Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I am so excited. Nervous. I'm not gonna lie and tell you I'm not nervous, because I am.
[00:00:07] But I am so thrilled and honored to be with you ladies tonight.
[00:00:13] I want to thank Liz and Lindsey and Pastor Abby for giving me this opportunity and for every single person that contributes to her place and makes this a success. Whether you're on the worship team, mediataindehenite greeter, you're making coffee, you're putting up a photo booth, whatever it is, you are an integral part of this ministry, and I know Lindsey has already spoken to that, but I'm excited to be up here tonight. I'm excited to be back at Chrysler.
[00:00:44] I have watched this ministry, her place, from afar, for the first several months. What was it? July.
[00:00:51] When did y'all start? July.
[00:00:54] July. Okay.
[00:00:56] Watched it on Facebook. You know, I did listen to the first couple podcasts and was excited to be here for the May or the April service.
[00:01:06] And now I'm excited to be up here with you guys tonight. And so I pray that this word that the Lord has given me speaks to you the way that it has to me. And just a little backstory.
[00:01:17] I felt the Lord drop this word, influence in my spirit.
[00:01:22] I believe it was April 19. It was on a Friday.
[00:01:27] I was just riding in the car, and I just felt like the Lord was saying, influence, influencer. And so I prayed about it, and I started jotting some things down the very next day. And that Sunday, Pastor Donnie preached on the pasture prince and the palace. If y'all remember that sermonous where he talked about Jonathan's influence on David and spoke to many other things, but to me, that was kind of my sign of my confirmation. Like, I think I went to Lindsey that day after service, and I said, hey, listen, I don't know what you have planned for the next service, but this is the word God has laid on my heart. You know, I'm not gonna get my feelings hurt. If you have somebody else, it's fine, but just letting you know. And so she gave me this opportunity. I'm so thankful. Emma read a passage of scripture from one Peter two nine. We're actually going to be in Nehemiah, so if you want to go ahead and turn to Nehemiah, chapter one, the definition of influence. Obviously, we all know what that is, but I thought it would be helpful to read the definition tonight. Influence is the capacity to have an effect on the character development or behavior of someone or some.
[00:02:41] And I can't help but think of social media, right? When I think of influencers, how many of you have at least one social media account? Just at least one Facebook. Okay. How many of you have been influenced by something that came across on one of those social media platforms and you bought it, right? Yes, many times, especially now. I just feel like that is growing. You know, the TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, people trying to. Making videos and trying to sell you things. I've been influenced by a few women on social media. And sometimes, depending on the woman, like, if I feel like I can relate to her, I'll follow her. And she's, you know, it's all about her life. She shows her kids, she shows her husband, she shows her dog. You know, she's showing you all kinds of things about her life. She's not just trying to sell you something. Sometimes you get to a point where you feel like you actually know the person, even though you've never met them, because of how they are displaying their life. And so, as I listen to some of these women's stories, there are a few things that most of them have in common. One of them being they say that they become influencers because they want more for their family, right. Whether that's financial freedom. Like, I feel like I can make just the same amount of money or more by staying at home with my kids because now I'm decreasing daycare and other things that may come up, or they want more time with their family. There's many things that they may name. Something else that many of them say is, you know, I'm just a regular person with 500,000 followers.
[00:04:17] That's not regular to me. Right. You may have started out with 300 followers, but you're not regular anymore. They don't consider themselves famous. They're just a regular person that ended up with thousands of followers.
[00:04:31] And something else that you may hear, especially if they're trying to sell you something on their platform, is that they have fallen in love with one or more products, and they wanting to share them with the world while also benefiting themselves and their family. Right. Make a little cash on the side, or they're doing it as their full time job, which blows my mind that people do that. And that's not. I'm not saying that offensively. I just can't imagine, like, recording myself, my daily life, twenty four seven. I mean, getting out of bed, record themselves, getting out of bed, washing their face. I mean, it's crazy.
