Good Influences by Dan Gibson September 25, 2024 ยท Cornerstone Apostolic Church Kind: teaching Scripture: Philippians 2:1-4, 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/dan-gibson--good-influences Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ well praise the Lord amen I want us to stand together and before we get started I want us just to uh spend just a moment know every need you know everything that is going on in our lives God we know that you understand that and you have a plan we thank you for that Lord Jesus in the name of the Lord hallelujah hallelujah we give you praise Lord we we ask you Lord to touch us tonight God in a special way in the name of Jesus so again it's it's good to be in the house of the Lord I know that you're you're excited about being in the house of God Amen this was always uh growing up that just that was just natural you know church is natural to us um we've we've we have collided with a very um a world that demands and it has all of these things in it and uh we we have to make sure that our spirit is right and say God I've got to be in your house I've got to be in your house so I I want to talk to us tonight and I I this will be the last lesson but I think it's very it's it's very important that we talk about this tonight we've been talking about influence good influence um we're going to talk to it uh from this angle tonight and we're going to be talking about influence and that is influencing through our service uh serving the lord um it is a part of our Lives to serve right um you know speaking of influence I I don't know uh how many of you are just into social media media and things I I just learned this not long long ago but we've got people out there that call themselves influencers um I made the statement today because there was some influencer that was uh giving views on something and trying to get into some uh some of the political ring and I I'm thinking to myself somebody that has sat on a couch eatting potato sh you know I don't want to start off on a wrong note but uh you know I think it's more than just giving an opinion influence is not something that we just uh we we can't call ourselves an influencer we can't call ourselves an influence I I don't think it's our place to I I think influence will change by your for actions right I I I believe that influence is something um it was one of those this is uh John Adams John Quincy Adams said this and I found this uh just a few days ago if you act if your action I'm sorry if your actions spread and give out the thought to someone else to dream learn do or to even ex Inspire them to become something then you're a true leader it it's your actions by your actions people are going to react to that and uh and he made that comment I think it's God's intentions for us uh to in influencing that our actions show more than what we're just saying we don't just say something thing we do it uh one of the old sayings you know you uh you know don't just do what I do or do don't just do what I say but do what what I'm acting on and U so you know I I want to start this off with this scripture in Philippians the 2 chapter Philippians the 2 chapter uh verse one starting at verse one going through um verse 4 and it says is this if there if there be I've got this thing all messed up here could you pull that scripture up for me if if it's capable of putting oh you got it back here somebody read that for us you can go to the next scripture next scripture last scripture want you to notice that the the third verse here and this was what what I had put out here across here but um it it says let it says Let each esteem others better than themselves the word esteem is highly regards or high regards elev something that you do for somebody you bring somebody else to an elevation that you're you're you may be be getting Glory but you're going to elevate them right you may be getting some kind of pat on the back but don't look at it as something you that's just for you it is for others we Elevate others and it is our responsibility as Christians that we res that we respond that way to to is we Elevate others um Genesis the the and we're not going to read all the way through this because it it will go for a lengthy time but Genesis the 37th chapter and also all the way through the 50th chapter we find the story of a man named Joseph um Joseph's life is full of servanthood as I was going through do this I was pulling little little things out of these chapters about Joseph's life but Joseph's life is full of servanthood he is serving his father even when his brothers were off doing things he was there serving his father and his father even taught him that he's got his brothers out and his brothers are hurting sheep and his father says hey come here Joseph I need you to go take and give your brothers cheese I need you to give give them he was serving and so he's being taught how to serve his father had elevated elevated him to that position as a servant then we find that he is suddenly degraded because of all of his all of his servanthood and the the things that he was doing for his for his father and Father's father's seeing him as that that special person scripture calls him that that they they thought he favored that one and so um so we see that his brothers really hated him they hated him and to the point that they were like let's just get rid of this guy and they did that they thought they had done that they took Joseph and when he had came out to them they took Joseph and through him down into uh this pit and then they chose to sail him off they to get rid of him and in his in his uh owner's presence his owner saw something in him and began to say hey I'm going to use you in in my house and Piper took him and elevated him again didn't he but you know I I I read through the story of Joseph and I I do not see that Joseph's I I know we're we're human and sometimes we can get on this roller coaster ride with our emotions but there was something about Joseph's life that that he kept he kept something inside of him at peace is God has a plan for my life God understands my life and and I know that God is working on my behalf whether or not he spoke that I don't know but there was something about he would be elevated and then he would be pulled down he would be elevated and he would pull down and and that was what our scripture text was talking about is is we have to be careful that we don't allow ourselves to be elevated and we get up here and we get what we call high and mighty we get to a place that we got it all we we think we know it all because the truth is it can be taken from us in a moment everything that we have I I heard a a song not long ago everything you got is just it's borrowed it's just on loan it's just you're it's not yours really and everything that we have we have to understand it is something that is given from God