Earlier this month, the teens had the opportunity to attend the River Valley Youth Rally. This year’s speaker was Lonnie Jones and the theme was identity. He started off the weekend by letting the youth know that “a difference that makes no difference, is no difference.” It is important, as young and old Christians, that our identity in the world match our identity in church. If they differ, there is an issue.
He included the story in Matthew 7 of the wise man and the foolish man. The two men had the same external experiences, but with differing internal factors. Different foundations. We have to find our identity through our internal factors. Our attitudes and our actions must match to create our identity.
Another idea he mentioned was pulled from Ephesians 6:12, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities.” Lonnie made it a point to stress that our armor we wear is for survival not war and that we are against the devil not the victims of him. When we are hateful and use our religion as an excuse, we are nothing but hypocrites. He then suggests that we should be the peacemakers in our relationships and that when we cut people down, we are not making ourselves higher. If we want to be happy with our lives we should look to 1 Timothy 6:6-11. We must be content and identify with Christ to live like him.
“Because we are loved by Him, we are called to love like Him. The extent to which we love one another validates and communicates our faith.” John 13:34-35
Below is a link to his lessons, please feel free to watch all of them that are included in the playlist.
https://youtu.be/1SgOCx4DFuk?list=PLBtFsIjXuS2xrQRA38Umg9SAdk9z-LN15
-Abigail
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