[00:05:09] I've also heard several influencers make the comment that they never dreamed that they would be in the position that they are now, but that they are so thankful, no matter how hard the road was, that they made that leap. They took that step of faith, because now they have 500,000 followers, and they're making a lot of money. But for many of us, we would not, including myself, we would not dare put ourselves into that position. Right? We will post pictures of our families. We'll share special events, especially, you know, for distant relatives or things like that. But we're not. Don't ask me to get on Facebook and tell you about, you know, that nice crockpot I just bought. Don't ask me, right? Because it doesn't matter how exciting it is. That's not who I am. I'm not going to put myself out there for the whole world to see, especially people that don't know me. But in reality, we all have a place of influence. Even now, we're daughters, sisters, friends, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, coworkers. There are many other titles that we could listen, and each one of them gives us a place of influence. Some places of influence are natural or inborn. You know, when you become a mother, you are now blessed with the responsibility to take care and to nurture those children. But now you also have the responsibility to influence them.
[00:06:36] And I have learned very quickly in my short time as a mother that my five year old and my three year old are listening to every word I say. And now, because they have, you know, their vocabularies are growing, they're not just listening now, they're going to repeat everything I say. So that is very humbling, especially when I like to talk to other people while I'm driving. That is lovely. When my children repeat that. Well, we can use that positively or negatively. Right. Other times, it's not so simple. Right. We don't always have that inborn responsibility of influence, but we're called to step out in moments when we don't feel so comfortable and make a positive mark on those around us. Maybe it's a co worker that you've been struggling with that has a foul mouth, or it's a neighbor that every Sunday morning when you leave for church, they're sitting on their front porch drinking coffee and you know they're not going to church. Right. We have those tiny pockets of influence that maybe we don't always look at as a, you know, opportunity to influence people, but they are there if we pay close attention.
[00:07:48] They are opportunities given to us by God in order to seize them. And so there's one person from scripture that I want us to look at tonight that influenced an entire nation. And he did this all while working in what we would consider a secular culture. And that's where we find Nehemiah in chapter one, verse five. That should be on the screen. Good, because I'm going to read it from there. Verse five says. Then I said, o Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands.
[00:08:22] Listen to my prayer. Look down and see me praying night and day for your people, Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned. We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses. Please remember what you told your servant Moses. If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored. The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants, o Lord, please hear my prayer. Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me. In those days, I was the king's cupbearer. It's important to note here what king is being referred to in this passage. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia. I'm very sorry. I keep doing that in the mic. I'm trying to get better. I'm sorry. Persia had. Is this good? Can we hear me?
[00:09:42] Okay, I'm gonna move on. Persia had taken over most of the known world after conquering the babylonian empire. And Artaxerxes was the king. During this time, when Persia defeated Babylon, many of the jewish captives chose to stay in Persia and live under their rule. And Nehemiah's family was one of the families that chose to do that. And this is where we find Nehemiah as the king's cupbearer.
[00:10:10] What did a cup bearer do? Did he just hold a cup? Well, I'm glad you asked. He was a highly ranked officer in the royal court. His duty was to pour and serve the drinks at the royal table. And because there were threats of those who may want to kill the king by way of poison, the cupbearer was considered a highly trustworthy person and would even test the drink before serving it to the kingdom. He literally held the king's life in his hands. So although Nehemiah was a servant of the king, he still held a position of great influence. But he didn't start here. He wasn't just under captivity. And then all of a sudden he becomes the cupbearer. No, he started at a lower rank. And after earning the trust of those around him, he eventually made his way up to this title. So there are three things from this story that I want to look at tonight, and I will do my best to be conscientious of our time. Three marks that we must possess if we want to be an intentional influencer. The first thing is that influence requires faith. Influence requires faith. As we read in chapter one, we see Nehemiah's desperate prayer for God's promises to come to fruition. Nehemiah declares those promises that God had already made to his people back to him, and then asks for a very specific request. Give me favor with the king. You have told your people that you will do this. Now I need favor to accomplish the promise that you have given us. So he prayed that in verse eleven he saw a need. He had faith that the Lord would give him boldness and wisdom to carry out that plan. But what blows my mind that comes up in verse, I mean, in chapter two. Excuse me. About the king's response is that not only did he allow Nehemiah to leave his position, which was a very important position, to accomplish this task, almost without hesitation, but he went above and beyond to assist in Nehemiah's endeavor. Talk about favor. So in chapter two, verse seven, we see this. Here it says, I also said to the king, if it please the king, let me have letters addressed to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates river, instructing them to let me travel safely through their territories on my way to Judah. And please give me a letter addressed to Asaph, the manager of the king's forest, instructing him to give me timberland. I will need it to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress, for the city walls, and for a house for myself. And the king granted these requests because the gracious hand of God was on me.
