This Bad Example

Transcript: Good Morning and Greetings in Jesus Name Welcome to this amazing new day! I hope that you are ready today to let the Lord invade your heart, your mind, your life and change you from the inside and even on the outside. When we change on the inside, in our attitude, change on how we believe who we are? Who God is? How our relationship with God should be? Whatever we believe on the inside, when we continue to change that, when we continue to improve on those notes, we will continue to change even on the outside, because whatever we do on the outside is a result of what goes on the inside. Apostle John would write about this in 3 John 1:11. He says, “Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good they prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.” I hope you remember the text that we read yesterday from Hosea 4, that spoke about the knowledge of God. There is no knowledge of God in the land, as a result, that there is no faithfulness and kindness in the hearts and the minds of people. And here Apostle John says, “Be careful to make sure that the bad examples around you; do they not influence you.” In fact he was writing to a church that had these leaders, who were against men of God., were against the teachers of the word of God, were against missionaries who were travelling and teaching Gods word. John is writing to that church and he says, “These are bad examples and you will always have bad examples everywhere.” This is a church that apostle John was mentoring. This is a church, that was under the spiritual covering of Apostle John and even in a church like that, there were bad examples. How much more can you expect bad examples in your church? How much more will there be bad examples in your community, in your homes, in your family, in your relatives, your best friends sometimes may be bad examples? So the presence of bad examples is not what we can avoid. But what we can avoid is the influence of this bad example upon our hearts. We cannot allow these bad examples to quench the knowledge of God that we have on the inside. We cannot allow these bad examples to drain and detach us from our walk with God. We cannot allow these bad examples to compromise our value system. To compromise what we know and what we believe to be true. So it is okay to have bad examples around you, but it is not okay for you to be influenced by these bad examples. John tells the church, “Don’t let this bad example, influence you.” Today I want you to name those bad examples, that you are surrounded by. And I hope you will make an intentional choice to not be influenced by them. Jesus was surrounded by prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners of all kinds and yet he did not allow those bad examples to influence him, His personal convictions, His love for God, His love for the people around him. John goes on to say follow only what is good. So even when you see that there are some bad and some good things, John is asking us to pick on those things that are good and practice them and follow them and imitate them. Follow the people that you can trust and you know that this anointing is genuine and good. Follow those hearts, lifestyles and habits. He says to remember that those who do good prove that they are Gods children and those who do evil, prove that they do not know God. Whatever we do on the outside is a result of what goes on the inside. Share on X Coming back to the concept of how the root on the inside on the foundation level is going to produce a fruit that is going to be seen and enjoyed and experienced by everybody. The root is that you are a child of God. The root is that you have a knowledge of God. The root is that you are intimate with the king of kings. The root is that you are filled with the power of the holy spirit. The fruit is that you will have good deeds; the fruit is that your life is going to show forth the character of Jesus; the fruit is that now you are going to be a representative of the kingdom of God; the fruit is that the fruit of the holy spirit is going to be active and visible and available for people to taste and enjoy in your life and when we have fruits when we have actions when we have works that prove that we are God’s children when we have actions, we have works that prove that we know God. That is what will truly create an impact on the people around us. That is what will be a witness, a testimony to the unbelievers; a testimony to those that have no knowledge of God; to those that have no understanding about the kingdom of God. So dear friend, don’t let the bad examples around you influence you. Be intentional to follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good, prove that they are the children of God. Those who do not do good, those who indulge in evil, those who live however they want to live, they only prove that they do not know God.