Bad Influencer
With the advent of Social Media, there has risen a class of people who are creating a name for themselves in popular culture. This group of people are called social media influencers. Like the movie stars, sports stars and the pop music stars of the past, these individuals are supported by their fans. Influencers, unlike stars, are not limited to the stage of movies, music and sports, they can literally do anything and become ultra-famous.
There are influencers who eat strange and interesting foods, travel to strange and interesting places, dog, cat, mommy and daddy influencers, sexy granny and grandpa influencers, farming, cleaning, hair grooming, skin smoothing, pimple popping, neck cracking, lunch packing influencers, and even an influencer that is an egg, yes, an egg. The only qualification that makes you an influencer is that you have a large audience who will consistently view whatever content you put out. These influencers, as their name suggests, have been able to have an enormous influence on the thoughts and actions of their followers.
These influencers have used their influence for both good and bad. Influencers have encouraged their followers to donate millions of dollars to charity. They mobilized their audience to patronize struggling entrepreneurs who are doing business to support their families. They have brought attention to human rights and environmental issues. On the other hand, influencers have also negatively influenced a large number of people too. Many have glamorized extravagant spending on material goods that many of them can barely afford. Many influencers have publicized their personal and family issues to get popularity at the expense of others. Many send their followers to sign up to pyramid schemes that have only benefitted them, at the expense of the finances of others.
Have you ever been deceived by a bad influencer? You may not be familiar with social media, influencers, but tonight I want to make you aware of another influencer that gaining a lot of followers, but he has no good intentions for them. I pray you will never be a victim of this bad influencer.
Let’s Pray
<The preacher should pray.>
Since the beginning og time, there was only one rule, one law that governed the universe. All living beings understood this law and freely accepted it’s uplifting influence. This law was the love of God. Love was the positive influence that flowed through the Universe. All creatures understood that God loved them and His love outline the best way for them to live and relate to each other.
In the midst of this atmosphere of perfect order and freedom, Lucifer, the most decorated angel, started to envy the influence that God had over all he created.
Ezekiel 28:17 "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness."
He thought of himself and the position that he held as deserving of equal recognition for worship as the son of God.
According to the Isaiah 14:13-14 Lucifer said “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God… I will be like the most High.”
Pride rose up in the heart of Lucifer and he desired more than what could be assigned to a created being. This marked the beginnings of the first bad influencer. Lucifer started a massive campaign to destroy the name of the Lord. He spewed lies and half-truths, he claimed God was too strict and that His law could not be kept. He made up discontentment where no reason existed. His bad influence did not come off as directly opposing God, otherwise the angels would have been defensive. He appealed to their own pride, saying if they as angels were holy, why weren’t they trusted to live as they pleased, under their own law. The deception worked to get a third of the angels in heaven to rebel against God’s government.
Revelation 12:7-9 says
“7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Ever since that day, this bad influencer has been using this same deceptive trick.
1. He first inflates your pride
2. Then encourages you to disobey God by doing what you think is right
3. Then watches your downfall.
Adam and Eve fell to this same terrible influence. He used the same strategy that worked on Angels.
God told Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Step 1.
He inflated Eves pride by saying in Genesis 3:4-5 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Step 2
Then she disobeyed God by doing what she thought was right: Genesis 3:6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat”
Step 3
Then He watched their downfall : Genesis 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
For thousands of years Satan has practiced and mastered this deceptive technique on human beings. He blew up their selfish pride, encouraged them to do what they thought was right, then watched their downfall. That is until he met his match.
You see the bad influencer came face to face with the OG influencer.
Let me repeat: The bad influencer (Satan) came face to face with the OG influencer (Jesus).
The OG influence, the Son of Man, is the one whose influence held the universe in harmony before Lucifer came in with his discordant melody.
Lucifer faced Jesus one-on-one, he tried the technique he had mastered on millions of unfortunate persons for thousands of years.
