- Well, hi everybody, man I wanna welcome you today. So glad you're here, and I'm not sure where you are. Maybe you're in your living room, maybe you're at home at the office today, I'm not sure, but a lot of you are in one of our in-person locations and many of you are watching on TV today. So I just wanna say you guys, you're incredible, you are incredible. Thank you so much from you that watch on TV, and you that are so faithful online, all the notes, all the encouragement, all the cards that I received over the last few weeks, and your generosity toward the end of last year, it was amazing, it was off the charts. So thank you for believing in what God's called us to do as a church. 2022 is gonna be awesome. Now, one of the reasons it's gonna be awesome is because we are asking you to join with us starts today, the New Testament Challenge. We're gonna read through the new Testament in 90 days. I know already tons of you have signed up, we want thousands of you to sign up, because that keeps our church supernatural. So do it with me, I'm gonna do it with you, I'm gonna go every step of the way, we'll be right beside you. And we're all gonna journey through the New Testament together, and learn more about Jesus, about the apostle Paul, the disciples. We're gonna go in depth in the stories, it's gonna be so, so good. And over the next couple of months, all the way up to these 90 days, really three months from now, we're gonna be teaching out of the New Testament. So as you're reading, we're gonna be teaching and bringing that to life for you, and helping you to understand it deeper. So today, if you haven't already signed up... I know many of you have. Sign up today, it's gonna be really, really fun, it's gonna help you, it's gonna make you better. Let's do 90 days in the New Testament. So Hey, I get to kick off a brand new series that we're starting called Influencer. Now, this sort of came to me a few months ago. Many of you know, I enjoy playing golf. I'm not great at it, but I enjoy the game. And it takes me back to a beautiful fall, Sunday afternoon. My favorite time to play is sort of my downtime, I've preached a message, and before the new week kicks off, I generally go out and I get with some buddies, and we'll play a round of golf. And I was with one of my good friends, and a guy that I played, I don't know, hundreds of rounds of golf with. And he brought this conversation to me and he said, "You know, Allen, have you ever thought "that when you look back over your life, "honestly, you're probably the result "of three to five major decisions that you made "when you approach these folks in the road, in your life?" And he said, "And I was thinking about that the other day." And he said, "I look back on my life." And he said, "People asking me, "well, how did you get to be where you are?" And he said, "Honestly, it was when I back, "I could have chosen to go left or right. "I made the decision, and as I made the decision, "I ended up being the result "of those decisions that I made." And man, when he told me that, it calls me just to think my life's the same way. I mean, we either make decisions when we get to those folks in the road, that lead our life to a good path or it can lead our life down a bad path. And I think if you looked back over your life, it's not a hundred decisions, it's just those three or four major influences, major decisions, and all of a sudden we decided to go this way and we are the result of those decisions today. I have not been able to get that conversation off my mind. I think about it all the time. And that's how I wanna kick off this Influencer series. So I wanna ask you a quick question, so play along with me here, all of our locations. I want you to do this, even if you're at home or on TV. Hey, how many of you would say that you're an influencer? Have you ever thought about that? How many of you here, would you just raise your hand? Would you slip your hand up? Would you say, "You know what? "I think I'm an influencer." Well, a couple of you are thinking you're influencers. Well, here's the goal. My goal today, and really throughout this entire series, is to help all of you realize, every one of you that you are actually influence, you really are, you are an influencer. So here's the key takeaway. When you go off the parking lot today, I want you to be thinking about this. I hope this sinks in your heart. I want you to embrace the reality of this truth. And here it is, you have no idea how one conversation, one word of encouragement, one expression of love might change someone's life. Think about that. You have no idea how God might use one word, one moment, one generous expression of love, in the life of another person, to actually help them experience a better life, to help them experience the grace, and the love of Jesus Christ. Now, when I asked you a little earlier, how many of you see yourself as an influencer? Most of you didn't raise your hand. That didn't surprise me at all. It really didn't, I sort of thought you probably felt that way. But I did a little research, in getting ready for the message over the Christmas break, and I've tried to define what influencer means today in our culture. So if you were to look at what the word influencer is defined as, in the culture in we live today, here's the answer to that. An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others, because of their authority, or their knowledge, or relationship with their audience. Now that's what our culture