Influence

Thank you for tuning in to the Salt Church Podcast. Join us as we explore God's Word, providing practical teaching for day-to-day living. The message you're about to hear was recorded live at our Sunday morning gathering. If you'd like to know more about Salt Church, please visit us at saltchurch.org.

We hope that you're encouraged by today's message. We are finishing off a series today called Uncommon, a relationship series. And this has been an incredible series. It's been kind of a hard series to teach because it's convicted me on so many levels and it's not the easiest thing to teach when it comes to relationships. But the idea of this series, Uncommon, is that healthy relationships are possible but they're not probable.

Because if we look at the world today, if we look at the people around us, if we look at our community, we know that there's more divorce, there's more breakups, there's hurt, there's pain, there's single families. All these things are going on because relationships just aren't working. And we call this the common way because this is the way we think. This is just how it is. This is how relationships work.

They just don't work a lot of the time. But God, if we look at what God has for us in relationships, we actually can have great relationships. It is possible. Romans 12.2, our theme verse, says, Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world.

Okay, it doesn't work, right? When we look around us, it just doesn't work. So don't copy them, says God. But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. He wants to transform the way we think.

He wants us to start looking at uncommon ways rather than the common ways because the common ways aren't working. Because God actually is for us. He's not against us. So when He throws uncommon things, that's not going to work. He's a cosmic killjoy.

He's doing all this stuff too. He actually wants you to have a blessed life, believe it or not. So He has a better way of living. Then you will learn to know God's will for you. That which is good, that which is pleasing, and that which is perfect.

So we began the series talking about uncommon love, a type of love that isn't the normal type of love. When we think of love, we want to get back. We give to get back, right? But God offers us, you know, actually we don't even have to work for His love. He loves us anyway.

So uncommon. And you can go back and listen to that message on our website at www.saltchurch.org to catch up if you're new with us. And the second week we talked about an uncommon type of commitment.

And Chris shared his testimony and how in marriage and in friendships and relationships, whatever it is, commitment goes a long way. No matter what they do, no matter where they go, no matter how bad they fail, commitment is key. And third, we talked about communication, how hard it is. Our tongues get us in trouble all the time. If we didn't talk, we'd actually all get along probably.

So everybody would be happy and joyful. Think about a dog, you know, he's just happy and wagging his tail all the time. He's probably thinking a lot of things in here, but, you know, if we didn't talk, maybe we'd get along. But our tongues can be damaging, so we learn how to communicate the best way possible with people. Last week we dealt with conflict.

That was a tough one because there's a lot of conflict, a huge relationship killer. But this week, ending our series, we're going to talk about influence. Influence. The way we influence people, the way we spur people along. We all have a sphere of influence.

It doesn't matter who you are, whatever the circle you're a part of, the community you're involved in, the culture you're in. Everyone has a sphere of influence. And there are people that you'll be able to influence that I won't be able to influence. And there are people that I will be able to influence that you won't be able to influence. So if we all kind of hang together, grab hands together, we can influence a lot of people, right?

Yeah. So we're going to talk about influence today. Webster Dictionary defines influence as the capacity to have an effect on character, development, or behavior of someone or something or the effect itself. So this can be either negative or positive. Unfortunately, the common way tends to go to the negative side.

Why? Because we're all a little messed up, right? Our relationships are all a little messed up there. And we often look at it from the common way because our relationships are messed up. And we go that direction and it ends up messing up our influence.

So I want to share with you four relationship killers, if we want to call them this, the common response that people have when they enter into a relationship. Number one, I must protect. If you're following your notes, you can fill in the blanks there. I must protect. I've been hurt in the past.

I need to be protected. I shut myself up. I build a wall around the relationship. Somebody hurt me in the past, and I'm not going to let that happen again. I must protect.

I must protect my heart. I must protect my life. I can't enter into a relationship. I must protect myself. And what we do is we throw out the baby with the bathwater, and we can't have a healthy relationship because we can't trust anyone.

