Influencer: Your Circle of Influence

In this 37-minute video, Pastor Craig Etheredge explores the concept of influence — both in modern social media culture and through biblical leadership. Using the story of Jeroboam from 1 Kings 11–12, he outlines how influence, often associated today with online fame, has always been a powerful force. Influence comes from God, is meant to honor God, can be lost through fear or self-centeredness, and should be stewarded wisely. And every individual, regardless of their platform size, has a circle of influence that can impact others deeply — positively or negatively — depending how it’s used.

Editor’s Note: The transcript that follows was automatically generated and lightly edited, so please be aware there could be typos or other small errors. The Stream is working toward a transcription service that does fast, accurate, and reliable work; thank you in advance for your patience!

(00:00) All right, I want to start off with a question. How many of you are on social media? You know, currently you’re Facebook, Instagram, X, um, YouTube, what am I missing? Uh, some of those. Yeah, TikTok. All go ahead, raise up your hand. Are you all right? Very good. All right. Of those that raise your hand, how many of you follow an influencer? You have a couple of people you like to follow when you’re watching social media. All right.

(00:25) Don’t be sheep about it. All, you know, sheepish about it. Yeah. It’s all right. Yeah. So, uh, Instagram, uh, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, all these have influencers, right, that are very, very popular. Most people that are on social media follow some of these influencers. Now, you may say, well, you know what exactly is an influencer? So, I’ve got a definition for you right here. Check this out.

(00:48) An influencer is someone who has the power to affect the purchasing decision of others because of her her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with the audience. Most of the time, these influencers are focused on a certain market niche and they are giving you information, but they’re also helping you make purchasing decisions regarding what you wear or what products you buy or what things you need for the interest that you have.

(01:18) And as a result of that, some of these influencers make a lot of money. In fact, one of the top grossing influencers today is Mr. Beast, who took in last year $83 million. That’s right, million dollars only producing videos on these social media platforms. And that’s probably why when you ask Gen Z what are their career path look like? What careers would they want to be a part of in the future? Many of them over half want to be influencers other than other traditional career paths because of the money that’s there.

(01:54) So you know yes influencing is a fairly new phenomenon. I mean these platforms haven’t been around but for the last 20 years and yet it’s extremely popular. But here’s the deal. Influencers did not start with social media, right? In fact, there have always been influencers since the beginning of time.

(02:14) There have always been people that influenced others. And I think about my own life. You know, I had many influencers throughout my life. When I was a young boy, my my father was a huge influence, still is today. Uh, I remember seeing him sitting on his couch early in the early morning with his Bible open praying and that m that mental picture still is in my mind of his influence as a godly man.

(02:40) I think about my Sunday school teachers when I was a kid that that influenced me toward the Lord. I went back this summer, got to meet some of them, and I apologized for how I acted in their Sunday school class. Uh, but nevertheless, they were an influence. I had coaches that influenced me and taught me a lot about hard work and competitiveness and walking with God.

(03:02) I had people in college that influenced me both in good and in bad. So you when you kind of look in your own life, you could probably think of people you could write names of people that were influencers in your life. Here’s what I want you to know. You are an influencer. You influence people more than you realize.

(03:20) the things that you say, the things that you post, the the places you go, the way you behave, how you act in the checkout counter, at the grocery store, what you do in in in different places that you’re at. Influence the people around you and they are watching more than you know. So, I want to talk today about how do how do you have a circle of influence and how do you grow and how do you leverage the influence that you have? I want to talk about your circle of influence today.

(03:50) So, I want you to get your Bible. I want you to open up with me to First Kings. We’re going in the Old Testament now. First Kings chap 11. First Kings chapter 11. Now, as you turn to First Kings chapter 11, you are stepping into the last days of King Solomon. King Solomon was a probably one of the greatest kings of Israel, at least under his leadership.

(04:15) The nation of Israel expanded to its greatest borders, had the most economic growth and prosperity in its history. So, King Solomon is now on the decline, not only physically, but he’s also on the decline spiritually as well. And his greatest error, his greatest sin was that he married multiple multiple, you know, thousands of of of wives and concubines.

