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It's time for our Scripture of the day to get it delivered to your phone. Text the word scripture to (800) 969-9467.

Hang on to your hats. We are going to Jeremiah 15, verse 19. This is how the Lord responds. If you return to me, I will restore you so that you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesperson. You must influence them. Do not let them influence you. Man oh man, this has just set me off. We are living in a period of time. Just like I've said this before, where there is an overwhelming source of influence that can speak into our lives, whether that's in our social media newsfeed or it's television, news, radio, print media outlets, there are voices with opinions that speak into our lives, and the same holds true in places like our community, our schools, churches, even in our families, and the sheer number of bits of information that we have to parse through on a daily basis is enormous. That is why we have to be vigilant about monitoring the things that we take in. When Jeremiah was discouraged, God basically told him, get it together, trust him, and refocus his efforts with the promise that God would restore him. You see, Jeremiah was despondent because the Lord had stated that Judah had gone too far. They pushed him too far, and now judgment was upon them. Jeremiah was trying to figure out what was good, what was bad, what had eternal value, and what had temporal value. And in doing so, Jeremiah was to wield his influence in such a way that it would draw God's people back to him, but he was mandated in no way to turn to the people by their influence being put upon him. And like Jeremiah, we each have influence and we have to be careful not to let the culture of today taint our influence for God in places where we live out our lives. I recently saw this is what kicked this off. I recently saw an anonymous post by a woman in a chat group who is complaining that her daughter was continually picking out books at the library that were quote unquote, religious. She complained that the library seriously must be sprinkling in religious books amongst all the normal books that we have for toddlers, and that she, the mom, wasn't even aware that her daughter was picking these things out until she would get home and read them with her later. The mom was asking others, did you notice this too? Are you tired of the libraries pushing religion on our kids. Woo! Well, my heart sank by some of the responses that some people had posted. Now, most of the replies were about how this woman should parent her child, as people always do. Tell you what your business is. Well, while others were complaining that there just weren't enough books about other religions than Christianity. There were posts that began affirming this woman's right to choose the content for her child, and others were affirming her findings, sharing that, oh, I share the same frustration with you. Well, of all of those numerous replies in that chat, there was only one one that actually stood for Christ and told this mother that God loves this mother and her daughter. Now, that set off a whole branch of other comments of its own, which is for another day, but in a world much like the time of Judah, where people are turning away from God or they don't even know that he exists, we are mandated to stand for Christ. Billy Graham once wrote, it doesn't take great wealth or social influence to be faithful, but it does take obedience and endurance. We must realize that as followers of Christ, we are called to share the hope that we have in Christ with the world. And like Jeremiah, we can become worn down. But God says to us, get it together. Trust him. Refocus your efforts, and don't let culture overcome you. No matter where you go today, no matter what you face, remember the influence that God has given to you and choose to be the one voice among the many that stands for Christ and points the lost toward God.

Hang on to your hats. We are going to Jeremiah 15, verse 19. This is how the Lord responds. If you return to me, I will restore you so that you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesperson. You must influence them. Do not let them influence you. Man oh man, this has just set me off. We are living in a period of time. Just like I've said this before, where there is an overwhelming source of influence that can speak into our lives, whether that's in our social media newsfeed or it's television, news, radio, print media outlets, there are voices with opinions that speak into our lives, and the same holds true in places like our community, our schools, churches, even in our families, and the sheer number of bits of information that we have to parse through on a daily basis is enormous. That is why we have to be vigilant about monitoring the things that we take in. When Jeremiah was discouraged, God basically told him, get it together, trust him, and refocus his efforts with the promise that God would restore him. You see, Jeremiah was despondent because the Lord had stated that Judah had gone too far. They pushed him too far, and now judgment was upon them. Jeremiah was trying to figure out what was good, what was bad, what had eternal value, and what had temporal value. And in doing so, Jeremiah was to wield his influence in such a way that it would draw God's people back to him, but he was mandated in no way to turn to the people by their influence being put upon him. And like Jeremiah, we each have influence and we have to be careful not to let the culture of today taint our influence for God in places where we live out our lives. I recently saw this is what kicked this off. I recently saw an anonymous post by a woman in a chat group who is complaining that her daughter was continually picking out books at the library that were quote unquote, religious. She complained that the library seriously must be sprinkling in religious books amongst all the normal books that we have for toddlers, and that she, the mom, wasn't even aware that her daughter was picking these things out until she would get home and read them with her later. The mom was asking others, did you notice this too? Are you tired of the libraries pushing religion on our kids. Woo! Well, my heart sank by some of the responses that some people had posted. Now, most of the replies were about how this woman should parent her child, as people always do. Tell you what your business is. Well, while others were complaining that there just weren't enough books about other religions than Christianity. There were posts that began affirming this woman's right to choose the content for her child, and others were affirming her findings, sharing that, oh, I share the same frustration with you. Well, of all of those numerous replies in that chat, there was only one one that actually stood for Christ and told this mother that God loves this mother and her daughter. Now, that set off a whole branch of other comments of its own, which is for another day, but in a world much like the time of Judah, where people are turning away from God or they don't even know that he exists, we are mandated to stand for Christ. Billy Graham once wrote, it doesn't take great wealth or social influence to be faithful, but it does take obedience and endurance. We must realize that as followers of Christ, we are called to share the hope that we have in Christ with the world. And like Jeremiah, we can become worn down. But God says to us, get it together. Trust him. Refocus your efforts, and don't let culture overcome you. No matter where you go today, no matter what you face, remember the influence that God has given to you and choose to be the one voice among the many that stands for Christ and points the lost toward God.