So the healthy relationships we can have, we never give a chance because of something that happened. We need to protect. We're afraid to let people in. And it isn't healthy, and it can be a huge relationship killer. Number two, I must benefit.

This is a big one. I must benefit. I've got to get something out of this. And if I'm investing all this time in this person, if I'm giving all my input into this, if I'm putting all my energy into this relationship, into this group, into this church, into this house, into this whatever, I should be getting something back. I should get mine because I want mine.

I should get it back. And this typically happens, it's almost like the relationship is some type of business deal. And, you know, some people actually go to church so they can get something out of it. Yeah, of course we get something out of it. Maybe I didn't word that right.

You know, you get wonderful relationships. You get people who love you, people who spur you on, people who are all about you. And you've got a God who loves you more than anything. And we come together for those reasons. But they come here for business deals or some type of social network.

And that's their only, only reason for coming to church. I have a friend of mine, and I've had to call him out on it actually a few times. He talks about church, his church, but all he wants to talk about is the benefits he'll get out of being with these people. Well, that guy's a business owner. That guy owns this.

That guy does this, you know. And maybe he can help my business flourish. Or he can help. I'm like, you haven't once. I've got it.

Anything about going to church and God just livening up your heart and your spirit and making you selfless and making you want to serve the community and serve others, there's nothing about that. It's all about, well, if I go here, I specifically chose this church, I specifically chose this community, and I know I'm using the church example, but we do that in so many areas. I want to join this social club because I can get this out of it rather than thinking of the other person. We think about ourselves. I must benefit.

I've got to benefit in this relationship. Number three, I must control. I have to control the situation. I have to control it. And maybe this comes from mistrust or insecurity.

And this happens a lot in marriages. In fact, all these points happen in marriage. You know, I must benefit and I must be in control. And I can tell you that if you have a relationship where one of you, if you're either controlling that person or the other person's controlling, it's not a healthy relationship. You're not in it together.

I must control everything that comes through here. It just doesn't work. I was in an environment one time in the workplace, you know, where I had a very controlling boss. He looked over everything you did. He didn't trust anybody.

Very insecure person. And that insecurity bled over into us. And as a result, an unhealthy work environment took place. People couldn't trust each other. People couldn't trust him.

People didn't want to be there. People didn't want to do the work. Control. It just doesn't work in relationships. Control.

I must control. And four, and all the points that come together kind of move into this area. I must win. All the other points come down to this. I've got to win.

I've got to win in this. No matter what I do, how I do it, I've got to win. I don't care if it hurts somebody. I don't care if it ostracizes somebody. I don't care what it does.

I've got to win in this relationship. I've got to win. And why do we think this way? Because people are hard. People are difficult.

And we're all a little messed up. We have people problems. So let's talk a little bit about people problems. Right? We're all a little messed up.

You ever use the term, if it wasn't for the people, I would enjoy my job. Right? If it wasn't for the people, I'd actually like my family. Right? If it wasn't for the people, I'd probably like church.

Right? I know a lot of pastors who say that. I'd love being a pastor if it wasn't for the people. Because we have people problems. So let's talk a little bit about people problems.

In fact, Jesus dealt with people problems. He dealt with 12 men who were a little rough around the edges. And there's particularly this one guy named Peter. And Peter was pretty tough. And I'm going to focus on him during this message a little more.

Because, you know, I can relate to Peter. You know, I look at Paul, and it just seems like he's way up there. But Peter, I can kind of get down with, you know. Because he stuck his foot in his mouth often. He said things that he shouldn't have.

He had quite a foul mouth. I mean, just a lot of things were going on. I can relate to Peter. But you know what's cool about it is Jesus didn't give up on him. And he believed in him.

And we can learn a lot from that. So here's the thing about people. Number one, people will disappoint. Peter disappointed Jesus. And just when you think that people have arrived, they're finally getting to that place or that point, or you've worked with them and they finally broke that habit or we finally built some type of trust, they disappoint you.

