A big thank you to Cheryl Dilworth for teaching Sunday School yesterday while I was out of town for a family funeral. The students talked about the idea that the Gospel is not just basic Christianity. As followers of Christ, the Gospel is something we never grow out of, or something we move beyond. It informs our decisions, our actions, and even our thoughts as we seek to follow Jesus and get to know Him better. They read Romans 1:11-17 as well as 2 Peter 1:12-15, and concluded by thinking about places in their lives where they can live out the Gospel.
Last night at youth group, we began our January series called "I Resolve" that looks at different kinds of resolutions Christ-followers can make that will help make an impact on our faith. We talked about our own resolutions that we have made, and I challenged the students with Philippians 3:7-14 in which Paul wrote that the simplest way to follow Jesus is to run hard after God himself. Every Sunday in January for youth group, I will be giving the students a memory verse for the week, as well as a different prayer method that they can use during their quiet time with God. For this week, we are working on memorizing Philippians 3:8 and we are studying the ACTS prayer method. Thanks so much to Jenna Hand for bringing dinner and helping out!