- Well, Hey everybody, men, I want to welcome you to Highlands today. Thank you so much whether you're online, on TV, or in person at one of our locations, man, you guys are incredible. I appreciate all your encouragement. For my YouTube staff, just going to tell you, we all have regrets eating that chip is definitely a regret, don't ever do it, just don't ever do it. My staff has this sixth sense of humor that they want to help me make you laugh. So I hope you're laughing in this season of sort of difficulty. We wanted to bring a little humor your way, and we've had a fun time doing it. So we're in this series called influencer and we're talking about how God invites us to actually join him to use our influence in helping be his salt and light. And I know hundreds and hundreds, over a thousand of you are on this journey with me through the new Testament. And this past Tuesday, we were reminded as we read Jesus's sermon on the mount and the gospel of Matthew, that we are actually his salt and his light. Look at Matthew chapter five, notice what Jesus said, "you are a follower of Jesus, you're the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world." So we can know that this is actually God's will for our life, right, to be his saltiness, his God flavor in the world, in which we live and his light to the world in this time of doom and gloom. It's so exciting that God says we have the opportunity to be influencers on his behalf. A few months ago, I remember receiving a special invitation in the mail. You can tell, we all get many invitations. I knew this one was a special one the way it was written, the envelope it was in and it was inviting me to join Dr. David Olive, president of Bluefield University to attend their hundred year anniversary as a Christian educational institution. And of course, many of you know that Highlands partners with Bluefield University in two ways. We have a Highlands Fellowship Campus that meets on the university campus in the chapel. It's been an ongoing, great campus for us for several years, and we've met so many wonderful people in Bluefield, we're so happy to be there. And then just a few years ago, when we launched our new vision, we also partnered with the university in a second way, and they allowed us to open up our own HF College. And HF College is actually an opportunity for all of our local people who have been called by God to go into ministry, to get accredited education at a very reduced cost. We've had our first graduates, we're working on our master's degree program. Cameron Lee, then our NCC campus overseas this far has done a great job. And Hey, if you feel like you want to credit education, you want to go into full-time ministry, you ought to check out HF College, just an incredible deal. So Bluefield University has been a tremendous partner for us in every way. When I got the invitation, I decided that I would respond to that invitation that I would go and I would attend and I would celebrate with them all that God has done in that university over the past 100 years. And it was great. Man, all the news was there, a lot of the alumni and current students, and we just had a great day celebrating and giving glory to God. We get invited to things all the time. We get many, many invitations. So today what I want to talk to you about is what I would say is this, the greatest invitation you can ever receive. You think, wow, what is that? Well, here it is. That God actually invites me and he invites you to be his agent. The scripture uses the word ambassador, I feel like that's a little fancy for us, but we're called to be God's agent to use our influence to help other people have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, this is an incredible invitation that God actually offers us and asks us to partner with him in. It's true. God invites me, he invites you, to become involved with him in his work. Now, I don't know what that does for you, but for me, this is very exciting, right? To be invited by the God of the universe, to actually be involved in his work here on this planet, that we are his salt and his light, as we influence others in our sphere of influence toward him. So what exactly is God inviting us to do? It's a great question, right? Well, we know that God has always been working from day one to redeem a lost and broken world to himself. As soon as Genesis three says, sin entered into the human race. We know that was not God's intended plan for that and from that day forward, God has been working on how does he redeem a broken and lost world to himself. And the Bible says that we have all, every one of us, we've all turned our backs on God, we've sinned, but truth is we're all sinners, we've all gone astray and God's plan from the very beginning was to bring us back to him. So, God sent his son into the world and we know that Jesus actually died on a cross so that we could be forgiven for our sins and we could be made right with God. And once we decide to invite Jesus Christ into our lives and find forgiveness, then what does God do? Well, once we're in his family, then God invites us, okay, to be a part of his plan, to rescue a broken and lost world to himself. And notice, this is what Jesus says to his disciples. His last words, we call this a great commission, Matthew 28, look at verse 18. Jesus says this, "I've been given all authority in heaven and on earth, therefore," and this is to us, "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit." And then he says, "teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this." He