They end up disappointing you over and over again. Peter did that. In fact, there was a story. We see Jesus' frustration in Matthew 14, verse 31. And all of you know the walking on water story where they're out on the boat and the wind comes and the rain comes and the storm comes as normally does on the Sea of Galilee.

And they're out there. And Jesus is walking, is off praying. And then he decides to come to the shore and he walks across the water. And they're looking out and they're fearful. And they say, what's that?

What's going on? And here comes Peter. Is that Jesus? Yeah, is that Jesus? I think that's Jesus.

Hey, Jesus, if that's you, I want to go out there and walk on the water. He says, okay, Peter, come on. So Peter starts walking on water, walking towards him, you know, just full of faith and everything. And then what happens? Peter looks away.

Peter looks away. And what begins to happen is he sinks. He looks at the things around him. He looks at the storm. He looks at, and he loses his faith.

And then he looks back to Jesus. And Jesus pulls him up and he says this. Why do you doubt me? Why did you doubt me when I gave you this advice? Why did you doubt me when I told you, Savannah, not to touch that hot stove, you know, or touch that thing that's going to hurt you, right?

Why did you not listen to me when you decided to go to that place, that area, go back to that very sin or that very environment that was going to lead you back to where you once were? Or why did you doubt me? We doubt all the time. We disappoint. I imagine Jesus was very frustrated because he had been teaching Peter for years and years, or at least a few years in his three-year ministry, how to trust and believe for things through him, Jesus.

Yet, over and over again, he would lose his faith. Secondly, people make mistakes. People make mistakes. They not only disappoint, but they make mistakes, and they don't even know they're making mistakes. In fact, Peter often didn't know he was making mistakes.

There was one instance where Jesus was explaining that he had to go to Jerusalem, and he had to suffer, and he had to die. And then he would rise again. And Peter pulled him to the side. Bold Peter. Come here, Jesus.

Let's talk for a second. This is not going to happen. There's no way this is going to happen. And here's Jesus' response in Matthew 16. Jesus turned to Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan.

You are a stumbling block to me. Now, when the Son of God calls you a stumbling block in Satan, that's pretty bad. People make mistakes. And I'm sure Peter didn't even know he was making a mistake. He probably thought he was doing the right thing.

I'm supporting you, Jesus, and I'm with you, Jesus, and this is not going to happen. Thirdly, people are selfish. That's why we want to get ours, right? Because we're selfish. When we walk into a relationship, we're thinking about how to take care of number one.

There was an instance in Mark 14 where Peter and the disciples were praying with Jesus, and it was the night before Jesus was going to be taken, and they all fell asleep. And once again, Jesus looks at Simon. He says, Simon, you are asleep. Couldn't you keep watch for just one hour? So apparently they fell asleep pretty quick.

Really? People are selfish. One day they'll say they're all in with you, and the next day they're out. One day they'll be here tomorrow, and they'll be gone the next day. People will bail, right?

They'll bail on you as soon as there's something better, as soon as it gets tough. And every night they'll be able to still pass your life forward. Bye. Bye. Thank you.

Now, if something comes along that's better than what you have, if it doesn't fit their schedule, I could go down the list and all day long of the reasons people are selfish because it doesn't fit in a place where it benefits them. People are selfish. I know I told you I would meet you that morning to help you out with some handiwork in the yard, but you know, it's, or I told you I would help you out with this project or I would be there for you if you were going through, you know, but you know, I had other things going, you know, it just people are thinking always about themselves. They're not selfless, they're selfish, and people might betray, they might betray you, and this is the worst of them all. This is where it really hits hard, and this is where we can really dig down that Jesus relates to what we're going through because he was betrayed by his best friends.

In fact, Peter was probably one of his best friends, and Peter, Peter's telling Jesus, as Jesus was telling him he was going to betray him, he says, I will never do it, I will never do it in a million years, and in Mark 14, we see it, he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, I do not know this man you're talking about, he denied Jesus three times, and not only that, in a rough way. I do not know this flipping, beeping, licking, licking, licking, man. I'll just paraphrase what probably Peter was saying. I will never do it, Lord, I will never betray you, I will never, I will never, I'm with you, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going with you. So it frustrates us because people have people problems, and what we do normally is counterattack in the same way.