[00:13:02] When I came to the governors of the province of the west of the Euphrates river, I delivered the king's letters to them. The king, I should add, had sent along army officers and horsemen to protect me. Now imagine yourself as a servant to the president.
[00:13:21] I don't know who would want to, but try to imagine yourself as a servant this request that Nehemiah made to the king took a great deal of supernatural boldness. Just to work up the guts to go to the king. And we didn't read that portion of scripture. But it was weighing on Nehemiah. The fact that the land that he came from was destroyed. It weighed on him so much that he didn't even really have to approach the king on his own. The king could tell he thought he was sick. He thought he was in pain. So he asked Nehemiah, now, if that's not a God thing, I don't know what is, right? God did give him the boldness in response. But the king asked him what was on his heart. The king asked him to speak what was on his mind. And so, you know, it also required an immense amount of faith. Just to share with the king what his plan was. Because what if the plan doesn't work? I'm asking you to let me leave this very important role. But then what if it fails? Right? What if he's in over his head? What if the king shuts him down? In fact, this same exact kingdom, the previous book in the book of Ezra, chapter four, actually ordered the rebuilding of the walls to cease. The same exact king. And I'm sure Nehemiah knew that. I'm sure Nehemiah was told by ancestors and family members and other people that lived in the area, hey, I might not do that. I might not go to the king and ask him that, because he's already shut it down once.
[00:14:58] Right? But it all started with Nehemiah's prayer.
[00:15:02] It all started with the faith that he had when he went to God and said, give me favor. You know, we still do this with our kids, but, you know, as soon as they could really talk and put words together in sentences, you know, we taught them the now I'll lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord might. You know, the bedtime prayer that doesn't work when you get up here.
[00:15:28] That doesn't work. God wants to hear exactly what you need from him. He wants to hear how much faith you have in your prayers. He wants you to call out to him in such a way that you are touching heaven. He wants you to call on him in such a moment of desperation, like you were the lady with the issue of blood. Like what you need, if you don't have it, it's not enough as long as it comes from him, right? Because we have selfish prayers. If we're honest, we have things that we want that we don't necessarily need. But when we are in alignment with what the Lord wants for our lives. Then his desires become our desires, and we start praying things that we didn't think were possible.
[00:16:18] We start praying things when we know it's already been rejected. Right? And that's what Nehemiah did. He went to a king who had already said no. He went to a king who had already shut it down. But it was the prayer of faith that God saw and that God used. It had purpose.
[00:16:39] He petitioned to God on behalf of his people for a change of heart in the king. I believe Nehemiah's prayer is one of the best examples of how we should pray. Because it started with, lord, forgive me. And not only forgive me, forgive my family, forgive my country, forgive my neighbors, forgive my cousins, forgive everybody that sinned. Cause, God, we need you. We need you in this moment. Prayer is the most important expression of our priorities.
[00:17:08] But many times we get caught up in our situation.
[00:17:14] You may not like your job, you may not like your coworkers, you may not like the house you live in or the car you drive. You may not like, fill in the blank.
[00:17:29] Sometimes we go to God. We may go to God and say, God, I could do so much better if I didn't have to work with Karen.
[00:17:37] I felt like that was a good name to use. Right? The Karens of the world. I hope nobody in here's name is Karen, but Karen. Or, you know, if I just. You would just give me a raise. If my boss would just give me a raise or, you know, I could accomplish so much more for you, God, if I didn't have to squeeze my husband and my three children into that Honda Civic I've been driving for eight years.