(04:41) Many of these came from neighboring nations. These marriages were really just treaties with neighboring nations. And with them came their pagan gods and their pagan practices that began to infiltrate into the nation of Israel. And you see in in First Kings 11:4 that it was these these foreign wives, these pagan wives that really turned the heart of Solomon away from the Lord.

(05:10) And as a result of that, God is going to remove Solomon. God is going to judge him and not only him but his lineage because of this great sin. And God is going to remove the part of the nation away from Solomon’s rule and his son’s rule. And God is going to give it to another leader, an emerging kneeler named Jeroboam. Okay.

(05:34) So the name Jeroboam, this is the guy we’re going to be focusing on this morning. And this is the first place where we see him kind of come onto the pages of scripture. So let’s look at it now. Um first Kings chapter 11. before we get into that, let me just say this. Every one of us are influencers. In Romans 14, I love Romans 14 verse 7.

(06:00) It says, “For no one lives to himself and no one dies to himself.” That simply means that you are not an island to yourself. You can’t say, “Well, I don’t influence anybody. I just kind of go to work and I kind of do my thing and I’m not really an influencer.” That’s not true. You don’t live to yourself. You don’t die to yourself.

(06:16) You have more of an impact than you realize. And so, what we need to do is acknowledge this and say, “How do I really leverage my influence for good and not for bad?” So, today I’m going to give you four principles of influence today. All right? And this is going to be kind of the kickoff message for this series called influencer where we’re going to be looking at five circles of influence that you have and how you can make the most of that influence as you live.

(06:46) And so but today we’re going to look at four principles of influence. All right. So the first principle I want you to write down is this. Your influence comes from God. Write that down. Your influence comes from God. Look at First Kings 11 beginning in verse 26. This is the word of God. Amen. Now Solomon’s servant Jeroboam, son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah.

(07:15) His widowed mother’s name was Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon. And this is the reason he rebelled against the king. Solomon had built supporting terraces and repaired the opening in the wall of the city of his father David. Now the man Jeroboam was capable and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done.

(07:36) So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph. Now stop right there for just a minute. Solomon has appointed Jeroboam to be a leader here. Jeroboam is highly capable. Verse 26, he say he’s highly capable. Your version might say he was a man of valor. Look at your Bible. Does it say man of valor there? In other words, he’s an emerging leader, but but he rebelled against Solomon.

(08:08) Why did he rebel against Solomon? Because he rebelled against Solomon because he rebuilt these terraces around Jerusalem. Now, what’s the problem with that? He also repaired some of the wall that that was built in the time of David. What’s wrong with that? Well, Jewish tradition tells us that he did this through forced labor.

(08:26) conscripted conscripted labor. And so as a result of that, Solomon was very harsh on the people, very harsh in taxation, very harsh in forcing men to work in in labor projects and and treated them in in somewhat inhumane ways. And so as a result of that, here is Jeroboam. He’s been he’s been elevated into power as a head of labor, the secretary of labor, so to speak, of the nation of Israel.

(08:56) And he’s rebelling against the king because he thinks the king is overstepping his power. But what we do see here is that Jeroboam is growing in his influence. He has a circle of influence. And you and I have a circle of influence as well. You and I have a circle of influence. And so what we’re going to learn are these four principles. Here’s the first principle.

(09:23) Your influence comes from God. Your influence comes from God. Look at verse 29. Keep the story going here. During that time, the prophet Ahijah, the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as Jeroboam came out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah was wrapped himself with a new cloak and the two of them were alone in the open field.

(09:45) Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he had on, tore it into 12 pieces, and he said to Jeroboam, “Take 10 pieces for yourself. For this is what the Lord God of Israel says. I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand, and I will give you 10 tribes, but one tribe will remain his for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Israel.

(10:14) ” Up to this point, the nation of Israel had been a united kingdom. They had been led by one king. They first had King Solomon, I mean for King Saul, who ruled for a period of time. Following him was King David, who was the one that fortified the nation and really brought the capital city to Jerusalem.