Well, if they're going to be that way, then I'm going to be that way, and I'm going to respond that way. I'm going to, I'm going to be disappointed, I'm going to start making mistakes, I'm going to be selfish, I'm going to betray, because this isn't fair, and I deserve, and I need, and I want, because we have people problems. But Jesus did it in a different way. We can learn a lot from Jesus, because although Peter did all these things, Jesus believed in Peter. And I want to let you know today that Jesus believes in you.

No matter what you did, no matter how far you've gone, what relationship you've messed up, no matter how many hiccups you have, Jesus still believes in you, and he's walking beside you, he's pulling you towards him, he's hanging in there, he's believing in you. So let's look at an uncommon influence that Jesus had, and we can learn a lot from this. And this is a powerful scripture in Matthew 16, 18, the context of the scripture, and I've taught on it a number of times. Usually I talk about it before the launch of the church and what the church was like when it was founded. But I'm taking a different direction with it today, and we're going to focus on it a little more, a little differently here.

And the idea here is that the disciples are on a hillside, and they're talking about, and Jesus asks them a question to kind of set them up. He says, who do you say the Son of Man is? Who do they say the Son of Man is? So he's just questioning his disciples. Some say, you know, this apostle, this prophet, or this leader, or whatever, you know.

So they're just going down the line. And then he turns the question on them and says, well, who do you say that I am? And, of course, Peter's the very first one to speak, as usual. And he says, you are the Son of God. You are the one.

You are the Messiah. You are the one that's come. I believe that with everything that's in me. And then he says this, and he uses kind of a play on words here. He says, now I say to you, who are Peter, which means rock, that upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Now, I love this play on words because actually he says the little rock, Peter. Peter's the little rock. But in the original Greek, there's actually, he's pointing towards himself when Jesus is using that play on words. He says, but upon this rock, which is Jesus, the large rock, I will build my church. But he points it back to Peter.

But I'm going to use you, Peter. I'm going to empower you, Peter, because I'm getting ready to go away. This church is getting ready to take off. This movement is getting ready to take place. And it's going to move, and it's not going to stop moving.

And we still see it moving today. Amen? It's still growing. Churches are growing. People are being saved.

People are being rescued. The kingdom is growing. And he says, Peter, I am going to use you. The gates of hell, the powers of hell will not conquer it. Because I'm going to use you, old Peter, old rock.

I believe in you, Peter. In John 21, 17, he says, and the third time he asked him. And I think this is interesting because he has a conversation going on here with Peter. And he says, you know, Peter, do you love me? Yeah, feed my sheep.

Do you love me? Feed my lamb. And then he gets to this third point. He says, now I say to you, Peter, excuse me, a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt that Jesus asked him this question.

I love this translation because it kind of gets down to the root of like what Peter was thinking. Why do you keep asking me if I love you? Of course you know I love you, God. Of course you know. He said, Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you. And Jesus said, then feed my sheep. And there's a lot of theology behind this, why he kind of went with it that direction. But I think it simply comes down to this. Jesus just wanted to make sure that he understood that if you love me, you will think about others first.

If you love me, you are going to go out and reach other people. This is not about yourself. This is about what I'm calling you to do to reach other people. So one of the last things he tells him, no matter what you've done and how you've handled things, no matter who you are, I didn't invest all this time into you, Peter. I didn't invest all this energy into you so that you could just go back to being a fisherman and say we had a good time and a few years and I saw healings and I saw great things and good teachings and we fed a lot of people bread out of a few loaves.

And they're not just good stories. I called you for something greater. I called you for the powers of hell can't even prevail against this uncommon type of influence that you're getting ready to embark on. I didn't invest all this time into you just for nice stories. I invested so that you could be a powerhouse of influence.