says an influencer is today. And when I read that and it's over and over and over, you go to the internet, you can search and find the same thing, I thought, "Really, I mean, really? "Is that what an influencer is?" I'm so confused. Now, I know I'm a little older than most of you, but hey, when I was growing up, an influencer was a teacher, an influencer was a coach, an influencer was an awesome parent, an influencer was a good friend. When I grew up an influencer, somebody had an influence on me. I think one of the reasons I'm in the mission, when I was a kid, a guy who taught Sunday school, and my parents didn't take me to church, and this guy would come by and he would pick me up, and he would take me to his Sunday school class, week, after week, after week. That dude was an influencer. And today, unfortunately I think culture has hijacked the term, and many people would say, well, an influencer is a celebrity. an influencer is one of those content creators. Somebody who's amassed a great number of followers on social media. That's what our culture says an influencer is. And so what I wanna try to do, is I wanna try today to reclaim the word influencer, for its original intention. And I want you to see yourself as an influencer, because again... And you'll hear me say this over and over. You have no idea how our God could use one word of encouragement, that you might speak into the life of somebody else. One moment, one expression of faith and love that could eventually change somebody's life forever. Now, for those of you that know Jesus, you're here today and you've stepped across the line of faith, and you're a follower of Jesus, I wanna show you exactly what Jesus says you are. We looked a little bit this in our series leading up to Christmas, but He uses two metaphors again in Matthew's Gospel. And in chapter five, Jesus says "You are the salt of the Earth." This is to every follower of Jesus. If you're a Christian today, you're salt of the Earth. What does salt do? Salt purifies, salt preserves, salt adds flavor. We know what salt does. And then he goes on to say, "You are also the light of the world. "A town built on a hill cannot be hidden, "neither do people put a light under a bowl, "instead they put it on its stand "and it gives light to everybody in the house." So Jesus says you're salt, and He says, you are light. And in the same way, Jesus says that we, as followers of Him, we are to let our light shine, we are to influence others. We're to influence people toward a relationship, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. So He says, "Let your light shine, "that they may see your good deeds "and glorify your Father in Heaven." So let's just agree, let's reclaim the true meaning of what it means to be an influencer. Again, I think culture has stolen that and somehow lapped it up with our social media. And if you have a bunch of followers and you can influence somebody to buy a t-shirt, then that's how our culture sees influencer. That's not what the Bible teaches, it's so different than that. And the problem with our current view of influence is that it typically starts with a platform. And when we start with platforms, there's never a good ending. It's often the size of your platform that determines in our culture, the scope of your influence. Now I think truthfully, it starts with something way, way different. I believe that true and lasting influence always starts with people, not platform. It always starts with people. And the good news is, that all of you have people in your sphere of influence that you come in contact with, some every day, some once a week, but there are common people that all of us have in our sphere of influence. And you, according to Jesus, you're called to be an influencer. You're called to be salt and light to those people. Now here's what I hope you'll understand. Influence isn't always obvious. I mean, we know this normally. Influence, isn't always instant. Just because you don't see a harvest overnight, doesn't mean that the seeds that you're planting, that you're influencing in other people's lives, aren't taking root. Again, think about this. You have no idea how God might use you in one moment to plant a seed, that will eventually grow into real and lasting influence in the life of somebody, some person that you love that you care about. In fact, I wanna show you a story today, perhaps my favorite story in all the scripture, of a most unlikely influencer in the New Testament. The story is one I've taught on many times. Find it over in John 4. It's about a woman that ain't nobody ever thought would have any influence at all. The content of this story is Jesus is on a trip and He's on this journey. And the Bible says that He has a need, that he's going to pass through Samaria, which ended up by itself was an unusual choice. Now the disciples would have never expected Jesus to go through Samaria. Again, if you've heard me teach on this, just bear with me. 