On Sunday we taught an overview of the whole Old Testament (aka OT). We started with a QUIZ. How would you do?

Q1. The Bible is split into two parts, the ________________________ and the ________________________.

Q2. What do you already know about the Old Testament?

Q3. What are the first five books of the Bible?

Q4. How many books are in the Old Testament?

Q5. What is the last book of the Old Testament?

Q6. What is the point of the Old Testament?

ANSWERS:

ʇu & ʇo ‘ǝlqıq ǝloɥʍ ǝɥʇ ɟo ʇuıod ǝɥʇ sı snsǝɾ ˙6 ıɥɔɐlɐɯ ˙5 (ǝlqıq ʍǝɹqǝɥ ǝɥʇ uı sʞooq 42 sɐ pǝzıuɐƃɹo sƃuıʇıɹʍ ǝɯɐs) ʇuǝɯɐʇsǝʇ plo ɥsılƃuǝ ɹno uı sʞooq 93 ˙4 ʎɯouoɹǝʇnǝp ’sɹǝqɯnu ’snɔıʇıʌǝl ’snpoxǝ ’sısǝuǝƃ : (sʞooq 5) ɥɔnǝʇɐʇuǝd ˙3 ʇuǝɯɐʇsǝʇ ʍǝu ǝɥʇ & ʇuǝɯɐʇsǝʇ plo ǝɥʇ ˙1

Can’t read it? Here are the answers again: 1. The Old Testament & the New Testament. 3. Pentateuch (5 books): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. 4. 39 books in our English Old Testament (same writings organized as 24 books in the Hebrew Bible). 5. Malachi. 6. Jesus is the point of the whole Bible, OT & NT.

Then we considered some common misconceptions about the OT (misconceptions are wrong ideas/thoughts), such as:

1. The OT has nothing to do with Jesus, so we don’t need it.
2. The OT is just a bunch of Laws that we don’t need anymore.
3. The OT is full of stories of God before Jesus.
4. The OT is for the Jewish people, not for Christians.
5. The OT says in 3 pages what the NT says in a sentence. (Therefore we don’t need to read it; the NT is more like Cliff’s Notes.)

These are common mis-understandings — getting the facts and purposes wrong. No, no, no!

Chris Nye taught on the overall structure of the Old Testament, in the four kinds of writings/sections:

❶ Law (the Pentateuch, first 5 books) — Genesis—Deuteronomy

❷ History // Joshua—Esther

❸ Wisdom writings (poetry) // Job—Song of Solomon

❹ Prophets // major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekel & Daniel) andminor prophets (Hosea—Malachi)

We ended with some questions for discussion in small groups:

• What is the Old Testament about (main theme)?
• What is your favorite story in the Old Testament and why?
• Do you view the Old Testament differently now? Why? Why not?

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:

Every week we send out a summary of the Sunday worship experience with students, focusing on the themes and Scriptures from our teaching and response time. We call this “Ask & Explore” simply because what we learn and enjoy each week should be explored together both students with their parents. What better way to explore than by asking questions? It’s a simple tool parents have asked to help connect God’s Word to the parent-student relationship, bringing the message to real-life.

The questions are the same ones we wrestle with in our small group times. Leaders, students, parents, asking the same heart questions, seeing God change our minds and our hearts.

We deeply desire to partner with parents — and that each would feel encouraged, supported, equipped, and involved in God’s process to nurture students’ faith in Jesus. So … Ask. Explore. Let us know how we can help.

(We send these out for high school as well.)

• See a recent “Ask & Explore” for middle school
• Sign up to receive them!

Thank you again for the privilege of investing in your students!

Because Jesus is everything,

Jeff Patterson
Associate Pastor
students@willamettechurch.com

Read a recent LA. Times article, “What parents think teens are doing on social networks, and what the teens are actually doing.” Here’s the brief article, followed by some reflection.

Do you know where your teens are on the Web tonight?

Most parents aren’t surprised by the most likely answer: social networks. But they may be unsettled by what their kids are doing on those sites, according to a survey to be released Monday by Common Sense Media, a San Francisco advocacy group.

The survey polled 1,013 teens and 1,002 parents. The bottom line: Parents consistently underestimate how much time their kids spend on social networks and how often they engage in risky behavior, such as posting revealing photos of themselves, bullying other kids or hacking into their friends’ accounts. The study mirrors an earlier report from Common Sense Media on kids using technology to cheat in school.

Here’s a sample of the new report’s findings:

• 37% of teens said they used social networks to make fun of other students, but only 18% of parents believe their own angels do so.
• 13% of teens said they posted naked or semi-naked photos or videos of themselves. Only 2% of parents said their kids have done that.
• 24% of teens said they signed on to someone else’s account without permission, while only 4% of parents said their kids have done that.
• 28% of teens posted personal information that they normally would not have revealed in public, but 16% of parents said their kids did that.

What to do? Common Sense suggests …

… parents first learn about these networks by registering and exploring the networks their children are in. Because Facebook and MySpace don’t allow kids under 13 to open accounts, parents with younger children should check their browsers’ histories to see where their kids are going.

For parents of teens who are already on social networks, Common Sense suggested they talk with their kids about privacy settings, whom not to friend and precautions to take when posting personal information.

“Remind teens that everything they post can essentially be seen by a vast, invisible audience,” the group said in its report. “And tell them that online stuff can last forever. If they wouldn’t put something on the hallway in school, they shouldn’t post it on their pages.”

___

A few thoughts …

First, an immediate response may be “Oh no, not my kid!… My kid would never …” But wait, that is part of the point of the research. Parents are underestimating the influence of media on their kids, and the visible signs may not clue us in. We need to dig deeper, while taking a step back, and recognize that it could be our kids. Doesn’t mean we are horrible parents. There is hope; read on …

The report mentions monitoring the web habits of your children. (Yes, you should!)

There are also additional ways to talk with your kids. The first is talking with your kids. Get in their world. Find out what interests them—today, right now. Show them you love them by getting interested in what interests them.

At an appropriate time, share a good resource (to get both of you thinking) like How to Use Your Head to Guard Your Heart: A 3(D) Guide to Making Responsible Media Choices (by Walt Mueller of CPYU).

What is 3(D)? It means Discover, Discern, and Decide. There is a process for making responsible choices. This great resource can get a helpful tool in your family.

• Find it here, or grab a FREE copy from the middle school room this weekend. We want to resource you parents—you are the most important influence in your kids’ lives!

On Sunday we watched this video, challenging us to see all of our possessions — money, things, food, everything — as ways to show how Christ is more valuable to us than any of it. All of our stuff is on loan from its true Owner, the Creator God, who made us to know, love and enjoy Him above all else.

• The question for students to ask their parents: Mom + Dad, who really owns all of our stuff?

We’re rolling out a Summer calendar shortly.

First, let me ask — anybody going on any road trips?