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Josh Meadows flies solo this week to provide a word of encouragement for mentors, mentoring organizations, and anybody thinking about becoming a mentor. The invitation is open. What are you waiting for to step into it?
Show Notes
Josh Meadows flies solo this week to provide a word of encouragement for mentors, mentoring organizations, and anybody thinking about becoming a mentor. The invitation is open. What are you waiting for to step into it?\
Neighborhood Hope - https://neighborhoodhope.life/
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Neighborhood Hope - https://neighborhoodhope.life/
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:What's up, everybody? Welcome to the You Can Mentor podcast. I am your host, Josh Meadows. I'm the executive director of an organization called Neighborhood Hope. We exist in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, and our goal is to provide a loving support system for families and under resourced communities through the love and life of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:Welcome. So glad to have you guys here today. And I wanna talk to you today with this theme that the invitation is open. The invitation is open. I wanna read a scripture real quick, and then we're gonna jump in.
Speaker 2:This comes from Matthew 22. Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. And then he sent some more servants and said, tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner, my oxen, my fat and cattle have been butchered. Everything is ready.
Speaker 2:Come to the wedding banquet. But they paid no attention and they went off. 1 to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged.
Speaker 2:He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. And then he said to the servants, the wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find. So the servants went out to the streets and gathered all the people they could find. The bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Speaker 2:I wanna stop right there. I wanna tell you that the invitation is open. There is this beautiful thing called the kingdom of God that we all get a chance to seek after. And just as it was in the days of the Bible, the invitation is open. If you if you go back and you look at these words that Jesus said, he had this beautiful dinner prepared, this banquet, the fattened cow, the best that he had to offer, But people were too busy.
Speaker 2:They were too distracted to come to the banquet. So today, the invitation is open. I wanna talk to you today about finding purpose through mentoring. Purpose is something that every one of us desire. Even even if we don't know it or not, purpose is something that we all want.
Speaker 2:We're all looking for purpose, and we try to find it through different ways. And we say this oftentimes. We say, hey. God has a plan for me. He does have a plan for you.
Speaker 2:He does have a banquet for you. But are you distracted? Are you busy? Are you accepting the open invitation to experience this plan, this purpose that god has for you? Many of us, just like the people in the bible, we are busy.
Speaker 2:We have jobs. We have families. We have responsibilities, and we have life. Life is life is happening all around us, in us, through us, but could it be that we're missing out on purpose? Could it be that the invitation is set, the table is set, the dinner is ready, but we're finding ourselves.
Speaker 2:We want purpose, but we're too busy, and I wanna talk about that today. I wanna lean into that today. I will say that God does have a plan for you. God does have that banquet and a a meal set before you, But it's not just gonna happen. It's not just gonna fall in our lap.
Speaker 2:We have to combine our faith and action in order to get to the banquet. We have to do both. Every one of you under the sound of my voice have experienced pain. I like to tell people that that that if you wanna find your calling, if you wanna find your purpose, look no further than your pain. That might be a controversial statement.
Speaker 2:I don't I don't think so. I think that some people find their calling from a place of, you know, goodness. You know, let's say that you got invited to a a summer camp, and it was a great experience for you to go to a summer camp. So you want to work at a summer camp, and there are times where, you know, your your purpose comes from something good that you experienced. But, you know, what I found is that if we if we really wanna dive into what we're put on this earth, you know, for, usually it comes from pain.
Speaker 2:You know, my personal story is growing up raised by a single mother. My dad left when I was 8, moved to Chicago, and so this this pain in this journey of trying to be a man when I don't see a man, trying to be a man when I don't have one around. This has deeply wounded and also shaped me. And that's where the Lord comes in. I know a God who does not waste pain if we bring our pain to him and say, god, how do you wanna use this?
Speaker 2:I know a God who will sit with us in our pain and then turn around and create a beauty out of ashes. Right? Who will create something beautiful out of the most painful moments that you have. And you realize that somebody somewhere is going through what you did, and you came out on the other side of it, and now we get a chance to go back in and help be a part of somebody else's story to say, hey. Listen.
Speaker 2:I made it through, and you can make it through as well. And so I do believe that pain fuels our purpose. And so what better way to find redemption than to take your pain, to use it to help someone else who is going through it? And we all have, guys, we I I I do believe in my heart that everybody wants to make a difference in the world. Everybody wants to do something with their life, almost live a great story, so to say, but there's a lot of obstacles that are in the way.
