In this era of “influencers” and “creatives,” many Christians face the challenge of using their gifts to engage the world—without making choices that lead to spiritual compromise. With God's sufficient Word as our guide, we can be in the world, but not of it, as faithful disciples of Christ (John 17:14-15). In this session, Kris Baines will offer lessons on how we can navigate the creative realm and stay true to our Lord in the process. 

Well, good morning to you all. It's a blessing to be here. Scott did his research, obviously, because when people have to be warned that in five minutes you're going to speak, it's like, well, what's he going to say? But I want to let you know that my children, by the way, are here of their own volition. There's no chains.

They decided to come. In fact, I looked at the topics this morning and I said, some of these look pretty good. Do you think it would be bad if I didn't go to my own breakout? And they said, I think you should go to yours. So, here we are.

I hope you're having a blessed time. It is such a neat subject that we're looking at, isn't it? The topic of making disciples. A couple of times this week, people have asked me what I was teaching on for this breakout. Caught me by surprise, I had to say, you know, the title's so long, I can't actually remember it right now, but I can give you a summary of what I'm talking about.

Now, just before we start, I did make some notes for this session, if that's helpful, so that, you know, if you wanted to write things down, and I put it on my website, because I only did it, finished it off yesterday, which is chriswithakay, chrisbanes.com forward slash notes. You don't have to get that now, but chrisbanes.com forward slash notes, and there's all of the points that I'm going through in this message So you've got that handy if that's helpful. So I want to make the best of the time We've got so we get straight into it as was said in the introduction Grew up in the UK. We're based there now but we lived in New Zealand for the past 26 years where I'd served as a pastor and for 12 of those years as a paramedic. And prior to that, I lived here in the States and I was converted here in Van Nuys, California while playing in a band in 1994.

So that explains why I have a funny accent and also why I keep getting confused about where I am and what currency I'm using. You should see me in a clouds coffee shop. My card comes up, it says, do you want to pay in British pounds? Or New Zealand dollars? I don't know.

So why this subject then? Well, I've been burdened for some time now by the number of mostly, but not exclusively, young Christians who move into the creative areas such as music, film, writing, or perhaps seek to become YouTubers or Instagrammers, and in doing so, have managed to create a platform or a following where they're seen as an influencer of some sort, yet sadly for various reasons have ended up in a spiritual compromise, and in some cases have brought upon themselves devastating consequences, while others who know them look upon their life and ask the question, how on earth did you end up there? And this is an increasing problem, so I thought it would be good to tackle this with some biblical principles and some practical application. Not to discourage us from engaging in the world with our talents, our gifts, and our abilities, but to do so with much wisdom and discernment. As we all know, we're living in an era in which the availability of technology means that virtually anyone can build a platform or gain a following.

It's actually surprisingly easy these days to become famous with a lower case F, and therefore have significant influence upon many people. And the scary part about this is that it can be done with little to no accountability. The role of an influencer was not really even a thing until 2019 when it skyrocketed and it's continued to rise because of the advancement of social media and internet technology. Prior to that, those who had influence were mostly famous actors, musicians, politicians, various public figures. But now you can be a guy, age 45, who still lives in his basement, making videos about the most stupid things imaginable and have tens of millions more views per video than Fox News, Sky News, and BBC News all combined.

That's influence. Now we always have to deal with the issue of how social media content affects our lives. That's not the focus of this message. That's been spoken about. The focus today is upon those Christians who to some degree are involved in or who are seeking to be involved in the creative realm in such a way that their message, their talents or their life is out there before a real and or digital audience, even if it's only a small crowd.

And let's face it, having a following, an audience that you can communicate with or perform to with just a few clicks and swipes on your phone is an attractive option for some people. And it's especially desirable for you younger people because you know the technology so well. In fact, I have a great entrepreneurial idea for the Gen Zers here today. And it looks like there's a lot of you. You just need to charge a small consultancy fee every time one of your parents hands you a phone or a computer and says, show me how to do that thing again.

If you start by around age 13, by the time you're 16, you'll be set for life. You're welcome. Now, technology is of course a two-edged sword and one of the blessings it brings is the ability to reach many people for Christ. And believers can have a positive influence upon others in the public and social media sphere, perhaps by excelling in a particular gift they have. But what can and does happen at times is that very gradually, that spiritual motivation, mindset and mission that a person begins with moves towards much more of a worldly motivation, mindset and mission.

And before you know it, they end up as a slave to the systems of this world resulting in spiritual shipwreck and a very harmful influence upon others. I also hope that there's encouragement and application in this message for parents too, as they navigate these issues with children, particularly their gifted children, as they consider to what degree they should encourage their child to use those gifts and talents for the Lord in a way that may even propel them into the public arena. And It's probably worth saying also that whatever any of us put out there publicly can influence someone in good or bad ways. So please don't think if you've only got 15 followers on your InstaTalk Twitter account that you don't influence others because you do. And it's good that we're mindful of that.

Now the reason this issue of being an influencer ties in so well with the subject of discipleship is simply because discipleship is influence. And what's another name for a disciple that sounds very much like something from our social media influencer driven culture? A follower. Whenever you influence someone believer to believer or whenever someone is following you, you're essentially discipling them in either helpful or unhelpful ways, biblical or unbiblical ways, and that's why we must tackle this very culturally relevant topic. I'm going to give you a quick outline of what I'm going to cover during this session so you know where we're going and we'll work our way through these points.

Firstly I'm going to start by talking about the most important reason for us to take extreme caution on this issue. Then we're going to consider a critical but often neglected truth about people of influence. Following that, I want us to look at two key areas in which we must think biblically when using our gifts in the public sphere. Then I'll give you six red flags to pay attention to, both in our own lives and the lives of others. And lastly, we'll look at seven safeguards to help avoid the pitfalls of compromise.

So let's start. The most important reason for us to take extreme caution on this issue. If you want to turn in your Bibles to James chapter 3. I won't have you turn to all of the references I'll be bringing you, but let's look at this one as we begin, James chapter three, and I'm going to read the first six verses. James chapter three, from verse one.

"'Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so they obey us, We guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also. Though they're so large and are driven by strong winds, they're guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire, and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell." Though this passage begins in verse one with a warning to those who teach others in a church setting, I think as the text unfolds, it's clear there is wider application for all believers, especially when you consider in James's day, there was no concept of someone other than a formal teacher being able to address a large crowd. And the underlying principle in these verses is this, words matter because words impact lives. And so the more lives you speak into, the more people you will impact and the more accountable you will be for those words.

So considering those truths, this brings me to what I believe is the most important reason for us to take extreme caution on this issue of being involved in the public or social media sphere. And here it is, it's not a new truth, all of us are ultimately accountable to God for the influence and impact of our words and actions upon others. All of us ultimately accountable to God for the influence and impact of our words and actions upon others. As we know, there's been too many tragic stories of Christian speakers, pastors, leaders, Christian musicians, people in positions of influence who have fallen into serious sin. And one of the most devastating results of this is the amount of people that are harmed because of the amount of influence those people had.

But in our day and age, it's not just those kinds of people that are influencing large numbers of believers. In 2 Corinthians 5, 10, the Apostle Paul brings this important concept of accountability to light with these words. He says, For we must all appear before the judgment seed of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. For the Christian, this is not a judgment unto punishment, but unto reward. But nevertheless, if we are walking in the fear of God, we should want to have the minimum regrets when we stand before him on that day.

And we will all stand before him on that day. Children, this is a good reminder to you as well that some of the things we're talking about with the technology is not in your world yet, but you need to remember that what you say and how you say it does affect other people. So we're all accountable to God for that influence and impact of our words and actions upon others. I'm starting with this because if we can't accept this truth, then we'll never put those things in place that will help us live in a way that's pleasing to God. We can't go beyond this if that is not agreed upon in our hearts.

Let's move on then and consider now a critical but often neglected truth about people of influence. And here it is. Talent, giftedness or ability does not equal spiritual maturity. Talent, giftedness or ability does not equal spiritual maturity. One of the ways we see how this truth is neglected is when a person of influence, whether it's a famous musician, actor, sports star, makes a profession of faith and all of a sudden they're now seen in many Christians eyes as a voice of authority for Christianity rather than simply being a newly saved believer who has a lot of growing to do.