[00:17:59] You know, if I just had a bigger car, I could do so much more. But we must realize that there is purpose in our placement where we are. God put us there for a reason. We didn't just stumble into that job. We didn't just stumble into that spouse, right? God placed us together. God put us in the area, the job, the house, the cardinal, the family that we are in for a specific purpose. So instead of asking God to change our situation, we need to start asking God to change us.
[00:18:40] God, what is it that I could do better at? What is it that you can use that I don't like about myself?
[00:18:49] We all have them, right? Think about Moses.
[00:18:54] His issue was a speech impediment. Right? And I love his story because God still used him despite his hangups, despite his insecurities. He was the one who led the children of Israel out of captivity after 400 years. Right. I love his story because although he had hang ups, he was still used by God whether he wanted to be or not. And that's the great thing about Goddess. You may not want to be used, but if you're the one God wants to use, he's going to do it. He's going to make it happen.
[00:19:27] So this was part of Nehemiah's prayer. He confessed the sin and the sin of his people, but he also confessed with his mouth, God, I know that you are unchanging. I know that because you said this, this is what you are going to do. Nehemiah didn't have to go to the king and turn in a two week notice or flee the scene abruptly. His prayer of faith changed a heart that had once said no. So if God can change the heart of a king, what makes you think he can't change your heart or the heart of your neighbor or your co worker or that family member that just doesn't want to hear anything about God at the Thanksgiving table? What makes you think God cannot do that? My prayer is God, give me faith that what you want is what's going to work whether I see that or not. I've got to put on those spiritual glasses and those biblical, you know, look through everything with a biblical worldview and know that what's happening around me may look ugly, but God's got a plan in all of it. So I would hope, you know, going back to the whole influencer thing, I would hope that when I come across a video of an influencer trying to sell something, that they've actually tried that product, because if they haven't tried it and they don't show me how it works, and they're not showing me the fruit of how that specific thing operates and what comes out of it, I don't want to buy it. I don't want to get it in my hands and turn it on and it fall to pieces, right? I'm not going to buy it. They have to earn my trust. I may not know you, but I've got to see with my own eyes that what you're trying to sell me is going to work. In order for them to be successful as an influencer, I've got to believe in you. I've got to trust you. I've got to have faith in you. And that is proven to me by how you're living and what you're showing me. Right. So just like Nehemiah, we have the ability to change the world by our example, not by our opinion. The world does not care what our opinion is because everybody's got an opinion. And they're like armpits. Most of them stink, right? Everybody's got an opinion.
[00:21:46] I like, you know, this color chair. I like this color carpet. I like this shingle of roof. If you were to ask my husband, you know, we all have opinions about everything. And the world only cares about how you're living. Truly, they may not admit that, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, it's about how you live your life, not the words that are coming out of your mouth. Because as we all know, those could be two totally different things. I could be saying one thing and walk in a totally different way. So it's important that we influence the world with our lives, not our opinions.
[00:22:26] Number two is influence demands fight. So influence requires faith. Influence also demands fight. Toward the end of chapter two, Nehemiah gathers a small group of people to share his plans with, and they immediately start to build. There was no hesitation from the small group. He gathers them together, he tells them, they say, let's do it, and they start to build. But almost immediately, they were faced with opposition. There was a group of three men. Sanballat was one of them. He was a leader in Samaria with two of his friends. And so in Nehemiah chapter two, verses 19 and 20, we see this. But when Sanballat, Tobias and Geshem the Arab, heard of our plan, they scoffed contemptuously. What are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king? They asked.
[00:23:17] I replied, the God of heaven will help us succeed. We, his servants, will start rebuilding this wall. But you have no share, legal right or historical claim in Jerusalem. I love that last line.
[00:23:33] Nehemiah spoke to these men like we should speak to the enemy.
[00:23:39] Right? You have no share, legal right or historical claim in Jerusalem. Enemy. You have no right to my house. You have no power over my children, my spouse, my finances. Because guess what? It doesn't belong to you. It belongs to God. Jehovah, Jireh. Jehovah. Shalom. Jehovah, niece. He's going to provide for me. He's going to be my peace. So guess what? I don't care what you say. It doesn't matter. And that's what Nehemiah was doing here. I love how the Lord works. Because, you know, if you were here this morning, you heard a great message from Pastor Jonathan, right on the mental battle of anxiety. And he told the story of how, you know it wasn't a message that he had prepared. But how the enemy will work to try to pull us in one direction. And what do we have to do? We have to take those thoughts captive. We've got to take them captive. Because you know what? Satan will try to make you question yourself.