Could Satan overcome Jesus with his Bad influence?
Exactly the answer is NO NO NO.
1. Satan tried and FAILED to inflate Jesus’ pride:
In Matthew 4:3 & 6 He says “If thou be the Son of God”,
Satan was strategizing; He was basically calling Jesus out by saying if you think are so powerful, show me what you can do.
If Jesus allowed pride to get to his head, he could have called up on his miraculous powers to serve his pride.
But, brethren, But Jesus resisted the Devil’s attempts by quoting scripture to resist his temptations.
Hallelujah!
2. Satan was not finished.
Having failed step 1, on his first 2 tries, he panics and skips to step two.
Satan tried to encourages Jesus to disobey the Father by doing what you he thought was right.
Matthew 4:8 "the devil took Jesus up into an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
Jesus came to earth to save mankind in all the kingdoms of the world. Satan was giving Jesus a free pass.
No crucifixion, no cross, Satan told Jesus he could win the world, IF, IF, Jesus would worship him.
Fortunately, brothers and sisters, Jesus understood Satan’s 3 point plan, and that number three was downfall.
So Jesus again resisted the Devil with the word of God. “Matt 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Then the devil left him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
The devil was not able to even get to step three, because instead of seeing a downfall, the Son of Man was lifted up.
Jesus’ example of overcoming temptation is an example for you and me to follow.
The Bible warned in Proverbs 16:18 that “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
We can overcome our pride with the help of the Holy Spirit and the Word like Jesus did.
Instead of Satan watching our downfall, Jesus shall lift us up.
James 4:10 says “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
There is a constant battle for our souls between Jesus the good influencer and the Devil, the Bad Influencer. Our lives are on display to the entire universe, nothing we do is hidden. We have to daily walk in the light.
We are called to come out of the darkness where the devil has set up traps of deceptive pride. We have to depend totally on the Holy Spirit for strength to overcome in our daily activities.
We are in a Great Controversy where the enemies are not those we can see because they are NOT flesh and blood, but principalities and powers.
Satan has also employed a third of the angels in his army of bad influencers. They are seeking followers who would like and share their deceptive lies and join their band of bad influencers.
Where do you stand? Will you open up your mind to become influenced by the bad influencer?
Will you join team Lucifer?
Will you allow him to inflate your selfish pride, so you can go do as you please, then allow him to watch your downfall in 3d?
Today you have the choice to Cancel the Devil.
Unfollow, block, mark him as spam and report him.
Declare through the word of God and the spirit that as of today the Holy Spirit will be your only influence as you listen and respond to His still small voice.
As you are freed from the grasp of the Devil, you begin to walk out of darkness into Jesus’ marvellous light.
When you meet Jesus the light, you become light bearers.
Matthew 5:14 says “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” When you become light, Christ shines in and through you. Jesus positive influence changes you into an influencer.
You also learns that Jesus has his three point plan.
1. He allows you to recognize Him as the Almighty God, and you humbly accept his control over your life
2. By faith you obey his every word because you seek to be more like him
3. He elevates your life, and blesses you abundantly
Jesus is the 1st influencer, his love and his way existed and his followers experienced peace under his influence. He wants nothing more than to restore mankind to this state of perfection.
As we follow our eternal influencer, through His daily blog, that is the word of God, let us keep wearing his Merch; the robe of righteousness that covers and protects us from sin and falling prey to the bad influencer.
Appeal
You have heard the Word of God preached tonight and the previous nights. Tonight you have heard that there is a cosmic battle over our lives. But we must choose which side we are leaning on.
Brothers and Sisters, I declare today that I choose the Lord.
I declare that I will follow the Word of God.
And if I fall, I will get back up because it is Christ who forgives me and calls me on to himself.
I made my choice and I choose the winning side.
Which Side Are you leaning On?
Which Side do you choose? Is it God or Satan.
I pray that you choose God.
I pray you choose the best side.
