Season 1 Episode 2 / UNDER THE INFLUENCE

The speaker discusses the influence that people have on our lives. They share personal experiences of people who have influenced them and emphasize the importance of being aware of our own influence on others. They mention the significance of positive influence in spreading the gospel and encourage listeners to be mindful of their actions and words. The speaker also highlights the responsibility of passing on positive influence to future generations. Good morning everybody and thank you for joining us and I say us because today I've got my lovely wife of 28 years with me Y'all say good morning to miss Jennifer. Good morning. All right. It's good to have her with today. We're talking about influences I thought of this a few weeks ago I try to have a prayer time every night before I go to sleep and a Couple of weeks ago a few weeks ago I decided I just wanted to pray nothing but prayers of thanksgiving and praise And so I did and and I did that again last week, but I found myself just Thanking God for the people who have been influential in my life people who have helped make me who I am today people from my childhood family teachers coaches preachers church members and so on I'm so thankful for the people that molded me and Invested in my life now. None of these people officially mentored me now. There's nothing wrong with mentoring I've we've taught classes at church on mentoring However, I never had anybody say that they were going to mentor me I've never been family mentored and I've never really mentored anybody else now There are people I consider my mentors and I've certainly poured my life and invested in others But it's been my experience that it's more of an organic process Than a rigid appointed event There's something or nothing wrong with that I'm not criticizing that but I think we will find if we really think about it that people have influenced us As we simply do life together Going through the ups and downs and the ins and outs the good times and the bad times how we act how we react You may be aware of it. You may be unaware of it But people have influenced us and we influence others Proverbs 13 20 says he that walks with the wise man shall be wise But a companion of fools will be destroyed Jennifer's got a great story that I want her to share about about influences. Tell us about that so growing up my father was from Fork Union, Virginia and his parents and his brother still lived there and Once or twice a year we would take a 12 13 hour drive up to visit Those are some of my sweetest my best memories the time we spent with family there but of course you would know that their accent is much different from ours and It used to just tickle me to watch my dad during that 12 to 13 hour drive I would say about halfway through his Accent began to thicken and he sounded more and more like my grandparents and my aunt and uncle and cousins And to me it was just such a sweet Testament to the influence they had in his life of what home meant to him So much so that even in a phone call sometimes when I would hear him talking to his family his Accent would change because that was his love language I think he would say and so we can Definitely apply that to our lives in that. We're more heavily influenced by the people around us sometimes then we know and We're much more of an influence than we know we are at times Yeah, that's exactly right 1st Corinthians 15 33 says do not be deceived bad company corrupts good morals There's always been a big debate between nature and nurture Are we born with certain dispositions and attitudes and personalities and and our character? Or are we molded by our surroundings and our life experience and the people Proverbs 27 17 says iron sharpens iron. So does man sharpen man? I believe it's more on the nurture side that that people influence us and we draw from those influences Did you have something you got from Titus? Do you want to talk about those verses? Oh, yeah Sure was so just like you said that there was never a Formal quote-unquote mentor in your life There were many people who did just that and so that's the same truth with me I very well remember growing up spending every Friday night with my grandmother Garrison sitting on the porch swing Watering her plants walking to visit neighbors and every night before we would go to sleep on those Friday nights She would ask what our favorite Bible story was and then she would read it to us And I think I probably know more about those Old Testament stories than most anything I've studied simply because I heard them over and over again The same with my grandmother Foster even though I only saw her once or twice a year She was never afraid to say the hard things to ask difficult questions and until I made a profession of faith my Christianity in the plan of salvation was part of every Every visit she was so concerned that I would spend eternity With her in heaven, I think back to a Sunday school teacher I had as a teen how at the end of every lesson She had us hold hands in our class and that may seem like a really small thing But it made it personal it made it feel like family and like this was something that really mattered I think about the pastor's wife at Belden and how when I was Big pregnant with grace and I was chasing Sarah and as a toddler She pulled me aside and gave me some parenting advice that really shaped the way I parented my children over their lifetime I think about my Sunday school teacher now what she pours into every lesson I think about one of my dearest friends One of my firmest Encouragers just somebody I love to be with and she's old enough to be my mother and I think about all the influence that's wasted when people Look through the lens of well You're not in my quote-unquote age group where you're not going through the same part of life together And what is what is missed and overlooked? What we don't get to share maybe have someone older and wiser and what we miss By refusing to be influenced by others who are older and wiser. That's exactly right That's one of the mistakes we make in our churches is Segregating people and a lot of young ladies as it says in Titus. Let me read that passage I Speak these things which are fitting for sound doctrine older men are to be temperate and dignified sensible sounding faith in love and perseverance Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior not malicious gossips are enslaved to much wine Teaching what is good so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands to love their children to be sensible Be workers at home kind being subject to their own husbands. So the word will it would be honored We need to be around people that can influence us for the Lord, it's it's an overlooked And ignored responsibility and really a command from Scripture To to be influencers. So why is it so important? Why are we talking about this today? Here's the main reason we have been trusted if you are a believer with the gospel and Nobody's going to listen to us if we are a negative influence if we are not Being influencers for Christ and if they don't know that we care that's right And listen, it's what Maya Angelou the famous quote from her says I've learned that people will forget what you said people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel and So since we've been trusted with the gospel We need to be aware of our influence as we go about our lives That's why it's so important. We have been influenced by people. Yes good or bad I've learned from a lot of bad people I've worked with and a lot of hard people a lot of mean people and Senseless people that I've worked with I've learned a lot. I don't want to be like them I don't want to hurt people like that. I want to make people feel special. I want to be an encourager. So One other thing to say there is to never minimize the influence that you have on any kind of social media because Those people that or likes or follows or whatever happens those are individuals many times and You should guard your words and guard your influence there. Absolutely I've said it many times from the pulpit that I one of the things I cherish most in my life is my influence I don't want to do anything or say anything that's going to put up a wall that when somebody's life falls apart They're facing Temptation they've fallen into sin. Their life is upside down. The wheels are in the air I want them to feel if they can come to me and trust me. So It's so important. So As we pray this week, let's be aware of how we go that we are definitely being influencers You're going to influence somebody positively or you're going to influence somebody in a negative way and you have a big Responsibility to pass that on to your children as well to send them out like arrows in places that we can't go Knowing that they're an influence as well. That's right. So here's the word for this morning as you start your week Let's all do our best to be influencers for Christ for the gospel as we go about our week Let me pray for you Father God, we thank you Lord for this time with our friends God I pray you'll help us all Lord to honor you this week and the way we act and the way we react The way we treat people the things we say and the things we do That Lord we carry with us the gospel message And if we if we want to be heard God, we must treat people in the way we want to be treated So God, I pray for my friends that you'll use them moderately You'll give them some divine appointments so they can influence someone for the cross God I pray for my friends that you would prosper them that you would bless them and God that we would honor you with our lives and what we say and what we do in Jesus name. Amen