[00:24:42] Even when you truly believe you are in the center of God's will, making you ask questions like, what are you doing? Is this really God's plan? Or is this your plan? Right? I teach high school at a christian school in Cottondale. And I have kids ask me that all the time. Especially kids that are getting ready to graduate, right? And they're trying to figure out God's will for their life. Well, how do I know that this is really what God wants me to do? And the first thing I tell them is, you gotta pray. Right? If you're not praying, you're not gonna hear from God. You're not. You have to make this a matter of prayer. Because obviously salvation, the most important decision you could ever make. But when it comes to college and getting married, those are very important decisions and should not be taken lightly, right? So if you're praying, God will open the doors that are supposed to be open. And he will shut the doors that are supposed to be shut. And that's what Nehemiah was doing here, right? Scripture doesn't say, or at least I didn't see, right? He's faced with this opposition. But I wonder the mental toll this was taking on Nehemiah, right? If this is what God's wanting me to do, why is this opposition coming my way? Nehemiah did not care. He stood up to the opposition and said, God will help me accomplish his will. And guess what? You're going to get out of my way. Because this is God's plan. This is not a plan that was meant for you to destroy. So that was in chapter two. Chapter three tells everything about all the different parts of the wall, what they were made of. And how they were able to kind of piece together some things that were left over from the destruction. And then we get to chapter four, and we see Sanballat once again, this time with more insults and mockery. Nehemiah four two says, what does this bunch of poor, feeble jews think they're doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap? And charred ones at that? And Nehemiah had had enough. He was tired of this back and forth with these three men. And so instead of responding directly to the Mendez, Nehemiah responded with another prayer, a prayer for God to just completely wreak havoc on the enemy. God, I don't care what you do. Just get rid of them. Destroy them. Don't forgive their sins, basically, is what he said. Just forget about their sins and get them away from the work that I'm trying to do for you to further your kingdom. So the people persevered. They made it about to the halfway point of the rebuilding of the wall, and Sanballat struck again. This time they come back and they say, you know, this is our plan. We're going to fight against Jerusalem in an effort to confuse them, cause them to grow weary so that they could attack them and totally destroy the rebuilding of the wall. And so the jews do. They become tired. They become frustrated. They begin to question Nehemiah, is this really what we're supposed to be doing? Isn't that what the enemy wants? He wants to wear us out. He wants to tire us, because that is when he can get us to our most vulnerable place. And Nehemiah knew this. So he changed up the plan. He regrouped. He got all the men together, and then he said, I'm going to split you in half. Half of you are going to just completely be guards with weapons. The other half of you are going to continue to work to rebuild the wall. But instead of only working, they were working with one hand and ready to fight with the other hand. So you have some men strictly with weapons, some weapon in one hand, tool in another hand.
[00:28:29] This plan completely brought unity to the people.
[00:28:34] So when we say influence demands fight, right?
[00:28:39] Generally, what we think of is we're on the defensive, and we should be. We should be on the defensive. But this is the type of fight that actually gets something accomplished, right? I'm just not gonna sit here with, you know, a spiritual shield and just let the devil keep hitting me, hitting me, hitting me, hitting me. I'm gonna fight back.
[00:29:00] I'm tired of Satan getting into our homes. I'm tired of Satan getting into our schools, even our christian schools. He's all over the public schools. But guess what? He gets into the christian schools, too.
[00:29:13] I'm tired of that. I'm tired of him seeing him work his way into church people and bringing fear and doubt and anxiety and depression and all of these struggles that he is so good at manipulating people with. And I hate to give him credit, but he's real, and we have to make sure we are ready to fight all of these.
[00:29:42] You know, I don't want to say fights, but little petty things in churches, right? What color are the pews gonna be? Or the chairs or the carpet? You know, left versus right, conservative versus liberal. And some of you in here are probably too young to remember. You know, like, orange pews.
