

taught. And then maybe you attend a

non-denominational church and someone

like me says baptism does not save you

and proves it to you from scripture, but

you're still in relationship to all of

these Christians who really feel

strongly and consciously teach that well

then there's this whole history and all

of these relationships that there's

going to be dissonance because you now

disagree with them. So there's a real

cost to changing your mind. Uh but the

story I want to tell you shortly is

about a mentorship relationship and what

happened. And I was the mentee and

I saw something in scripture that

really this this mentor's view was more

just like a human tradition on this

thing. You'll find that in a lot of

large mainline denominations

denominations. Well, sometimes they they

can't even back up biblically why a

certain thing is done a certain way. But

then when confronted with scripture

about it, the tradition is so deeply

embedded that they're not willing to

change their minds. And it it just

naturally I didn't intend for it, but

just naturally undermined some of the

trust I had in this mentor because I

thought the scriptures are so clear

about this issue. Um, and you got to be

humble because sometimes I thought my

mentor is wrong more than I'd like to

admit and uh been so confident about it

and I was the one that's wrong. Okay. Uh

but some things in scripture are so

simple and straightforward

um that if the tradition contradicts it

and then you talk to that mentor about

it but they don't align their view with

scripture. Well, all I thought all we

were trying to do is align our our

hearts with scripture and yet your

mentor isn't in a in a significant area.

And so as mentors you might think, "Oh

my goodness, if I change my mind on

this, I'll just look like a

flip-flopper." No, there's nothing that

you can do that's better that when you

recognize something that you've been

believing from scripture was just a

human tradition or not quite right and

to just give it up and the consequences

don't matter. Obedience matters. And so

there's a humility that mentors carry

with each other where they're just like,

you know what, I think I was wrong about

that. I think I think you're right. I

think that's a better way of viewing

that doctrine. Uh, and by the way, that

will just give you even more authority

in the life of a mentee. I've had

mentors do that, too. And it made me

trust them even more. I'm like, they're

so humble. They, wow, they are really

learning and growing in scripture. So,

again, they're willing to change their

minds about things. They have the spirit

of their minds constantly renewed. Um,

they're convicted that God's word is the

only powerful uh uh thing powerful

enough to change the human heart. Let's

just go to one verse because we're

running out of time here. We'll go to 2

2 Peter 1:3–14

Peter 1:3-14.

You could also go to Hebrews 12 where

God's word is living and active and

sharper than a two-edged sword. Um, but

I want to show you something that really

shows that there's nothing outside of

God's word that has the power to change

human hearts. His divine power has

granted to us all things that pertain to

life and godliness. So that means that

let's continue here, but all means

everything, right? It doesn't mean most

things but not some things but it means

everything through the knowledge of him

who called us to his own glory and

excellence. Where do you get that

knowledge? God's word. But as if it's

not clear enough, the very next passage

talks about uh what is actually by by

which he has granted to us what his

precious and very great promises so that

through them you may become partakers in

the divine nature having escaped the

corruption that is in the world because

of sinful desire.

And we just talked about last week how

all of his very great and precious

promises have as their origin a singular

promise that God made to Jesus that

whoever believes in him would be sons of

God. So

everything in God's word gives us

everything we need for life and

godliness. It's simple spiritual logic,

irrefutable, that that means there's

nothing outside of God's word we need

for life and godliness.

And you might think, well, duh. And yet,

it is so easy

uh to start thinking, oo, I read this

really great book, and maybe it has some

scripture in it, but it's not scripture

itself. And my experience is that that

often times uh books uh some kind of

verse will catch the heart of a pastor

and he'll write a whole book about that

that verse. And I don't mean to be too

negative, but they're basically one

paragraph books. There's like a

paragraph of content elucidated for 120

pages. And God's word is not like that.

Each word, each verse is just packed

with power and and importance and value

for your life. So, we're not going to be

legalistic either in terms of this

applying. It's like, oh, you can't ever

uh go through a book. In fact, I think

there are certain books I would I

highlight Wayne Grudam's systematic

theology that are guides to what

scripture actually says. So, a book

that's pointing us to understanding

doctrine of scripture would obviously be

be asinine to be like, "No, we can't

read that book." That's not the point.

