Middle School / Calvary Church

Quality over quantity! Do you have those iron sharpens iron friendships in your life? (Proverbs 27:17) Who do you turn to, to keep you accountable? Is there anyone in your life that you can tell him or her absolutely anything? We will look in, Proverbs 27 and 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ecclesiastes 4:12, James 5:16 all about the importance of having spiritual friendships.

Just as we are not meant to live in isolation, we also have to be careful who we surround ourselves with. In Proverbs 12:26, who you surround yourself with matters! What qualities should you look for in a friend? We will look at Proverbs 17:17; 18:24; and 27:9 each verse sharing wisdom when it comes to who we chose as our friends. So here is the question, “who are the friends that are surrounding you?”

From Jeremiah 1:4-11, Jeremiah embraces his role in God’s story. He recognized that he wasn’t the main character, that it wasn’t his party and was willing to go through suffering and things that are hard to fulfill God’s plan for his life. Tonight we focus on two questions: Who am I and Why am I here?

God invites us to be part of the greatest story ever told. Our role is to accept his invitation and join the party. Have you accepted God’s invitation to choose Him? Are you choosing God daily from your heart or choosing the deceptions of the evil one?

How are we meant to live? In this first week, we will look at Gen 2:18-25. These passages talk about our need to live in community with other people. We are created to belong, in community of other believers but more importantly in a relationship with God. As Psalm 145:14-19 tells us, the Lord is near to those who call on him and He hears their cries and saves them. You were created to Belong to Christ.

True revival starts with the faithful communication of God's Word, and an appropriate response by God's people. All too often we read the Bible and neglect to put into practice what we read. As the scripture is read, the people respond! But this revival is short-lived, the people quickly turn from God’s words. The book ends with a challenge, will we be like God’s people, or will we allow God to change our hearts, to not only be hearers but doers of the word.

As the rebuilding begins, Nehemiah begins to experience opposition from outside and division from within. How will he respond to these set backs? How will he stop the discontent with the people and resolve the conflicts that are preventing the work of rebuilding the wall.

Nehemiah has a prayer, a passion and preparation for the work that God has laid on his heart, rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem. We get a glimpse into Nehemiah’s heart and faith as he bravely asks the king, surveys the extent of the project and begins the work of rebuilding.

As we start off our year in Student Groups, we want to get back to the basics, why do we even do student groups? What is their purpose and what should we commit to when we show up on a Wednesday night?

This week we dig deep into Romans 3:21-31, as we learn how we are Saved by faith alone. Though we were dead in our sins, we can be saved through faith in Jesus. This salvation is not dependent on us and our actions, but on God, who forgives, justifies and makes us righteous through faith. When we realize that it is God who saves us, not ourselves, we can only be grateful and humbled by His love.

In this series we will be looking at the book of Romans. In the first week, our goal is to recognize the position that sin has put us in relation to God. We will look at the realistic truth of the effects of sin in our lives. We will be looking at Romans 1:18-32. We will focus on the wrath of God, who we choose to worship, and how God is fighting to bring us back into his arms.

In our final week of our series “How to read the Bible” we are challenging the students with the question “Will” you read the Bible? What now? How to I practically, daily, read the Bible? I want to have the knowledge of God’s word but I lack the motivation to read His word every day. We will challenge our hearts to put in the effort. We will stress the importance and value but also the practical ways we can get better at reading the Bible. Our passage we will focus on is Psalm 119:105.

In week two of our series “How to read the Bible”, we are looking at the practical steps to how we live it out. We will look at some of the questions surrounding the how we interact with the Bible. Where do I start? Should I just open my Bible and begin reading? Are there different ways to read the Bible? What are some good resources for me to help me read the Bible? These are the questions that will surround this conversation as we look at the nuts and bolts of how to read the Bible in a practical achievable way. Our passage we will be focusing on is Romans 12.

This week we will be starting a new series called “How to read the Bible”. We will be discussing these questions in our first week. What makes the Bible so special? Why should I read the Bible over any other book? What am I looking for in the Bible? What is the point of scripture? We will see that God’s word is meant for us to be in communion with Him. We should not just be reading the Bible to check it off for the day. Our passage we will focus on is 1 Timothy 3:16-17.

This week we will hear from Scott Messner about our call to missions. How can we help each other grow to live more missionally? Living missionally means that it is a daily choice to choose to view your life as the mission field that God has placed you in. Your circle of friends, family, and all the random interactions you have with people every day. Are you viewing them as an opportunity for you to share God with them as you would on the mission field?

As we prepare for the upcoming mission trips this year we want to take two weeks to dive into a few questions surrounding mission trips. Why should we go? Where should we go? How long should we go for? What if we think we are helping but actually are hurting? How do I know I am called for missions? All these questions will be answered over the next two weeks. Our main goal will be to see what scripture has to say about our heart behind the trips. We will be looking at Matthew 28 as our foundational passage to launch into this discussion.

In our second week of the series “Grace”, we are looking at Ephesians 2:10. We set the foundation for defining grace, faith, and salvation. These are fundamental in our understanding of who God is and what he has done. The challenge last week was do we know these things well enough to be able to tell someone else how they can be saved? This week we are asking the question “why”. Why should we share this good news? What does service to God look like? Do we serve God to try to earn our way to Heaven? The biggest challenge for our students this week is, are they walking in Service to God? Or are they standing in defiance against God?

If someone were to ask you how you define grace do you have an answer? How about faith? Salvation? All these are basic foundations of our Christian faith and yet we can struggle to understand and explain what each one means. In our first week of our two-week series “Grace" we looked at Ephesians 2:1-10, specifically verse 8-9. We saw that it is by grace that we are saved through faith, not because of anything that we have done to earn our way to heaven. God is the one who has given us his free gift of salvation, we simply must make the choice to put our faith in him or not. Our challenge is two-fold, first, do you know Jesus personally and have you asked to receive the gift of salvation? Secondly, if you have already received this gift then could you explain it to someone who asked?

As we wrap up our series Counterfeit Christmas we read about the wise men and shepherd's role in Christ’s birth. There are so many misconceptions surrounding the nativity sconce. Our main takeaway from this series as we move into the year 2020. Where do we find truth? How can we distinguish the lies from the truth? Let’s look at God’s word to determine truth.

This week we see how a young, unmarried couple handles the news that Mary is pregnant with the messiah! How will Joseph react? How will they tell their parents? What will their friends say? Have you ever wondered why God would choose this way to send his chosen son into the world? As we put ourselves in this young couple's shoes, we will see God work in incredible ways to bring life out of difficult circumstances, that no situation is too broken for God to save and redeem for His glory.