Mentoring With God - Musts Series

Mentoring with God - Musts

Exodus 18:6-27

(https://youtu.be/2dSzjIKtVcA?feature=shared) What you saw took place before a Trail Blazers and Mavericks game in 2003. The 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert couldn’t find the words to the National Anthem. Can you imagine the fear, the anxiety and the embarrassment?

When Coach Maurice Cheeks was asked what motivated him to go over and start helping Natalie, he replied, “You know, I don’t know. I think as I saw her stumble on the words, she looked helpless, and I just started walking. I had no idea what I was going to do, what I was going to say. But as I approached her, I just wanted to help her, and I didn’t know if I even knew the words…”

Remember the last time you failed? Was there a coach who helped you recover and succeed? Or did the people around you come down on you for your failure?

I've had about a dozen coaches and mentors since my college years. Many of them are pastors. One pastor lived and served in Washington DC. He made himself available to me 24/7 until he retired a few years back to serve as a missionary in Asia.

Other mentors I have or had are professional coaches. One coaches executives in tech companies. Another coaches leaders nationally. One I just developed a relationship with last week. He lives in Africa, and lectures internationally on reversing PD.

I'm grateful for their mentoring me at no charge. If you're interested in learning how to get high quality mentoring at no cost, I'll share with you my experience at the end of the message. Of all the people I asked to mentor me, I've only had one say "no." His reply was, "Dana, my schedule won't permit. Could we just be friends?"

You might ask, "Why do I need a mentor? I'm doing fine." Maybe I'm just higher maintenance. But without the mentors in my life, I would not know, do or become what I know, do or become.

Life is hard. Here's what else. Life is too short to learn everything we need from personal experience. We need the experience of our parents, teachers, experts and more mature individuals.

Here's another question; not "Why do I need a mentor?" but "Why do I need TO BE a mentor?" Someone answered the question this way: "There can be no success without a successor."

Humanly speaking, the success of Christianity was the result of Jesus mentoring disciples who mentored disciples. Jesus mentored his successors. And His successors are called to mentor other successors.

This morning’s passage comes from Exodus 18:6-27. We’ll learn the key characteristics of a mentor and a mentee. This message begins the second subtheme of the year: Mentoring with God.

Let me read our text and give some background. (READ Exodus 18:6-17).

Here’s a bit of background. God used Moses to deliver the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. For many generations, Egyptian slave masters ruled the Israelites. At this point in history, the Israelites were learning to be ruled by God through His chosen leader, Moses.

So Moses faced the incredible challenge of carrying out three roles: King, Prophet and Priest. As king, Moses ruled over his people with justice and love. As prophet, he taught his people God’s laws. And as priest, he served as a mediator between God and his people.

What Moses was to the Jews, Jesus is to the world. God chose Jesus Christ to deliver people out of the slavery of sin, guilt and condemnation. To lead people with justice and love. To teach people God’s ways. And to serve as the way back to God.

When Moses' father-in-law saw Moses carrying the heavy load, he wanted to help. Jethro came alongside and mentored Moses. And Moses accepted Jethro’s advice.

Life is challenging for the young and the old. The challenges are different, but we all feel stress and face failure. And it helps to have someone who wants you to succeed.

The helper and the one being helped makes up the mentoring relationship. But sometimes the helper and the help are not welcomed. This can be true of a parent who tries to help a teenager. Or a supervisor who tries to help an employee.

Moses could have seen his father-in-law’s help as butting in. Instead, Moses saw Jethro helping him succeed. There are unique interactions that must take place to possible mentoring with God. Let’s look at the approach of the mentor and the response of the mentee.

Let’s look at Mentor’s "musts." First, Jethro acquired Moses’ trust. Exodus 18:8-12.

There are at least two things you can do to get me to trust you. Help me when I struggle. And celebrate with me when I succeed.

What if you were jealous or unhappy when I succeed? Would I trust that you want what is best for me? Probably not.