But it doesn't look the common way. It's an uncommon way because it's about feeding sheep. It's about serving others. It's not about you. It's about others.

You mean I can't take up the sword and I can't put on the armor and I can't go out and I can fight and I can, you know, take over this land. We're not doing that, Lord. Well, I didn't say that, Peter. Yes, spiritually maybe so. But you've got to think a different way.

The way we're going to overpower hell is through love, loving others, influencing others through an uncommon love, which brings me to this statement. And you'll want to write this down, fill in the blanks, and you'll want to circle it. You'll want to highlight it. I don't care. Just you need to get this into you.

My influence is not determined by my level of success, but by my ability to help you succeed. Help others succeed. My influence is not determined by how much I get out of this. My influence is not determined how much money I make and all the things that I gain and how many people we can fill in this church to kind of look at me up on stage because I know you're not here for me. Thank goodness.

That's not what it's about. It's about serving others. It's about being others focused. It's about helping others not only heal and find grace in Jesus, but to succeed. So we need to pour time and heart into people.

We need to do that. So let's talk about that for a few minutes. How do we pour into people beyond ourselves to help them succeed? Interesting quote from a leader. One of the best leaders that I ever had over me was actually, was a lady named Dr.

Pamela Lee. And we were sitting in a meeting one day and in our, I was an academic advisor for university, for Regent University. And we were sitting in a meeting one day and we were talking about, we were actually developing a program, kind of innovative. It was an innovative effort because we had never had an office like this before. And we were trying to develop it and things like that.

So we're just thinking of ways to move forward and how to make it the best, the best situation for all the students to move forward. And she said this, you should always be working yourself out of a job. You should always be working yourself out of a job. Now, initially, when you hear that, you're like, well, I want a job. I want to keep my job.

Right? But if we're thinking forward, if we're thinking outside ourselves, there's return in that. It was a very challenging and thought provoking statement when she said that, but it makes so much sense. Because this is kind of what Jesus told us to do. If we're pouring into other people, we're helping them succeed.

We're building people that are better than us. We're wrapping ourselves around people who are better than us. And we're looking for people, how to help people. And my dream is that this church would be a church that's centered on God and others. Not on ourselves and what we can get out of it.

But if we, if we, our purpose in life, the reason we exist is not so that we can sit and gain. It's so that we can give. So we can give life to other people. So we should be consistently working ourselves out of a job. Ourselves.

Right? And pouring into other people. So how do we do that? Number one, we need to focus on the person. Focus on that person.

Whoever that person is. Philippians 2 says, don't be selfish. Don't try to impress others. Be humble. Thinking of others is better than yourselves.

Don't look out only for your own interests. But take an interest in others too. We should be taking interests in others. We focus on others. And God brings the best out of us.

He makes us a better us when we're pouring into others. This is just coming to me on the top of my head though. It's kind of like, you know, a tank. You fill that tank up. But you can't fill that tank up anymore until you pour it out into other things.

Right? Say you're a water jug and flowers, you know, and, and, and you got to pour them out in there so they can grow. Right? A gas tank, you know, you got to pour it out so that engine could run over there, you know, so you can be filled again to release it again. We, we are always, we need to always build capacity within ourselves in order to reach others.

To, to pour into others. We need to think of those others. Number two, focus on the positive. So when we're with that person, when we focus on that person, we need to be always focusing on the positives in people. Because it's easy for us to think of the negatives in people.

Right? I can't believe she does that. I can't believe he said that. I can't believe she acts like that. I can't believe she, he's, he's that lazy that he can't do that.

And it's real easy for us to get wrapped up in that and we become critical and judgmental and we fail to see the positive in people. And it's a huge influence killer. We can't be influential if we think in terms of that. I heard the story of a business owner who, his dad owned the business and he was, he was taking over the business. You know, learning the, the, the trade and, and he was complaining about a worker to his father who was the owner of the business and said, This, this worker, he just, he's lazy.

