PUTTING YOUR INFLUENCE TO WORK

Turn Your Power Into Influence

Pastor Tayo Adeyemi

Senior Pastor of New Wine Church

Sunday 7 November 2010

Foundation Scriptures: Matthew 5 : 13-16; Ephesians 3: 20 

New Wine Church received profound insight today as Pastor Tayo Adeyemi began an exciting new series Putting Your Influence to Work in which he, having laid the foundation of irresistible influence throughout the year, introduced the principles by which we would engage our influence.

You are Powerful!

He began with a simple but profound statement “You are powerful”. This truth, he encouraged us to understand at a far deeper level than by way of mental assent but to allow it to sink down into our spirits. Continuing, Pastor Tayo explained that to be powerful meant to be full of power; to possess great power and to be extremely effective in action and that many of us tend to forget how powerful we are because we are overwhelmed with circumstances or the challenges that we are facing. He reminded us that regardless of the challenges with which we were confronted, the truth remained that we are powerful and our problems can only reduce to powerless weaklings if we allow them to.

Pastor Tayo reminded us of the quotation used by President Nelson Mandela “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” and established that our power had been conferred on us on three distinct levels. As human beings God had given us dominion (Genesis 1:26), as believers we had been conferred with power to become sons of God (John 1:12KJV) and further, as being filled with the Holy Spirit, we had received the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). However, he observed, sadly many believers failed to recognise the power that they possessed and consequently their power was dormant and of little use to them or anyone else.

Although many Christians would readily associate power with spiritual power in the form of miracles, signs, speaking in tongues or prophesy, the dictionary defined power as the ability or capacity to do something or, as Pastor Tayo explained, the ability to make things happen. It was one thing to have power but another thing to put it to use, and an entirely different matter to put it to work towards a productive and purposeful end. By way of illustration, he cited the example of Niagara Falls which releases approximately 130 million litres of water every minute, the power of which for centuries had remained un-used, the water falling down 60 feet and dissipating into nothing. However, when the power of the water was harnessed into hydro-electric power the electricity generated produced enough wealth to build an entire city and keep millions in employment.

“According to the power working in us” Ephesians 3: 20

Drawing our attention to Ephesians 3:20, Pastor Tayo showed that the Greek word “dunamis” referred to the ability to do something. He laid particular emphasis on Paul’s description of what the power was doing in us, noting that Paul did not refer to the power dwelling in or resting on us, but working in us, the Greek word being “energio”, meaning to be active, operative or efficient.  From this, he concluded, we would only experience the “exceedingly abundant” dimension of God’s blessings in our lives when we learned to put the power in us to work.

Explaining this truth further Pastor Tayo, drawing from the principle in Physics of potential energy as distinct from kinetic energy, explained that potential energy is the energy stored in an object due to its position whereas kinetic energy is the energy possessed by an object due to its motion. He illustrated that if a bow and arrow were laid on a table the bow had no energy at all, whereas once picked up and strung, the bow represented potential energy. However, once the arrow was released, the potential energy in the bow was translated into the kinetic energy in the arrow. The same principle applied to believers we were shown in that the energy of position is the power within us but when put to work became kinetic energy, the energy of motion, the power working in us.

Influence, we were reminded, was derived from the Latin word meaning to flow, and was the effect that one person has on another. Putting our power to work represented influence; power not becoming influence until it begins to flow.  “Power directed inwards is just power”, Pastor Tayo observed “but power directed outwards...that’s influence”

Putting your power to work

Pastor Tayo then turned to share with us nine kinds of power that we may possess as follows:

1.    Financial/Economic power – examples of which would be Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and in scripture, Abraham. Spending money to acquire things represented economic power whereas spending money to help people and make a difference represented economic influence;

2.    Social Power - an ability to make friends and connect with people easily;

3.    Attraction Power – similar to social power by which people are drawn to you because of physical appearance or personality, an example of which from scripture would be Esther;

4.    Intellectual Power – the ability to be clever, smart, access information and solve problems with ease, examples of which from scripture would be Joseph, Daniel or Solomon;

5.    Political Power – being well-connected politically, having position in high places or having friends in high places, examples of which from scripture would Nehemiah, Daniel, Esther and Joseph;

6.    Communication Power – being an effective communicator or orator with an ability to command attention, examples of which from scripture were Paul, Apollos and or Solomon;

7.    Creative Power - the ability to be innovative, a visionary –examples of which from scripture were Solomon and Joseph;

8.    Physical Power – strength and athleticism such as Samson; and

9.    Spiritual Power - possessing the anointing to deliver results with prayers, prophecies and preaching; having access to God’s power in an uncommon way such as Samuel, Elijah and Paul.

From Power to Influence

Pastor Tayo observed that a failure on our part to turn power into influence would result in only a limited number of people benefiting and further, such power would not outlive us and could eventually be lost. On the other hand, a willingness to turn power into influence would see such power and influence grow, larger numbers of people benefiting and such power outliving us. In addition to this, such released power would attract other types of power an example of which would be Arnold Schwarzenegger whose social power led to political power.

Pastor Tayo then shared four keys to turning power into influence as follows:

1.    Recognise that you have power – do a power inventory and identify which types of power you possess;

2.    Remember the purpose for your power – if you don’t know, ask God;

3.    Release your power to God – this represents a willingness to acknowledge God as Lord of your life. Pastor Tayo observed that until Moses had released his rod to God it remained the “rod of Moses”, but once he obeyed God’s instruction to lay it down, it became the “rod of God” which swallowed up the adversary’s power and with which he was able to part the sea.

4.    Receive understanding on how to use your power – Again, drawing from the example of Moses, we were reminded that when Moses struck the rock with his rod in anger, this was his undoing.

In concluding this thought-provoking message which formed the foundation of the series Putting Your Influence to Work, Pastor Tayo re-established the truth that great power lay within us. This, he made clear, was what the world was waiting for us to unleash and put into action in order that we become the people of irresistible influence that God has called us to be.