Joseph was sold into slav in Piper's house he was elevated then also he was pulled back down when he was wrongly accused but even when he was in prison he was serving he he found himself his guards he was he was giving ear to the guards and saying hey can I help you with anything that was his nature we we must get to a place that that becomes part of our nature is is that we we serve and and I I think that is one of the biggest things that probably we hinge on here at this assembly is we do our best to try and teach each other how to serve we we talk about servanthood we talk about serving others we want to serve our community we want to serve those that are around us uh we we try to teach our young people and our children to to serve and one of the reasons that we have these young people that come up at at off off offering time is we want them to learn to serve teaching them how to serve example influencing them saying this is what we need to do and we can see that Joseph's life even though his elevations and his his pitfalls so to speak those came along they did not disturb what was what God was doing in his life he was still serving as he looked at all of these different uh different people in his life he would be he would be in prison and he would he he was still in that mindset that God you can use me even here we find him in the prison system he is there and he's got these prisoners that's with him that have been accused of things and a the scripture calls it they offended their King they they did something or said something that the king did not like and they got put in prison and he they dream dreams and Joseph's telling them I mean he could have been sitting over on the bunk just so poor pitiful me couldn't he but no he was serving and he served them by telling them what their dreams were and through that he was able to be recognized by the king brought back out and we see him with the Pharaoh and he is he is being he's being elevated again to a level that the Pharaoh says hey I I'm going to put you over all of this you seem to have the Insight I'm going to put you over all of this not only did he serve the the Pharaoh but he also served the Israelites and did well with it not only did he do that but he served Israel as well through all of the faults and all of the things and the falsely accuses and all of the things that happened in Joseph's life he still found himself serving I think it can be said as is serving becomes a part of our character I I would ask this question how many of you have ever it's been you know you you've had a rough day or you've actually been you you've had some things going on and you just didn't feel good but you still learn to serve it becomes a part of who we are I mean you can you can be serving and still not feel good that is that is not just that's just not something that you just automatically I mean it's a it's it can be it can be part of our character it can be part of who we are I think it's very important that we learn that that through all of this we we're serving in all of these capacities everything that God gives us we learn to serve with it esteeming others better than ourselves looking at those those things that that God has done in other people's life and and you are celebrating those even though you may be there may be times that you're not seeing the same thing in your life but you're learning how to it it's a part of what God wants for our life he is trying to get us to understand that it is this is a part of our character locally we can we can do that with our communities globally we can we look and we we have a class that is going on about missions we can we can we can learn more about missions get involved in that not only that we give we do those things that God has blessed us with the the talents we've been blessed with the gifts and the the surprises as the as our those things God has blessed us with we learn how to serve with those we learn how to serve the scripture tells us 1 Thessalonians the 5th chapter verse 11 therefore Comfort yourself together and edify one another even as also ye do you you you elevate you you lift up you bring somebody else into the picture you you're not just sitting there talking about self not just talking about what what you've done and what I've done but it's about others you you are El you're elevating somebody else the scripture tells us Paul tells us that these are things that we need to learn to do we must find ourselves making those special places in our life for other people serving one another the scripture tells us to serve the Lord with gladness we come before his presence with singing we serve him with gladness it becomes a part of us it's not just us it's a part of our Lives I uh was thinking about Joseph's life and how that things had taken its ups and downs and its turns and its twists those things Joseph was very he was Heavenly influenced by his father he was influenced by his father not only that but as he he was taken from his father of those 30 years that he spent he allowed others to influence his life as well there were things that God had showed him things that God had led him to you know I Joseph was one of those guys he he had an imagination he was able to to Rattle off things and just tell people things and it he was just one of those special characters he influenced others he influenced them knowing that he took away from self taking self out of the picture that is the and and this is something that um I came across in my studies but looking at servant being a servant being somebody that serves others is it's selflessness you're taking self out of there you're edifying you you are exalting somebody you're bringing somebody else up you're respecting others you're looking at their needs you're looking at the visions of others you're looking at what others are doing um that is a part of our character that is a part of who we are supposed to be and if we would learn that that is in whether it's our children whether it's something that we are doing uh in our in our work workplace um few days ago I was I I was in that blue building that they call Walmart um and I think that anybody in this room have you ever watched just PE do you does anybody else watch people just just people watch I and you know it gives me a lot of things things to pray for but at intentionally I was I was just having one of those may I be honest with you I was having one of those pity parties that day I don't I don't tell y'all about this stuff but I was I was having pity part so um I left and I went to Walmart had to go pick up a few things wasn't really needing to go but I went and so I'm I intentionally though when I left the house I got to the red light and immediately things started happening you know you got those people blow their horns they're sitting there and the light had just turned green and they blow that horn