gives us this promise. "I am with you always, even to the end of the age or basically till I come back and receive you unto myself." He's going to be with us every day. Again, the great commission of Jesus. So here, he invites us to be a part of his plan, to be able to take his good news to our local community first, to our region, to our nation, to north America and literally he wants us to be a participant in taking the good news to the entire world. And every day, God invites you to join him, to influence others because our God is at work in the world. So here's the deal. We have a choice to make, don't worry. We'll actually accept God's invitation and join him and use the influence he's given me to help other people come to know Jesus, will I actually do that? Because here's what the data, who is our friend tells us. That over 95% of us have said no to that. All right, as followers of Jesus, 95%, this is what Barna has recently said. You're a child of God, you're in his family and yet you have never, all right, you've never used your influence, you've never invited, you've never shared the gospel with anyone else in your entire life since you've been a believer, now that breaks my heart, right? And I think that breaks the heart of God. So you have to decide, we know this is God's plan and you've got to decide, all right, if I'm a child of his, am I going to, am I going to be one of the 5% that actually says, you know what, God, I'm going to join you. I'm going to help other people come to know you. I'm going to use my influence for that cause. And if I say yes, all right, then how do I use my influence to join God in his work? Now, what I wanted to do is we start out trying to just help you understand you are an influencer, you do have an influence in week one. Last week, we looked at the sort of the theological aspect of what Paul tells Timothy, how to do it. You're to do it in the way you live and your conduct, your integrity, your speech, all these kinds of things. Today, I want to get really, really practical and I want to give you some practicalities if you decide, you know what, I'm going to do this, I'm going to join God. I believe this is what God wants me to do. I'm not perfect. You don't have to be perfect to do this. I'm going to go out. I'm going to start using my influence for Jesus. How do you do it? All right, here's step number one. All right, it's really simple. Here's number one. I'll watch where God is working around me. This is really practical, right? God is working around us all the time. We're just too busy with our own lives to take notice in what he's doing. Now, let me give you an example and I think I may have shared something like this several years ago with you, but what we've tried to do, and we've tried to play in this with five kids. I put a lot of miles on a vehicle. So when they get to 16 and they get their permit, we've wanted to give them a used vehicle. We're not the kind of parents that's going to the buy them a new one. Every vehicle we've given to the kids, they have about a hundred thousand miles on. So we want, that's their vehicle till they get through college or get their first job. And Timmy just turned 16 a couple of years ago, so I knew that I was going to hand him over my truck, it had about a hundred thousand miles on it and I was looking for another one. And as I began to look for another one, a few months before I knew the turnover was going to happen, I remember driving by a dealership and you know how they put they store special vehicles out front almost right on the road where you drive by and you look at it. And I remember seeing this silver truck and I was thinking, wow! I've never seen a color quite like that. Never seen a design quite like... I just hadn't seen a truck like that very often at all, if ever. And so I decided, I think that's the truck I'm going to go after and so, I got everything together, I got approval from the finance committee that's Brenda, by the way. And I went and we made the deal and I bought that truck. And I know why, okay. I'm thinking this is a man's truck, man, it looks awesome. I haven't seen any trucks like that before. It's going to be... I'm finally going to get a truck that nobody really has. As I am driving the truck off the lot first time, there is a exact identical truck that passes right in front of me. True story. As I'm driving home, I pass two more identical trucks, same color, same make, same model, everything else on main street in Abington just like mine and catch this, two weeks later, I noticed that there is one identical truck, just like the one I bought in the same Dagon neighborhood that I live in and guess what? All three of those silver trucks driven by ladies. So I think I bought a ladies truck. Anyway, a sort of sense of humor, Brenda got a kick out of it. I started seeing that same truck all over the place. Have you ever experienced something like that in your life? Like once you start paying attention to something, you sort of start seeing it everywhere. Well, this is exactly how it is when we discover that God's actually working all around us and we just been simply too busy or self absorbed to see him at work in our life. God's at work around you. He truly is. He's already working. We just have to come to the place where we tune our minds into what he's already doing and when we do see where he's working around us, that is our invitation from him to join him, to use our influence and become a part of his team in redeeming a lost and broken world to