And there are two main problems with this situation. The first problem is that what a person says in between songs, during interviews, before the big game, has a massive impact. And so if there's pressure from others, or if they themselves think their level of influence equals spiritual maturity, when in reality they're a baby Christian, a lot of things can get said that really shouldn't be said. Just because someone says they believe in God, we need to ask, what God? Just because someone says they believe in Jesus, we need to ask, what Jesus?

In 2 Corinthians 11, 4, Paul said, for if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. So just because someone makes a profession of faith, let's not be too quick to assume that person has been genuinely converted, that they are on our side, or that they've embraced a biblical gospel or a biblical Jesus. They may well be genuinely converted, and we can praise God if that's the case. Shouldn't assume that though. Just Last month, the rapper and songwriter, Kanye West, if you haven't heard of him as well, I just wanna say, that's okay.

Another thing we, seriously, it's another thing we need to talk about because among our sort of, even in the Christian culture, we can, you know, we listen to different people, we have different influences, but we should never make one another feel bad that we're not up with all the names. It's okay to be ignorant. It's okay to know them, but it's okay to be ignorant. Anyway, Kanye West, a couple of years ago, was telling everyone of his conversion and proclaiming in his music that Jesus is King. And he's now publicly stated he is his own God and that he has issues with Jesus.

The older generation among us will remember a similar thing happened with a singer Bob Dylan who had a temporary season of influence as a professing Christian. And all the Christians, Yeah, wow, he's a hero. And then went back to his old ways, confusing a lot of people. Now, a very encouraging example of this happening in a good way was with the actor some of you may have heard of called Kirk Cameron, who was a very famous childhood actor in a TV series called Growing Pains. As a young adult, Kirk was converted, but what he did after that was inspiring.

Instead of using his influence and public following to start being a voice for Christianity, he did the opposite. He pulled right back from acting. He distanced himself from that crowd, that scene, from public appearances and was discipled in his local church for I think 10 years before turning up to help carry boxes for Ray Comfort, then joining his ministry and moving into the public realm as a Christian actor and filmmaker. And I think that's an inspiring example that we can praise God for. Another example of how talent, giftedness or ability does not equal spiritual maturity is when gifted Christians you gain a following or have an influence speak about matters of the faith especially when it's done in a way that's essentially teaching others.

We can easily agree that the pastor needs to be careful about what he says. God's going to hold him accountable, right? But we can forget that we may have spoken certain truths to more people than our pastor in the past week. The reality is, and I know this to be true, there are many churches out there where the pastor's voice reaches hundreds and in the pews of the same church there are one or two people under the age of 25 who have a voice that reaches thousands each week. It's a completely new phenomenon to us and so we need to understand it through a biblical lens.

Listen to these words that Paul wrote to Timothy. In the context of the local church, but how they relate to what we're talking about. 1 Timothy 1, 5 to 7. He says, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

That is what we need to be very careful about. Vein discussions, speaking things that we don't understand or shouldn't be so confident about. This doesn't mean we shouldn't speak, not at all, but we must exercise wisdom and discernment. We must know our place in relation to our level of spiritual maturity. Remember, influences are also influenced.

And so what matters most is whether the greatest influence in your life is Christ and his word. And that doesn't happen automatically just because someone professes to be a Christian. Now one of the challenges about these things ironically is that as Christians We should want people to follow our lives. We should want people to be influenced by how we live. But our attitude should be the same as the Apostle Paul who said in 1 Corinthians 11, 1, Be imitators of me.

But he didn't just stop there, did he? It wasn't just, follow me, ding. The imitators of me as I am of Christ. This means that across the timeline of our lives where our character and conduct is revealed, because every setting is not going to be an overtly Christian setting, we're not saying that, but across the timeline of our lives, our character and conduct is revealed, we should ultimately be pointing people to Christ. It should be clear we are a Christian and that we would be a consistent, not a perfect, but consistent example of what it means to follow Him.

All the while remembering that talent, giftedness, or ability does not equal spiritual maturity. So as we consider the need for us to grow and mature as disciples, let's turn our attention now to two key areas in which we must think biblically when using our gifts in the public sphere. There are many areas but we're just going to zero in on two. One of the reasons that Christians can end up in spiritual shipwreck is simply because they haven't been discipled to think biblically before moving into a public sphere. So we'll look at two areas.