well say I wave and and something else happened between there in the in the store and so I was like okay all right we're going to practice something here and so I intentionally I I got out of my car and immediately all this and it was like intentional they started happening it things start happen buggy here this I get to the door and I'm walking the door and somebody's headed out and they're headed out the wrong way and I step side and and but it was something that I had to practice and the reason I bring this up is because there are there are things about character that you must practice you get in you get further in and and things are just I mean people are busy I get it and and I have actually found that I have done that before didn't look up made made eye contact with some people in that day and intentionally spoke and I thought to myself you know and I knew that I was I was going to be studying on this and I thought you know how many times have we allowed oursel to be pulled in by what's going on around us every that is happening in our world we get pulled into it and we're just in the hustle and bustle of life and I turn around and realize that I have been drawn in and I I'm not practicing what I preach it's one of those things that we have to practice being humble being selflessness he those things we have to practice it's it's things that we have to intentionally do sometimes just so that we can we can create that that habit before long it becomes a part of who we are but we have to do that we as Christians today we as saints of God today when we walk out on the street do people know who we are through our actions are we influencing the right way or the wrong way because it could be that we're in influencing the wrong way and they can say I don't want nothing to do with that but if we're truly influencing the god way the way that the Lord Jesus would have us to to walk he would he would tell us that we need to have patience we need we need to be gentle we need to be kind we need to think of others as Paul wrote it we need to think of others esteem them Elevate them higher than ourselves God help us to be more like you help us to have the kind of influence that you had on the world the things that you did that you did when you were on Earth that help us to have an impact on people like that I ask you the very first time or the very first lesson I ask about influences I ask several of you who influenced you I will ask this again who has influenced your life sister Tammy you learned to work on a car didn't you she learned what to do because of an influence those things that spiritually I I I want to ask it this way spiritually what have you been practicing that someone influenced your life with I'm talking about Good influences what have you learned has there been things that you you've learned under people one of the things my grandmother and and she was not an educated woman um I don't even know uh I know she didn't graduate but I don't even know how far into education she actually went but there was one one thing that she taught and she taught every one of us she taught us how to stop in the middle of what was going on whatever life was bringing your way stop she learn she taught us how to pray about him she taught us how to stop what you're doing and it didn't matter what it was it could be you know you could be in the middle of a crisis I had a I have an a I had an aunt that she would uh uh she was one of those that would everything was a crisis I think everybody's got one of those ants but everything was a crisis everything there was there was always something going on in her life and my my grandmother she would call and you could hear the loudness on the phone my grandmother startop stop stop stop and she would just go to pray and really and truly my aunt really didn't want to hear that she just wanted to hear she just wanted to say her peace my grand my grandmother would stop start praying it wasn't long until she would start speaking in tongues and that was just that was the way that we handled problems nowadays we've got to Hash them out we've got to figure out what the root cause was and we got to analyze that and put tags on it put labels on it and all that but we live in a world that we need Godly influence in our life majority of us that are in this room and we have every one of you have somebody that is beneath you a child of some type a young person we've even got some young people in here but there are those that are coming up underneath you you're influencing them what are they seeing what are they being taught what are you teaching them find find out what you want to find out ask them and you may not like what you hear but ask them but we all need these influences in our life we have to have them wife my wife told me just a few days ago she says she says where where are the elders going good question I I think they have majority of them have have already they've already done their exit but you ask the question who who's influencing you you another question that was asked not long ago is you know you you get people speaking into your life and you get those people now you get PE now you've got to be speaking into somebody else's life each and every one of you need to be influencing those that are around you with whatever it is if you can drive somebody to to to dream life and to dream the these dreams and do these things and and and to go big and and for the kingdom of God I I I challenge you find somebody that you can pour into find those around you and sister tamy I know that sometimes it gets and I know you enjoy it because you deal with them all the time but I watch you in Sunday school as you're teaching these young people up here and they're they're they're here and you got one that's yelling over here and this one over here jumping up and down and and and she's just teaching away you know and I see that but but the truth is they they are listening they're listening and and whatever that may look like in in the future there's something that's going to come out of that you you never plant good seed and get bad out of it you always need to be pouring into somebody else's life I I I challenge you though through serving others now I know sometimes serving can be tiresome can it brother brother drawn you know about that don't you you wear out you'd rather not but that's just a part of it right sometimes it gets that way and you think oh it's another day and it's I'm going to but it's a part of our character it's part of who we are we serve him with gladness we we step out there and we serve others we serve those that are around us and as we're doing that we have to keep in mind and I think that's if there's any key in this tonight is that's the key tonight is that we have to keep in mind that we're doing this unto the Lord we're doing this for the kingdom of God this is not just something