SUNDAY MORNING ELECTIVE 

SUNDAY MORNING ELECTIVE @ 9:30AM

Middle & High School Students (5th-12th)

Meets upstairs in The Warehouse

Sunday 6/3/26

We have been studying the book of Acts and the letters that Paul writes to the churches that he visits and helped establish.  This week, we looked at the letter that Paul wrote to the Galatians church. This letter was in response to the Council in Jerusalem where they were deciding how Gentiles were to receive salvation. He wrote this to the churches that he visited on his first missionary trip to the Galatia area.   

We first watched the video from The Bible Project where it explains the details of the book and why Paul wrote it.  The visuals in this video are stunning and really bring to life everything one would need in order to fully understand the book.  I encourage you to watch it.  

Afterward, we read and discussed Galatians 1-2 specifically.  We discussed what brought about the need for this letter to the church in Galatia and why Paul is very adament about telling about his experience.  

One of the observations that Paul has is that he and Barnabas are meant to speak to the Gentiles where Peter is better equipped to preach to the Jews.  Even though Peter had the encounter with the Gentiles and has proof that the message of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is for all, he is equipped to better serve the Jews.  

Paul reflects on an encounter that he has with Peter where he has to call him out for leaving the Gentiles in order to be seen with the Jews. 

Lastly, Paul again repeats again and again about there being one gospel:  "a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, becasue by observing the law, no one will be justified." (Galatians 2:16)  We are not saved by observing the law, but by believing in Jesus as the Christ.  

He then goes on to say, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20).  Simply meaning that we are dead to our old self and our old way, but Christ lives in us and that everyone who encounters us should see Jesus.  

How do we apply this scripture?  There's a section that is in Galatians 1 where Paul says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God?  Or am I trying to please men?" (Galatians 1:10). This right here is an everyday battle for me, for students, and for any Christian.  

About Sunday Morning Elective

During Sunday Morning Elective, we focus on getting to know our bible. A couple of years ago, we went into the Torah (the first five books of the bible).  We took a year in the Gospel of John.  We studied the Old Testament and are read through Joshua and Judges. Currently, we are reading through Acts and each letter in the New Testament as he is writing them.  It's so important that we see the foundations that are built in the the bible. We start out each Sunday morning with some breakfast, some fellowship, and then move into small groups of  middle school and high school. These small groups allow time to read the scripture and apply it to their individual lives.