“Not everything that pops up on your social media feed is led of the Holy Spirit…
• Here’s what I’m getting at with this illustration… in Social Media many times we’re living for likes and approval/ we can measure our self-worth by them… we can become self-inflated, or devastated…
• I’m not anti-social media or technology, they are useful tools… But if not approach properly, it can become very controlling… they can drive us to an unhealthy fear of man…
Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.”
John 2:23-25
• How easy it is to entrust ourselves into people… people butter us up, and control us… people talk bad about us, we want so much to be liked we compromise…
John 6:15, 60, 66-69
Jesus knew God’s plan and peoples plans were not the same… Jesus would not leave the direction of the father, or truth, for momentary popularity…
Jesus pleased the Father and found safe and protection in Him… not the popularity of people…
• When life and ministry are going well it’s easy to coast into pleasing people…
• When life and ministry are hard it’s easy to try to solve issues by striving to please the will of people…
If people don’t particularly like because your following Jesus the best you know how, count yourself in good company…
John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.”
But there is a balance to this…
Seek to please God, find your safety there… God is not fickle like people…
• In pleasing God first, it’s counter intuitive, but you will best minister, and love, people when you’re trying to please God, not people…
• It’s a hard road but a better one…
Our relationships with others do matter…
• They are only most healthy when approached through God’s prism… as you please God, others will be blessed…
Ephesians 4:1-5, 26-27, 30-32
Not living under the fear of man, does not mean, not living under any authority… or following our impulses only…
What about those outside of saving faith…
1 Corinthians 14:23-25
1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
Colossians 4:5-6
• To have an “I don’t care what anyone thinks” belligerent attitude is not what God is asking us to do in trusting in Him and not fearing man… It does matter how we treat others…
The fear of people is a trap and it robs us of so much…
John 12:42-43 NASB
“Nevertheless many, even of the rulers, believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, so that they would not be excommunicated from the synagogue; for they loved the approval of people rather than the approval of God.”
• The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world was walking in the flesh in their presence, and they valued men over God… and missed it…
Will you trust in the Lord… as your savior… in your day to day life… when you’re making hard and “easy” decisions… in your conversations… in your self-worth and identity… in your future… in your present…
• Find your safety in Him alone, not in the fear and approval of men…”
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