He doesn't do this right. He doesn't do that right. And he doesn't, you know, just on and on and on. And he's just complaining, we need to fire him, dad. We got to get rid of him.

He's not doing any benefit to our company. And, and his dad just got mad they were on, in a car and they just pulled off the side of the road. He said, he said, he said this, if you can't see the positive in people, you will never make it. If you can't see the positive in people, you will never make it in this life. Focus on the positive.

Ephesians 4 says, instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Wow, it's easy to, to accept forgiveness, but it's harder to give it. And just as God, through Christ, has forgiven you, he's forgiven you those things. Think of the positive, the positive in people, which leads us to our next point. Focus on their potential.

Focus on their potential. Most potential isn't seen. Did you know that? It's found. And when we begin to focus on the positive of the things that we can see, we start learning the potential in people.

1 Peter 4.10 says, God has given each of us a gift from his great variety of gifts. Use them well to serve one another. He's given us each gifts, but we've got to find those gifts. We've got to help others find those gifts.

We've got to pull those gifts out of people. And man, if you're not using your gifts, you're useless. Find your gifts and help others find their gifts. If you know your gifts, start pouring into others to help them find their gifting. There's a, I have a friend named Brett Cooper.

He's a pastor in, close to Richmond in Petersburg area. We're good buddies. We're good friends. We go back to college days. We shared a dormitory back in college days.

And Brett was really good at this, finding potential in people. And he was a youth leader, and he had this kid in his youth group. Some of you in here are going to probably know where I'm going with this. But there was this kid in his youth group, punk rocker, painted head kid. Had a little bit of an attitude.

Cut off shorts. Camouflage shorts. Skater kid. You know. Nobody paid attention to him.

He and his little crew over there. They had their thing going on. You know. I was a youth pastor. I know there's a, you know, you have that, you have that, that kid group.

You know, you can't really touch. You just be kind to him. But he saw the potential in this kid. He saw something there. He saw a leadership gift there.

That his kid had some influence and stuff like that. So he started to pour into this guy. Really poured into this guy with everything he was, he had. Build him up. Put him, put him in places.

Also corrected him at times, but, but pushed him on. And today that kid's pastoring a church called Thrive Church. Kevin Bordeaux. I think he told me the other day within the last five years he's been there. They've seen 700 salvations and 200 baptisms.

Because Brett saw a kid, a little punk. That have potential. See, we can't, we don't often see, Alex is pointing to somebody over here. We don't always see the potential in people. We have to find it, and we have to believe in it, and we have to see the positive in them.

And fourth, focus on their purpose. When we find their potential, we want to push them towards their purpose. Purpose of Ephesians 2.10 says, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things He planned for us to do.

Man, help people find their purpose. Help them find their gifting and then start placing them in their purpose. Give them opportunities. Even give them opportunities to fail. Often we don't give people opportunities because we're afraid they'll fail.

Well, they need to fail. They need to be corrected. They need to be helped, you know? We need to give them opportunities. Opportunity after opportunity.

Purpose goes beyond performance. Performance is just doing, but purpose is actually living out what you're called to do. And if you don't know your purpose, if you don't know your gifting, we've got an excellent, Chris just did 301 today, and I can tell you this is a good growth track journey to go on if you don't know where you belong and you don't know your purpose. It will help you identify your purpose. It will help you get connected.

It will help you be a part of even the local church. The local church. Let me just say this. Your divine purpose cannot be what it is created to fill unless it is connected to the body of Christ. You've got to be connected to the body of Christ to really flourish in your gifting.

And if you don't know your purpose, if you don't know what you're called to do, then you're not going to flourish. And God has so much more for you than just being, being a body that works and goes through a routine every day, makes money and lives. He's got so much more for all of you. He's got powerful plans. He's got great plans.

And we're a church designed to help you. This is why we do what we do. Not just so that we can have a church of people gathering, just hearing me talk and listening to some good music. That's not why we do this. We want you to find your purpose in life.