But

a faithful mentor recognizes, "Let's

just get into God's word. Let's just be

there. Why not just there?" A friend of

mine once said when I was talking about

how really that's all I really want to

do. I'm not interested in going to all

these different interesting books and

ideas and theories. It's just study

God's word. There's not enough time in

your life really to study all of God's

word as deeply as you like it seems. But

if there is, then every time you go and

are studying something else for some

spiritual purpose is almost like an

opportunity cost where you could be

studying God's word. And this is the

only place that we've been given

everything we need for life and

godliness. Um, and so that's become a

deeper conviction in my heart more and

more. And I I found that faithful

mentors uh agree with that. And so this

friend, we're at a fire pit night and he

goes and he said, "So, what you're

saying is that you just want to use God

God's word for all ministry and not

really go outside of that much." And I

said, "Exactly." And he goes, "Imagine

if uh Jesus found out that all we used

was his word for ministry." I just

laughed so hard because it's such a

simple way. There's no way God, Jesus,

is ever going to be disappointed if what

you use for ministry is exclusively

God's word. Why not? You hear people

call that legalistic. I don't mean it

legalistically, but I just

I get bored with anything meant to sort

of have some spiritual effect when I

know that God's word is the only thing

that has that effect. And I think

faithful mentors share that. Last three

things, they spend time internalizing

and memorizing scripture and it shows.

Uh you could go to Deuteronomy 11:18 and

Deuteronomy 11:18

uh John 14:26. Let's go to uh John 14:26

John 14:26 John 14:26

because again, this is not about

competence. It's not about how many

verses you memorize and how quickly you

can recall them. But listen to what

Jesus says. But the helper, the Holy

Spirit, whom the father will send in my

name, he will teach you all things and

bring to your remembrance all that I

have said to you. So for those of you

that struggle to actually regurgitate

the memorization work that you've done,

first couple things. For one, don't say

just because you struggle to memorize

that memorization isn't valuable. It

helps you internalize things. Another

thing is you have a supernatural helper,

God, the Holy Spirit, who will help you

bring to remembrance the things that

you've learned and memorized. And the

more time you spend in memory work, the

more those things seem to come to mind

by the Holy Spirit. And so I think that

uh internalizing and memorizing

scripture, Deuteronomy basically

commands it. Deuteronomy 11:18 um is

Deuteronomy 11:18

another another uh quality of a faithful

mentor. Last two, they get excited to

talk about biblical things with others.

Um let's go to Matthew 4:4, which in

Matthew 4:4

context is not at all about Jesus being

excited about talking about scripture.

It's about him refuting Satan. However,

there's something in here, especially

around Thanksgiving. This is Matthew. Do

I not have Matthew 4:4? Okay. Um this is

Matthew 4:4

the temptations of Jesus. And I guess I

just didn't give it to our team. Um, but

here's what he says. Um,

and the tempter came to him and said,

"If you're the son of God, command these

stones to become loaves of bread." He's

been foring uh fasting for 40 days. He's

starving. It's a human being. He's

starving. But he answered, "It is

written, man shall not live by bread

alone, but by every word that comes from

the mouth of God." Jesus obviously loved

the word. uh Jesus spent time in the

word and Jesus was excited to talk to

other people about that. That's not what

this is saying in context. However, this

is a quotation from Deuteronomy. And if

you know that man does not live on uh

bread alone, but on every word that

comes from the mouth of the Lord. Um

think about how excited you get about

food. Christine spent like five hours

cooking Thanksgiving. We had so many

amazing different foods for Thanksgiving

and I was very much excited. So think,

do you get more excited about food or

about God's word? Your eternal life is

based on God's word. Everything good

spiritually that's ever happened to you

came from God's word. And yet we get

more excited about food. So cultivating

an excitement about biblical things. So

that maybe the conversation starts out

with Monday night football or some

politics or things like that, but a

faithful mentor is excited to talk

talking about God's word and it comes

out of them naturally because they know

that it's like our sustenance and our

strength and they love God's word just

as much as they love or more than they

love natural things. And so if you're

looking for a mentor, you probably

already noticed, man, this person loved

God's word. That's a good sign. Last

one. Their biblical counsel is sought

out by other Christians. Let's go to

Proverbs 16:23 and then conclude.