Number one, we need to be thinking biblically about success. We need to be thinking biblically about success. The dictionary defines success as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. To think biblically about success, we need to consider our aim or purpose, including our motives, our goals, our intentions. If we're not careful, we can get easily distracted and the goalpost can gradually change.

One subtle way that I think this can happen is when we have the idea that our responsibility before God is to fulfill our human potential as it relates to our gifts, talents and abilities, even our spiritual gifts. But is this biblical thinking? No, it isn't. So let me give you a simple way of understanding success in your life as a follower of Christ. It has nothing at all to do with fulfilling your potential.

Rather, it has everything to do with fulfilling God's will for your life. And there's a very subtle but significant difference. This doesn't mean we should neglect to recognize potential in ourselves and others for good and godly causes. It doesn't mean we should neglect to maximize our potential or encourage others to do this. What it does mean is that we should not allow the maximizing of our human potential or even in our spiritual gifts to eclipse and push aside other priorities that God has established for our lives.

Let me try and explain this further from a few examples in Scripture. I'm sure it all agree that John the Baptist made a pretty big impact with his life, didn't he? He was an influencer. In fact, Jesus said this of him in Matthew 11, 11, truly I say to you among those born of women there is a risen no one greater than John the Baptist. You know something interesting about John the Baptist ministry and season of influence?

It lasted for six months and then he had his head cut off. What about the thief on the cross? His life has impacted many, many people. How long was his season of influence? Maybe a few hours at the most.

What about Jesus himself? Can you imagine the things that Jesus could have accomplished in this world if he'd fulfilled his human potential? This is God in the form of man on earth, if he'd have lived a bit longer, or even just his carpentry skills could have drawn a crowd. Think of all the teachings and the good content that poured forth from the life of Jesus, but how long was his season of influence in his ministry on earth? Three and a half years.

But what Did he cry from the cross? It is finished. What was finished? Well, in context, he said the word to Telestai, which meant paid in full, speaking of his redemptive sacrifice on behalf of sinners. That's what that word meant.

But in another sense, he had also finished or accomplished that which he came to earth to do. So, John the Baptist, the thief on the cross, Jesus himself, none of them fulfilled what would seem to be their maximum human potential, but all of them fulfilled God's will for their lives. They all accomplish God's aim and purpose for their lives. So I hope in saying these things that it can help some of us to calibrate our thinking to be a little bit more biblical when we consider what is truly success in our own lives. It is only achievable if we live for a long time doing a lot of amazing things.

In Ephesians 5, 15 to 17, Paul makes such a good point in regard to this. Relating, we can relate it to true success and what makes a life count. He says, look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. And you could include in there the best use of the time is redeeming the time and you may think, well, using my gifts, using my abilities. Yes, therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Understand the will of the Lord. You see the solution to living wisely and making the most of our time is understanding God's will. Do you want to fulfill your potential, your dream, your ambition, or do you want to fulfill God's will for your life? Are you content with that? I love what it says of David in Acts 13, 36.

It says, for David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption. You can apply this to your life too. It's as simple as this. Fulfill God's will for your life then die and go to heaven. I don't think I'd get a job as a life coach with that kind of advice.

But it's the truth. Because God's economy is very different to ours. He doesn't require his children to fulfill their earthly potential. A life can be cut short and be perfectly in the will of God. So we need to think biblically about success.

Success then in God's eyes is to fulfill His will, not our potential. So how do we stay on track then practically? How do we make sure we're in God's will and not carving our own path? The next point can help us with this. We need to be thinking biblically about our mission in life.

This may seem basic, but it's easy to get distracted. And the problem normally surfaces when we start thinking that our mission in life is our mission in life. When the truth is our mission in life is actually God's mission for our lives. And I love to remind young Christians about this, because it can be a challenge sometimes wondering about the future. And you have the experience of older people like me always asking you things like, so what are you going to do with your life?

And you sometimes wonder, what am I going to do with my life? Well, I don't want to oversimplify this, but let me make it easy for you because I already know what God wants you to do with your life. Are you ready? Proclaim the gospel and make disciples. I wish there was a conference we could go to that was teaching it would be awesome.