himself. It's an exciting invitation. And this is exactly how Jesus worked in his own ministry, right? Let's go back and look in John five and notice what Jesus says. He says this in verse 17, "my father is always working and so am I. I tell you the truth, the son can do nothing by himself, he does only what he sees the father doing and whatever the father does, the son also does. For the father loves the son and shows him everything he is doing." So what do we learn from this passage? Well, in this passage, we see that God is always working and Jesus is only doing, all right? Jesus is not out there doing a thousand things. Jesus is only doing what he sees his father doing and same for us. God wants to show you where he is working around you and your sphere of influence and that's God's invitation for us to link up with him and begin to use the influence that God has given us to point others toward him. This is how this works. And here's the coolest part. This is a personal invitation to you, all right? And it's a personal invitation yourself, God does this, all right? Not everybody's going to be invited to this specific work. First of all, you got to be a follower of Jesus and then you personally, God has crafted a plan for you to join him. And so often we're just too busy to see his invitation, we ignore it, we just say, no, that's not the Lord working and we pass it by. Now, maybe just maybe, God is actually nudging you to serve in some capacity. And you know this, you know, and you know this. Maybe he wants you to talk to that friend at work who's going through a difficult time. Maybe the holy spirit is nudging you to talk to that person who's going through a divorce and they feel like their hope is gone. Maybe the holy spirit is nudging you to, there's so many sick people in our culture right now to be a friend in a time of sickness and to maybe make a food delivery or somehow use your influence in that person's life. Hey, maybe God's nudging you to be a part of our worship team here at Highlands. No, God's not nudging me for that, all right. They're never going to let me on a worship team even if I wanted to be. They ain't gonna let me, I don't have that gift. That's not how it is. But he specifically may be nudging you to try out for that. Maybe God's nudging some of you to say, you know what, what can I do for our church to reach more people? Well, you know one of the things you could do, you could help us open children's ministry at our locations in Bristol and Abington at the 9:30 service, we need more volunteers to do that. Maybe the holy spirit nudging you to say, I don't want to continue to be a consumer. I think God's gifted me to be able to help, or to invite, or to be an agent and ambassador for God, join him in his work and it's a specific invitation for you. Now, what I want you to see is that these are not accidents, these are not coincidences, rather when the holy spirit nudges you and you sense this drive toward this or this calling toward this, these are God's invitations. This is how God wants to work with you. And here's what I want you to know. When God initiates that process in your heart, he is already working in the lives of those around you and here's what God is doing, he is choosing you specifically so that you can help draw them closer to him. So I want to give you a very practical step in not missing this, just pray. One of the things we're learning as we read through the new Testament is the importance of prayer. Just pray a prayer like God, I don't want to miss where you're working in my sphere of influence. Lord, show me where you're already at work and where you want me to join you, I don't want to miss this God, and then just get ready. All right, I promise just to just get ready and just watch and your life's about to change when you sincerely pray a prayer. God, I want to see where your work around me, I'm willing to join you in it to redeem a broken and lost world to yourself. Here is the second practical step on how to be an influencer and join God's team. Allow God to use my unique gifts for his work. Now, let's look at this in scripture. This is what Peter says to us in first Peter chapter four, look at verse 10, this is what he says. He says, "God has given each of you," this is to followers of Jesus. So this is not to those of you who are not Jesus followers yet. "He's given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts." Right? God, he's created us all unique. We all have unique spiritual gifts that God's given us and then he tells us, use them well to serve yourself. Is that what the scripture says? No, this is what it says, "use them well to serve one another." So here's the truth. If we're going to have influence to join God, somehow in our mindset we have to shift our thinking from using these unique spiritual gifts that God's given us to serve ourselves and understand that he wants us to use those gifts he's given us to serve others. You see God's prepared and shaped you for the invitation that he's sending you on and you were designed by God to join him in the work that he invites you to. I love what Paul tells Timothy in first Timothy four, look at verse 14. He says, "Timothy, do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you." And the Lord would say the same thing to you today. You, if you're a follower of Jesus, you've given your heart to Jesus, you're a Christian, you have a gift that God's given you. And that is the unique gift that when God invites you to join him in his work that he's going to use, because all of us