STORIES: THE MIGHTY
We are excited about our focus this summer, as we continue looking at our 2023 theme of “Stories”. We have been asking ourselves the questions:
What stories influence and motivate us?
What stories are we telling with our lives?
How have we let the most important story of all, Jesus, change our lives?
This summer, we will be continuing these ideas with a special focus on a large group of people in scripture we are calling “The Mighty”.
When we say the word “mighty” we often think of strength, a largeness, a boldness and so forth… “Heroes” of the faith, like Paul and Peter and John and David and Abraham…
These are worthy and important heroes that have molded our faith, yes.
Often times though, our lives aren’t going to look as “mighty” as King David, or as impactful as the Apostle Paul. We live in the day to day realm of relative obscurity. But that doesn’t mean who God wants us to be doesn’t matter.
In fact, what if we are still, in God’s eyes, “The Mighty”?
We will be spending the summer looking at people in scripture we RARELY study. Some of them are mentioned briefly, by name only. Yet every single one of them allowed God to transform and use their lives in ways that BOLSTERED the Gospel and the story of God and made it so the likes of Paul and Peter and Moses could do what God had in mind for them!
Simply put, God has a story for EVERY single one of us. And it is absolutely “mighty”. And we will see this time and time again in Scripture, as we spend this summer moving through ALL of it in our Sunday morning, Life Group, Wednesday Night and retreat/camp classes and lessons and discussions.
We will be taking these stories and we will be working on three aspects of our lives:
Character
Relationships
Influences
Character: Who we are in when no one is looking.
What our minds think of that no one knows. Romans 12:1 says that we are to let God transform us by CHANGING the way we think. The thoughts we have in our mind will determine the person we are. We are to be a people of integrity. A people of Character that looks like the fruit of the Spirit. By doing that, we will position ourselves to become “mighty”.
Relationships: You are who you hang around! Our relationships mold us and form us so much more than even we may realize. We will be focusing heavily on the “church” and the “youth ministry” when it comes to relationships. Romans 12:10 says that we are to love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 tells us to encourage one another and build one another up. This is the core foundation of our relationships and it takes work!
Influences: What stories are we telling with our lives? Every single social media post, every single text/snap/message, the way we talk to one another, the things we love and the things we hate, the things we share and the things we keep hidden are all telling stories to people around us. These are influences. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 tells us that we are a written “letter”, revealing to EVERYONE the Spirit of the Living God, at work in our world THROUGH us. We must ask ourselves…what is influencing us and how are we influencing others?
By looking at characters in Scripture we don’t normally study, we will look at their character, their relationships and their influence to see how God used them in spectacular and mighty ways and how he can do the same with us.
Gateway Student Ministry 