'Cause it might be somebody hadn't heard this, but here's the deal. Jews did not interact with Samaritan. Jesus is a Jew. And Samaritans, according to the Jewish culture of the day, they were half Jewish and half Gentile. The Jews hated the Samaritans. Matter of fact, true Jewish people believe that Samaritans were less than human, they even put them as worse than dogs. That's how they treated them. You would never interact with a Samaritan if you were a devout Jew, especially a Samaritan woman. I mean, if you were a Jewish male, it was just unheard of, that you would interact with a Samaritan woman. Well, once again, what does Jesus do? He shocks everybody. And He comes to this well and He sits down at a well in the middle of the day in order to rest. And who comes by? A Samaritan woman. And she comes up to the well and what does Jesus do? He interacts with her. And the first thing he does is He says, "Hey, would you give me a drink?" And I really believe what He's doing to this woman, who's been beat down and shunned and oppressed her entire life. Jesus is actually dignifying her by starting a conversation. And you can imagine she never had the such before, she's completely thrown off guard. Scripture says in verse nine, the woman was surprised, she's shocked. Honest to God she's overwhelmed, she's beside herself. She never expected this, it's unheard of. No Jewish man would ever approach and have a conversation with a Samaritan woman. And it's just weird, I mean, it's just bizarre. And she so surprised she sought that Jews refused to have anything to do with a Samaritan. So look at the story she said to Jesus, "You're a Jew." It's like, "Wait a minute, help me here. "I know you're a Jew. "Hey, I'm a Samaritan woman "in case you're blind or something, "in case you didn't realize. "Why are you asking me for a drink? "You're not supposed to do that." And I love, right at the beginning of the story. I love how Jesus treats her. He replies to her with love, He does. You can just sense His compassion for her. And this is what He says. He says, "If you only knew the gift God has for you "and who you're speaking to, "you would ask me and I would give you living water." Well, it sort of piques her interest. He doesn't treat her like every other Jew has treated her, all of her life. He actually dignifies her by having a conversation. She's a little bit intrigued by it, and she's confused as well, and notice what she says. She says, "Sir..." I want you to see the progression that she sees Jesus. First of all, she sees Him as a Jew, and then He treats her with respect, and she automatically calls Him, sir. He's beginning to move up in her life, "Sir, But you don't even have a bucket. "You're wanting to drink, you don't even have a bucket here, "and the well is deep." Now, why did she say that? 'Cause she had a bucket, she brought a water pot, because she knew it would be an insult to a Jewish man, if she were to use her water pot. I mean, He had to have His own water pot, and He's asking for a drink, He doesn't have anything to get it out of, and the well is deep. "How in the world am I gonna get you a water, "that you would actually drink, "that wouldn't be poisoned, because I have touched it?" And Jesus replies verse 13. He says, "Anyone who drinks of this water..." He's talking about the well water, the natural water. "Will soon become thirsty again. "But those who drink of the water I give "will never be thirsty again." And this woman may sort of captivated by Jesus. She notices something's truly different about Him. And she says, "Please, sir, "may I have some of that living water?" And notice what Jesus says in verse 16. He helps her understand where she's at in life. And He says, "I want you to go and I want you to get your husband." And she says, "Well, I don't have a husband." And Jesus said, "You're right, you don't have a husband, "for you've had five husbands, "and you aren't even married "to the man that you're living with now." Now, I don't know how He said that, but He said it in a way that didn't offend her. He said it in a way, somehow it convicted her. And she said, "You certainly spoke the truth, sir," the woman said. Now catch this. She says, "You must be a prophet." She's seen him as a Jew, then she saw him as sir. He begins to tell her about her whole past. She'd never seen this man before. "Oh my goodness, you must be a prophet." Now, there wasn't a Jewish man anywhere, who would have interacted, had a conversation with this woman. But Jesus approaches her with love in his heart. He dignifies her. You know what He really does? He honors her, all the time knowing that she was an outcast in her own community. Divorced five times, and she shacking up now. Hey, even in our day, in a culture as far away from God as we've become, she would still raise some eyebrows in our day. But guys, let me tell you something. In that day she would have been shunned, and she would have been the woman, that everybody sort of whispered about, everybody stayed away from her. "Hey, you better keep your husband away from her, "she's a homewrecker, that's what she is. "She's nothing but bad news." And think about this. Jesus, knowing all of that, He doesn't look at her as this immoral woman, but instead, He looks at her as a miracle waiting to happen. That's our Jesus, ain't it? Knowing that a touch from Heaven, knowing that forgiveness could be applied to her heart, and she could completely change. And it dawns on her. