Freshmen Retreat

Who is Influencing You?

OPENING — EVERYBODY IS BEING INFLUENCED

Start by asking:

“How many of you would say you are easily influenced?”

Most of them will say no.

Then:

“That's funny, because apparently nobody is influenced, but somehow everybody owns the same shoes, uses the same phrases, watches the same stuff, and suddenly decides the same haircut looks good.”

“You ever hear somebody use a phrase that you thought was absolutely stupid? Then three weeks later, you’re saying it. You hated it. You made fun of it. Now it’s part of your vocabulary.”

Funny example: The restaurant order

“You ever go to a restaurant knowing exactly what you’re getting? You have studied that menu like you’re preparing for the SAT. You’re locked in.

Then your friend says, ‘Bro, don’t get that.’

And suddenly you're questioning everything.

Thirty seconds ago you were willing to die for the chicken sandwich. Now you're wondering if the chicken sandwich has ever really loved you.”

That’s influence.

Influence doesn't always look like somebody ordering you to do something.

Sometimes it's simply another voice getting into your head.

And Genesis 3 is, among other things, a story about what happens when the wrong voice gets our ear.

READ GENESIS 3:1–7

Set the scene.

Genesis 1–2 is almost impossible for us to imagine.

No shame.

No hiding.

No death.

No broken relationships.

No insecurity.

No wondering whether somebody likes you.

No anxiety about what everybody else thinks.

Humanity is living under the goodness and authority of God.

And then another voice enters the conversation.

The serpent doesn't begin by grabbing the fruit and shoving it into Eve's mouth.

He starts by talking.

That matters.

TRUTH 1 — INFLUENCE USUALLY STARTS BY QUESTIONING WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW

Genesis 3:1

“Did God really say...?”

Notice how subtle that is.

The serpent doesn't begin:

“God doesn't exist.”

He begins:

“Are you sure God said that?”

That's how temptation often works.

It takes something clear and makes it cloudy.

Put this on the screen:

DID GOD REALLY SAY?

Tell them:

“You're probably not going to have a snake crawl into your bedroom tonight and start giving you life advice. And if you do, forget this sermon. Get out of the house.”

“But you are going to hear versions of this question constantly.”

Did God really say it matters who you date?

Did God really say you should forgive them?

Did God really say sexual purity matters?

Did God really say lying is wrong if nobody gets hurt?

Did God really say your identity comes from Him?

Does God really care about what you're watching?

Does God really care what happens in the group chat?

The words change.

The strategy doesn't.

Simile: Counterfeit money

People who are trained to identify counterfeit money don't spend all their time memorizing every possible fake bill.

They learn the real thing so well that when something false shows up, something feels wrong.

That's one reason knowing Scripture matters.

If you don't know what God has actually said, anybody can tell you what God supposedly said.

Student application

Ask:

“Who gets to define what is normal for you?”

Your friends?

TikTok?

Instagram?

YouTube?

A boyfriend or girlfriend?

A teammate?

A celebrity?

The loudest kid at your lunch table?

Because here's the problem:

If somebody can redefine what is normal, they can influence what you're willing to do.

TRUTH 2 — BAD INFLUENCE MAKES DISOBEDIENCE LOOK BETTER THAN IT REALLY IS

Genesis 3:4–6

The serpent tells Eve:

“You will not certainly die.”

Then he sells her on what she will supposedly gain.

Look at verse 6.

The fruit is:

good for food

pleasing to the eye

desirable for gaining wisdom

In other words:

It looked good.

That's important.

Sin usually doesn't show you the ending.

It shows you the trailer.

Movie trailer analogy

“Movie trailers are incredible at this. They take the best 90 seconds of a two-hour movie and convince you that you absolutely have to see it.”

“Then you watch the movie and realize, ‘Oh. Those actually were the only good 90 seconds.’”

Temptation is a great trailer editor.

It shows you:

This will be fun.

Everybody else is doing it.

Nobody will know.

You'll finally fit in.

She'll like you.

He'll think you're cool.

It's not really that serious.

What it doesn't show you is Genesis 3:7.

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened...”

The serpent advertised enlightenment.

What they received was shame.

Key line:

SIN ALWAYS OVERSELLS THE EXPERIENCE AND HIDES THE RECEIPT.

Funny story/simile: Shopping online

“It's like ordering something online because the picture looks amazing.”

“You think you bought a full-size desk.”

“Amazon drops off a box the size of a Pop-Tart.”

“You open it and apparently you purchased a desk for a hamster.”

That's temptation.

The advertisement and the delivery are not the same thing.

Bring it directly to ninth grade

A lot of bad decisions at 14–15 years old aren't made because you sat down and developed an evil master plan.

Nobody wakes up:

“Today seems like a wonderful day to completely wreck my life.”

