Below are some notes for a message/lesson. I think you might find the following beneficial.
Proverbs 11:27 He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.
28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.
29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise.
Friendship and influence
Friend – 50 times this word is found in the Bible
The greek word for friend, Philos meaning friend, familiar, kindness to someone because of a relationship by doing things for them they may not be able to do for themselves.
The hebrew word, ä·hav’ defined as the act of being a friend in kindness because of a relationship
Influence – the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something or the effect itself.
Root word is the latin word Latin word influent-, influens, influere into the flow. in·flu·ence / ˈinflo͝oəns/
influentia – inflow
The word originally had the general sense ‘an influx, flowing matter,’ also specifically (in astrology) ‘the flowing in of ethereal fluid (affecting human destiny).’ The sense ‘imperceptible or indirect action exerted to cause changes’ was established in Scholastic Latin by the 13th century, but not recorded in English until the late 16th century.
How to win friends and influence people.
Proverbs 18:24
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest, sincere appreciation.
3. Be genuinely interested in other people.
4. Smile
5. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
6. Be quick to forgive and don’t keep a list of wrongs.
7. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
See others as worthy of your time and investment.
Abraham
James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Abraham not only was the friend of God, but he influenced God.
I spent the past few minutes talking about winning friends, human friends, and how to influence them for the good.
Now, let’s take this up a notch. It is possible to be the kind of person that God sees as his friend, and when that happens, he allows us to influence him and his plans.
Some people don’t like the idea of God, because it seems in their mind that if there was a God, God would prevent anything and everything bad from happening.
However, if we simply look at the world around us, our world, we can make decisions, say things and even do things that influence people… the very fact that we can do that is a product of the world in how God made it.
Free will.
I can change a person’s life if I choose to. Granted, that person must want help.
Some people are addicted to a life of trouble. However, I can be as big a blessing to my world as I am willing.
I can love my kids.
I can spend time with my kids.
I can bless my kids through prayer and serving God.
Or I can hate my kids.
I can neglect my kids.
I can curse my kids in how I live and conduct myself toward them, their mother and the world at large.
I have the power to be a blessing and/or a curse to my family.
We appreciate that God gave us the ability to choose what we want.
None like to be manipulated, controlled, or ordered around like a dog. We like our freedom as people.
However…. that freedom is a great responsibility.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Freedom and Free Will is how we got where we are.
We have been blessed by others because of the ability to BE a Friend.
Now imagine with me this mind-boggling concept.
I can be the FRIEND of God and Influence his Work in this World.
Genesis 12
1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Abraham was raised in a culture of idol worshippers. They worshipped the moon, the stars, the sun, the river, the trees…and Jehovah called Abraham out from that naturalistic system of faith to believe in not creation but in the creator.
Jews are a famously accomplished group. They make up 0.2 percent of the world population but 54 percent of the world chess champions, 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates, and 31 percent of the medicine laureates.
Jews make up 2 percent of the U.S. population, but 21 percent of the Ivy League student bodies, 26 percent of the Kennedy Center honorees, 37 percent of the Academy Award-winning directors, 38 percent of those on a recent Business Week list of leading philanthropists, 51 percent of the Pulitzer Prize winners for nonfiction.
Great Thinkers
Albert Einstein, the most famous scientist of the 20th century, proposed a groundbreaking theory of relativity (including his famous equation e=mc²). Einstein’s work laid the foundation for much of modern physics and profoundly impacted everything from quantum theory to nuclear power and the atom bomb.
Science and Medicine
Dr. Jonas Salk created the first Polio Vaccine.
Dr. Abraham Waksman coined the term antibiotics.
Casmir Funk, a Polish Jew, pioneered a new field of medical research and coined the word “vitamins.”
Finance
Jewish Americans make up 2 percent of the U.S. population yet comprise 40 percent of U.S. billionaires.
Of the 1,426 billionaires around the globe, 165 of them are Jews. One out of every 514 people in the world is Jewish, less than 0.2 percent of mankind.
What I am saying to you, is the promise God gave Abraham has been answered and fulfilled in tangible, measurable and quantifiable ways. That promise was made to one man who was willing to honor God in his life.
One person who was willing to obey God. Willing to follow God. Willing to worship God. He and his children have blessed every family in the earth.
If this is true for Abraham’s natural seed, how much more shall God bless Abraham’s spiritual seed.