INFLUENCE 2
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WHO ARE YOU INFLUENCING?
WHO ARE YOU INFLUENCING?
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
PRAY/BE STILL
In the daily lives that we have, we encounter many new people. According to a US study
You will meet 80,000 people in your lifetime.
A study in the US asked how many people Americans know by name and found that the average person knows 611.
Research shows that most people make a first impression of a person within 7 seconds.
That means that within 10 seconds people can tell what kind of person that you are. Most of them can tell whether you are someone that they want to keep in your life, or not see again.
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Character- ἦθος- (eh-thos)- habits or morals
The bottom line is this
How you are perceived in the real world, directly affects the influence you have for Christ.
So the question must be asked for each and everyone of us.
WHO ARE YOU INFLUENCING?
Many of you when you leave here don’t think that the impact you have in your friends life means much. You think that because you come to youth group, that in some way that gives you access to live and walk in a way that does not represent Christ. But spoiler alert, people see that.
People are not dumb. They can tell that there is something different and what is an imitation. The long you live in an imitation type of faith, the more and more you are going to move away from being a light and the more you are going to be a representation of the world.
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
My prayer for you is this, to stop living in a rut of Christ and the world. In order for us to full experience Christ in all areas of our lives, we have to live in a lifestyle of holiness. Separated from the world. Because the world and Christ do not mix.
OIL AND WATER DEMONSTRATION
OIL REPRESENTS THE WORLD - WATER REPRESENTS CHRIST
You can try to put Christ in a world lifestyle. But in the end, Christ has no place with the world.
NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY (SHAKE THE JAR) YOU CAN NEVER MIX CHRIST AND THE WORLD
Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
People are looking for something different. They are looking for something real and authentic. Are you going to be the authentic representation of Christ? Or are you going to be a carbon-copy of a “lukewarm” Christian.
What does all this have to do with influence? The way you live your life is a representation of where your allegiance lies. Where your allegiance lies is where your influence is going to be.
So again. The question I have for you today,
WHO ARE YOU INFLUENCING?