For You Page Week 10 - #Influencer

Influence matters because everybody has somebody taking up space in the mind, the heart, the conversations, and even the calendar. The “for you page” may act like it knows a person, but the Creator knows better than any algorithm. The issue is not whether influence is happening. The real question is who is shaping the life.

Paul calls believers to pattern their lives after his example because his life is patterned after Christ. Third John warns that bad examples really can influence a person, and First Corinthians says it straight, “imitate me as I imitate Christ.” The danger is deep because some influences can make a person look Christian while actually living like an enemy of the cross. That is crazy, but it is real. The wrong voices can form conduct, desires, reactions, habits, and opinions until the life starts following something other than Jesus.

Paul’s story shows what holy influence can look like. Jesus took a man who hunted Christians and made him a man who preached the good news. Acts 19 shows that Paul’s life carried spiritual weight because Jesus had so fully marked him. The demon’s words, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” press the point hard. A life so influenced by Jesus should make darkness recognize who that person belongs to, not because of human power, but because of the One within.

Isaiah’s clay and potter image shows that influence is not just information. Influence forms. The Play Doh image makes it plain: shaping takes hands, pressure, stretching, and sometimes being pulled out of the container. Jesus does not always leave a person comfortable. Jesus presses and stretches because he is forming a life to look more and more like him.

Being made like Christ does not mean acting perfect. It means living in the grace of the One who is perfect. It means bearing his image so that other people see Jesus clearly, not some altered version of him. That concern turns the whole thing outward. Influence does not stop with the person being shaped. Parents, students, coworkers, teammates, friends, and volunteers all carry influence somewhere.

The little girl in El Salvador shows how influence runs through generations. Her parents were influenced by people who came, knocked, prayed, and shared Jesus, and then she went knocking too, simply saying, “Come.” God has called and equipped ordinary people to go into schools, workplaces, Walmart, homes, and neighborhoods. Everyone is an influencer. The only question is whether Jesus is the main influence, and whether others are being influenced toward him too.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Influence always forms a life. Influence is never neutral, because every voice that gets platform in the heart starts shaping behavior, values, and desires. The question is not if a person is being influenced, but who is doing the shaping. A follower of Jesus has to pay attention to the examples being imitated, because a bad example can quietly train the soul away from the cross. [08:57]
• 2. Jesus’ hands press with purpose. The clay image refuses the fantasy that Jesus only comforts and never confronts. His hands may pull a person out of the container, apply pressure, and stretch what feels settled, but that pressure is not random. The discomfort becomes holy when it is the Potter forming a life to look more like Christ and less like the old self. [20:21]
• 3. Christlikeness is not perfectionism. Being changed into the image of Jesus does not mean pretending to have it all together. Grace does not excuse sin, but it does free a person from building an image out of performance. The real mark of transformation is that other people begin to see Christ more clearly through a life that is honest, merciful, and surrendered. [22:03]
• 4. Influence can run through generations. The little girl in El Salvador did not need a platform, title, or theological degree to say, “Come.” Her courage came from parents who had first been touched by somebody else’s obedience. One act of faithful influence can move from a home, to a child, to a neighborhood, and farther than anyone can measure. [28:40]
• 5. Testimony is real equipment. God does not only send polished people with perfect words. God sends people whose lives carry evidence of his grace, and that testimony cannot be taken away. A smile, an invitation, a prayer, or a simple “come and see” can become the doorway where somebody encounters Jesus.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:17] - The For You Page and the Creator
• [02:17] - Hashtag Influencer
• [05:15] - What Influence Really Means
• [08:57] - Who Is Influencing Life?
• [12:05] - Paul, Jesus, and Spiritual Authority
• [16:06] - Who Are Those Influences Forming?
• [18:11] - Clay, Play Doh, and Pressure
• [23:27] - Who Is Being Influenced?
• [24:13] - A Little Girl in El Salvador
• [30:01] - Called to Go
• [33:50] - Everyone Is an Influencer
• [35:46] - Getting Out of the Container
• [42:24] - Speaking Names and Places

1. In Philippians 3:17 and 1 Corinthians 11:1, what does Paul ask believers to do with his example, and what does that show about the kind of life he is pointing them toward? [09:52]
2. According to 3 John 1:11, what two paths are set side by side, and what warning is given about bad examples?
3. In Acts 19:15, what is the difference between Paul and the men who tried to use Jesus’ name without truly belonging to him? [13:40]
4. In the clay and Play Doh picture, what actions are involved in shaping something, and what does that reveal about how a life gets formed? [17:32]

1. Paul tells believers to imitate him as he imitates Christ. Why is that not self-centered boasting, but a serious call to follow visible Christlike example? [12:05]
2. Philippians warns that some people can look religious while actually living as enemies of the cross. How can a person be pulled in that direction by the examples they keep close? [11:20]
3. Isaiah 64:8 says God forms his people by his hand. What might it mean that shaping by Jesus includes pressure, stretching, and being taken out of what feels comfortable? [20:21]
4. Being made into Christ’s image is not the same as pretending to be flawless. What is the difference between Christlikeness and performance-based perfectionism? [22:03]

1. Everyone has somebody taking up space in the mind, heart, conversations, and calendar. Who has been shaping those spaces most in this season, and what fruit is that producing in daily life? [08:57]
2. A life can slowly start following something other than Jesus without noticing it right away. What voices, habits, or online patterns may need to lose influence so that Jesus can have a clearer place? [10:15]
3. Jesus does not only comfort; he also presses and stretches. Where does life currently feel uncomfortable, and could that be a place where the Potter is doing real forming work? [20:21]
4. Other people should be able to see Jesus more clearly through a believer’s life. In the home, workplace, school, or friendships, what image is being carried right now? [22:49]
5. Influence does not stop with one person. Who is already being affected by this life, even in small ways—children, friends, coworkers, teammates, neighbors—and what direction are they being nudged toward? [23:48]
6. God often uses simple invitations, not polished speeches. Who could be invited to “come and see” this week, and what would a natural, honest invitation look like? [30:19]
7. Testimony is real equipment. What part of God’s grace in this life could be shared with someone else right now—not as a speech, but maybe as a conversation, a prayer, a smile, or an invitation? [31:37]