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.
• When you do not invest in yourself, you will have nothing to offer and you will have a bleak future.
• Paul also told Timothy in verse 2 to be strong in what Paul taught him in the presence of many witnesses. He is called to hold fast to the truth.
• If you want to be a blessing to other people, you will need to invest in yourself.
• We can understand this principle when it comes to education. People will borrow vast amounts of money for cars that lose value, houses that lose value, but will balk at spending money on education.
• Education is an investment in yourself.
• The last thing we want to happen is having the blind leading the blind.
• Think of those who invested in you, they had something to offer. When you are called on to invent in another person, make sure you have something to offer.
• Next we are called to…
• SLIDE #4
II. Invest your life in another person.
• As you invest in yourself, now you need to find someone to invest in. For parents, you have children to invest in.
• You have these little bundles of joy that you can invest in, they need to learn from you.
• Look at verse 2, Paul did not ask Timothy to simply invest in himself for investment sake, he expected him to find others to invest in.
• SLIDE #5
• 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.
• This is like an Olympic torch bearer.
• They hold the torch high until they can pass it on to the next person.
• Think about our faith, someone passed the torch to you, now you need to be ready to pass it on to the next person so they can pass it on to the next person.
• The greatest disservice I could have done for Maurice McNeely and Mike Curtice would have been to learn from their mentoring and then done nothing with it.
• We need to take the time to invest in other people.
• This is part of the reason we do Life Groups, particularly the Man Cave. My hope is that people will invest in each other, that be getting to know each other better, we will mentor one another, learn from one another, and encourage one another.
• As with any investment, we need to also be wise as to where we invest.
• Later I will show you a company that has turned out to be a fantastic investment.
• If you had $10,000 to invest, or even $1,000, you would want to be wise where you put it.
• If someone wanted you to invest in their 8 Track Tape company, you may not want to throw your money at that one.
• Paul tells Timothy to entrust his preaching to FAITHFUL men!
• To entrust means to handover for safe keeping, to deposit something of value. It does not mean to hide it, but rather to guard the purity of the thing to be entrusted.
• He was told to entrust the message to faithful men.
• Faithful means to be loyal, trustworthy, people who would not betray the deposit.
• We cannot have the time to invest in everyone, we need to look for folks who be faithful with what you give them.
• I am glad some folks saw some potential in me.
• In the context Paul told Timothy to entrust the gospel to those in the face of danger, would not betray the Gospel no matter what.
• When Jesus was ready to ascend into heaven, He left is with a job, He entrusted the work to us!
• SLIDE #6
• Matthew 28:18–20 (HCSB) — 18 Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
• We also need to be patient with our investment, there will be ups and downs when we invest.
• Back to the company that if you would have invested $10,000 on December 12, 1980.
• On On the July 6, 1994 the $10,000 investment would have been worth $18,173.
• Fourteen years, the investment had yet to double, but for some it would have made some money, so they would pull out.
• This investment did not take off until the mid 2000’s. It would have been tempting to dump it anytime through the 80’s and 90’s.
• Be patient! Your investment may take a long time to see dividends.
• Let’s look at a final principle.
• SLIDE #7
III. Encourage your investment to grow.
• When you invest in yourself, you then have the resources to then be able to make investments into other people.
• You also want to try to make sure make wise investments.
• Let’s look at verse 2 again.
• SLIDE #8
• 2 Timothy 2:2 (HCSB) 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.
• Paul encourages Timothy to invest himself into faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
• In other words, Paul wanted Timothy to find people who would pass the torch. The truth of the gospel needs to be passed on from generation to generation.
• The encouragement is to not break the chain by quitting or by failing to enlist someone to serve in your place when your time is done.
• I am always sad when I see Bible College graduates in particular not using the gift of their education in the local church. We owe it to God to share the gospel with others.
• When we make investments, we do so with an eye toward the investment growing.
• The people who have invested themselves in my life expected me to grow. The work I do for the Lord has happened in part because a few men decided to make in investment in me.
• I had a lot of bible college professors who invested themselves in me. I honor both my God and those who saw something in me by striving to faithfully serve.
• All their ministries are multiplied through me, sort of like a stock split.
• Now let’s look at the company I have been alluding to throughout the message, so that we can see how investing should work.
• This company was founded on April 1, 1976. The company then had their initial IPO on December 12, 1980.
• Let’s say you (for those of us who were alive at the time) could have invested $10,000 in this company, where would we be at the end of 2014?
• For this to work, the investor first needed money to invest (by investing in self), then they needed to to exercise a great deal of patience because through the 80’s and 90’s, the investment had very modest growth.
• But for the patient investor, the one was willing to stay the course and ride out the bumps and bruises, would have seen a goldmine return.
• SLIDE #9
• APPLE STOCK.
• Today your $10,000, because of stock splits and dividends, would be worth over $2.5 million dollars! Of course I am talking about Apple!
CONCLUSION
• Can investing make a difference? Can mentoring mold a person? Yes, it can!
• Are you willing to invest in others? Doing so can change their life!