Speaker 2:We live in a busy society. There are distractions everywhere, social media, TV, radio, all these different things that we can get distracted by, that will keep us from our purpose. So today, the invitation is open, and we also wanna talk about barriers that keep us from purpose. Guys, I believe that there are things in your life that you will not experience breakthroughs, you will not experience healing, you will not experience breakthroughs in prayer or your personal life until you live out your calling. What does that mean?
Speaker 2:Living out your calling means that you make life about others, not just about you. Living out your calling means that that life is bigger than you, that you have joined in something bigger than you, whether it's a a community or individuals that you do life with, that that you have a focus, that that your focus is about other people. You know, you wanna you wanna love others well. You want to be a part of helping others. That there's some purpose or identity that God has specifically placed you here for.
Speaker 2:Mine is to work in under resourced communities where kids don't have good relationships with their fathers and where single mothers are struggling because that is my story. And so I can tell you today that I feel like God has put me here on this earth to work with that community because he has brought me out of that. He has created a beautiful village for me as a young man to have coaches and mentors and family to come around me and see me through life, to help open doors for me, and I am in the most beautiful way obligated to do that for other people. Thus, we have Neighborhood Hope. So guys, what what's holding you back?
Speaker 2:You know, the people in Matthew 22, one had a field that he had to tend. I think that it's important that we realize that food comes from a field. Tending a field is necessary. 1 had a business he had to run. You know, a business is providing for, you know, your family.
Speaker 2:It's necessary. There are things in our life that we're doing today that are not bad things. Raising families, running businesses, working at a job to help provide for your family. But what this scripture is saying is that we can't afford to let important things keep us from the most important thing, which is pursuing the kingdom of God, which is entering into this banquet to the good life that God has for us through loving and serving other people. So we can't let good things keep us from the great thing.
Speaker 2:And I wanna tell you that being a mentor, running an organization, it requires bravery. It requires courage. Our volunteers that give up their time to come tutor kids, it requires courage. It's also not easy. Sometimes it's hard.
Speaker 2:People are messy. But I think that the way I try to, you know, describe to my volunteers and people who are interested in getting involved with our organization and working with the kids and families, I tell them this. I say, hey. Listen. I know this is gonna sound arrogant, but you need us more than we need you.
Speaker 2:That sounds crazy. Right? Like, I tell volunteers, we you need us more than we need you. And what I'm saying is is that the purpose that you'll get from working with these beautiful kids and these families will outweigh what you're giving them. You know, you're gonna give some good things as a volunteer.
Speaker 2:You're gonna give some good things as a mentor, but the best blessing comes when you lay your head on your pillow at night, and you've been given the gift of purpose. That's the banquet. It's entering into this kingdom where as we take care of other people, God says that he will take care of us. Right? He actually says, when you pray, don't babble about what you need.
Speaker 2:Pray like this. Our father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread.
Speaker 2:Forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power, the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Speaker 2:So what he says is that God is big enough to take care of us. Okay? He doesn't want our primary focus to be on taking care of ourselves. He wants our focus to be on loving other people. And then as we do that in faith, he promises to take care of us.
Speaker 2:He promises to provide for us. He promises to take care of our needs. And so there is an element of faith that when we mentor, when we get involved with an organization, when we become a part of a church, when we do anything that's blessing people, we are making an effort to usher the kingdom of God in by putting others above and before ourselves. And we're at the same point, we're trusting that God will look out for us. This is faith in action as we take actionable steps to our calling, to broken people, to love people, to serve people.
Speaker 2:We know that daddy, god, is gonna take care of us. I wanna read a little bit of scripture out of Isaiah 58 real quick. I wanna read this. Isaiah 58. So to give you some context, the people are wanting to do a fast so that their voice can be heard on high.
Speaker 2:And they're going out food. They're going out without water. But you know what they're doing wrong there? Treating each other bad. The Bible says they were striking each other with wicked fist.
Speaker 2:They were treating each other bad. And Isaiah asked a question. He goes, is this how your voice is gonna get heard? And he goes, no. This is not how your voice is gonna get heard.
Speaker 2:He goes, you cannot fast as you do today. This is Isaiah 584. And expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I've chosen? Only a day for people to humble themselves?
Speaker 2:Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the lord? Is not this the kind of fasting I've chosen? Alright. So this is what god is saying.
Speaker 2:This is what's gonna please me, to loose the chains of injustice, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to break every yoke. So he goes into people. A fast is not you just going without food. A fast is you loosening chains that hold people. It's breaking people who are oppressed free.
