Wednesday Service | THE FUTURE IS NOW | Part 4: Power and Influence | Jordan Brawner

[1] It seems like everyone has interest in

• Everyone either wants power, wants to their power, or wants to their power

• Power dynamics play out in everything from to relationships at

• Adam and Eve fell because the serpents offered power

“Your eyes will be opened and you will be like God” [NIV]

• People gossip because shaping is power

[2] God wants to our pursuit of power

Acts 1:6-8 (LB)

⁶ And another time when he appeared to them, they asked him, “Lord, are you going to free Israel from Rome now and restore us as an independent nation?”

⁷ “The Father sets those dates,” he replied, “and they are not for you to know. ⁸ But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power to testify about me with great effect, to the people in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, about my death and resurrection.”

[3] Without God’s guidance power amplifies the within

1 Samuel 18:6-8 (NIV)

⁶ When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. ⁷ As they danced, they sang:

“Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”

⁸ Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly…

James 3:16 (AB)

¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder [unrest, rebellion] and every evil thing and morally degrading practice.

[4] God can trust us with a greater future when we become the kind of he loves

• God loves leaders who desire to well

1 Kings 3:9-13 (ESV)

⁹ Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ And God said to him, “… Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. ¹³ I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.”

• God loves leaders who see others as

JOHN MAXWELL – High Road Leadership – Page 123

How we see people is how we treat people… If I see you as hurting, I’ll want to help you… If I see you as broken, I’ll want to fix you… If I see you as inconvenient, I’ll want to ignore you… If I see you as an obstacle, I’ll want to remove you… If I see you as competition, I’ll want to defeat you… But if I see you as valuable, I’ll want to serve you… If I see you as anything less than valuable, I won’t serve you. And if I won’t serve you, I’ll put my agenda ahead of your best interests.

• God loves leaders who are with their words

Proverbs 18:21 (NIRV)

²¹ Your tongue has the power of life and death. Those who love to talk will eat the fruit of their words.

• God loves leaders who control the of their feelings

Proverbs 14:29 (NLT)

²⁹ People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.

• God loves good leadership at

Colossians 3:19 (ESV)

¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

1 Peter 3:7 (AB)

… Show her honor and respect as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered or ineffective.

Ephesians 6:4 (AB)

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to the point of resentment with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive; nor by showing favoritism or indifference to any of them], but bring them up [tenderly, with lovingkindness] in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Proverbs 25:24 (Easy-to-Read Version)

²⁴ It is better to live in a small corner of the roof than to share the house with a woman who is always arguing.

• God loves leadership

Ephesians 4:2 (NLT)

² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

• God loves leaders who love

Proverbs 8:12-17 (LB)

¹² Wisdom and good judgment live together, for wisdom knows where to discover knowledge and understanding. ¹³ If anyone respects and fears God, he will hate evil. For wisdom hates pride, arrogance, corruption, and deceit of every kind.

^14-16 “I, Wisdom, give good advice and common sense. Because of my strength, kings reign in power, and rulers make just laws. ¹⁷ I love all who love me. Those who search for me shall surely find me.