Live Free with Josh Howerton - Walk with the Wise | Ep. 321 | Monday, April 29, 2024

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Almost always, other people play a pivotal role in someone’s testimony. Other people affect us deeply, whether through a conversation or just watching them live their lives. God uses human relationships to grow us closer to Him. However, we may also choose relationships that can pull us in the other direction. Which way are your relationships growing you? 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.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, happy Monday, everybody. Hope you had a great weekend. Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive.

My name is Mike, and we have kind of been lining up what we're learning together with this awesome season called spring. We've been talking about miracle growth, not the fertilizer supplement that grows tomatoes as big as your head, but some of the ways God supernaturally grows you and me from the inside out. And we've talked about what we called pivotal circumstances, those moments in our lives that maybe weren't a whole lot of fun, but they became defining moments in our life. I mean, we look back on them, and the growth that took place in the valley is pretty astounding. Last week, we spent a few episodes talking to me

how God also uses practical teaching. He sows his word like seeds, hoping they fall on hearts that have been cultivated with humility and fertilized with gratitude. And when we bring a teachable spirit, his word causes some steady growth that eventually produces some really good fruit in you and me. Today I like to talk about the way God uses not only pivotal circumstances and practical teaching, but what I would call providential relationships.

You ever had an experience where you just knew that God brought a person into your life, and because of that person or those persons, your life began to change? We just experienced a huge baptism weekend, and I was reading through some of the faith journey stories. Man, they were so cool, and almost every story involved other people that intersected their life. with theirs. They would say things like, you know, I was drifting or I was a, I was like an empty shellable man, I was directionless, I was cynical, I was skeptical of anything to do with God. And then I met this girl, I met this guy. Then my kids invited me to this church, a good friend invited me to this Bible study. I thought, what's up with that? But then I came and I met a bunch of other people

who helped me grow, and I had this teacher at school. It was my boss at work who turned me on to God. I had this friend that I played pickleball with. It was this nurse I met in the hospital. To be honest, I was struggling one night at a local bar, this really nice, extremely sober guy, started talking to me about how God had changed his life and that my journey of dependence on God could change my life as well. I mean, looking back, a lot of us can point to conversations like that or a series of conversations that we had with somebody, or we can say, oh, I never really talked to them. I never really met them in person.

I just watched their life from a distance, and I wanted what they had. I thought, you know what, I like for my marriage to be that vibrant. I'd like my family to experience that. I'd like to be that kind of dad, that kind of mom. I've watched their integrity when they work with customers, the excellence they brought to the job every day, or I saw their joy, I saw their peace, the way they didn't fall apart when tough things came their way.

I noticed that they lived by a different set of values, and as I watched and as I listened, I began to think, you know what, there just might be a God who wants to intersect with my life too. Maybe there is a God who knows my name and wants to do life with me. Maybe there is more life. than what my current life suggests. So here's the miracle grow principle for the day. God uses human relationships to grow our faith in him. God uses people to intersect our lives and grow our character and our faith in profound ways. That's the power of relationships. The people we connect with along the way

play a huge part in changing the trajectory of our lives. Now we all know that works both ways, right? if I ask you, okay, looking back, is there anyone who like undercut your faith, anybody that pulled you down spiritually? I mean, after being with them, you found yourself actually further away from God. Now, of course, you cooperated. But it was a relationship or a group of friends that influenced your walk down some pretty dark paths. Somebody helped you walk away from God. You know, some of our greatest regrets center around relationships.

We say, if I hadn't said yes to them, if I just hadn't responded to that tax, if I hadn't gone to that party, if I hadn't had that drink with that guy, that girl, if hadn't smoked that joint with them, having hooked up with them, or got in the car with them, I mean, very few of our lives go south in isolation. It almost always involves some other person or group of people. Again, that's the power of relationships. I want to show you just a simple scripture today that you can stick in your heart, And you don't have to be a biblical scholar or even super insightful to understand this because our life experience already suggests that we understand exactly how this works. Proverbs 1320, walk with the wise and become wise, associate with fools, and get in trouble.

This is one of those principles in the Bible that I call boomerang principles. There are some things just set in motion by God that if we do then, like a boomerang, they come back around. In fact, I think we'll probably do a few podcasts in weeks to come about some of those boomerang principles, so I'm not going to drop them all on you now. But the one we just read, I think is a big one. Walk with the wise and become wise, associate with fools, and get in trouble. Hadn't that been your experience that that's the way it works? It is the reality that God will use human relationships to grow our faith.

If you walk with people who know God and are wise in their decisions, chances are, they'll rub off on you and even blow up your faith and help them. you grow a ton. But the wrong kind of relationships can undercut your faith and stunt your growth and rob your potential and leads you far from God. Or as my friend in Kentucky puts it, if you run with the dogs, you're going to get flees. And 1st Corinthians 1533 says this, don't be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. Now here's something true about me. I've come a long, long way and the Holy Spirit is changing my desires and my want-toes, but it's easier for me to do bad things. It's easier for me to do wrong things, selfish things, than it is to do good things, right things, selfless things.

It's also true about you. I mean, don't you drive a little differently when a cop is behind you? It's a little thing called sin nature. And on top of that, there are all kinds of lies out there in our culture that on the surface look good and right and fun, but only leave us empty, frustrated, depressed, and morally bankrupt. Jesus calls Satan the father of lies he'd label the original identity thief, who comes only to steal, kill, and destroy is our accuser. And if he can get you to surround yourself with bad company,

then that already constant negative peer influence makes what is already easy, easier. You start believing all the lies. You begin making horrible decisions that not only hurt you, but other people who care about you. And then you find yourself so screwed up and feeling distant from God, and if the enemy of your soul has this way, you would experience that feeling forever.

And that's why Paul writes, don't be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. It'll happen to you. It's so important to look for people that just might pull you closer to God. People who know the truth, people who walk in the light,

people who are humbly trying to live by godly principles, people who maybe at one time had been where you've been, but called out to God to rescue them, and he did. People whose lives suggest that now they know their maker and they want to make a positive difference

with their life. and I think God brings those kind of people into our lives all the time every day. We just have to notice them. Looking back, who is it that you know that God just brought into your life? It was a providential relationship. I mean, looking back now, you can sense that it was one of those divine appointments. There was a reason you meant. Maybe they kept talking to you about God, and they weren't obnoxious about it.

They were patient, they were kind. They never came across holier than thou, anything like. that but God was using them to get your attention and you just walked away because at the time you didn't want to hear it I want to encourage you not to do that anymore keep your eyes and ears wide open to the people that God intersects your life with the God who loves you cares about your character and the decisions you make he cares about the direction of your life so he will put people in your path to help you walk with him pay attention cooperate. In fact, he wants to do that today. He's going to intersect your life today with someone

who's wise. Listen well. Walk with them. Walk with him. We'll talk more about this tomorrow. See you back then. 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.church slash daily drive.