(10:33) And then following him, his son Solomon. So, one king at a time, successive kingdoms, a united kingdom. But now what is going to happen is it’s going to be a divided kingdom. And this is what Ahijah is coming to Jeroboam to tell him that God is tearing this away from the lineage of David. And he is going to separate the kingdom.

(10:56) And now there’s going to be a northern kingdom which will be called Israel and a southern kingdom that’s going to be called Judah. The northern kingdom will be made up of tw 10 tribes. The lower kingdom ultimately will be made up of two tribes, both Judah and Benjamin. And Ahijah, the prophet of God, is coming to Jeroboam and he’s telling them the kingdom is going to be divided.

(11:20) He’s very dramatic in the way he does. He tears the cloak here. You take 10. I’m going to retain two. This is what’s going to happen to the nation. God is doing this. And God is raising up Jeroboam to be the leader of this northern kingdom. The main thing you need to take away from that is that God is establishing this. God is doing this.

(11:42) God is increasing his platform. It’s not something Jeroboam was necessarily seeking or wanting, but God is elevating him. You know, when you think about social media platforms, there are different kinds of influencers. In fact, I found this graphic. I thought it was kind of interesting. There are four different types of influence.

(12:02) The lower level is a nano-influencers. These are zero to a,000 followers on your social media platform. The the micro-influencers, those are a,000 to 10,000. Then you have your macro-influencers, 10,000 to a million. And then then you have your mega influencers with over a million followers. And so this is kind of their level of influence, so to speak, in these various categories.

(12:29) Now, when you think of your own personal influence, you may feel like, well, I’m kind of a nano-influence kind of person. You know, you might think, well, I’m just, we all have circles of influence. My circle is kind of small. And that may be true. Maybe your influence is mostly in individual one- on-one basis.

(12:48) Others of you may have large circles of influence. You may have statewide influence or national, even international influence. But here’s the thing. Don’t ever underestimate the one-on-one influence. You know, you think about the people in your own life who influenced it. Was it somebody of international notoriety? Probably not.

(13:10) Probably wasn’t somebody that had a million plus followers on Instagram. All right. That were really the ones that influenced your life. It’s the people that knew you and invested in you and walked with you one on one. That one-on-one influence makes a greatest impact. I think about when Liz and I were in college and we went to visit a church and there was a man who worked in the college department in this church.

(13:38) It was small church and and he was an older man. He was he was retired. But he sought us out. He said, “Can I buy you pizza?” He took us to pizza and he he learned our names. He said, “We want you to come back. We want you to be part of our Bible study.” And so here he was this this guy and and just didn’t really have much notoriety.

(13:59) Didn’t have much cool factor. I can tell you right there. Not a whole lot of cool factor, but he had a tremendous influence in our life. Ultimately, you know, growing in our faith, being discipled there. God did some amazing things in our life because of this one man who wasn’t a celebrity, but he had great impact.

(14:22) Here’s the thing I want you to see is that your influence comes from God. Just like God was raising up Jeroboam, any influence that you have, that comes from God. It’s not because you’re that great. It’s not because you’re that winsome, but God is raising up your level of influence. He’s increasing your circle of influence.

(14:46) And if it’s from God, then you must be a stewardship of the influence that you have. I love what Jesus said in Luke 12:48. Write that in the margin of your Bible. Luke 12:48. For everyone who has been given much, much will be required. And from the one who has been entrusted much, even more will be expected.

(15:06) So if God has given you wider circles of influence, then there’s more required from you in that influence. If God has given you higher platforms, then there is a requirement that you be a stewardship of that influence. God is the one that gives you greater influence. And I just say that because sometimes it can be be easy to say, well, you know, I’m so jealous over this person.

(15:32) You know, they got promoted and I didn’t, or they got that book deal and I didn’t, or they got seen and I didn’t, or their event came came off better than mine, or whatever the case may be. And we want these higher levels of influence. But listen to me. It is the sovereignty of God that determines the influence you have.