don't have the same gift. So since we all have these unique gifts, we need each other and in the church, Hey, we definitely need each other. We don't have to agree on everything. I mean, my goodness. I don't agree with Brenda on everything, I still love her. We still got a great marriage. I don't agree with the kids on everything, but we still got a great family. And in the church, we don't have to agree on everything, but I'm gonna tell you, we need each other and we need to love each other and we need to be for each other and this needs to be a place of encouragement. That's what home is, right? Highlands is home. We're all on the same team. Each one of us has to decide to use our unique gifts to accomplish God's vision for our local church. And this is what you guys have done so well over the past few years, you have decided that you're going to use your gifts and you've gone out and you've serve people in so many different capacities, over 80,000 people think about that, guys that you have used your gifts, that God has given you to help redeem an influence of broken and lost world, to understand the love of Jesus Christ. I just want to say, thank you, it's been amazing to watch and see. I love the example of the early church in Acts, right? I think we all want to be a part of a church like this. They were all together, they had the same vision, it was clear. And the scripture says when they went out with their United vision, they influenced their community and this is how they did it. Look, at the scripture, it says, every day, every day they continued to meet together in temple courts. This is what we're asking you to do as we read through the New Testament every day, you got some scripture to read. They broke bread in their homes, they ate together. It's what we do in small groups with glad and sincere hearts. They praise God, they enjoyed the favor of all the people and notice what God did. And the Lord added to their number daily. Those who were being safe. You know what the scripture says about that first church, they literally turned their community upside down for the love of Jesus Christ. That's what we want. We want to be apart of supernatural church. Here's the third practical way to join God. I give my resources for God's vision. Now let's be honest. God has blessed all of us with material resources and why do we have these? Well, he wants us to provide for our families, right? We go out and we work so we can put food on the table, we can give shelter, we can buy clothing. He wants us to take care of our families, he does that. And he also gives us resources so that we can enjoy life. I mean, part of the reward of work is so you can do things with your resources. You can enjoy, you can take a great vacation, there's nothing wrong with that. God wants you to do these kinds of things. But he also is very clear in scripture that he gives us financial blessings for a greater purpose, that we can invest in what God is already doing in the world around us. So when you come to the service of Highlands, those of you on TV and online every week, you know that we receive, we don't take, Hi. We receive an offering from all of you and always invite you, Hey, make a meaningful gift. Here's why. Because your giving changes lives for Jesus Christ. It does. Your giving allows us to fulfill our vision where we are joining God and we've decided that we believe that God wants our church to make a difference in thousands of lives, locally, regionally around the world. This is what Jesus says in Acts one eight. He says, "but you'll receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth." These are our marching orders as a child of God and as a church filled with believers in Jesus. That's what he wants us to do. And your giving literally helps transform lives here at home and literally around the world. So God is trying to teach us this, right? Don't just invest in things that are here today and gone tomorrow. Rather, he wants us to use some of what he's given us, he's given it all to us, he wants us to invest a portion of that back and things are going to last for all eternity. What's that? Is people, all right? We need to be investing a portion of what God's given us back into people, because they're going to last for all eternity. Now, you know this, there's really only two kinds of people in our world. There are givers and they're takers. And here's what I want you to know. You know which one you are and also everybody in your sphere of influence knows whether you're a giver or a taker. You can't be a snoozer, a taker and thinking nobody really knows because they all know. They all know. So I want to encourage you be a giver, be like, our Lord. Which one are you? It's simply really a matter of obedience. This is how Paul describes it in second Corinthians chapter nine, verse six, this is what he says, he says, "remember this, a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give." And here's, Hey, if you're going to give to our church, you're going to give to our vision, here's what you need to have, this the attitude you need to have, all right or not, you need to keep it, all right. 'Cause we don't want it. You must each decide in your heart how much you're going to give and this is what he says. "And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure, we never pressure you. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully." In other words, if you can't give out of the abundance that God has given you back to his work, to redeem a lost and broken world, then you have a heart problem, right? And God will generously provide when you give generously and cheerfully, all you need. And then you'll always have everything you need, plenty left over to share with others. Giving back to God has never been a money issue for us, it's a heart issue. It's a heart issue. And I want to challenge you to have a heart like God, be a giver and sow generously. Here's the fourth final way, I think you can join God. I just obey his invitation. I obey God's invitation. If I'm going to join God, if I'm going to use my influence, then when God invites me, all right, I'm going to obey God's invitation. Let me ask you a question. Is there something that you know that God has actually asked you to join him in, but you delay it. You just keep delaying it and you keep putting him off, you know, down deep he wants you to move out and he wants you to join him in. And maybe it's in your career, maybe it's again, by making a simple invite to somebody, you know that God wants to use you and most of us would look at it like this. Well, now God, I want you to bless me, but I really don't want you to use me, I just want you to bless me, instead of using me. That's sort of what we want, right? But God says, no, that's not how it work, I want to use you. That's been God's plan from the beginning. So listen, if you want to know God's will for your life, then just obey him when he invites you to join him in his work. Is pretty simple, actually. When God invites and we obey him and join him, it basically means that we love him and we're all called to love him. This is what he says in John 14. Notice what Jesus says in verse 21. Jesus says this, "those who accept my commandments and obey them," that's we're talking about. "are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my father will love them and I will love them and reveal myself to each of them." So if God is inviting you to do something and you're scared to death, because most of the time we are, right. Just know this, where God guides you, he will always provide. You don't have to be afraid of saying yes. If God invites you to join him, it will always be for your best God's glory. He's always at work around you. Do you know where God's inviting you to use your influence to join him today? I mean, you probably do. You probably have had these thoughts before, you sorta know that God's sort of calling you out. Maybe it is in a job or career, maybe it's in a relationship and you know that you need to move out of that relationship because it's hindering your walk with God. Or maybe there's a relationship that he's encouraging you to pursue. I don't know what it is for you. I struggle enough knowing what it is for me, right? I'm not saying I got this down, but I'm just saying I want to join God when he invites me to join him. He is at work around us, he is wanting to use us, his plan from the beginning is to use us, those who are redeemed, who've save, we've accepted Jesus to use our influence, to draw those who need the salt of Jesus and the light of Jesus to bring hope in the midst of darkness. You can be on his team today, I encourage you to do it if you want excitement and fulfillment in your life. Now, here's how I want to close, his first invitation to join him is always at salvation, right? That's the beginning. And it seems like every week, the holy spirit brings somebody to a service online or to service on TV or one of our locations and you've never accepted that first invitation of giving your heart and life to Jesus. I want to give you an opportunity to do that today because I think it's so important. That's the greatest decision you'll ever make. Again, it's the journey of beginning to be a disciple of Jesus. So would you pray with me? Let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much that you have gone before us, you sent your only son to die on our behalf to redeem us and forgive us of our mistakes and cleanse us from our sin. And God, my hope is that somebody has been invited to watch this service and yet, you know who I'm talking, if I'm talking to you, you know exactly who you are and you have never accepted the invitation to ask Jesus Christ to come into your life, forgive your sin and you find a home in Jesus. If that's you, I want you to pray this prayer with me today. Just say, "dear Jesus, I'm a sinner, I've made mistakes. I don't understand why you would die for me on a cross but today I humbly surrender my life to you Jesus, got to ask you to save me." And if you just prayed that prayer right now online, I want you to hit that little raised hand button, let us know we're praying for you. If you're in an in-person location, grab somebody on your way out today, tell them you made that decision. If you're on TV, man, email us and let us know. That's the first and greatest invitation and then once you're a follower of Jesus, the greatest invitation becomes, I will join you God, in the work that you have for me to do and I pray just as we review a little bit, God help me to look around where you're working. You've given me a unique gift and may I use that to influence others. God, I pray that you might help me to see where you're at work and Lord help me to go out and love you and love others and join you in this awesome privilege of being on team Jesus. And as we work together, may you use me to draw others to a saving knowledge and to grow, to become a mature disciple who loves and honors Jesus in every way. It's truly a matter of obedience. May we obey you today, we ask it all in Jesus name, Amen.