[00:30:01] Anybody remember the orange pews? Right?
[00:30:05] Or mustard yellow pews? Right. Too much. Too much. I'm glad we're past that point. The only battle that matters is the one that's already been won.
[00:30:14] It's the only one that matters. Right? And sure, that does not take away from the battles that we still fight every single day. But what scripture tells me is that we've already wonde. And although I still have to deal with battles because of sin, my God fights for me. My God goes before me. And so because he fought the battle and already won, I have the opportunity to fight the battle and win also, right? It's about fight. Influence demands fight. Satan wants to divide what is meant to be unified. And that's what CNB and his men were trying to do. They were trying to divide the people. They were trying to make them tired and weary, so they would just quit on each other. Influence should cultivate unity, not division.
[00:31:02] Influence should cultivate unity, not division. I'm not trying to get you on my side and off of her side. I'm not trying to get you on her side and away from me. I'm just trying to help us to be unified. In the name of Jesus. I got to send that to the White House. Right. Influence should cultivate unity.
[00:31:24] Why is this? You're right, I'm wrong, she's right, he's wrong. Half the time he's not even right. Because he's sleeping up there on the stage. Right.
[00:31:34] It's not about who's right and who's wrong. It's about what this book says.
[00:31:38] It's about what my God tells me. We aren't building physical walls like we see in this story in Nehemiah, but it is our job as the body of Christ to link arms with one another and stand unified against the attacks of the enemy. Because unity is powerful. Right? It makes things stronger. And something, a game that I think of, that I played when I was younger, was Red Rover, Red Rover, right? He remembers. Red Rover, Red Rover. Right? You would stand. You would divide the group into two. You would stand and link armst. And you won when you got everybody on your side. Right? But how did you get everybody on your side? You had to be the stronger side than the other side. Right? And if I'm the one running. If they said, red Rover, Red Rover, send Candice right over. I'm looking for the weakest link, right? Because I want to pull them back to my side, because I believe that my side is stronger. And it's not this game that we have to play with people. You know, where it's great to share Jesus with people, but we should never make it argumentative, right? Because that's what happens. We lose them. We lose them when it becomes an argument. My job is to be obedient, number one. And my second job is to show the love of Christ. No matter your background, no matter your social status, no matter what color your hair is, how many piercings you have or tattoos, I don't care.
[00:33:03] I don't care. My job is to obey the and love you just like Jesus loves you. If you want to influence, you've got to know how to fight.
[00:33:12] And sometimes that takes getting on your knees. Sometimes that takes you falling down in surrender in a moment before God on his throne, to fight for your family, to fight for your friends, to fight for your church, whatever it may be. We've got to know how to fight if we want to influence. The last one is influence produces fruit.
[00:33:36] So we know the rest of the story of the rebuilding of the wall. It took 52 days to build the wall, but only because it took a collective effort of a unified community that started with one man, one influencer. The wall was the fruit. The wall was a symbol of unity, but it took time. It did not happen overnight. Fruit comes in many forms.
[00:34:04] It's not going to look the same every time, just like it's, you know, fruit. Literal fruit, doesn't grow in the same season. Right. Strawberries may grow in one season, and I'm not a farmer, so don't quote me on this. Strawberries may grow in one season, watermelons in another, pumpkins in another, cucumbers in another. Right? They all grow in different seasons. Seasons. And they also all don't take the same amount of time.
[00:34:29] In December of 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, there was a woman that made an impact on America as we know it. Her name was Rosa Parks. We know Rosa Parks as the african american woman who would not give up her seat on a segregated bus to a white passenger. She was 42 years old on the day that she made this choice. And because of it, she is known as the mother of the civil rights movement. But what many people don't know, or at least I did it. So if you did, your history buff. I did not know this. What many people don't know is that nine months prior to this event, on March 2, a 15 year old high school student by the name of Claudette Colvin took the same stand on a bus in the exact same town.
[00:35:19] Again, I don't know about you. Anybody heard of Claudette Colvin?
[00:35:24] Okay, good. You're listening in class. That's amazing.
