Identity

Tonight at Ignition, the youth ministry at Life Church, I’m preaching on our Identity.  I’ll be using Psalm 139 but I liked this quote by Howard Hendricks.

 

“There was no identity crisis in the life of Jesus Christ. He knew who He was. He knew where He had come from, and why he was here. And he knew where He was going. And when you are that liberated, then you can serve.”

 

I pray our young people will know their Identity in Christ and from that revelation they will be passionate to serve their generation!

Charles Swindoll's book, Improving Your Serve

"Early one chilly morning an American soldier was making his way back to the barracks in London. As he turned the corner in his jeep, he spotted a little lad with his nose pressed to the window of a pastry shop. Inside, the cook was kneading dough for a fresh batch of pastries. The hungry boy stared in silence, watching every move.

The soldier pulled his jeep to the kerb, stopped, got out and walked quietly over to where the little fellow was standing. Through the steamed window he could see the mouthwatering morsels as they were being pulled from the oven, piping hot... The soldier’s heart went out to the nameless orphan as he stood beside him. “Son, would you like some of those?” The boy was startled. “Oh, yeah, I would!”

The American stepped inside and bought a dozen, put them in a bag, and walked back to where the lad was standing in the foggy cold of the London morning. He smiled, held out the bag, and said simply, “Here you are.” As he turned to walk away, he felt a tug on his coat. He looked back and heard the child ask quietly, “Mister, are you God?”

Just remember, your life, my life - might be the only gospel some people ever read.

More from Wayne Cordeiro

Friends are rare these days, but it is not because they have diminished in importance. lt is because we have increased in speed.

Friendships are not made in the blur of life. They are made in the margins:Margins, like the white space around the words on this page that you are reading, add to the composition and overall fabric of the whole. Without margins; the words would crowd one another and fight for space, making it unreadable.

Of course, if the printer extended the words from one end of the page to the other without a break, it would reduce the book by fifty pages or so, save trees, and cost less. But who would read it? lt would be a futile exercise in stress management.

No book ever begrudges its margins.
~ And no life should either ~

One of the benefits of margins is that this is where friends are found. Friends are God's gifts to us.

Epidemic

Epidemic Camp is our highschool youth ministries annual camp. This year our guest preacher was Lucas Connell from Calvary, we had just over 100 students at camp and I loved every minute of it. God did so much in the lives of our young people and leaders. Well done to Chris and Jayde Mackay and our Ignition team. I am speak proud of you guys. Ben

Perspective

Here are a few cool thoughts on perspective from Wayne Cordeiro's book 'Leading on Empty'.

- The way we view our problem oftentimes is the problem
- Where you stand will always affect what you see

"Every difficulty has an opportunity" - J. Sidlow Baxter

MJ on Failure and Success

"I've missed more  than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."  - Michael Jordan

New York Mugging

A turtle was walking down an alley in New York when he was mugged by a gang of snails. A police detective came to investigate and asked the turtle if he could explain what happened.

The turtle looked at the detective with a confused look on his face and replied “I don't know, it all happened so fast.”