Acts 20:9-10 (KJV)

And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

Years ago I heard a preacher quip, “You can preach them to death once you can also raise them back to life.” The point was that preachers should not be long winded unless they can prove some supernatural (or at least, uncommon) power in ministry. The average preacher ought not, so goes this argument, preach long messages. 

What struck my mind today was how much influence the words of one man may have on a group of people. Whole movements of Christians (and of others by the way) are built upon the particular ideas of one man or another. 

There was a well respected preacher in the Baptist Bible Fellowship who held a particular opinion about Peter walking on water. It’s easy to tell which preachers of succeeding generations, even those who may have never met the man himself, his ministry has influenced because they hold that same peculiar view. Another preacher was well known for his twenty minute on the mark messages. Those who were drawn to him hold it as almost a law to preach short messages as he did. 

My point is to: 

• Contemplate the influence we might have on others, 
• Take care that influence is Christ-like and 
• Be aware of those influences that have shaped our own lives

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Acts 20:9-10 (KJV) Those Who Influence Us

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