(15:52) You just be sure to be a good steward of the influence you have. Don’t overlook the influence you have seeking greater influence. Does that make sense? Be a good steward of the influence that God has given you right now. God is the one that gives you influence. Your influence comes from God. Here’s a principle number two.

(16:09) Your influence should honor God. Your influence should honor God. Look at verse 38. After that, here’s God speaking to Jeroboam. After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in my ways, do what is right in my sight in order to keep my statutes and my commands as my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David.

(16:36) And I will give you Israel. I will humble David’s descendants because of their unfaithfulness, but not forever. Therefore, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt to King Shishak of Egypt, where he remained until Solomon’s death. God told Jeroboam, “If you will follow me, if you will love me, if you will obey me, if you will lead the people to honor me, then I will I will bless you.

(17:07) ” He said, “I will give you a lasting legacy just like David.” That is a huge promise. I will do great things through you, Jeroboam, if you will honor me and lead the people to honor me. See what he was trying to say is that Jeroboam, I’m elevating you so you will elevate me. I am lifting you up so you will lift my name up.

(17:31) I’m giving you an increase of influence so that my name will increase among the people. That’s very important. God increases your level of influence so that you will increase his name in your spheres of influence. God doesn’t just raise you up because he wants to make you famous. He raises you up for his name’s sake, not your name’s sake.

(17:56) For his name’s sake. And so whenever you get promoted, whenever you get seen, whenever you do have notoriety, when do people know your name or people understand what you’ve done or you’ve accomplished, whenever you arrive at some level of success, that is not for yours alone. That is for you to acknowledge the Lord and praise the Lord and point people to the Lord.

(18:20) For you to leverage then that influence for people to seek God. That’s why he gives it to you is for you his name, not yours. We we have a a coach in our church that recently got to take his basketball team to the state championship game and it was a great thing. first time in school history and everyone was very excited, super supportive.

(18:44) And after the game was over at the press conference, the cameras are running, the lights are on, you’re sitting down, what’s he going to say? And the first thing he talked about was his his love for the Lord Jesus and what an honor it was to represent the Lord in this platform. And somebody sent me that and I was I shot off a text to him and said, “Man, I’m super proud of how you used your influence to honor God.

(19:08) Here’s my question to you. Would you have done that? Would you have said, you know, the first thing I want to say is I’m a follower of Jesus Christ and any good thing that comes into my life comes from him. Do you do that at your work? Do you do that in any area of success that you have? Listen, when God gives you influence, it is not for your benefit, but for the Lord’s benefit.

(19:35) Now, let me just tell you, when you do that, not everybody’s going to give you a standing ovation. Not everybody will go, “Oh, man, that’s super awesome that he’s a Christian. She’s a Christian now.” Not everybody’s going to do that. In fact, some people may come against you. What happened to Jeroboam? As soon as God’s elevating him, what’s happening? Uh, Solomon tries to kill him.

(19:54) Which, by the way, just a little side note, this is one of the saddest statements about Solomon. It is the last statement about Solomon in the Bible. And it’s a terribly sad statement because the last thing we hear of Solomon was that he was jealous and had murderous thoughts toward Jeroboam, the man that God was raising up.

(20:15) Solomon is looking more like King Saul than like D like the son of David, isn’t he? Super sad. Well, uh, Solomon does die and I’m going to try to summarize the first part of chapter 12 for the sake of time. Just listen to me. Solomon dies and his son Rehoboam is now coming up to take the throne.

(20:38) Now, there’s no relation between Jeroboam and it’s not the “Boam” brothers, Jeroboam and Rehoboam, okay? The two separate guys. All right. Rehoboam is the only named son of Solomon and the rightful heir to the throne. His father is dead. So, he is now thinking, I’m going to go be coronated, inaugurated. I’m going to take on the crown that’s due to me.

(21:00) He’s probably been waiting for this for a long, long time. Excited about it. And he decides that he’s going to do this in Sheckchem, which is up in the hill country. He probably noticed that there’s some tension between the north and the south anyway. And so, I’ll just be inaugurated up there.

