Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 112
TRANSCRIPT
Be careful who you hang around with because they can have a big impact on how you react to circumstances and where you are going in life. The bible says that bad company corrupts good morals. In today’s podcast we are going to look at how the people in your life can lift you higher or they can bring you down.
I’m Lee Whitman from Restoring the Foundations and I welcome you into this Hope Healing and Freedom podcast. Are there people in your life that you love being around because they speak life into you and build you up. You come away from spending time with them feeling better and more optimistic about everything. You may also have people in your life that cause you to feel pulled down and discouraged after spending time with them.
We attended Belmont Church in Nashville Tennessee for 16 years. For 10 of those years the pastor was Don Finto. Many of the people that know him call him Papa Don because he has that Papa kind of effect on people. Every time I am around Papa Don I come away feeling uplifted and hopeful. He exudes the belief that God is a good God and there is hope because of Him. When you are around him, some of that attitude rubs off on you.
I also have a guy in my life that complains about everything. He sees life through the glass being half empty instead of being half full. He constantly sees the negative side of life instead of the positive. So, when I spend time with him, guess what I pick up from him? Negativity. I begin to see life as negative and bad.
The verse for today is 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals.” The Passion Translation says it this way, “So stop fooling yourselves? Evil companions will corrupt good morals and character.” Who we associate with has a big influence on our attitudes and actions. It can also affect our destiny.
In Numbers 13 there is the story of the Israelites sending spies into the promised land to scout out the land. This was land that God had given to them by promise, however when ten of the spies returned they gave a bad report. Yes, the land is flowing with milk and honey, however the people who live there are giants. They have strong fortresses and well basically, we look like grasshoppers in our own eyes. In other words, we are too small, and we would be crazy to try and take this land. But Joshua and Caleb believed that God said that He had already promised them this land. They came back and reported exactly the same things the other spies saw, milk and honey, giants, but they knew they could succeed because God was on their side. Because Joshua and Caleb believed what God said about the land, they were allowed to go and live in this new land. The other ten spies died of a plague before entering the promised land. The point of the story is that Joshua and Caleb were delayed being able to go into this promised land until all the other ten spies died. Their destiny was delayed because of the company they kept. It is important who you hook your wagon to because they can affect your destiny.
How does bad company corrupt good morals? What is on someone else can actually get on you when you spend time with them. What am I talking about. Cindi and I do not do much counseling anymore because we see the incredible effect RTF has on changing lives. Until someone has their foundations restored, trying to build on a faulty foundation using the best Christ Centered counseling is almost always going to be ineffective. Once the foundation is restored using RTF ministry then good Christ Centered counseling can be a valuable addition to help people walk out what God is doing in their lives. On this one occasion we agreed to meet with a young couple we had known for many years. We had them come to our house for what we thought would be a slight tune-up on their marriage. What it turned out to be, was a verbal boxing match. They were angry with each other, and they let it out. Cindi and I did the best we could to calm them down and help them build a pathway forward. What we thought would be a two-hour meeting ended up being more like four hours. When they left, we were exhausted and went straight to bed. When we got up the next morning, we were short tempered and had conflict about almost everything, which is totally not like us. We hardly ever have conflict. All of a sudden, we realized what was happening. Some of what the couple the night before carried was still in our home and had gotten on us. We normally spend a few minutes cleansing ourselves and our home after we meet with people like that, but because we were so tired we had forgotten to do that and went straight to bed. The spirits that were on them were able to remain in our home and began to stir us up causing conflict and strife. Once we recognized what was happening, we prayed and cleansed ourselves and our home and the problem immediately stopped.
Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap.” I find it interesting that this verse starts out with the same words “Do not be deceived.” That must mean that we are easily deceived, especially by persuasive talk. This verse points out that what you sow into relationships is what you will also reap from relationships. For example, we know someone who constantly sows chaos into their life and the lives of those around them. Guess what they reap? Yep, they reap chaos in life. If you don’t want chaos to jump on you, then you need to make the decision to remove yourself from relationships where there is chaos.
If you want to be a positive and upbeat person, surround yourself with positive upbeat people. They will be sowing positivity and upbeatness (if that is a word) into your life and I promise they will reap positivity and upbeatness coming back to them. If you are currently surrounded by negative people like the person I mentioned earlier, it will probably require you to remove yourself from that negative relationship and find people who are more like you want to become.