[00:35:29] You know, in her my history class, I only learned about the bravery of Rosa Parks. I didn't know about Claudette Colvin and the stand that she took. So an age difference of 27 years. One was 15, one was 42. The 15 year old had a profound impact on the 42 year old.
[00:35:53] Rosa even said in an interview that she gave later in her life that without Claudette Stan on that bus, she does not know if she would have made her stand. She just knew that Claudette's stand could not be in vain.
[00:36:07] So we could imagine, you know, how things maybe could have been different, even now if Claudette hadn't have taken the stand that she did on the bus that day. And a couple of things stand out to me about this story. I already mentioned their age difference.
[00:36:19] How many students do we have in here? Whether you're, you know, four and up to college, raise your hand, students.
[00:36:28] Hey, we got a handful, right?
[00:36:31] You can influence the older generation. Students.
[00:36:34] One of my favorite verses is one Timothy 412. It says, let no man despise thy youth, but be an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and impurity. I love that Christ. Lay has so many different generations in our church. We are not just a church with the seasoned group or the middle aged group or, you know, just a bunch of kids overwhelming our church. We have it all. And because of that, that lends an opportunity here for cross generational influence, like you see in that story of Claudette and Rosa Parks.
[00:37:11] Who cares what your age is? And I'm speaking to everybody here because there are lies that the enemy will try to tell us that you're too old.
[00:37:23] You don't have that much life left. So just go ahead and be done. Right? There's nothing more you can do. Or you're too young, you don't know enough yet. Right? Or we could be in that middle group and still not know enough. Right? Or you need to be a little more experienced than you already are.
[00:37:42] Another thing that I noticed about this story is the time gap in between the events. And I mentioned this a second ago, nine months. Nine months from Claudette's stand to Rosa park stand. What can happen in nine months? A school year lasts about nine months until it's over. Hallelujah.
[00:38:00] Some foods can last in pantries for nine months, depending on what it is. But what stuck out to me the most is that a human's gestation period, pregnancy, is nine months.
[00:38:14] A woman can go from being barren with no life inside of her to growing and giving birth to a baby in nine months. Nine months. So this period of time signifies growth, development, and ultimately the birth of something new where there was nothing.
[00:38:35] Where there was nothing. Go from an empty space to complete life and precious, sanctified life in nine months.
[00:38:46] Something that lasts for a season but also has lasting effects. So once birth is given, now it's a whole new, greater responsibility. And one of the greatest struggles in our society when we talk about waiting and those waiting periods is instant gratification. If we don't see it immediately, it's hard for us to believe that it's going to happen. Nehemiah had to go through a process, and it was only 52 days from the time he started till the time he finished building the wall. Don't even think about the time it took for him to go to the king and traveling and all of those other things. So similarly, our influence and the positive impact that we strive to have on others may not always yield immediate results. We've got to get rid of this instant gratification idea, because it is just not always going to happen that way.
[00:39:39] If you'll stand with me all across the stream, I'm getting ready to wrap it up here, Miss Ashley, if you want to come up. The seeds that were planted by Claudette's bravery took time to mature through Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement that was to follow. If you've been around Alabama, I'm sorry, Auburn fans, but if you've been around Alabama football for any length of time, you've heard the phrase trust the process.
[00:40:10] Paul says in one corinthians, chapter three, I, speaking of himself, planted the seed in your hearts and Apollos watered it. But it was God who made it grow or gave the increase. It's not important who does the planting or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together for the same purpose, and both will be rewarded for their own hard work. You see that unity there, right? Paul and Apollos were two totally different people. We know Paul as the man who wrote most of the New Testament. Apollos is only mentioned in scripture two or three times, but both of their contributions were meaningful to further the kingdom.
[00:40:53] My challenge to you today is not to focus on your background, not to focus on your accomplishments or what you haven't accomplished, what you possess, the material things.
[00:41:07] Our job is to plant or water or both, and then watch the fruit grow. That's what an influencer does.
[00:41:18] An influencer?
[00:41:20] A spiritual influencer. Right. We use that example of a social media influencer, and we can compare them very similarly.
