A Spiritual Influencer

A Spiritual Influencer

PPT 1 Message Title

It seems like everyday I hear a person described as a youtube influencer.

These are people who have followers, and get paid by advertisers for other people listening to them babble on about whatever it is they are known for.

Adventure travelers.

Makeup artists.

Fitness guru's.

Auto Repairs.

Political pundits.

Video gamers.

Here is a clip from an influencer named dude perfect whose claim to fame is crazy trick shots, and he has millions and millions of people watching his stuff.

PPT 2 video clip dude perfect

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCz-1tcdjN8&t=89s

(Note to pastors: I showed 2 minutes of this video clip)

They are influencers. They shape the conversation, they move people to emulate them. They are followed.

Here is one of the first influencers that ever lived:

PPT 3 text

Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

KJV says he being dead yet speaketh. He speaks from beyond the grave, he is still influencing people. To be an influencer for Christ should be the goal of every Christian person. That is what we are going to talk about today.

I am also reminded of passage about John the Baptist in Acts 19. There the Apostle Paul meets some people he calls disciples, and he asks them if they have received the Holy Spirit. They replied we haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit. Paul then asks them about their baptism, assuming if they were baptized they would know about the Holy Spirit. They said the only baptism we have had is the baptism of John. So here we have a group of people who 25 years after the death of John the Baptist who are still being influenced powerfully by his life and teaching. He did such a good job that when they heard about Jesus they immediately accepted Him as their Lord and Savior. What an impact, what an influence! May God help us to leave an influence that ripples across time!

Today I want to use that term influencer in the sense that we can catch other peoples attention and speak into their lives.

I want to tie it into these two verses of scripture:

PPT 4 Text:

Ac 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

1 Samuel 3:19 The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground.

We will start with Acts 1:8 you will receive power.

Not just power, but supernatural power, and we know that because Jesus connects this power to God Himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Meaning this power is far beyond human ability. Above human gifting.

Perhaps I could ask a few silly questions to help us understand this power more accurately before I move on.

Do your eyes change color when you get this power? No

Does your body stop aging when you get this power? No

Can you leap tall buildings in a single bound when you get this power? No

Does your IQ go up 100 points when you get this power? No/yes.

Well then what does this power do?

The answer is right there in the verse: You will witness about Jesus to others. You will tell others about Jesus. You will be a spiritual influencer You need power to do that? If I saw a crime I don't need supernatural power to witness what I saw and felt. In general I can remember what I saw, although through the lens of human frailties. Memory, emotional disturbance, adrenaline etc.

So why do we need supernatural power to witness what we have seen Jesus do in our lives?

It is not because we need supernatural power to be able to speak, it is because they need supernatural to be able to hear! Because we are speaking to dead people and it takes supernatural power to reach into the grave in such a way that your words can be heard.

The bible teaches that people who aren't saved are dead in trespasses in sin, in Ephesians 2:1.

Dead people can't hear us speak, unless somehow God gives supernatural life to our words.

The bible teaches the natural man cannot receive the things of God for they are spiritually discerned.

1Co 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.