Proverbs 16:23

Proverbs uh that's another one I didn't

give you guys. I guess these last ones I

didn't give you here. Proverbs 16:23

Proverbs 16:23

says this. Let me turn there real quick.

Um

Proverbs 16:23.

Proverbs 16:23

The heart of the wise makes his speech

judicious and adds persuasiveness to his

lips.

If you find yourself thinking

about another Christian, I wonder what

they would say about this. Like you're

you're trying to be like counsel or

something like I wonder what they'd say.

And maybe I haven't talked to them yet

about it. When I find myself thinking

like that about people just when they

come to mind, that's a person whose

counsel I've found to be valuable, wise,

and persuasive.

You know, especially when they've

counseledled me in a way that I feel

like rejecting and maybe did, but then

they were right.

I just have a track record of having

their words aligned with wisdom from

above. Uh this is a very powerful thing.

So there the wise have judicious speech

and persuasive words and uh so that is

another and where do you get that from?

Where do you get that wisdom from above?

Yeah, it's in relationship to holy

spirit but it's it's god's word. It's

the sword of the spirit. So the more

time you spend in God's word, the more

it affects your counsel towards others.

I have had I'll just give you an example

of how the opposite can be true, too.

And if you've ever done marriage

counseling, you know this. And if you've

been in a circle of people that uh tend

to talk about things they ought not to,

you've heard about this. Whenever a

couple is struggling to the point where

they're thinking about getting divorced

and one of the people has done something

that's like betrayal level sin, you will

always find people counseling the person

who has been hurt. You'll find some

people that counsel them to get

divorced. It's without fail the move.

Someone who lined up, you know, the best

thing for you to do is get divorced. No.

Sin added to sin never solves anything

and it just causes even more

destruction. But you will also find

people who say no matter how dire the

situation seems that you should forgive,

that trust can be rebuilt, that you know

of situations where God has redeemed

those kinds of things and had a better

marriage than they could ever imagine

after great failure. Um, so you hear

someone say something like that, oh, so

and so told me that my husband's so bad

that I might as well get divorced. And

you always find out in the end that they

did the same thing. So they're just

justifying themselves. But then there's

always that diamond person in there that

that aligns their words with God's

words, God's word, no matter how much

faith it takes. Well, people like that

are trustworthy under pressure in

difficult social situations. So,

faithful mentors are people whose advice

you want to seek out and you found to be

valuable. Again, everything that we've

been talking about today has been about

how faithful mentors love and obey God's

word. And I hope that you've been

challenged, convicted, hopefully

encouraged because some of you

definitely have all if not most of these

qualities. And uh so that ought to be an

encouragement. Um but no matter where

you're at, whether you're needing to

grow in an area, whether you're

realizing, you know what, I need to take

the responsibility because I think those

are qualities that that the Holy Spirit

has built up in me. Uh when you come to

communion, it can be about confession of

sin. It can be asking for strength to do

something. It can be scary to take

responsibility because you know I might

fail, I might make mistakes, it might

not work out. So whatever you need in

relationship to growing according to the

word today, uh the grace is there for

you on the table. And a mentor once told

me, and you've probably heard me repeat

it before, don't leave any of the grace

on the table. Let me pray. Father, thank

you for this word. Thank you that we get

to worship you now after hearing about

these characteristics of maturity in the

Christian life and how they're all

related to your word and really none of

them aren't. I pray that we would align

ourselves with your word. I pray that we

would value your word. I pray that you

would increase our passion so that when

we think about I should read his word,

it's followed by a desire. I want to

read his word. I look forward to

relating to you, Jesus, and learning

more about about you and and this

promise made to you, about us putting

our faith in you and and then it becomes

something that we look forward to do and

not just something that we're checking

off, Lord. And I pray that you would use

these words and the teaching that you've

given me from your word to really

develop mentors and and that you'd give

us a whole group of official mentors

that would help uh others to grow. And I

pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.