(21:13) I’ll kind of pull him around me. That’s how we’ll do it. So, he goes to Sheckchem to receive his crown. He does not know of Ahijah’s prophecy. He does not know that there’s been a prophet of God tell Jeroboam that he’s going to receive. He doesn’t know this. And so he is now in Sheckchem and all the people come to him and there’s a contingent, a delegation that comes to him. They’ve called Jeroboam from Egypt.

(21:35) Hey Jeroboam, we need you to get on back home here. Solomon’s dead. Rehoboam thinks he’s going to take over. I need you over here. So here’s Jeroboam. He shows up. A contingent goes to Rehoboam who’s expected to be crowned king. and they say, “Hey, we’ve got something we need to ask you before we go through these formalities.

(21:54) We have a question. Will you take it easy on us? You know, your father used forced labor. Your father was harsh with us. Will you be more reasonable? Will you be more benevolent than your father? Because if you are, we will serve you. We will love you. We will honor you.” Rehohoam was thinking it over. He said, “Give me three days to think this over.” So he sends them away.

(22:20) And then Rehoboam goes to the older men of the the elders of the Israel and says, “What do you think I should say to these men?” And they said, “We think you should say yes. Yes, I will be kinder. Yes, I will be gentler. Yes, I will be more reasonable. Yes, I will I will work with you. In fact, I will serve you.

(22:42) ” that reborn, you need to be a servant to these men and they will serve you and there will be unity in the kingdom. He all right. Then he turned to his fraternity brothers and he said, “Hey guys, what do you think I should say?” And they said, “Man, you’re the king. Nobody tells you what to do.

(23:01) They’re just trying to see if you’re weak because they’re they want to dominate you. Here’s what you need to tell them. I am the boss and if you think dad was bad, I’m your worst nightmare. That’s what you should tell him.” He said, “Yeah, I like that. That sounds right. That sounds wise, doesn’t it? That sounds right.

(23:15) So he calls them back together and he said, ‘You know what? I’ve been thinking over your question. Am I going to be a kinder, gentler leader? And he said, ‘You know what? My little pinky is thicker than my daddy’s waist. Try that sometime at work. See how that goes over. But he’s saying, “If you thought I my daddy was bad, I’m going to be even worse.

(23:35) My daddy whipped you with whips, I’m going to whip you with scorpions.” He said, “And they tell you, you’re not going to get anything on me.” And as a result of that, rip right down the middle. They said, “We don’t want to have anything to do with you. We’re done with you.

(23:50) We’re done with the line of David. 10 tribes are going to the north. We’re going to have our own king.” And so what happens? Run your finger down to chapter 12. Chapter 12, verse 20. When all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all of Israel.

(24:14) So now Ahijah’s prophecy is coming true, right? Ahijah prophecy is coming true. There’s a rift. 10 tribes to the north, only Judah and Benjamin to the south. Now, let me just remind you, all of this was God’s doing. All of this was the Lord’s doing to judge Solomon and his family line for what he did and being unfaithful to the Lord and to rise up or to raise up Jeroboam here.

(24:44) That leads us to principle number three. Principle number three, your influence can be lost. Look at verse 25. Chapter 12 verse 25. Jeroboam built Sheckchem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built pineal. Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom might now return to the house of David.

(25:05) If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, the heart of the people will return to their lord, King Rehohoam of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to the king of Judah.” So the king sought advice. There’s a lot going on in Jeroboam’s head right now. Number one, fear.

(25:23) He’s like, “Okay, now I’m I’m king up here in the north, but but the temple is still in the south, and they still we’re still Jewish, so we’re still we’re still going to have to go down to the temple to worship. And I’m I’m” He’s getting nervous that all my people are going to go down to Jerusalem, and they’re all going to worship with everybody that’s down there.