Where life meets purpose. We want that for you. And five, and five, it doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen overnight. Very popular scripture, Luke 6, 38.

We like to use this a lot when we talk about finances. But actually that's taken out of context. Did you know that? Because when we go back to 37, it says, do not judge and you will be, you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.

Forgive and you will forget, be forgiven. So he's talking about relationships here in this context. And then he says this, give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you full pressed down, shaken together to make room for more. What did I tell you earlier about this jug that you have?

Running over and poured into your lap. You need to pour into others. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. So there actually is benefits. But it can't be about benefits.

It's got to be about others. Others first. This can happen, you know, whether it's church life, whether it's work life, whether it's family life. There's a man named Billy Hornsby. If you've ever heard of ARC Church Planting Network, very popular church planting network, I actually went through their training.

Very great organization benefited. Our church benefits from them a whole lot. This man named Billy Hornsby started it. A man that poured into young pastors and church planters for years and years. He became sick and he was in the hospital and there were literally young men lined up at the door to see him.

Everybody wanted to see him. Everybody just wanted to come and just gain wisdom from him. He was a man of wisdom. He loved people so much. He just had this heart for people.

And someone asked him when they were in, you know, in a crowded hospital room, he says, what's your greatest, Billy, what's your greatest accomplishment in life? What is the greatest thing that you've gained from all this church planting experience, pastoral experience, everything that you brought to the table? He says, my greatest accomplishment are someone else's. Live your life to help others win. Greatest accomplishment is to see other people make it.

Move from living for yourself to living for others. God will bless you back in return. May you join me in prayer. Heads bowed and all eyes closed. Maybe there's some of you here today that are just having a hard time with relationships, a hard time with influence, a hard time with people.

It's been very challenging for you. Maybe, maybe you've struggled, you know, in your family or you struggled at work or you struggled even in church here. You're just having a hard time. I want to pray for you today. I want to pray.

I want to, I want to, I want to help you. I want to help you find which is to focus better on others. I want God to help you. Your heart change because you can't, you've got to be transformed by Jesus. So let me just pray for you.

Lord, in the name of Jesus, I pray that you would begin to transform hearts today. That you would break our hearts from other people. That you would change us, God. We can't change on our own, only by a supernatural that's found in you, Holy Spirit. Come into us, change us, heal us, make us extremely influential.

And in this same spirit of prayer, there are some of you this, this message touched in a different way. Maybe you've never had a relationship with Christ before. Maybe, maybe you've called yourself a Christian for a long time, but you've never actually had a relationship with Christ. Maybe, maybe you fell away from God a long time ago. And you know, and you, and you've been pulling, and the spirit is, the Holy Spirit is pulling at your heartstrings at this moment.

And it's like, it's time for me to rededicate my life. I'm not going to embarrass you. I'm not going to call you up. But if that's you today, if you would just quietly slip up your hand so I can pray with you. I want to pray with you today.

If you would slip up your hand, if you'd let us know. It's, it's time. It's time. Amen. I see your hand.

Amen. Is there another, is there another one in here? Is there someone else? Come on, don't, don't make, don't make, there's another one. Amen.

Is there, is there anyone else? Is there anyone else that says, I am tired, I am tired of trying to do it on my own. I am not finding purpose. I am not finding hope. If that's you today, just one more, one more second.

If that's you, for those who raised their hands and those who didn't and still want to believe, I'm inviting you today to say, to proclaim this with me, that just pray this with me, Jesus, I believe that you are the son of God. I know I can't make it on my own. I commit my life and my heart to you today. Today is the day I'm going to make that decision. And I make it now.

Receive your spirit. I receive your spirit. Come into my heart. Come into my life. Make me yours.

Transform me from the inside out. Today I live for you. God bless you. Chris is going to end us off, but I just want to tell you I love you. I thank you so much for being with us today on this cold, rainy marathon day.

You chose to be here and I pray that God just blesses you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week for our new series, Love Like Jesus. I'm excited about it. We'll see you next time.