Today we begin a new module in mentoring which will go through the month of December (the end of this year) and will consist of 16 specific lessons. If you miss a lesson, you will miss a vital part of the learning process. If you must miss, please plan to make it up. Be sure to email your table leader if you must miss. This is what we call “The Gentlemen’s Agreement.”
- Don’t Let Religion Keep You From Being Mentored. When I grew up, when anyone was saved, it was often said, “He got religion.” In fact, we sang a chorus which went like this, “Give me that old time religion, Give me that old time religion, it’s good enough for me.” In fact, to get religion in those days meant one had truly seen himself as a lost sinner on his way to hell, truly trusted Jesus (surrendered) to Jesus as Lord and Savior and was abundantly happy.
But today multitudes of professing Christians are very religious but not saved. Why? Because they are substituting religious activities, such as attending church, having daily devotions (little Bible reading and praying), going to Sunday School, even tithing, etc. but they never truly repented and surrendered to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Such persons may begin the mentoring process, but fail because they have no relationship with the living Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Illustration of this fact: Our curriculum in M3 consists in obeying the spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith, and many think that memorizing and quoting these disciplines are ends within themselves, but they are REALLY ONLY MEANS TO AN END – the end being to know Jesus personally and powerfully until He is our motivation to pay the price required in disciplining ourselves. Example: The Pharisees were the most religious persons in history. They memorized all the Pentateuch and from it they deduced 613 rules. Only 6000 persons ever qualified to be a Pharisee because of the high requirement.
BUT THEY WERE NOT SAVED – BUT LOST. To them Jesus spoke these devastating words, “YOU SEARCH ALL THE SCRIPTURES, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of ME, and you all will not come to Me that you all might have life” (John 5:39-40). The Pharisees were just checking off a list of rules and thought they were fine. Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, former Chaplain of the US Senate and great expositor, observed, “The great tragedy of the American church today is not that people do not attend church, but that the 80% who do attend have no personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Therefore, beloved mentoree, beware that you don’t just come to mentoring to check off a few things you know you should, but have no relationship with Jesus.
- Prepare Yourself for Internalizing The Word
- You must have truly repented (surrendered to Jesus)
- You must have received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) – new birth.
- You must be “Walking in the Holy Spirit.” “You all keep walking in the Holy Spirit and you will never under any circumstances perform the lust of the flesh,” (Gal. 6:16) meaning that you will.
(1) Obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit
(2) Heed the prohibitions of the Holy Spirit
(3) Allow the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in you (Gal. 5:22-23) – the character of Jesus.
- You must be striving for holiness of life (Heb 12:14).
- Holiness is not optional for the authentic Christian.
- Holiness is required for fellowship with God (Isaiah 59:1-2).
- Holiness is necessary for effective praying (Psalm 16:18)
- Holiness must precede the Internalization of the Word
- Note: you must “lay aside all filthiness and overflow of sin” (James 1:21; 1 Peter 2:1-2).
- You must search your soul through the Scriptures – See pp 138-144 in 10 Absolute Life Changers of Men:
- Stick with it and Never Give up or Quit.
- Secure a copy of our Handbook for Mentoring/10 Absolute Life Changers: from The Book which Cannot Lie.
- THE FUNDAMENTALS OF MENTORING
- What is Mentoring? First, it is not just another Bible study or discipleship class. Mentoring is a trusting, loving relationship between the mentor and his students, whereby the mentor teaches the student how to walk with the Lord and then comes alongside to encourage and hold him accountable. The golden text of the mentor is 1 Thess. 2:8, “So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.” The golden text for the mentoree is 1 Peter 5:5.
- Does Mentoring Have a Biblical Basis? Absolutely – pp. 5-6 in Handbook.
- Did Jesus Believe in Mentoring? Yes, He was the Master Mentor of all times – Handbook, pp. 17-18
- What is the Purpose of Mentoring? To enable and encourage you to “conform to the image of Christ” and to live the godly life God expects you to live. Turn to Romans 8:29. Romans 8:29 is obeyed by doing 1 Timothy 4:7b.
- Do All Christians Need Mentoring? Absolutely. Illus.: Tom Landry
- What are the Specific Subjects Covered in Mentoring? The 10 “I’s” pp. 1-146 in 10 Absolute Life-Changers of Men.
- What Do We Mean by Internalizing the Word? See 10 Absolute Life Changers on pp. 3-5 and the pledge in Handbook, p. 121.
- What are the Steps in Memorizing? – Handbook p.121
- What are the Positive Values? – Handbook pp. 40-44
- What are the Requirements of Mentor and Mentoree? Handbook p. 12
- Atmosphere of Class: No embarrassment, no guilt trip, your participation will be up to you. I will never embarrass you by asking you to recite without having your permission.
- But We will Push You. We are here to push you. You are submitting to this by asking to be mentored. If you can’t recite in your group get with your small group leader before class. DO NOT MISS CLASS BECAUSE YOU AREN’T PREPARED TO RECITE. Part of this relationship is your willingness to be accountable. This means that you are accountable to be here (call or email if you can’t) and accountable for the assignments. If you don’t tell us, otherwise we’ll assume you are prepared.
Personal Blessings – Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-3; James 1:25; John 14:21; 8:31-32; 15:7,11..