Influenced to influence – Part I
This was taken from my sermon notes that I used in preaching at Haven of Hope on Sunday, July 12th, 2009:
I believe that God is challenging us to allow Him to influence our lives in a greater way. Then, it’s His plan for us to use that influence from Heaven to influence other people, nations, and the enemy for the glory of God and His Kingdom.
What is influence? One definition I was able to find said:
Influence occurs when an individual’s thoughts or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing.
For example, have you ever been walking through the grocery store or the mall and by the time you walk out, you are humming or singing a song? At first you think, where did I hear this from? Then you realize that the song must have been playing in the store.
When I was typing this message together, I tried to think of one of the most annoying songs I had ever heard and “Umm Bop” by the Hanson brothers immediately came to my mind. I searching online for a Youtube clip to use during my sermon as an illustration. I decided against it (but still think it would have been hilarious). However, about 10 minutes later, while I was continuing to type out my notes, to my horror I caught myself singing “Umm bop..bop..bop..umm bop”!!!! I was mortified and thankful that the house was empty. I laughed, but it illustrated my point beautifully.
As another example, have you ever hung around someone and start to pick up their catch phrases or accents?
Andy Stanley once said it this way:
Who or what you listen to will ultimately determine what you do.
Whether we intend to or not, we are influenced by the people that we spend time with, the music that we listen to, how we steward our time, etc.
Check back soon for Part 2 of this series where we will talk about how God wants to be our primary source of influence.