So the purpose, aim and intent of your life has been decided by God, which means whatever career or line of work or vocation you pursue or place you live or degree to which you do or don't use your gifts and abilities is not really the primary issue. Because if you're willing and available to carry out the great commission wherever you are, God will direct you. He will lead you into his will. How do I know this? Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Do not lean on your own understanding. Very easy to do that. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. And also in Romans 12, one to two, I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Now the wonderful thing is, when we seek to walk in God's general will for our lives, loving Him, becoming more like Christ through the means of grace available in the local church, engaging in discipleship and evangelism, those things that are clearly there for us, then we'll be far more aware of God leading us in his specific world. Sometimes we get so caught up in what's his specific world, we just throw ourselves into what we generally understand he wants us to do, and he does work out the details. So we need to be careful when we use terminology like, my dream is to, Or I really want to see this and this happen and even if you tack on the end for the Lord. Because sometimes it's nothing more than selfish ambition dressed up in a spiritual pursuit. Even a desire to take dominion can sound very spiritual, but not if the true motive is a desire to dominate an area for our own needs.

Shortly after I got saved, whilst playing in a band in LA back in 1994, Myself and the lead singer who just got saved too had the idea that we were going to use the band as a vehicle to be an influence for Christ instead of what it had been. Sounded good, our intentions were sincere, but it wasn't God's plan for our lives. We were too green in our faith. We were unequally yoked with unsaved band members. We weren't discipled.

And it was a painful process, but thankfully, God got through to my thick head. And I walked away from it all with the singer. It was not an easy decision because we actually wrecked the careers of our fellow band members. We just signed a record deal and been paid a lump of money as an advance, which myself and the singer had to spend three years paying back. And I devastated my family because my parents had given so much to help me try and make it in the music business to the point it led to their divorce and here I was throwing it all away and just saying I'm a Christian and I don't think this is God's will for my life.

Just like Alexander Strauss said yesterday, it was a wait. It would have hindered me. But guess what happened? Six months later, it's a band tried to continue with new members. They found out the record deal was a scam.

They all got ripped off. I ended up being forced to come back to the UK where I met my wife Becky on my first day back in church in England. And the Lord did an unbelievable work in my heart that I just couldn't understand and that was to give me a greater love for His Word than I had for music. And that began an eventual call to ministry. What did I learn in all this?

Well many things but most of all sometimes obedience to God means laying down what seems like the greatest potential for your gifts to flourish. Sometimes obedience to God hurts and confuses the people you love the most, especially when they're unbelievers. Yet in God's timing, He'll make sure He gets you to where He wants you to be, and he'll get you to do what he wants you to do. Never forget that God always takes care of the consequences of your obedience. A few years after leaving the band and having been discipled and become a little bit more established in my faith, the Lord opened the door to do music again, because it was no longer an idol.

And for most of the time, over the past two decades, it's taken a back seat because ministry and family have come first. But it's so much more enjoyable to be involved when you're not holding on to it and you're not driven by this bondage to make some name for yourself. You can let it go, it's more enjoyable that way. It would never do us any good if our idea of success or our idea of our mission for our lives makes no provision for God to interrupt our plans, to invade our lives, to turn our world upside down or require us to let it all go. Imagine if when Peter and the disciples heard Jesus say, Jump into the boat, let's cross to the other side.

Peter gets his vlogging camera, goes live on Instagram and begins to stream, come with me on a boat ride with Jesus. But then all of his plans get messed up because Jesus takes them into a deadly storm where they nearly all drown. When we yield to God's sovereign plan things won't always go how we expect them. But we'll never need to experience FOMO. I'm just looking at the older people in the room who are going and The younger people are going.

I'll explain. FOMO is the acronym among the younger generation for fear of missing out. And it's prevalent throughout social media and that's how it operates. But we do not need to have FOMO if we yield to God's sovereign plan. I can prove this to you with scripture.

This is a verse that all young people should have memorized. It's one that you want to stick on your mirror and you'll be reminding yourself of it often. Psalm 84, 11, listen to these words. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing, No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Yield to him no FOMO. If someone listens to this message and like 10 years ago, is he speaking like another language? No formal. It's okay to dream and plan.