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. "We've heard that there would be a Messiah coming one day. "I've heard perhaps about this man, "and He's going to come and He's gonna be our Messiah "and He's gonna do miracles, "and He's gonna raise the dead, "and He's gonna open blind eyes. "Why would a Jewish man speak to me, "show me honor and respect, "and know everything about my life?" And here's her conclusion. "Perhaps this is the one that we've been waiting for. "This is the one that we've been praying for. "Perhaps this is the Messiah." And you know what she does? She leaves her water pot, which was one of her most prized possessions, and she is transformed by the love of Jesus, and she becomes a believer and a follower of Jesus at that point. And the scripture says, she runs back to her village. The Bible says it like this. "The woman left her water jar beside the well "and ran back to the village." And notice what she does, man, she tells everybody, everybody, she comes in contact with, "Hey, come and see a man, "who told me everything I've ever done. "Could he possibly be the Messiah? "You gotta come, "you gotta go meet this guy that I've met, "that's forgiven me, "and that has given me a new future story." So what happened? Well, people came streaming out from that village to see Jesus. Pretty interesting, isn't it? It's a powerful, powerful story. I wanna leave you today with a couple of thoughts from this story. Here's the first thing I want every one of you to know. Here's the first thing. First of all, no matter how bad your life is messed up, you're not too far gone, for the love of Jesus to reach into your life and change you for all eternity. Because so many of you think, "Oh, God don't want anything to do with me." "And He's a holy God, "He don't want anything to do with me." And a lot of times you probably feel that way because of how church people have treated you, I don't know. But I want you to understand something. No matter how bad your life is messed up, no matter how many bad decisions you've made, your life is not too far gone, that it can not be changed, by the love and the power of Jesus Christ. He is able to reach into your life, no matter how messed up it is, and allow you to write a new future story. You say, "How do I know that?" Well, we see the town outcast here. I mean, she got reputation, I guarantee it beat yours. And everybody else would whisper about this lady. She would pass by and everybody, the gossip stuff would start, and people enthusiastically were putting her down, and trying to just shun her and stay away from her, this continue her whole entire life. And here's this lady who've changed by the Gospel of Jesus, and now she's out telling everybody, "This is the Messiah." This broken woman, this messed up woman, this woman that everybody talked about, everybody gossiped about, the one that has been called the immoral woman, immediately under the guise of life change with Jesus, becomes an influencer. Ain't that incredible? You know what? Her story shows us, you don't have to have it all together to influence somebody else towards Jesus. I mean, sometimes we think we have to know it all, before we would ever share a faith. You have to have some kind of seminary degree, that you gotta pray these big, powerful prayers. You gotta be able to quote Bible verses. She didn't know any of that, she knew none of that. She had just had a transformation with Jesus Christ, and she goes, and she tells her whole village. You don't gotta be perfect, guys. You don't have to have it all together. You don't have to have things all fixed up in your life to be an influencer for Jesus. You just gotta know Jesus. You just have to have a relationship with Jesus. And you just have to care about the people around you. And you can immediately be a light in this dark world, you can be the salt to those who are around you. You just have to care about people. You don't need 4,000 followers to have some kind of platform of influence. You don't have to have all these friends on Facebook. You just need to care about one person, who's in front of you. You're an influencer today. Every one of you, you're an influencer. Listen to me. You don't have to know it all, you just have to let your light shine. Now, friends, you have no idea.... Let me say it one more time. What one word of encouragement, what one word of hope, what one expression of love, how God might use you to influence another person toward Him. Here's second thing from this story, I want you to get. You don't have to have it all together for God to use you. Sometimes we think, "Well, you know, I gotta join the church, "I gotta get baptized." I think y'all do all them things. "I gotta get in a small group." We all to do that too. But we think maybe when I've been a Christian 10 years, then I might be able for God to use me. No, that's not how it is at all. This woman, she becomes a follower of Jesus, she gets saved. And this woman goes back to her village immediately after her salvation experience, and she tells everybody what has just happened to her. Now, think about that. Does she know any theology? Absolutely not. Did she have any scripture memorized? No, she didn't have one verse memorized. She is a brand new Christian. She knew she had been forgiven, and she knew she was set free. And she loved the people who had shunned her and gossiped about her so much. That's the reason we know, she truly had a transformation with Jesus, that she wanted all these people who had put her down for the majority of her life, to find the same freedom that she found, incredible. And Jesus says to conclude the story. "The field is ripe for harvest, "but the laborers are few." For our purpose, we might say it like this, that the field is right for harvest, but the influencers are few. And what I've come to tell you today, is you're an influencer. The woman goes back to her town, she tells everybody. Verse 39 says, catch this. "Many Samaritans believed in Jesus that day," many Samaritans. Why? Because one woman who was a brand new