3 Ways to Have Life-Changing Influence

by Pastor John Eiselt

We all desire to have influence. 

We want to know that it matters that we are here, and someday and when we look back on our life we will want to look back and see that it mattered that we were here. But we’re busy, and feel distracted and disconnected as seasons and phases come and go. 

A “phase” as we will define it this weekend, is a timeframe in a kids life when you can leverage distinctive opportunities to influence their future. 

Regardless of what phase of life you find yourself in, you have the potential to have great influence on the people, families, and kids around you. This is not just any kind of influence, but rather that kind of influence that could change the trajectory of their life and yours.

This weekend at Five Oaks we kick off a new ministry year! There is so much coming we can’t wait to tell you about and invite you to be apart of. We will kick off the year with a series about brining the story of God to life in the next generation. 

Our “Phase Series” is about the different phases that kids and families journey through. While it is a series about family, it is bigger than our instinctual nuclear definition of “family”. Ultimately this about the next generation, the kids, students, and young adults in our midst, both in our church and all around us in our neighborhoods, ball fields, and schools. This is about what God is trying to do…within the hearts of his creation and how he has chosen the family and the church to be the vehicles through which he is going to reconcile humanity to himself. 

We will look a few stories in the bible through the lens of the church and the family. We will look at the phases that our families and students and kids are journeying through and begin to discover where we can jump in to influence those that God has brought into our midst.

Join us this weekend as we look at 3 ways we can have life-changing influence. 

It’s just a phase so don’t miss it.

5 Ways Desperate Circumstances Can Grow Our Faith

In fact, without desperation, there may be no genuine faith. 

Let me explain.

Think of the claims the Gospel makes on our lives.

It calls us for total surrender to God, a complete reorientation of our minds, a reordering of priorities, sacrifice…I could go on.  

Who does this? Who responds with this kind of faith? 

Only the desperate.

The catalyst, for many, is coming to terms with a Christless eternity. You might call it a fear of death or a fear of hell. That’s desperation. 

Let’s be clear, though. If you receive Christ to avoid hell, and it doesn’t result in a life of growing in surrender, a new orientation, reordering priorities, and sacrifice, it’s not genuine, saving faith. 

But the fear of a Christless eternity is often the catalyst that propels us into a life of growing intimacy with God and discipleship.

Another catalyst is coming to an end of ourselves in a myriad of ways. Money, power, sex, drugs, or partying are just not cutting it for us anymore. 

Desperation, again. 

But what about the person who receives Christ early in life and is seeking to walk with him daily from a young age? It may be the exception, but something might be wrong if peering into their own souls in light of God’s love they don’t experience an existential crisis from time to time. 

Okay, so that’s what I mean when I say that without desperation there may be no genuine faith. 

And desperation or desperate circumstances can accelerate spiritual growth.

We’ll look at five ways this is so this weekend as we explore a passage in Mark’s gospel. 

Two desperate people in desperate circumstances will teach us a lot about faith. 

Think about a family member or friend that might need to hear this and invite them. You never know. They might actually come. 

Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash