We are excited to have Chris Nye join our Staff team as High School Pastor. This morning we borrowed him to teach our middle schoolers. Here are some of his closing remarks after preaching on “New Beginnings” from Colossians 2:6-10 [NLT, ESV].

What’s next …?

We are excited to welcome Chris and his fiancee Ali serve with the Willamette family. Chris has been faithfully helping to lead the youth since the New Year. (They celebrate their wedding this Summer, in case you are wondering what he was talking about in his story. Ali is the lady he mentions about the changing experiences of life to then live with his new wife once they are married.)

We want to point out the new site we launched last weekend with some helps for enjoying God and His Word: the ROAD.

What is your Question?

This morning we worked through answering students questions about life, Jesus, following Him, the Church, and issues facing middle schoolers.

As one might expect, they have some good questions. Like:

• Why do people stereotype others?
• How do I talk about Jesus with my friends?
• If we are made in the image of God, why is there sin?
• Who created God?
• Is there more to the Christian life than accepting Jesus and going to church?
• Wanna be a ninja?
• Why are we writing down questions?

We actually started with that last one, since it may seem odd to ask questions in church. Why is that? Perhaps we have been programmed to not think too deeply or too much, but just go through the motions. Yet, we all have questions, and Jesus welcomed people to ask Him questions. Every few weeks we plan to give space and time to wrestling with life questions.

When we don’t ask questions our minds simply run with the preconceived notions running around in their (our thoughts, attitudes and desires), which come out in our words, lead to actions, and ultimately form and display our character. Just like we taught about last week:

Last Sunday we launched a new series with your middle schoolers. “My Heart, Christ’s Home” centers around the booklet of the same title by Robert Boyd Munger. The goal is to explore each “room” of our lives to discover if Jesus is welcome there, and how He can take full ownership of our lives. We’ll be exploring through May. Parents: drop by and get a copy of the booklet each student is receiving, and see the front of a house John Sramek built in the Student Center.

View the discussion questions for week 1

Scripture: Nehemiah 11-12 & Hebrews 10:24-25

Ever wonder what the middle school students are being taught each Sunday?

Currently we are wrapping up a series in Nehemiah (just like in “big church”), and this weekend learned Nehemiah 9-10, entitled “Remember What Got Us Here.”

Here Chris Nye uses an analogy to describe our need for dependence on Christ:

We are prone to wander from the Truth. Habits are hard to break. We grew up thinking that if we just tried harder, we’d make it to God. Or, that it doesn’t really matter and God accepts us just as the slobs we are. Isn’t He gracious or something?

Yes, God is full of grace! And He purchased the rights to bring us back to Himself through the payment of His Son. Christ came and did the Law perfectly, loved God and loved people all the way, and now we are free to love God and others. Our chains are gone!

God now — because of Jesus – treats us always, at every moment, on the basis of grace. We haven’t earned it and we never well. So we must swim in the deep-end of God’s grace and learn to relate to Him how we sees us.

We must stand firm, because we are prone to wander. Every day we must preach the Gospel to ourselves. Here’s a reminder of what we must fill up our brains. Let’s read Galatians 5:1:

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

• Paul tells us we used to be slaves. Why would we ever want to go back?
• Think on this: How does it make you feel to know you’re free?

Ever been locked up someplace? Whether for a night, an hour, or even for a few minutes, being trapped someplace is not fun at all. As the youngest of three boys there were times when I was tricked and trapped (all in good fun).

There is only one way to be truly free. We are trapped in our performance mindset (earning our way to God), and thinking that our own way is better than God’s. We are slaves of our selfish nature, and cannot change ourselves. Our minds must be renewed, and our true selves become new.

Jesus is the One who frees us. Let’s read John 8:31-36:

³¹To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

³³They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

³⁴Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

• Think on this: What’s the only way to be free? Why does this work?

God tells us in the book of Romans some amazing things about how He deals with our sin and our old sinful nature. Romans 6:1-14 gives us some great insights. Let’s read it and believe:

¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. ⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

• Think on this: What does Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection do to our sin? How does this affect you?