a mayhem to avoid
September 21, 2008
Titus 1:10-16
INTRODUCTION
Mayhem – a state of rowdy disorder.
Often reflects the shape of our lives. Too many challenging events, crises, and problems lead us to a meltdown point. Too many bills, too many responsibilities, too much pressure ultimately we meltdown.
Todd Helms, superintendent at Clyde-Green Springs local school district has resigned.
School board members say Helms is accused of taking $26,000 in district money by setting up a fake company and billing the district for repairs.
Titus 1:10-16
10 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach-and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." 13 This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
WE SHOULD EMBRACE MENTORING, BECAUSE OF THE MAYHEM IT WILL HELP US AVOID.
1. Mentoring helps safeguard us in our journey with God.
Safeguard something that serves as a protection or defense or that ensures safety.
Most of us are convinced that car seats safeguard our children in the event of an accident. So we go through t he trouble of using them. Put the groceries down, load the child, fuss with the straps. Get them their toy, or their bottle or their binky, then get, close the door and finally climb into the car.
Mentoring is worth the trouble because it helps safeguard ourselves against three really big danges.
10 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach-and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
A. being “mere talkers and deceivers”
About two years ago a women was show into my office because she had to talk to me. She started to tell me how religious she was, how much she loved God, how much she loved our church. Eventually in this conversation I asked here why she was here and what she wanted. That’s when she asked if we would pay the rent on her storage unit.
Mentors come alongside. They disciple not form a classroom but form real life. The meet with and develop friendships. In face to face encounters they challenge us to be real, not just a talker, a deceiver.
B. traps of agenda pushers
(circumcision group)
Agenda pushers look for opportunities to promote their personal opinions and convictions. We just went through the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on he World Trade center. On that day, the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, or ROC-NY, which was formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, used media releases on 9/11 to argue for the unionization of restaurant workers in NYC.
Mentoring helps us avoid either falling prey to agenda pushers or becoming an agenda pusher.
We could push and agenda on just about anything.
Length of Hair.
Facial hair.
What you eat , what you drink,
Mentors make one thing a primary issue—a real relationship with the Forgiver, Jesus Christ.
c. being swayed by the money machine
(Selling for dishonest gain -- best sellers)
11 They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach-and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
I don’t think it would matter what the book contained, but if Oprah recommended it right know it be a best seller.
Mystical Traveler: How to Advance to a Higher Level of Spirituality
by Sylvia Browne (Author)
The Way Of The Superior Man: A Spiritual Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Woman, Work, and Sexual Desire
by David Deida (Author)
Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?
by Robert Schwartz (Author)
The Yoga of Jesus: Understanding the Hidden Teachings of the Gospels
by Paramahansa Yogananda (Author)
When you are in a mentoring, a discipling relationship with someone else, develop a grid that strains out some of those wide off the wall teachings. Thos one books that lead us a stray. Some of us really need this.
We are sheep. Some of us will easily believe things we read even if they are wrong. David Brainerd was a early missionary to American Indians, Prior to our becoming a nation. I talked with a man once that was convinced That David Brainerd was missionary to India, because he read and article that misquoted him. Sometimes we just need a grid to sift ideas through. Mentoring Provides that.
2. Mentoring challenges us to become genuine with God
16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
A. Sound in the faith.
Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth.
Doctrine – What we believe
Practice – How we live
B. Uncorrupted in our walk
15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
Life involves making lots of decisions about right and wrong, and God has given us a conscience to help us make those decisions. Unfortunately the human conscience doesn’t always give accurate readings. It’s like a thermometer in an urban area. If you put an outdoor thermometer on the back of your house, and your house sits beside an expressway or a blacktop parking lot or another building, your thermometer can give readings 5 or 10 degrees above the actual temperature. Concrete, blacktop, and bricks absorb and reflect heat.
To get correct temperature readings in urban areas, the National Weather Service has strict guidelines for ideal thermometer exposure. In fact, the guidelines are so stringent it’s almost impossible to meet them in the city. Tom Skilling, WGN-TV chief meteorologist, writes, "A thermometer (or its sensor) should be located over grass in a white, ventilated shelter 4–6 feet off the ground, at least 100 feet from all paved surfaces and at least 500 feet from any building."
Unless you meet those guidelines, you can’t trust your thermometer. Mentoring give us the guidelines for our conscience to make the right choices.
WE SHOULD EMBRACE MENTORING, BECAUSE OF THE MAYHEM IT WILL HELP US AVOID.
SUMMARY:
Mentoring helps safeguard us in our journey with God and challenges us to become genuine with God
Are you ready do develop a lie that doesn’t melt?