Usually it is much smaller.

“Come on.”

“Just send it.”

“Everybody's doing it.”

“Don't be weird.”

“Don't tell your parents.”

“Delete it afterward.”

“It's not that serious.”

Influence often works through small compromises that don't feel significant in the moment.

TRUTH 3 — THE VOICE YOU TRUST WILL SHAPE THE CHOICE YOU MAKE

This is really the heart of the message.

Adam and Eve had God's Word.

Then another voice challenged God's Word.

And they had to decide:

Which voice are we going to trust?

That's still the decision.

Illustration: GPS

“Have you ever been riding with somebody who refuses to listen to the GPS?”

GPS:

Turn right.

Dad:

Nope. I know a shortcut.

Ten minutes later you're driving through a neighborhood you've never seen before.

GPS:

Recalculating.

Dad:

I know where I'm going.

No, sir.

You are currently lost behind a Dollar General.

At some point, you have to decide which voice you're going to trust enough to follow.

Key question:

WHO HAS YOUR EAR?

Not:

Who do you occasionally listen to?

Who actually has influence?

Whose opinion can change your behavior?

Whose approval are you afraid to lose?

Who can convince you to do something you already know you shouldn't do?

Whose voice matters so much that you will ignore God's voice to keep theirs?

Important clarification

This doesn't mean:

“All your friends are terrible. Stop having friends.”

Proverbs speaks repeatedly about wise relationships.

The issue isn't whether you have influences.

You will.

The issue is whether your influences are moving you toward wisdom or away from it.

THE PART NOBODY TELLS YOU — YOU ARE ALSO AN INFLUENCE

Genesis 3:6:

“She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

Sin doesn't stay isolated.

One person's decision becomes another person's temptation.

Tell them:

“You aren't just being influenced. You are influencing somebody else.”

Somebody watches how you talk.

Somebody notices what you laugh at.

Somebody sees what you post.

Somebody watches what you refuse to participate in.

Somebody notices whether following Jesus actually changes anything about you.

Shopping cart analogy

“Have you ever gotten a shopping cart with one bad wheel?”

You push straight.

The cart says:

No. We're going left.

So the entire trip through Walmart becomes a wrestling match.

Some relationships are like that.

You're trying to move one direction, but every time you're around that person, you're getting pulled somewhere else.

Then ask:

“But here's the harder question: Are you the bad wheel in somebody else's cart?”

Do people become wiser around you?

More obedient?

More compassionate?

More serious about Christ?

Or are you usually the person saying:

“Come on. It'll be fine.”

READ GENESIS 3:8–13

Now show them where the influence led.

Before the fruit:

“You'll be like God.”

After the fruit:

Adam and Eve are:

ashamed,

hiding,

afraid,

blaming,

separated from God.

Key line:

THE VOICE THAT PROMISED FREEDOM LED THEM INTO HIDING.

That pattern hasn't changed much.

BUT GENESIS 3 DOESN’T END WITH THE SERPENT

This is where I don't want you to walk out of here thinking the point is simply:

“Choose better friends.”

That is way too small.

Genesis 3 isn't mainly a story about Adam and Eve needing better influences.

It's the beginning of the Bible's rescue story.

Genesis 3:15 gives us the first promise that the serpent will not win forever.

God says that an offspring of the woman is coming, and He will crush the serpent.

That promise points us forward to Jesus.

Adam listened to the wrong voice.

Adam disobeyed.

Sin entered the world.

Death entered the world.

Everything broke.

But Jesus came to do what Adam could not do.

Adam stood in a garden and gave in.

Jesus faced temptation and remained faithful.

Adam's disobedience brought death.

Jesus' obedience brings life.

Adam hid from God.

Jesus came so sinners like us could be brought back to God.

So the serpent does not get the last word in Genesis 3.

Jesus does.

THREE QUESTIONS

Before we finish, I want you to think about three things.

Don't answer them out loud.

Just be honest with yourself.

1. WHO HAS MY EAR?

Whose opinion has the most power over me?

Who can change what I think is cool?

Who can change what I think is acceptable?

Who can get me to do something I already know I shouldn't do?

2. WHERE AM I HEARING, “DID GOD REALLY SAY?”

Where am I being tempted to question something God has already made clear?

Maybe it's relationships.

Maybe it's what you're watching.

Maybe it's how you talk.

Maybe it's what you're doing online.

Maybe it's your attitude toward your parents.

Maybe it's what happens when nobody else is around.

Where have you started saying:

“Is it really that serious?”

3. WHOSE EAR DO I HAVE?

Because you're not just being influenced.

You are an influence.

When people spend time around you, where do you pull them?

Toward wisdom?

Toward Jesus?

Or toward compromise?

Are you constantly the person saying:

“Come on, man. It's fine.”