I enjoy joking around. I am sometimes even funny. So, I really enjoy hanging around people who have a good sense of humor. Sometimes, however, the joking can be done at others expense. When that kind of joking starts, I have to remove myself from those situations because it is easy for that kind of joking to attach itself to me and I find myself telling those same kinds of jokes. Before I went into ministry I worked at a car dealership with some pretty rough mechanics. I enjoyed being with the guys playing cards at lunch. What I discovered even at a young age and not yet being a mature Christian was that the stories and joking that went on were not good for me. It was planting thoughts and ideas that I could not afford to have in my mind. The bad company was corrupting my good morals. I had to make the decision to sacrifice the enjoyment of being with the guys in order to maintain my moral values.
What kind of a person do you want to have in your life? If you want positive people who encourage you in your walk with God, then you need to ask God to help you become that kind of person to others. Remember, sow into other people what you want to reap from them. If you want affirmation, then affirm others. If you want encouragement, then encourage others. If you want to be around people of joy, then give joy to those around you. What you sow, you will reap.
Wait a minute Lee, it is not that easy to change the way you do things. It is not easy to become a joyful person if you are not already. Isn’t some of that just the natural way that God made people? Some are optimistic and some are not. Some are joyful and some are not. Some are positive and some are not. The answer is Yes and no. Yes, there are people who are more optimistic than others by nature, but that does not mean that God can’t change you into a more optimistic person. Philippians 4:8 gives a way for us to change our thoughts and attitudes. It says “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything, worthy of praise, think about these things.” There is an old computer saying, Garbage in, garbage out. I believe that is true of us as well. If we are constantly feeding our minds on a steady diet of negative things, then it will be difficult to be a positive person. But if you are able to do what this verse says and think on these things, your mind will change.
One of the biggest problems we will have in changing our thoughts to become more positive has a lot to do with what we take in. Most (if not all) of what is on television is not outlined in Philippians 4:8. Most if not all of what is on the nightly news is not found in this verse. Most of what is found on social media is not found in this verse. So Lee, what am I to do? What am I supposed to do for entertainment? I can’t answer that for you. You will need to get alone with your Heavenly Father and ask Him what changes you need to make. I do know this. No one has died by giving up some of these forms of entertainment.
To experience these changes in your life, some of you will need to get some ministry. You could be believing lies that are holding you in bondage. Lies like “I can’t change, this is just the way I am.” Or the lie that “all the people in my family are not friendly people.” Or the lie that “if I act other than what I feel, I am being a hypocrite”. Being a hypocrite is acting other than you truly are. You are a child of God and to act like a child of God with joy is acting according to how God has made you. RTF Ungodly Belief ministry is so effective at removing the old lies and helping you hear and receive God’s truth. And when you know the truth, the truth will set you free.
Another place where ministry will help is in getting your heart healed. I know I reached out to people for a while in a church we attended, and I did not get a good response from the people. I felt rejected and hurt. My wounded heart kept me from reaching out to people. I started to believe out of my hurt that I loved God, but I didn’t care much for His people. Once I got my heart healed from that wound, I am now able to love God’s people once again.
I want to end this podcast by quoting Luke 6:37-39 from the Passion Translation. This verse is about giving financially but it also applies to giving encouragement and joy to others. It says, “Jesus said, forsake the habit of criticizing and judging others, and you will not be criticized and judged in return. Don’t condemn others and you will not be condemned. Forgive over and over, and you will be forgiven over and over. Give generously and generous gifts will be given back to you, shaken down to make room for more. Abundant gifts will pour out upon you with such an overflowing measure that it will run over the top. The measure of your generosity becomes the measurement of your return.”
PRAYER
Father God, you have set up this principle that you reap what you sow. Help us to be so full of you and your Holy Spirit that we are giving to others out of the overflow of our relationship with you. Help us to love like You love. Help us to give to others what you have given us. And any place where we are being held back, please empower us to get ministry that will set us free. In Jesus Name
Thank you for joining us today on this Hope Healing and Freedom Podcast. We look forward to being with you again next week.