Christian, was all of a sudden an influencer for Jesus. When they came out to see Jesus really neat story, they begged him to stay longer in their village. Something about Jesus, man, you'd just want him to stay with you. And you know what Jesus did, He sorted delayed plans, and He actually stays two days longer. And he continues for two more days in that little village of Samaritans, to share the transformation and the hope of the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins. And the scripture says that almost everybody in that village became a follower of Jesus. Who did God use to make that whole village be changed? Was it a celebrity? No. Was it an Instagram star? No. Was it a professional athlete? No. You know, the God used? Just a regular, ordinary, every day, broken, sinful woman, who had been redeemed by Jesus Christ. You have influence exactly where you are. You don't have to have your whole life together to have influence, to be an influencer for Jesus. Hey, let me say it one more time. You have no idea what one word of encouragement, what one expression of love, can mean to someone, to have a very small touch of God's love. So when you greet people, when they come to church and you help somebody who's uncomfortable. You remember what it was like when you came to church for the first time, I guarantee you, they're a little nervous, they're a little uncomfortable, and you just love them, you're an influencer for Jesus. When you listen to somebody who's hurting at work and you represent the love of Jesus, but not judging where they are, but you just love them, you're an influencer for Jesus. When you post something on social media, because I know so many of you are on social media, and it's not the vitriol in which we see, but you share maybe a sermon clip, or a scripture, or something like that that's positive, and upbuilding and encouraging, you become an influencer for Jesus. Just by the way you worship. When we get together in person, and man, you just know that you're here for an audience of one, and you don't care what anybody else around you sees you doing, and you just worship the God you love, you're an influencer for Jesus. I would just say, let's not let culture define us from being an influencer from God. You are an influencer. You are the salt and the light and the hope of this world. And if you know Jesus, you don't have to have it all together, you don't have to have the seminary degree, you don't have to be a preacher, go and be an influencer this year in 2022, God wants to use you in a powerful way. Hey, let's pray together. Lord, I thank you so much for this story. It really helps me to know Jesus so much more that here's this immoral lady who Jesus dignifies. He doesn't come and judge her, He just helps her to see "You need a better story. "I can give you a better life, "if you drank from what I give, "you'll never thirst again." And today that same message, 2000 years later, is still as vibrant, it's still as passionate as it was to her. I think as I'm speaking today, somebody on TV, or somebody at home, or in one of our in-person locations, you need to hear that, your life is not so messed up, that Jesus can transform you. He is your hope. And you immediately, soon as you're transformed can be an influencer for Jesus. Hey, I want you to grow, I want you to become a mature disciple, I want you to fall in love with His words. It's the reason we're going through the New Testament 90 days. But I wanna tell you something. Once you know Jesus, your greatest act of kindness to Him is go share with others, what He's done in your life. He's called us to be the light and the salt and the hope of this world. God, I pray for a generation that you would rise up at Highlands to be influencers, God in our workplaces, Lord, in our communities, in our neighborhoods, may we be influencers for the light of the Gospel. And Lord, I pray, that you might help us to understand that when the old devil comes, there's somebody here that thinks God doesn't want a thing to do with them. That you've messed your life up too bad for God to ever save you. And I wanna tell you, He went to the cross for you. He loves you. And if you will just simply say, Jesus, I have made mistakes. When I heard pastor Allen, talk about that woman, I look at my life, and maybe I'm not as bad as what she was, but I'm telling you, I've made some horrible mistakes, but Lord it gives me hope today that maybe you can forgive me. And I ask you, Jesus, come into my life today, I ask you to save me and forgive me. And God helped me to write a new future story, just like this lady in scripture was able to write. I surrender my life to you today, Jesus. And thank you for loving me and saving me. And hey, if you're online today and you just made that decision to give your life to Christ, there's a little button there that says a raised hand. How about just clicking that raised hand, so we can all along with Heaven, cheer what God's done in your heart today. And hey, everybody look up at me. If you are here today and you've realized that God wants to use you as an influencer, you go out today and you be an influence for the one who has saved you. Because man, that is the greatest thing we can give our life to. I love you, look forward to incredible year together. I just trust that God will use us in incredible ways, that will see miracles among us. God wants to do so many things through you. Go and make this year a great year, in Jesus' name. And we all said, amen.