Posts in Middle School
November 1 - Middle School

As we continue the story of Jacob, we witness one of the most bizarre scenes in his whole story: When he wrestled with God. When we walk through the story, we will see what happens when this man encounters God: He is given a new identity and is changed forever; why? Because God chose weakness to allow Jacob to be victorious. In the same way, God became weak by dying on the cross to redefine us and change us forever.

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Middle SchoolAl Shepard
October 25 - Middle School

During this next portion of Jacob’s life we find him on the run, fearful for his life and separate from the community. This is what sin does within our stories, it leads to division and separation within our relationships, both with people and God. When we feel like what we’ve done or what we’re going through has separated us from God’s presence, we need to turn our heads, look up, and remember that God is always with us.

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Middle SchoolAl Shepard
October 18 - Middle School

As we begin our series on Jacob, we will explore the most well known part of his journey: when he deceives his father and steals the blessing from his brother. Based on this story, you’d be surprised that Jacob would be a recipient of God’s promises and a foundation of His blessing! But God uses broken people to do beautiful things.

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Middle SchoolAl Shepard
October 11 - Middle School

As we conclude our series through the Bible, we will explore the exciting conclusion of the story of God: Jesus is victorious. Not only did Jesus prove His power over sin and death by rising from the dead, he also promises to come back and reign forever. The final scene of the Bible shows us that the love of God is stronger than death and that when Jesus reigns forever, he will set everything right.

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Middle SchoolAl Shepard
October 4 - Middle School

As we work through the New Testament and read about the early Jesus followers, we are going to learn about some of the tensions between the Jewish Jesus followers and the Gentiles who were interested in following Jesus. Through a vision about unclean animals, God confronts Peter’s favoritism and tells him to welcome Cornelius (a Gentile) into the family of God. As we walk through the story, some students will be challenged to invite people into God’s family, while others will be reminded that if they have felt counted out by others, God still welcomes them to Himself!

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Middle SchoolAl Shepard
September 27 - Middle School

The realities of the broken world we live in are very real. We see the impact of sin around the world, in our households, and in our own hearts. During this teaching, we will explore what God’s people did to pay for their wrong throughout the Old Testament, what Jesus did in paying the price for our sins, and what we can do to respond to Jesus’ death on our behalf.

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Middle SchoolAl Shepard
September 20 - Middle School

As we continue our series about the story of God, we will explore how Adam and Eve were deceived into disobeying God and students will be reminded that we have an enemy who wants to disrupt our pursuit of God. The good news is that God had a plan to move toward the brokenness – He still moves towards the brokenness today.

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Middle SchoolAl Shepard
September 13 - Middle School

The Bible is a big book and can feel challenging to understand, but did you know it tells one story? During this series, we will look at each major scene of the story and, use the animal that represents that scene as a visual to show our students that they can understand the story of God!

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Middle SchoolAl Shepard