The Power of a Mentor: Following the Pattern Set Before Us.

As a student preparing for ministry I am coming to a greater realization that having a mentor who is in ministry is vitally important. The set of verses that constantly come to mind are the words Paul wrote to Timothy in his second letter, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:1-2, ESV) Listen to how Paul speaks to Timothy; he calls him my child, showing such a deep loving relationship. We know from human standards that a father is to teach his children how to live in all aspects of life. We need mentors the same way we need to have fathers in our lives to set the patterns for us to follow. Without them we have the tendency to go astray.

            The relationship of mentoring is not a one-way street; it is one that branches off to others. We should be learning from our disciple maker while at the same time taking what we are being taught and teaching it to other men (and women) in the faith.  In order to be in a disciple making relationship it requires work to be put in, along with time. Jesus invested his time in twelve men whom he would send out into the world to teach others. He not only sent out twelve but at one point he sent out seventy-two men two by two (Luke 10:1). The best way for us to be sent is by a man we are learning from so we can implement what is being taught. 

            What does a mentor look like? A mentor is going to look different for each person; you may not have just one mentor in you life or at one point of time. There will be areas in life that you need to have the footsteps of someone else to follow whether it be in a hobby, in your profession, or in general guidance for your life. This person should be some type of authority on the subject; not necessarily having to have credentials but having done a what ever it is you are seeking them for a period of time with a good track record. You do not want to start following after someone or seeking their help when they have no idea how to handle the struggles you are facing because they have just started the activity themselves.

            Do you have an idea on how this association should look? It is imperative that when you enter into a formal mentoring relationship that some standards be set. The type of standards I am referring to are like how often will there be contact made, what forms of contact are best for this relationship. What kind of accountability is going to be set in place if any at all? Are you both going to keep this association merely about the mentoring/disciple making or is this going to become more of an intimate friendship where lives overlap?

I would recommend depending on the type of commitment being made, that lives become intertwined with an at least weekly (if not several times a week) contact. It does not matter where the contact comes from be it a phone call, text message, social media interaction. And no less than once a month interaction face to face in a setting that is not sterile, but inviting conversation and allows the relationship to feel more organic and real.

It is my hope that this work will inspire you to strengthen those relationships that are in place and to possibly form new ones. I leave you with this who is investing in you and who has the Lord placed on you heart to invest into?

New Posts?

What are some things you all would like to see some more of? While my schedule is busy I want to try and give more content more frequently. So please throw me some ideas and I just might use them for future posts. God Bless. 

Preach

Preach the Gospel- An Answer to Sin and Nominalism

If there is one thing that rang through out the entire text of Spurgeon it was the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the true impact that it would have on a persons life. While I never explicitly saw where he addresses sin and nominalism in the text he does address the lack of respect for the Gospel that some people have, or that some have fallen victim to drunkenness. And that ultimately the answer to those problems is to continue to give the purest form of the Gospel possible. One thing that he spoke of more than anything else was how we as ministers are to behave, not as people of the world but as one called of God to represent him. Spurgeon says, “When we speak as ministers and not as men, as preachers instead of penitents, as theologians instead of disciples, we fail; when we lean our head too much upon the Commentary, and too little upon the Savior's bosom; when we eat too largely of the tree of knowledge, and too little of the tree of life, we lose the power of our ministry.” It is when we rely upon God and less upon ourselves that we keep sin and nominalism at bay. Christ and sin cannot live in the same space such as light and dark cannot.

Spurgeon calls out to us like a siren to the sailor on the sea, “Keep to the gospel, brethren, and you will keep to the one universal, never-failing remedy.” This shall keep us straight and true, while what we crash into shall be none less than our Lord and savior. As long as I heed his call to follow the Gospel and not divert course I will stay in line with Christ and feed his people the meat that they need to survive. In effort to avoid falling into heresy Spurgeon urges, “Preach the truth with all your hearts as God teaches it to you, and this plague will be stayed.” That is the greatest thing any preacher can do is not only rely upon the knowledge one receives from books/commentaries but allow the Lord to reveal things to you about the text. My ministry context right now is not that of a traditional pastor I am a small group leader/ pulpit supply preacher. In either of those instances though I do not want to make less of Christ but instead make much of Him. And as long as I stay true to the Gospel message and not preach a different one then that which I have received.

