Summer Kickoff 2023 Devo

Summer Kickoff 2022 Devo

Q. What is one thing that God has taught you this year?

· You’ve made it to the summer!

· Raise your hand if you’re tired

· I am tired as well!

· When you’re tired, it is hard to endure.

· So I am going to read a passage about endurance.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NLT)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up

· They keyword here is endurance

· Somebody define endurance for me!

· Dictionary.com: “the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina.”

· Did anyone have any fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions this past school year? We all probably did

· School is stressful; let’s be honest

· And that stress can keep us down; especially stress that is the result of our own sin

· By the time that you get to the Summer, it is easy to have a “I quit” mentality.

· It is easy just to feel so DONE with everything

· And I know from firsthand experience that, when that happens, it is easy to let your guard down and to let sin sneak onto your doorstep

· You see, what God wants for you this Summer is to have a Summer of endurance

· What about rest? Well yeah; you need to rest, too!

· But we need to rest in a way where we aren’t letting our guard down

· One really practical application for this is when it comes to reading your Bible

· When I was a teen, it was always really easy for me to get off track with Bible reading over the Summer

· We thrive in structure, so you have that with school, but when school is out, some of that structure is taken away.

· But having endurance in this way means being diligent about spending time throughout the Lord this summer

· And if you haven’t been consistent recently, right now is the perfect RESET point for you

· Devo/Bible reading plan

· Just do it! And make sure that you’re not just reading your Bible, but that you’re spending time in prayer as well.

· This verse explains why all of this is so important: in order to endure, we have to keep our eyes on Jesus

· So make this a Summer where you keep your eyes on Jesus like never before!

· Remember the Gospel.

· Remember that we were separated from God, but through Jesus death and resurrection, he has made a way to have a relationship with in

· Press into that relationship this summer!