(25:43) And over the course of time, they’re going to say, “Hey, why are we separated? We should just all be together again. Yeah, we’ll come to Rehohoam.” And he said, “Then I’m out.” And he started becoming paranoid and afraid and and and the second thing he becomes very self-absorbed. You know the name Jeroboam means let the people increase.

(26:04) He was always a man of the people championing the people the rights of the people. But now he’s not thinking of the people is he? He’s only thinking about himself. What about my power? What about my control? What’s going to happen to me? Several years ago, Jay Warner Wallace came to speak to us, this detective from Los Angeles, evangelist.

(26:28) And I remember before he went out on the platform, he and I were talking backstage and he he said, Craig, he said, we were talking about another evangelist that had fallen morally. He said, you know, almost every one of the guys in this line of work, this ministry, they all start because they want to lead people to Jesus.

(26:43) They all start because they want people to know Christ. He said, ‘But what happens is as you get more and more popular, somewhere along the way, you cross a line and you’re no longer now focused on what got you there, but on keeping your audience, on retaining your audience. And he said, the problem is you don’t know you crossed the line till you’ve already crossed it.

(27:08) And that’s what’s happening with Jeroboam now. He’s he’s he’s worried about keeping his audience, worried about keeping control. And then you know the fear and the self-absorption leads him to seek advice and he gets really really bad advice just like Rehohoam listened to bad advice. Now Jeroboam listens to terrible advice and this leads him to some in some very unfortunate compromise.

(27:33) Look at look at verse 28 again. Then he made two golden calves and he said to the people going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you Israel. Here are your gods who brought you up for the land of Egypt. And he set up one in Bethel and put another in Dan. He put out golden calves. Does that ring a bell with anybody? You got to go back 500 years of Jewish history to when they came out of Exodus and then Aaron is the one that built the golden calf and they worshiped the golden calf.

(28:08) He’s going all the way back 500 years. He’s what is progressive is really regressive. And now he’s he’s offering them fake gods. And he set these fake gods up in two fake worship centers. One that’s in Bethl and one is in the Dan. The Dan is in the far far northern region. If you go with me to Israel today, we will always visit Teldan, which is in the far northern part of Israel.

(28:34) And there in Teldan, there are there are the remains of the ancient altars built by Jeroboam. They’re still there today. And what happened was fake gods, fake worship centers were led by fake priests and they created fake festivals. They basically counterfeited all the true worship of the one true God and created these fake gods.

(29:00) Why? Simply so he could control the people and he could maintain what he had. What a terrible terrible tra. This is the man that God said, “I will give you a lasting legacy. I will give you a dynasty like David if you will just point people to me.” But somehow along the way he crossed this line and his growing notoriety and his growing success led him to compromise. Now listen to me.

(29:29) Listen to me very carefully. If you are riding the current the wave of success, if God is blessing your ministry, if he’s blessing your business, if he’s blessing you in multiple ways, if he is growing your influence, beware, be aware because somewhere along the line you will your focus will not be on the Lord.

(29:57) Your focus will be on maintaining your influence that you have and it will be ruined. You can compromise the very influence that God gave you. That’s why Proverbs 4:23 is so important. Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. Let me ask you something. Are you compromising in any way? Are you compromising in order to please a crowd? Are you afraid of losing the influence you have? So, you’re going to tone down the Jesus talk and tone up yourself? Are you giving into fear and trying to please a crowd instead of trying to please the audience of one in

(30:39) heaven? Your influence can be lost. And that leads us to this last principle. Your influence will live on. Your influence will live on. The paganism and idolatry that was established in Jeroboam’s day continued on from that day forward. Jeroboam’s family paid the price. You can continue to read that story.

(31:05) The nation paid the price. Generations paid the price. There was not one godly king in the northern kingdom ever. And the first kingdom to fall under God’s judgment was the northern kingdom. All because of Jeroboam’s influence. It was all because of his influence. Let me give you just a taste of it. First Kings 15:23.

(31:30) Nadab, who’s a son of Jeroboam, did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit. First Kings 15:34, Bashan did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in all the ways of Jeroboam and the sin he caused Israel to commit.

