Investing: Can Mentoring Mold A Man? Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Today we will begin a new seven-week series entitled “Learning To Lead.”

• For some, when the subject of leadership is mentioned, they check out because they think, “I AM NOT A LEADER.”

• MY contention is that everyone is a leader in some form. You do not have to be a CEO or a General in the Army to be a leader.

• Husbands and wives lead, mothers and fathers lead, we strive to lead people to Jesus. Brothers and sisters lead.

• This subject is important to each one of us today because at some point you will lead in some fashion. The prisons are full of people who had not positive mentors and role models to follow. We see society falling on a downward spiral. We bemoan the fact that we cannot trust our leaders, that crime is too high, etc.…

• But the question is, what will you do about.

• In this series, we will explore the subjects of personal integrity, delegating, vision casting, creativity, courage, building value, and this week we will examine the issue of mentoring; investing ourselves in other people.

• There comes a point where one has to consider investing themselves into other people.

• Jesus spent a considerable amount of time investing in the 12. Paul, as we see from the text we are going to look at today, spent the better part of 15 years investing himself into and mentoring Timothy.

• Jesus was not going to stay on the earth preaching and teaching for eternity, he needed to mentor people to carry on the work. Paul knew he was not going to live forever, so he found people to invest his life in so that the work would carry on.

• Looking at Jesus and Paul, one can contend that mentoring can mold a person, on a personal note, I was molded by a couple of men who made an investment into my life and I am so thankful for their willingness to do so.

• I want us to examine three principles that will help us as we seek in invest into other people. There comes a point where all of us will have the opportunity to mentor someone in some fashion.

• The interesting thing about investing is that when you are wise and patient with your investing, it can pay big dividends in the end.

• Let us look at 2 timothy 2:1-2

• SLIDE #2

• 2 Timothy 2:1–2 (HCSB) — 1 You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

• SLIDE 3

SERMON

I. Invest in yourself first.

• Before you can invest in others, you need to be able to first invest in yourself.

• If you have not invested in yourself, you will have nothing to offer to another person.

• Our own relationship with Jesus must be developing in trust and dependence before we can expect to influence others for His kingdom.

• Can you imagine Peter mentoring someone before the resurrection? That would have been interesting!

• The word THEREFORE in verse 1 ties back to Paul encouraging Timothy to hold on to a pattern of sound teaching, to stay strong in the faith.

• In verse one, Timothy is encouraged to be STRONG in the grace that is in Jesus.

• There is two ways to look at this thought.

• The first one says that grace is the source of Timothy’s strength or he is being encouraged to operate within the sphere of grace.

• In order for Timothy to do this, he will need a strong faith, he will need to train and not try.

• If Timothy is not operating within the strength of God’s grace, he will fail.

• If you are going to be able to lead or mentor others, you first must have something to offer them.

• Let’s look at this from a financial point of view. If you are going to be able to invest in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, you first must have the money to do so.

• This means that you would have to prioritize your spending so that you would have the money available to invest.

• If your finances are not in order, you would have nothing, or very little to invest in the market.

• Later I want to show you what a $10,000 investment in one company on December 12, 1980 would be worth at the end of 2014. You will be amazed.

• However, to make a 10,000 investment, you would first need to have $10,000 available that you could afford to lose or tie up for a significant amount of time.