Differing Apologetic Methods

Based on the various methods and strategies of apologetics described in the assigned reading, identify what you think is the best apologetic method and defend your view. Your thread must incorporate the following topics addressed from your assigned readings: 

•    The relationship between faith and reason.

A comparison between the evidentialist, presuppositionalist, and experientialist strategies.

To ask me to pick a particular method would be like asking a parent to pick a favorite child. I have found that each position has its merits and its weaknesses. However, for the intents and purposes of this assignment I am supposed to pick one and I am torn between presuppositional and experiential. I say that because I feel that I am a mix of the two because like the persupposatioinalist I believe that there is authority in the Word of God that take place before a person can understand the argument being made. While on the other hand I appreciate what the experientialist has to say that we feel what has taken place through God.  

There are some who would probably try and tell you that faith and reason are diametrically opposed. Then there are some who would say that the two go hand in hand, and are inseparable. I am one who believes that the two work together after a person has come to know Christ as Lord and savior. According to James K. Beilby “The question of the relationship between faith and reason is closely related to a series of questions regarding the relationship between the Christian Faith and non theological disciplines.” (Beilby, 89).  The other disciplines he is referring to are things like philosophy, and science and other things along those lines. It depends on are you trying to reconcile faith and reason, or merely trying to explain one on the basis of the other. It is my humble opinion that you can reconcile faith and reason after there has been a faith to be established, because you can understand Scripture by the power of the Holy Spirit, and then you can begin to make a solid defense (reason) for your faith.

For each system of apologetics there are sub-sections that come in to play as well, I will be making broad strokes when speaking about these systems and not necessarily acknowledging each sub-group. The first group to take a look at is the evidentialist, this group of people embrace rational arguments, using things from history to make their case. They are known to use reason or “logical” arguments to form their stance. Next, we have the presuppostionalist; the short of it for them is they argue from authority. Who has it and where does it come from. According to them it comes from God through the Bible and non-believers can understand it without illumination. We tend to argue from the Bible instead of leading up to it. Finally, there are the experientialists who do not base their point on a logical argument but more on subjective feeling. It is not hard to understand their argument if you are already a Christian but without the working of the Spirit in a non-believers life how can we have them to understand merely from experience.  So all that to say, in the end that I guess I align myself with presupposationalist more than any other group.

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Why do we engage in apologetics? And other things related to apologetics

•    Why do we engage in apologetics? 

•    What is the “audience” of apologetics? 

•    A basic definition of apologetics.

•    The biblical basis for apologetics.

•  Internal and external apologetics.

   There are many different reasons why we engage in apologetics, but the biggest reason we engage in apologetics is because it is biblical. While there is no formal system or theory of apologetics found in the Bible (Beilby, 13), it makes it no less biblical. We also participate in apologetics to defend our faith not only from the outside but also from internal doubts. “Simply put, the goal of apologetics is to defend and commend the truthfulness of Christian belief.”(Beilby, 20).  A thorough look at apologetics especially that focused on Christianity can be defined  as the task of defending and commending the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a Christ like, context sensitive, and audience specific manner (Beilby, 31).

    There are many different audiences for apologetics, because it focuses on speaking with specific person or group of people. It is easy to get audience and context confused because context is the environment that the apologetic discourse takes place. So your audience can vary from conversation to conversation while taking place at the same location. Most would suggest that the biggest support found in the Bibel for apologetics is 1 Peter 3:15. Also all throughout the NT especially Paul’s letters there is a great deal of apologetics taking place.  Paul was known to argue for Christ at the drop of a hat. There is the one time when Paul is in Athens and comes against the Areopagus arguing on behalf of their unknown God. Reminding us of the power of the Gospel to penetrate hearts and lives.

    It would seem to be rather self explanatory when you speak about internal and external  apologetics. It was noted by Beilby that more people actually take place in internal apologetics more frequently than external. Internal apologetics takes place when a person wrestles with a topic about God, especially Christianity. I have personally had battles of internal apologetics when it came to the idea of infant baptism. While I believe I have come to a place of clarity on the topic it required me looking into the topic and battling it out within myself. External apologetics takes place when you enter in to a discussion with someone else, or a group of people. It is often assumed that apologetics takes place between Christians and non-believers, whether or not they are of a different religious background is of no accord. External apologetics often takes place between Christians discussing issues between themselves.