Or are you becoming the kind of person whose life makes somebody else want to take Jesus more seriously?

“I HAVE DECIDED TO FOLLOW JESUS”

There's an old story behind the hymn “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.”

It comes out of northeast India, and once you hear the story, those words hit differently.

About 150 years ago, missionaries began taking the Gospel into parts of northeast India where some tribal communities were known for violence and headhunting.

So these missionaries weren't exactly walking into neighborhoods that had been waiting for somebody to show up with a Bible.

They went into difficult places and preached Jesus.

Eventually, one man from the Garo people believed.

His wife believed.

His children believed.

And then something started happening that has happened for 2,000 years.

Their faith started spreading.

Other people in the village began believing in Jesus.

The chief of the village wasn't happy about it.

According to the story, he gathered everybody together and brought this man and his family out in front of them.

And he gave the man a choice:

Renounce Jesus or die.

Now understand the difference between his situation and ours.

We're not talking about somebody making fun of you at school.

We're not talking about losing followers.

We're not talking about getting left out of a group chat.

We're talking about:

Deny Jesus or your family dies.

And the man answered:

“I have decided to follow Jesus.”

The chief ordered his children killed.

Then he looked at the man again.

You've lost your children.

Your wife is next.

Will you deny Jesus now?

And the man answered:

“Though no one joins me, still I will follow.”

His wife was killed.

Now this man has watched his entire family die.

The chief gives him one final opportunity.

Deny Christ and live.

And according to the story, the man answers:

“The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back.”

And they killed him too.

But the story doesn't end there.

The chief could not get past what he had just witnessed.

Because now he had a question.

What kind of faith makes a man willing to lose everything rather than walk away from Jesus?

This man wasn't getting money for following Jesus.

He wasn't becoming popular.

He wasn't gaining influence.

He wasn't getting some massive platform.

Following Jesus had just cost him everything this world could take from him.

And he still wouldn't turn back.

According to the story, the chief was so shaken by what he witnessed that he eventually confessed faith in Christ himself.

And then others in the village followed.

Think about that.

The man who refused to be influenced by the crowd ended up influencing the crowd.

He didn't change his convictions to fit the people around him.

His convictions changed the people around him.

And that is the question I want sitting in your mind when you walk out of here.

Are the people around you changing the direction you're walking, or does the way you follow Jesus change the people around you?

INVITATION — WHO ARE YOU FOLLOWING?

Some of you need to make a decision today.

And I'm not talking about deciding to be a little nicer.

I'm not talking about deciding to clean up your language for a week.

I'm not talking about becoming a more religious version of yourself.

I'm asking you:

Have you actually decided to follow Jesus?

Because some of you know about Him.

You've grown up around church.

You know Bible stories.

You know the answers you're supposed to give in Bible class.

You know when to say “Jesus.”

You can probably pass the test.

But knowing about Jesus and following Jesus are not the same thing.

Adam and Eve knew exactly who God was.

Their problem wasn't a lack of information.

Their problem was that they trusted another voice more than they trusted Him.

And maybe that's where you are.

You've spent your life listening to everybody else tell you who you're supposed to be.

What you're supposed to want.

What you're supposed to chase.

What will make you happy.

What will make you matter.

And maybe today Jesus is calling you to stop listening to all of those voices and trust Him.

The Gospel is that you and I have sinned.

We have all chosen our way over God's way.

Genesis 3 isn't just Adam and Eve's story.

It's ours.

We've all listened to the serpent's lie.

We've all believed, at some point:

“My way will be better than God's way.”

And sin separates us from God.

But Jesus came.

He lived the life we have failed to live.

He died on the cross for sinners.

He rose from the grave.

And He offers forgiveness and eternal life to anyone who will repent of sin and trust Him.

You don't earn that.

You don't clean yourself up enough to deserve it.

You come to Jesus.

So if you're sitting here today and you know that you have never truly trusted Christ, this can be the day that changes.

You can say:

“I have decided to follow Jesus.”

Not because your parents follow Him.

Not because your friends do.

Not because you go to a Christian school.

You.

You repent.

You believe.

You follow.

And for some of you, you already belong to Jesus.

Your invitation today is different.

Maybe you've allowed another voice to get too loud.

Maybe you already know exactly what that voice is.

A friend.

A relationship.

A screen.

A habit.

A desire to fit in.

And somewhere along the way, the question:

“Did God really say?”

started sounding reasonable.

Maybe today you need to say:

No. God has spoken. I know who I belong to.

The cross before me.

The world behind me.

No turning back.

So wherever you are today, here's the question:

WHO HAS YOUR EAR?

Because the voice you trust becomes the voice you follow.

And the voice you follow determines the direction you walk.

So if Jesus is calling you today—

Follow Him.