[00:41:29] But I want to be obedient to what God has for me, not for my own wealth or my own gain. I want to see the kingdom furthered for his glory. I want to see people who I never thought possible come to him and have a deep rooted, not a shallow, superficial relationship, a deep rooted relationship with him.
[00:41:54] There may be situations that you're experiencing right now where you've been praying and you feel like you've planted a seed or you felt like you've watered a seed that was already planted, and you're just not seeing the growth. You're just not seeing the fruit. But like scripture says, all that matters is that God makes the seed grow.
[00:42:10] True transformation often unfolds gradually.
[00:42:17] True transformation often unfolds, unfolds gradually. You got to be patient.
[00:42:23] You got to give it to God, right? I am. I can be, for certain things, a control freak. I'll admit. I like to know what's happening, even by the minute, to a certain extent, like, I'm worse than my kids sometimes, I'll admit.
[00:42:39] But in situations where we have no control, we have to remember who is in control.
[00:42:45] We have to remember that if we are obedient, then we give it to God, and he allows the seed to grow. So when your coworker won't change, don't give up faith. Influence requires it. It requires faith. When your kids attitudes or behaviors are not improving, keep fighting. Keep fighting. Whatever the challenges that you are facing, if you continue to be obedient, the fruit will come in time, and not in your time, in his time.
[00:43:18] We're going to enter into a moment of prayer here soon, and I want us to be reminded of the fact that no matter the age, the title, what car you drive, whatever it is, each and every one of us can be intentional influencers for the kingdom. So what I would like for us to do in this moment of prayer, and as Ashley's going to sing a worship song for us during this time, is I would like, if you're able for everyone to come down to the front here, and I want those who consider themselves in the older generation to find someone and link up with them who is in the younger generation, whether that means we've got, I like to say, seasoned, seasoned generation with middle aged or middle aged with younger, whatever it is. But intertwine generations.
[00:44:05] And while Miss Ashley sings this song for us, I want you to, whatever you feel comfortable doing, holding hands, putting your arms around each other, linking up, praying for those people next to you that they would be given supernatural boldness and courage to be an intentional influencer. Because like I mentioned earlier, everyone in here is a daughter, right? Or you wouldn't be here. Everyone's a daughter. And if your parents have gone on to heaven, guess what? You're still a daughter of the king, right? So we're all daughters. You may be a sister, you may be a mother, you may be an aunt or a niece or a cousin or whatever it is. Many of us work and have job titles, but we are all women under one authority.
[00:44:52] And when we come together like this, the enemy has no control.
[00:45:02] The enemy has no control over what situation you're going through.
[00:45:08] I don't care how dark it looks. I do care. You know what I mean?
[00:45:15] Nothing is too big for my God.
[00:45:17] Nothing.
[00:45:19] And so instead of slouching down and balling up and asking God why over and over and over, my husband, he is great at this because I get. I give myself pity parties sometimes, right? We get that way. And so he'll say, candace, have you asked God what it is he's trying to teach you through this? Instead of, why are you doing this to me?
[00:45:47] Right? Because guess what? I can use what I'm going through now to influence someone else. Nehemiah used his influence and gained trust with the king again, a king who had already said no. He had already denied the rebuilding of the wall. And Nehemiah gained his trust. And it was like that. Go do it. Let me know when you'll be back. And get back when you say you're going to go do what you need to do. I'll even give you protection. That's God.
[00:46:16] And so whatever your situation is, it may look hopeless, but in this moment, right now, I want us to remind each other that we are intentional influencers who are called to give hope to a world that lacks anything that looks like hope.
[00:46:39] The world wants to tell us that we're crazy.
[00:46:42] The world wants to tell us that we're out of our minds. But I stand up here today to testify to you that I've seen too much of what my God can do to say otherwise.
[00:46:54] I've seen too much so in this next moment, I want us to gather around with each other intertwined generations. And pray over each other. Bold prayers of faith, like Nehemiah did.
[00:47:05] God give us favor. Give us favor where it looks hopeless.
[00:47:10] Give us courage to take a stand when it's scary.
[00:47:16] Because it is. It's scary to face this world.
[00:47:20] But God's already won the battle.
[00:47:23] Amen. Let's pray together.