(31:52) First Kings 16:18, Zimri did died because of the sin he committed by doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and by walking in the ways of Jeroboam and the sin he caused Israel to commit. And the pattern continues on and on and on and on. They walked in the ways of Jeroboam. His influence lived on long after he was dead.

(32:16) Listen, your influence will live on long after you’re dead. Good or bad. And some of you know this. Some of you grew up in a home that it was not healthy. It was dysfunctional, maybe abusive. And you know the influence that that had on you. And even though maybe those family members are long gone, you still have to battle with their influence.

(32:46) Same thing is true on a positive side. Maybe you had godly parents, godly grandparents, and they’ve long gone, but their their voice is still in your head. You still see pictures of them in in the word and loving the Lord and serving God. And they inspire you still today to walk with God. But your legacy continues long after you are gone.

(33:09) And listen, by the way, if you did grow up in a negative influence in your life, don’t think that that has to continue in your life. Don’t don’t think, well, there’s a family curse and so I I’ve got to somehow deal with my family curse and it goes on from generations. No, no, no. This is the beauty of the gospel. Listen, if anyone is in Christ, he is what? A new creation. The old is gone.

(33:37) The new has come. That’s what God’s word says. When you give your life to Christ, you become a new person. Jesus is the ultimate chain breaker. And for some of you, you feel like, man, I’m carrying this chain of addiction, this chain of alcohol, this chain of abuse that my parents have handed to me.

(33:56) But in Christ, those chains are broken. You’re a new person in Christ. And God is going to be using you to raise up a godly line, a godly branch, a godly legacy that will go on from generation to generation to generation. God is using you to start something new. And and Jesus Christ is the one that can do that in your life.

(34:18) And I know this personally because I’m a product of that. My my father’s father was an abusive angry guy, but my dad came to Christ through a believing and praying grandmother. And because my father came to Christ, then he led me to know the Lord and my sister and we’re leading our children to walk with God.

(34:37) And now their children to walk with God and is a completely different family than it was before. And that can be your story line. See, your influence can live on long after you’re gone, for good or for bad. We’re talking about influence. Your circle of influence. You have a circle of influence. You have it.

(35:01) You have it at work. You have it where you live. You have it with your friend group. You have it in your family. You have a circle of influence. The question is, how are you using it? Are you understanding that God gives you this circle of influence? Are you understanding that God increases your influence so that you can increase his name? Are you are you careful to always keep your eye on the Lord and not compromise when your influence grows? Not to see it as promoting yourself, but an opportunity to promote Christ. And you understand that your

(35:32) influence, the choices you make today live on and live on long after you are gone. Over the month of May, we’re going to look at five circles of influence. Every one of you have five circles of influence. We’re going to look at each one, one a week. And I hope at the end of this series, you’re going to you’re going to be able to leverage your influence in a way that will live on for generations to come.

(35:55) Won’t you bow your heads with me for just a minute? Father, I thank you. I thank you for your word that is just rich and new and current and alive and vibrant. Lord, thank you that we can look at a man named Jeroboam and we can see these principles in his life. Lord, I pray that you would apply these principles to our lives.

(36:22) Lord, I pray that we would not walk in the ways of Jeroboam, that we would not give way to compromise, that we wouldn’t that we wouldn’t take credit for any increase of influence that you give us, but we see it as a great stewardship, a great responsibility. Lord, I pray that through our lives that we would raise up people after us that would walk with you and love you and cry out to you generation after generation after generation.

(37:00) Oh Lord, and if we’re here today, everyone’s here today and they’re like, “Man, I’ve got compromise in my life. I don’t think it’s all about me. It’s not about the Lord. I feel myself pulling away. Lord, I pray even today you would draw them back to you.

(37:18) That they would reset their eyes on you, their hope in you, their confidence in you. Lord, we love you. We worship you now. Use us, God, as people of influence as we go out into our work, into schools, the places we’re going this week. Lord, use us to be light and salt for you, God. And we pray this in Jesus name. And all God’s people said, “Amen.” Famous.