CATALYST YOUTH- "Tall Tales or The Truth", Friday, Sept. 18, 2015

There are many people who would sooner believe that Bigfoot uses the Loch Ness Monster as his own personal sea-doo, than that the Bible is anything more than some clever fiction. Many say that it's merely a book of fables- that none of it really happened the way it's written!

What about you? Do you believe what the Bible says is true-- even the weird supernatural stuff? How do you know? Well, tonight, I shared a number of reasons why I believe that the Bible is true and trustworthy. Much of this has been ripped from Josh McDowell-- a guy who set out to prove that the Bible was nothing more than fiction, and through that process became a Christian. He has authored a number of books that highlight reasons why the Bible can be trusted.

1. Manuscripts
There are more manuscripts for the Bible than ANY other book in history! The Ilyad by Homer is #2 with 643 manuscripts. In contrast, there are over 24,000 manuscript copies of the New Testament. All of those copies have been studied and compared to give us the most accurate piece of historical literature in history! For a long time, the oldest copy of the Old Testament we had was dated 900 AD....but when the dead sea scrolls were found in 1947, they discovered copies of the Old Testament that were 1000 years older. After comparing them, they were 95% accurate to each other (and out of that 5%, the errors are mostly grammatical). The Bible is INSANELY accurate.

2. Eyewitness Accounts
The New Testament, which contains all the details about Jesus' life, teaching, miracles, and his death and resurrection, was written by eye witnesses- people who were actually there listening to Jesus....people who saw and experienced miracles first hand...people who saw Jesus die and had a conversation later on with him! See 2 Peter 1:16, Luke 1:2-3, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Acts 26:25-26, Acts 2:22. What happened concerning Jesus was public knowledge! Hundreds saw Jesus after he rose from the dead, not to mention the thousands who saw and experienced miracles!

3. Martyrs
Ten of the twelve disciples were brutally tortured and killed for their faith in Jesus. Thomas (my personal favorite) was someone who doubted that Jesus was alive, but when he encountered Jesus for himself, he spent the rest of his life telling others in India about his experience and was speared to death because of it! Have you ever seen a TV show where a government agent tortures someone to extract information from them? How many people would go through torture and death just to keep up a lie that they invented? The disciples never made millions of dollars in book deals-- they sacrificed their entire lives to spread the news of Jesus, and even under torture, never denied what they believed.

4. Prophecy
The Bible is full of prophecy that came true in history. There are over 60 major prophecies about Jesus that were all made at least 400 years before he was born that give details of his birth (including the town he would be born in), his life, and incredibly specific details about his death (amazingly, there's a prophecy that his hands and feet would be pierced...and it was written 800 years before crucifixion was even invented!). Josh McDowell says that the chance of just 8 of those 60 prophecies being fulfilled in one person is more than 1 in 100 trillion. Jesus fulfilled all 60.

Discussion:
1. Is there something in the Bible that you find to be hard to believe? What is it and why?

2. If, the Bible is TRUE, if the story of Jesus went down EXACTLY as it said it did, what impact should that have on your life?

3. Check out some of Josh McDowell's short videos on his Youtube site for more evidence into why the Bible can be trusted. I would recommend clicking on 'Playlists" and viewing the short videos (2-4 minutes each) in his series on "Jesus Is Unique" and "Is The Bible Reliable".

Catalyst Youth- "DARK SKIES", Sept. 11, 2015

Tonight, CATALYST youth returns with a rather timely look at the book of Habakkuk. Have you been watching the news lately? We're seeing horror stories of people so desperate to escape places wrought with violence and hatred that they are literally dying, trying to leave! On top of that, today marks the anniversary of the 911 terror attacks in the United States.

This week, I thought it would be a fitting time to look at what the Bible has to say about the problem of evil and injustice in our world.

“How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight." -Habakkuk 1:1-3

Here are some things we can learn, from the Book of Habakkuk, and from the Bible as a whole.

1. We can talk to God.
I love that Habakkuk seemed so angry and frustrated at God. I can certainly relate. These words being in the Bible reminds us that God isn't offended when we ask him where he is or why he isn't miraculously intervening when people are suffering in our world. Habakkuk lived in Judah- a nation that was supposed to be known for loving and following God and telling others that God loves them too, but instead, this was a time (one of many) when the people didn't care at all about following God. The people were doing whatever they wanted. They had thrown morality out the window. Here, Habakkuk is crying out to God for help. When we are overwhelmed, saddened, or even angry at all of the evil and injustice in the world, talking to God about it is one of the best things we can do.

2. We need to trust God.
God answers Habakkuk in Chapter 1, verses 1-5, by saying that He is fully aware of the situation and is going to do something shocking. If you read through the chapter, you will see that God was raising up the Babylonians (a nation even more evil and depraved) to punish Judah. This is Bible prophecy, and soon after, that's exactly what happened. Habakkuk was getting an answer to his prayer, but he didn't like it. In Habakkuk 1:12-13, he is baffled how God would allow an even more evil nation to have success. I mean, why wasn't God punishing THEM? Throughout the Book of Habakkuk we're reminded that "the righteous person will live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4). This means that if we love and follow God, we need to trust him. We need to trust that God is good. We need to trust that, even when it doesn't seem like it, God is doing something-- that he hasn't left us alone. We need to trust that, as the Bible promises, there WILL come a day when God will set right everything that's wrong with our world. We're encouraged, here, to have faith.

3. We need to be part of the solution.
While this point isn't made in the book of Habakkuk, it's something we see all through the Bible. The reason why bad things happen in our world is that human beings choose to do bad things. God has given us the freedom to follow him, or reject him and go our own way. If everybody loved and followed God, living their lives with some sense of higher morality, this world would be a peaceful place to live. While we have no control over the choices that other people make, we are in full control over our own words and actions. Are we known for loving others? Are we known for kindness? Are we known as people who give of our time and money to help others? Do we stand up for others when they're being bullied or made fun of, or do we join in with the crowd? Jesus told us to be "Good Samaritans"--to do what we can, in our own little ways, to be good neighbors to others.

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you ever been frustrated or angry when you've seen violence, evil or injustice in the news? Have you ever talked to God about it?

2. What's one way you can be part of the solution this week? Can you think of some examples of how you could be known for being loving, caring, kind, and helpful? Do you think you have that reputation now? Why or why not?

3. Take some time to pray together. If you can think of cases of evil and injustice in the news, ask God to intervene. Ask God to rescue people who are suffering. Ask God if there's something that you can/should do.