Speaker 2:It's loosening the chains of injustice that are going on in the world. Then he goes to say, is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter? When you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood. And, guys, it says this, for those of you that go and lose the chains of injustice, for those of you who go and set the oppressed free, for those of you who share your food, for those of you who take in those who don't have a home, god, through Isaiah, begins to list these promises. And I want you to ask yourself as I read these off.
Speaker 2:Do you want this in your life? Verse 8. Then after in other words, after you go, after you begin to fight for people who can't fight for themselves, then your light will break forth like the dawn. Have you ever seen a sunrise? Have you ever seen the sun coming up over the mountains or the sun coming up on the horizon?
Speaker 2:That's gonna be you, then your light will break forth like the dawn. How many of you need healing? We all do. Right? I'm raising my hand right now.
Speaker 2:Your healing will quickly appear. Then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the lord will be your rear guard. Imagine walking around, righteousness in front of you, glory behind you. We can't even imagine that. Right?
Speaker 2:Your righteousness will go up before you. The glory will be behind you. You talk about glory. That's ushering in glory right there. It's how you treat people.
Speaker 2:And the glory of the lord will be your rear guard. And it says this in verse 9, then you will call and the lord will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, here am I. If you do await with the yoke of oppression, with pointing the finger in malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness. Now I wanna speak to something real quick because we're in a culture that elevates that elevates not only self help, but self care above the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2:That our culture tells you that if you go get that massage, if you go get that facial, if you go take a retreat, if you go do some yoga, you are doing the best at loving yourself, and that's what life's about. You need to take care of you because nobody else will. Guys, there's nothing wrong with yoga. I need to do so myself. There's nothing wrong with getting a massage or a facial or getting your nails done, but you cannot live life putting you first.
Speaker 2:You'll never find beauty in that. There won't be enough massages or yoga to ever fulfill you. The best self care is to care for other people. I would rather have God caring for me as I care for others than just me caring for me and not caring about others. God can care for me better than I can care for me.
Speaker 2:God can love me and bless me more than I can bless myself, and he promises that purpose and meaning come when I put others ahead of myself. He says it right here. If you spend yourself in other words, guys, get tired blessing other people. Exhaust yourself on those who are oppressed. And what's to come afterwards will will blow your mind.
Speaker 2:You won't even be able to imagine the blessing and the beauty that the lord will bring to your life as you spend yourself on behalf of the broken. It's something that self help and self care will never be able to compare to what the lord wants to do in your life. I mean, your light breaking forth like the dawn, your healing will appear quickly, righteousness before you, glory behind you. It says later on guys that if you do away with the yoke of oppression and pointing finger malicious talk, if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry, satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness. If you're like me, we're we're in darkness what we do.
Speaker 2:Going into some of these neighborhoods is not always light. It's dark. It's heavy, but the lord has always protected us, and our light will rise in the darkness. Your night will become like the noonday, and it says that the lord will always guide you, and he will satisfy your needs in the sun scorched land. He'll strengthen your frame.
Speaker 2:You'll be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Come on now. You can't tell me that you don't wanna invite this in on your life. Guys, time is short. The Bible says that life is like a vapor.
Speaker 2:You ever, you ever ironed your clothes and hit the steam button? That's your life. That's your life. And the invitation is open. The invitation is open for us to live a meaningful life.
Speaker 2:The invitation is open for us to plant ourself at the banquet that the lord has prepared for us. But the only way that we can get to the banquet is to choose what's greater over what's good, is to enter into the mess of other people's lives, knowing that it's gonna be a sacrifice. It's gonna take time. It's gonna hurt. You're gonna have blood, sweat, and tears, but the aftermath the aftermath of how the Lord is gonna take care of you will not compare to anything that you've ever experienced before in your life.
Speaker 2:It's something that self care won't do. It's something that self help won't do. Guys, the kingdom of God is waiting. The invitation is open, and you can mentor. You can pour your life out and spend yourself on behalf of those who are hurting, particularly when it comes to kids who don't have fathers, particularly when it comes to kids who have left home lives, or particularly when it comes to single mothers who need help, right, or single dads who need love.
Speaker 2:Guys, spend your life on behalf of others because the invitation is open, and I can't wait to hear about when we take it. Write me, email me, josh@neighborhoodhope.life. Write Steven and Zach and these guys on the podcast and let them know what God does in their life. And I'm telling you guys, you want to dive in. You wanna dive in.
Speaker 2:Don't let what's gonna keep you from what's great. I love you guys. Bless you.