It's okay to have non selfish ambition, as long as we consistently yield our hearts to the Lord. As long as we can truly say at any moment, not my will, but yours be done. Then go ahead, dream, plan, have ambition. But at any time, your will be done Lord. And I guess the key thing I'm trying to get across here is whatever you do with your life, it can't be compartmentalized away from the Great Commission.

But everything you do with your life should be done in such a way that allows you to carry out the Great Commission in the flow of normal life. Around the people, God places in your life because your mission field is your life. That is your mission field. Your mission field is not where you would like to go, it's where you are now. I was thinking about this last night.

In reality, and I'm kind of playing with these words to make a point, No Christian ever goes to the mission field. They just go to a different mission field. Because we're always on the mission field. So engage the world with your gifts, talents, abilities, create a platform, gain followers, but do it as a vehicle for the Great Commission. And children, isn't it exciting that God wants you to be part of His big plan, as young as you are.

He has a plan to tell people about Jesus and to help them understand what it means to be a Christian. Now, I just want to say here as well, you might be in a situation where your audience is predominantly Christian, you can speak freely about your faith or things of God, or you may be in a situation where your audience is mostly unbelievers, you have to be more winsome and exercise wisdom. For me personally, with the music I write and record, There's kind of both things going on. There's some where there's equal appeal to Christian and non-Christian. I love the fact that my music can get me into people's lives that I never would get to otherwise.

So I'm strategic then, like a good fisherman should be. And there's other settings where it's specifically for Christians and it's just a different environment. It would be so unwise if I did a piano concert of instrumental music for mostly unbelievers, if I started the evening saying, my name is Chris Baines, and if you don't all turn from your sins, you're going to be lost forever. Here's a nice little composition I wrote on the piano called repent or perish. But after they've enjoyed listening to my music for a while, it's easy to sensitively but clearly share my testimony and the gospel because I've won their trust a little.

So each situation is different. So summing up this point, our mission in life is God's mission for our life, the great commission to further the gospel, make disciples, and glorify God with our lives in whatever He wants us to do and wherever He wants us to go. Okay, let's move on then. This last part of the message will be quicker. I didn't see the 10 sign yet, or have I missed it?

Okay, I've got 10 hours left, that's great. So I'm going to give you six red flags. I'm just going to go through these quickly to pay attention to. Now the purpose of this is to identify potential on-ramps to compromise. Things that should make us go all.

That's not so good. Maybe we need to bring it in love to someone else. Number one, increasing pride, diminishing humility. It doesn't need much explanation. 90% of your photos are selfies.

Not so sure of that, but it's definitely something we're less likely to detect, of course, especially if you're one of those people who takes pride in your humility. It's not really a good sign if we love being on camera, upfront or in the spotlight, really. But it's a healthy sign if we would happily not be out there, but we do that because we recognize there's gifts that can help others. It's a good tension to have. It's okay.

I don't feel comfortable and it's good that we don't feel comfortable. We shouldn't feel like, I can't wait to get up yet. There should be this sense of, it'll be helpful. Help me Lord. Second red flag, being more motivated by compulsion than conviction.

This happens when a person becomes more directed and driven by opportunity than biblical conviction. They end up falling back maybe on church attendance because it's such a unique opportunity. Or end up in certain places that used to be a no-go saying, if I don't, I might lose followers, I might lose my sponsor, or sell less music. This can be a challenge to parents who have gifted or talented children. Sometimes instead of discipling and directing them, and I've seen this happen and it's tragic, the whole family essentially becomes that child's helpmate to propel them into success and other spiritual priorities get neglected to the detriment of the family.

Remember, it's always risky when you're compelled in such a way that causes you to go for an opportunity to further yourself like a great white shark lunges at its prey. Full forward motion, based on appetite, eyes firmly closed. Sharks do that for protection, but for the believer, we need our eyes wide open as we consider every opportunity. Next red flag, a gradual resistance to godly counsel and accountability. Many start out seeking counsel, welcoming accountability, but when you notice a resistance to that, it's a red flag.

