Influenced to influence – Part 2
This was taken from my sermon notes that I used in preaching at Haven of Hope on Sunday, July 12th, 2009:
God wants to be our PRIMARY source of influence. He wants to be our primary source of spiritual food, direction, affirmation..our SOURCE and our PORTION! Take a look at all of the things that the Bible says that He is our source of:
- Source of joy (Psalms 43:4 “…God, the source of all my joy”)
- Source of Israel’s life (Psalms 68:26)
- Source of refuge/shelter (Psalms 119:114)
- Source of hope (Psalms 119:114)
- Source of righteousness and strength (Isaiah 45:24)
- Source of peace (Micah 5:5)
- Source of every mercy (2 Corinthians 1:3)
- Source of eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9)
- Source of Spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12:4)
What impacted me is that, if you look at this list, you will find that the items on this list are EXACTLY what is lacking in many aspects of our world and even in many churches (i.e. joy, life, peace, and Spiritual Gifts). Could it be that we have ANOTHER source? A source that is not satisfying us like He would?
John 7:37-38: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink…From his innermost being (womb) will flow rivers of living water”.
What I feel very strongly about is that we are trying to minister to people (“rivers flowing from us”) without having first taken a drink from our Source – Jesus Christ! However, both history and the Bible have awesome examples of how Christ’s influence is supposed to work.
1. May the dust of your Rabbi be upon you
In the time of Jesus, education was HUGE! Rabbi’s (teachers of the law) would train children as young as 5 years old in the ways of the law. At the age of 14, the best of the best took yet another step and approached a Rabbi about becoming His disciple. If after the Rabbi quizzed you and he felt you were good enough, He would say “Come, take my yoke upon you”. At that time, the boy would leave everything (home, mother, father, synogague, community, etc.) and devote His entire life to be like the Rabbi.
One of the quotes that was said of this arrangement in support of it was “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi”. You see, Rabbi’s were passionate and animated. They would travel all over with their disciples and the posse would kick up a cloud of dust. Because the disciples were following the Rabbi, at the end of the day, they would actually be covered in the dust of their Rabbi.
That’s what God wants for us – that we would be covered with the dust of our Rabbi – Jesus Christ. To be so close to HIM and being taught and influenced by Him so much that we would be covered with “dust” from His feet.
2. Spirit of Christ dwelling in you / Roman Colonization
Another very telling example we find is in Romans 8:9. When God decided to communicate through Paul the way that He desires to dwell in us, He used an example of Roman colonization.
Romans 8:9 – But you are in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you…”
The word “dwell” in the Greek means ““to occupy a house”. Going deeper, the root of that Greek word refers to ““land, the subjects of the Roman Empire“. When the Spirit of God dwells in us, it’s for a far better purpose than to give us goosebumps. He wants possession of us. The Holy Ghost desires to dwell in us just like the Romans would occupy a land and have control of it’s inhabitants.
When the Romans would conquer a land, they would begin to colonize it. They permeated the culture, the language, the art, the traditions, everthing! – and made it Roman. Likewise, the Lord Jesus Christ desires to dwell in us and colonize our minds, our hearts, our motives until everything in us looks like, smells like, acts like, prays like, heals like, He did!
When the Holy Ghost dwells in us, it’s 
something that won’t just change us, it will change those around us and the generations to come! Britain was invaded by the Romans in 55 B.C. The city of London, England started as a Roman colony called Londinium. What was once a city colonized by the greatest empire the world has seen (Roman Empire) became the capital of the British empire. The British empire went on to be the largest empire in history and was heavily impacted by the Roman empire. The British Empire eventually was responsible for the colonization of what would eventually become the United States of America.
Through the simple colonization of one city by the Romans (Londinium), there is now a very strong country known as the United States of America. If you will allow God to colonize your heart, what spiritual things could be accomplished as a result of YOUR colonization?
If we allow the Holy Spirit to colonize our hearts and minds – we can be instrumental in continuing the e xpansion of His kingdom with His influence and culture being spread into new areas.
Check back soon for Part 3 of this series where we talk about 2 ways that I believe are key to being influenced by God in a greater way.
