Shane Willard - A Leader's Identity

So I wanna talk to you today about a leader's identity, right? So here's what I, here's the assumption I made.

I, I made an assumption that people who come to church on a, on a Wednesday afternoon are in some way leaders.

And when I say leader, I don't mean you hold an official position.

I mean in some way you're exercising influence over something.

You, you run a business.

You're, you're a dad in a home.

You're a mom in a home.

May- maybe you're volunteering a- at your church, and you run a department as a volunteer.

So you're in charge of the host and hostesses.

You're in charge of the music.

Whatever the case may be.

You run an auto parts store.

You have a chicken shop.

You-- What- what- whatever the case, whatever the case may be.

And so I started thinking through, how do we increase our influence? And, and I think the most basic way we can increase our influence is to make ultimate decisions about what kind of person will I be before we make the hundred decisions about what do I do in a situation.

So in our, in our lives, we will, we, we will face 100 action questions in a week.

Like, what do I do in this specific sit- situation? Uh, but, but before we do that, we have to answer ultimate questions about what kind of person will I be before we answer questions about what do I do in a situation, or things get a bit tainted.

And the problem with words like that is, is that if I was to say, "What's your identity in Christ," right? Like, I'm assuming it's Monday.

Not Monday.

It's, it's Wed-- I normally come on a Monday.

It's Wednesday.

You're, you're in church.

You're, you're, you-- We're, we are fully identified as fully devoted followers of Jesus.

A- a- and I get that, right? But, but the reason that matters less than other things is words matter less than how we picture words working.

So I grew up in the deep south in America, and I could tell you this, being a Christian in the deep south in America is fundamentally different than being a Christian in the deep south in New Zealand, okay? Like being a Christian in the deep south in America is far different than being a Christian in Gore, all right? Or in Invercargill or places like that.