It can be a sign of a wandering or independent heart. It can be a sign of sin already under the surface. Number four, a greater love for the world and a lesser love for the Word. We need to learn how to glean from this world and the much common grace we find, but very carefully without compromising ourselves. And when we are involved in this sort of creative realm, we are seeing other things and it can affect our affections.

And if we see a diminishing affection for the things of the Lord, His church, His people, that can be a concern. Number five, compromising on the truth of the gospel to avoid persecution for the gospel. There are different methods, different ways that we can bring the gospel, different strategies, but we never ever, ever present a different gospel because we want to avoid the offense of the cross. We have to have this firmly fixed in our minds. The biblical gospel is not woke friendly.

The biblical gospel is not politically correct. The biblical gospel is not cross less. The biblical gospel is not cost less, and the biblical gospel is not Christ less. In other words, a gospel that says, God loves you, but avoid speaking of the exclusivity of Christ because it's offensive to a Christ-hating world. And the last red flag, number six, the delaying of marriage and having children.

And this is important. You could be a talented young person with opportunity and feel like, well maybe in a couple of years because things are going really well. Don't think that way. It should the Lord open the door, because it's just a wrong priority. It's sad to see when that kind of thing happens.

Okay, let's finish them with seven safeguards to help avoid the pitfalls of compromise. It is very practical. And again, this whole message, I hope, has come across in a way that is not a call to stop engaging the world for Christ, but to engage the world for Christ. I'm not saying sit at home watching Christian podcasts all day reading your Bible. I'm saying get out there, but do it with wisdom and discernment.

1 Peter 5, 8 says, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. That's the caution. But here's the call. John 17, 15 to 19.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They're not of the world just as I'm not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I've sent them into the world.

And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they may be sanctified in the truth." Christ, through His word, sets us apart from this world so that we can be sent into the world. But here are some safeguards. Number one, decide your no's in advance. The non-negotiables, where you won't compromise. Get ahead of that, because when opportunity comes, there could be a lot of pressure.

Number two, be devoted to your local church. Inreach, outreach, it's where you'll be kept accountable. Number three, cultivate your devotional life. When I say that, I'd say more Mary than Martha. Less check the box, more relational.

Number four, very important, Embrace the theology of suffering. How many unbelieving influences and creatives do that? Meaning in your life, should you make progress, should you be out there, always be willing for God to invade and change and He will bring suffering into your life. It's not a matter of if but when. And if you understand God's sovereignty, you won't be thrown by that thinking, but I thought God was blessing me.

I'm trying to serve him. Embrace a theology of suffering. Number five, surround yourself with godly influences and two of the main ones in your life, ideally, won't always be the case, should be parents as you grow up in a home and elders. Think of the difference in the way you see other influences in your life compared to the elders in the church where you are because they're the ones who really should be influencing your life. Number six, evaluate and recalibrate your affections.

Very important. Again, as you're in this world, we see things where you develop appetites. We need to check where our affections are. And probably the quickest way I can say how to discern that is, Where do you find your greatest joy? If you find that your greatest joy is not in Christ, his people, his church, but you really go to other places for the greatest joy, that's probably a sign of affections that need calibrating.

Number seven, hold on lightly to everything in your life apart from Christ. Be willing to let it all go. Compromise never happens overnight but moment by moment Satan is quite happy to give you one breadcrumb at a time. And before you know it, you're holding a whole loaf. So I hope from the things we looked at today, you've been encouraged with some biblical principles, some practical pointers to help you engage the world for Christ with wisdom and discernment and avoid the pitfalls of compromise." Now just close with these well-known and profound words from the last line of C.T.

Studd's poem, Only One Life. Steve Lawson talked about C.T. Studd yesterday and this just sums up so well the main exhortation I want to leave with you today in light of everything that we've said and as we consider your life and how you're going to serve God remember these words only one life till soon be passed Only what's done for Christ will last. Amen. Father, thank you for these precious people and thank you for this time where we've been able to engage these things in light of your Word.

And I pray for everyone in this room, Lord, and I don't know all the situations, how they're involved and the pattern of their lives. But I do pray your protection and as Jesus prayed, Lord, that they will be sanctified by your truth, that they would go into this world having an impact for Christ and the gospel for your glory in Jesus name.