a weekend's message

so....my weekend was spent at an amazing youth conference called "Ignition '07:Back to You"....good friends, good speakers, good worship, good TIMES....and dun dun dun....i've inevitably come back with a speech to give.... something that God's placed in my mind which keeps me awake and thinking when i'd rather sleep

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first of all....did you know that at the current rate of evangelism, only 4% of our generation will be evangelical Christians?.....that's 4 out of every 100 people our age (under thirty)...my freshman class at ONU is approximately 600-800 people, 4% of that is 24-32 people...
-In the generation above us, 15% are evangelical Christians
-In the generation above that, (the baby boomers) 35% are evangelical Christians
........startling statistics??...they startled me

.....I firmly believe that Christ has given each of us gifts that he expects for us to use in order to further his kingdom; I firmly believe that he has strategically placed us where we currently are in our lives (relationships, jobs, etc....) so that we can influence people for him; I firmly believe that if we don't step up and stand for what we believe in, this generation will go down the tubes and with it, this country

So what does that mean for us?
-we need to either A) figure out what our gifts are and/or B) start using our gifts to further the church and his kingdom...find out what He has lain on your heart and become passionate about it.....take the natural talents and abilities that he has given you and run with them, use them whenever and wherever you can...this is not to say become instantly one of those obnoxious people who shove things down people's throats, it IS, however, to say that we each have something to offer and so, when the opportunity presents itself, we need to use what we have to the best of our ability....so if you speak, speak boldly and with authority...if you serve, serve everyone as if they were Christ himself....if you are noted for your compassion, love people deeply and let them know it...if you encourage, be a ray of sunshine in everyone's day.....seriously, i'm pretty much quoting Paul here....we are all members in God's body and his body does not have vestigial organs, no one is an appendix ...(you exist, but nobody quite knows why).....we all have something to offer

-we need to step up and lead by example.....
-women- wear your purity like a banner, refuse to compromise, refuse to act like anything other than a daughter of the king...if you act like you deserve respect, men will respect you....embrace modesty and know that it's beautiful to be modest....find out who you are in Christ and how Christ sees you and then hold that as your standard....We all have low self-esteem but when those thoughts come, stick to your guns and remember what God thinks about you...i personally think that one of the saddest things about this generation's women is that we've lost sight of who we are and, as a consequence, begin searching for our identity in other things (ie: guys, diets, clothes,etc)...we've forgotten that God created us and that he creates nothing that is Ugly, Warped, or Worthless...we've let a society tell us what will make us beautiful, what will make us happy, and what will make us fufilled; a society who's answers will leave us empty, alone, and feeling like we're so-not-worth-it
- men-stand up and be men of God....you're going to be leading a family one day both physically and spiritually, prepare for it....Model yourselves after older, wiser men in the church...Read what God says about men in the bible and hold that as your standard...don't let society tell you what will make you manly and stronger
(yeah this is shorter, i'm not a man so i have no idea what it's like...but i do know what Godly women search for in men...someone who will love God First and them second, who will stand up for what they believe and be a leader)

-we need to pursue God and be consistant about it....i've really struggled with this one and this weekend God kind of punched me in the teeth (so to speak) with it; When we start thinking that we have things pretty much in control, we're in trouble....Life seems to be filled with seasons when you're really messed up and season's when everything's working out really well.... during the first season you cry out to God b/c you know that you can't do anything without him, life is crazy and screwed up and he's the only one that can fix it.....then he fixes things and you are so thankful and you are determined to read your bible every day and pray so that you'll never be that messed up again....then you forget one day and things continue to go well...then another day goes by and before you know it, it's been weeks/months since you've last had an encounter with your heavenly father....then things get messed up again and BAM, you're back at square one...
...it's happened to me so many times; if i think, for even a short period of time, that i have things pretty much under control, i screw up and land flat on my face once again
......in order to grow spiritually we need to have gradual and consistant change and that comes only when we abide in Him every single day
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(stepping off the soap box)

the end