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WISER WITH OUR RELATIONSHIPS - Coggle Diagram
WISER WITH OUR RELATIONSHIPS
INTRO
My first experience of getting scammed: DWARF
We’ve been going through a series called START THE YEAR WISE.
Today, if you’re taking down notes, our topic is about being WISER WITH OUR RELATIONSHIPS. (How our relationships impact, influence, and shape us, and how we can choose our relationships wisely.
PRAY!
CORE IDEA
Proverbs 13:20 ESV
- “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
If you forget everything I say today, remember this:
THE COMPANY WE KEEP SHAPES WHO WE BECOME.
1. WISE PEOPLE FEAR GOD, NOT PEOPLE
Proverbs 29:25 NLT
- “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.”
What fear means here
What fearing people looks like vs. fearing God and what each leads to
Matthew 6:33 NLT
- “Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” —- a promise only God can make!
2. WISE PEOPLE GUARD ACCESS
MTV and All-Access Passes
Your home has also has leveled access
Proverbs 4:23 NIV
- “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Wise people know when to use gates, doors, and walls—there’s another word for them: BOUNDARIES.
Even Jesus practiced boundaries to protect his time, sleep, rest, energy, his time with God, his mission, his trust. Because while he was God, he took the form of a human and he understood the nature of his fellow humans, and HUMANS HAVE LIMITS.
Boundaries are not primarily meant to shut people out, they’re meant to protect what’s important—including our ability to love people well.
What happens when we don’t practice versus when we practice healthy boundaries?
WHO GETS ACCESS?
Matthew 7:17-19, 20 NLT
- “A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit…Yes, just as you can identify a tree by it’s fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”
HOW COME JESUS ATE WITH TAX COLLECTORS AND SINNERS?
1) They came to him,
2) He had the maturity not to be influenced (BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF), 3) He was the influencer
3. WISE PEOPLE SHARPEN AND STRENGTHEN ONE ANOTHER
Proverbs 27:17
- “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
Alternately, unwise relationships can dull or erode us.
Whether I notice it or not, the voices around me have influenced my interests, preferences, mindsets, language, and how we operate in the world.
I am grateful to those who have sharpened me through the years—through encouragements and mirror moments.
But this goes both ways—to stay sharp and strong, we must sharpen and strengthen others too.
I’m grateful for MULTIPLE ANCHORS.
We aren’t just shaped by people, but we’re influenced by EVERYTHING THAT WE LET THROUGH THE GATES AND DOORS
That doesn’t mean constantly correcting people. That’s part of it, and the Bible talks about how wise people embrace rebukes and instruction.
But we ought to be life-givers too.
CLOSING
We started off by saying, “THE COMPANY WE KEEP SHAPES WHO WE BECOME.”
So we need to ask ouselves: 1) WHO IS SHAPING ME AND HOW AM I BEING SHAPED?
2) HOW AM I SHAPING OTHERS?
Psalms 1:1-3 NIV
- “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”
Proverbs 11:30 NIV
- “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives.”
BE A TREE OF LIFE. Choose to constantly be nourished. Choose wisely who gets to shape you. And be a life-giver. Be someone that people will say, “Wow, this person is life-giving.”
Errol, Miriam, Mia, Nicole, Jonathan, Josh, Katie, Jinnie, Marvin
ALTAR CALL
THE BEST COMPANY YOU CAN KEEP, THAT’LL SHAPE YOU, SHARPEN YOU, AND STRENGTHEN YOU LIKE NO ONE ELSE CAN…IT REALLY STARTS WITH JESUS.
MINISTRY TIME
If you’ve been unwise
If you’ve feared people over fearing God…
If you want to be a tree of life