Live Free with Josh Howerton - The People in Our Path | Ep. 322 | Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

Proverbs 13:20 and 1 Corinthians 15:33 remind us that who we associate with can impact us deeply, growing us closer or further from God. It’s not always easy to move away from an environment pulling you down, but it’s worth it. The small, courageous steps deepen our faith and opens us up for God to grow and strengthen us. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.com. dot church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up? Hope your week is off to a great start. My name is Mike. And in recent days here on the Daily Drive, we've been talking about ways that God grows us. And God loves growing things, especially you and me. And yesterday we introduced the way he uses other people to grow our character. And we left off with these two verses, this one

from Proverbs 1320, which says, walk with the wise and become wise. Associated with fools and get in trouble. And another one from 1, Corinthians 1533, do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. You start asking, are there people in my life right now that I need to start listening to? What group do I need to get closer to? Who are some wise people that I could start walking with? Who could I talk to about this big decision I have to make?

Who is it that knows me and loves me and who knows God and loves God that could speak some truth into my life? And then you've got to ask, on the flip side, are there some relationships in my life that are actually pulling me down? Who's leading me further away from the life that God wants me to live? You may have heard me talk about my daughter Jody before in her journey down the southbound lane when she was in high school. She owns all the poor decisions she made, and she would place all the blame squarely on herself. But to be honest, she had a lot of help. She discovered the truth of that scripture. Bad company corrupts good character.

When she made that turn back toward God, one of the first things she knew she had to do, she had to get intentional about who she was going to hang out with. She made an extremely difficult decision to choose new friends. She decided to walk with the wise. She changed schools. She hung out with a few select friends that God had been bringing into her life, friends who were also pursuing God. And when her old friends would call and invite, she never came off as better than you to her old friends.

She didn't condemn them. She never blamed them. She would just gently and humbly tell them that she needed to walk a new direction. And it wasn't easy to do. But I was so proud of her for her courage. And as a result, God has grown her life in incredible ways. You see, we can create potential for growth, or we can stunt our growth by the circles that we choose. And when you and I get intentional about putting ourselves in places where God can intersect our lives through other people, I'm talking humble people, kind people, good people who are also pursuing wisdom, then we start discovering who are really close and trusted friends should be, who we should go to for advice and counsel, we start to discover the kind of person who we might even consider for a lifelong partner. Let me just say a word to some of you parents. Don't wait until you have to put your kids in the right kind of environment. Do it now. Start now when they're young. give them a network of friendships that can influence them for good. Now, on top of the truth about God that kids learn, the friendships that they develop in kids' ministries and student ministries, where they go to camps and retreats and participate in things like FCA or Young Life

or other campus ministries, it gives them this great support system and a model of what healthy community ought to look like. When I think about people who have struggled with addictions and now have taken the courageous step to get into a recovery group. I often think of the scripture verse about how God sets the lonely in families. I'm telling you, those groups become like families, and there's an amazing openness and honesty and vulnerability and truth-telling that every family ought to have,

and the people who have the courage and humility to intentionally show up, they're experiencing the way that God uses human relationships, providential relationships, to grow their faith in Him. And the same could be said for things like life groups and serving groups and Bible study groups. People begin to surround themselves with other people who are on the same spiritual journey, and together they start growing in their faith. They begin to help each other and serve each other and encourage each other, and they begin to live beyond themselves.

And man, that's huge. You see, I need God to grow me out of my addiction, my addiction to self, because it's not the way he meant for any of us to live. It's not the life that Jesus modeled, and I don't want to spend my days imprisoned in self. So God will use all kinds of things to lift us out of that prison. But one of the most significant ways he does that is through the people he brings into our path. I need you in my life, so I don't think about me so much. You know, one of the prayers I pray in the morning is, God, please put somebody in my path today that needs to touch from you.

I was at a Panera bread, a restaurant while back I was working on a message on humility, actually. I had my laptop open. I was sitting on the patio because nobody was out there. And I saw a van pull up and drop off a bunch of people, adults with special needs. And I guess they do that every day and they come and kind of hang out at Panera for a little while. And then someone comes and picks them all up. I'm sitting at there all by myself and the door opens and a guy walks out and sits at a table pretty close to me. and he stares at me the entire time. And I could tell that he was a guy with adult Down syndrome and just a really sweet guy.

And I said, hey, how you doing? He goes, my name is Brent. You want to be my friend? I said, yes, I do, Brent. I want to be your friend. Would you be my friend? He goes, yes, I want to be your friend. So he gets up, comes over and sits at my table.

I shut my laptop down. I was wanting to get a lot done, but I knew I wasn't going to get much done. And he starts talking. He never stops. He tells me about his whole life. He tells me all the television shows he likes, and he goes on and on and on and on. And so finally I just said, hey, Brett, you want a breakfast sandwich or something? He goes, yeah.

I said, hang right here. I'm going to go get this one. So I went inside, got a couple of breakfast sandwiches, came back out. And he talked some more. He kept on talking and talking and talking. And finally, I said, I got to go, man. I got to get some work done. But, man, it's been great to meet you.

And I hope to meet you back out here again some other day. And we said goodbye to each other. And I got in my truck. I just said to God, you know, God, I prayed that prayer this morning. Thank you for putting Brent, someone who needed a touch for you in my path today. And I felt the Holy Spirit respond with, Did you ever think that Brent praise that prayer every morning too? I didn't send him to you so that you could touch his life.

I sent him to touch your life. I told him there's a stressed out pastor on the patio working on a message. He's so stressed out, go cheer him up. God used Brent to touch my life. life. And gang, God does that all the time. Be aware. Stay humble. Live beyond yourself. Touch and be touched. And let God grow you through these providential relationships. I'll see you back tomorrow. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online

live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive.