CATALYST Youth- "Get Sneaky...with Sharing Your Faith!"- Friday, Nov. 18, 2016

This week, we wrapped up our "GET SNEAKY" series, where we've been talking about how, the small “sneaky” things we can do everyday can make a big difference in somebody’s life!

It’s sad, but a lot of people feel that many Christians are pushy and forceful people—that they just want to shove “religion” down somebody’s throat—that they enjoy waving signs telling people that they’re going to hell—pointing their fingers of judgment with a smile on their face. Unfortunately, it’s usually the crazy, offensive people who call themselves “Christians” who get the airtime on the news. While those people might mean well, generally when people share their faith in loud, forceful, even offensive ways, it brings the complete opposite effect- where people don’t want to have anything to do with Jesus because of them. It is, however, possible to talk about "God-stuff" without being a jerk.

1. WE CARRY GOOD NEWS
In the Bible, it talks a lot about sharing “the gospel”. The word “gospel” in the Greek language literally means- “good news”. So, as people who have faith in God, we have “good news” worth sharing. Generally, you don’t have to have your arm twisted to share good news. People are always sharing things that interest them or things that they’re excited about. On Facebook or Instagram, people post pictures of the successful meals they created. They share “selfies” because they want to show the world how good they look. They share memes that make them cringe or laugh. They share baby and wedding picture. People are CONSTANTLY sharing things about their lives!

A lot of Christians, however, find it hard to share stuff about what they might believe…or that they go to a church or youth group, or to share a Christian perspective on something happening in the news, because we don’t want to come off as being pushy or annoying. The temptation is to keep quiet and to never let people know what we believe about God and life, keeping the “good news”, the “gospel” a secret.

The good news is that God loves us and that through Jesus we can find forgiveness from sin. We can hope! We can live a fulfilling life, and have an eternal future in heaven!

2. PRAY FOR YOUR FRIENDS 
God doesn’t over-ride people's wills if they’re dead-set against him. He gives us all a choice in choosing to know and follow him or to go our own way, but when we pray, we can ask God to draw people to himself…we can ask God to help our friends to start to think about deep, spiritual questions…we can pray that God would give us an opportunity to have a conversation about the stuff we believe.

“Pray for everyone. Ask God to help and bless them all, and tell God how thankful you are for each of them. Pray for kings and others in power, so that we may live quiet and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God. This kind of prayer is good, and it pleases God our Saviour. God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth, which is, There is only one God, and Christ Jesus is the only one who can bring us to God.” (1 Timothy 2:1-5)

The Bible encourages us to pray for people—praying that God would bring the very best in their lives, praying for the people who are in charge of our world, and praying that people would come to know the God who loves them and wants a friendship with them! Don't give up praying for your friends and family!

3. LIVE OUT WHAT YOU BELIEVE.
One of the most hated kinds of people in our world today are hypocrites—people who say one thing, but do another.  If you have accepted God’s love and forgiveness, but don’t actually try to live it out and follow God with your life, then you’re not going to be very convincing if someone asks you questions about what you believe.

In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus calls his followers, “a light in a dark place or a city on the hill”. He’s basically saying that we should stand out as people who love and follow him- that there should be some noticeable difference in the way we live our lives! Do we stand out in the things we say? Do we stand out in the things that we do? If we don't take living out our faith seriously, why would anyone else take it seriously either?

4. BE OPEN AND HONEST ABOUT WHAT YOU BELIEVE
A lot of people think that sharing your faith means preaching a sermon at people… and that’s just not true. Sharing your faith—sharing the good news of God’s love—can be as simple as being OPEN and HONEST about what you believe with other people.

When someone asks about your weekend (and it happens all of the time), tell them about what you did at CATALYST or that you were at church! If you’re reading the Bible and something jumps out at you, share it on social media! If you’re having a discussion with your friends on some topic—talk to them about what the Bible says on that issue. Let a friend know about a fun youth event that's coming up and invite them to join you!

It can be REALLY tempting to stay quiet about those things because we might be a little afraid of how people might react or respond—but we have to get over that. When we’re simply open and honest about what we believe, it’ll prompt people to ask questions! "CATALYST? What’s that?" "Why do you go?" "Why do you go to church on a Sunday instead of sleep in?" "Why do you volunteer in your church?" "Why do you go to the Christian club at school?" "I’ve noticed that you don’t swear or gossip about other people—why is that?"

When people ask questions and you give open and honest answers, you never know how God will use those conversations to get them thinking about God-stuff that they’ve never thought about before!

We can share our faith in small, “sneaky” ways everyday…and when we do, we can expect that people will ask questions, and we might just have an opportunity to point someone in the direction of the God who loves them!

QUESTIONS FOR HOME

1. Does your teen know somebody who seems far away from God or uninterested in faith stuff? Take the time this week to regularly pray for that friend, believing that God can spark spiritual needs and spiritual questions in their lives.

2. If someone were to ask your teen why they go to church or why they go to CATALYST, what answer would they give? Talk to them about why YOU are committed to being a part of church community. Explain some reasons why YOU feel that it's important for yourself.

 3. Encourage your teen to be open and honest about what they believe. When someone asks what they did on the weekend, challenge them to share about CATALYST! It's something so simple that could spark more conversation!

4. Over the next two weeks, our mission is to play all of our Sneaky Cards. Ask your teens what cards they got this week and do what you can to help them complete their missions!

CATALYST Youth- "Get Sneaky...with Generosity!"- Friday, Nov. 11, 2016

This week we continued our “GET SNEAKY” series (and interactive card game) by talking about how we can “GET SNEAKY WITH GENEROSITY!” "Generosity is defined as a "willingness to give or to share unselfishly". Last week, we talked about kindness- and you can't really be generous without kindness, but generosity takes things a step further. Generosity requires a bit of sacrifice.

We kicked things off with this video clip depicting Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan.

The reason why Jesus told this story (which can be found in Luke 10) is because someone asked Jesus—“How does God want me to live?” To which Jesus told the person—“God wants us to love him and have a relationship with him, and he wants us to be “good neighbours”—to love others as much as we love ourselves”. Jesus says that this story is a perfect example of what it means to be a "good neighbour".

1. GENEROSITY ISN’T JUST "CARING"- IT’S "DOING".

The guys that passed by this injured man probably felt super bad for him. They may have even said a prayer—“God, I pray that you would heal this guy". "God, please send someone across this guy’s path to help him”. Of course, they totally missed the fact that THEY would have been that someone! Generosity doesn’t just mean caring about people, having pity on them, wishing them well…but actually DOING something to help them in some way. Generosity costs you something.

2. GENEROSITY MEANS MORE THAN GIVING $$.

One of the most common ways that we can show generosity is by giving money. The Good Samaritan, in our story, gave someone money to take care of the injured man (and the Samaritan even promised to return and pay for any additional expenses, so he was committed to helping this guy on an ongoing basis, not just giving a few bucks one time and then leave him to become someone else's problem).

But the Good Samaritan didn’t just give money…. He also gave of his time! He probably had things to do! He probably didn’t want to hang out on a road where robbers could jump out at anytime! BUT, he STOPPED! He put his own plans on hold! He actually bandaged this guy’s wounds (which would have been kinda gross), loaded him on his donkey, and took him someplace where he could get additional help.

Teenagers might not have a lot of bucks- especially if they haven't started working yet, but when they volunteer—when they give of their time—either in the church or in the community, they're showing generosity! Even when they do something as simple as stopping to help someone who drops their books in the hallway at school instead of rushing off to their own class, they are showing GENEROSITY because it costs them something! It costs them time- and time is the most valuable thing any of us has!

Generosity also means sharing! It’s not hoarding something for yourself—but spreading it around for other people too. Even something as simple as offering someone a stick of gum is a small, simple way of showing generosity.

3. GENEROSITY TIP: GIVE STRATEGICALLY!

There are a lot of problems in our world! There are a lot of needs! Everybody is asking for money- and we can’t possibly give to EVERY, SINGLE NEED that comes across our path—we can’t volunteer for EVERY organization that tries to help people—because we only have so much time in the day, we only have so much money…

But, we can’t let the overwhelming size of the problem prevent us from giving up altogether and not being generous.

Something that I often do is pray and ask God how I should give. Sometimes I feel God saying to me that I need to give a certain amount of money as a one-time thing to a person or some kind of organization. Sometimes I sense that God is telling me to give to something on an ongoing basis. For example, we sponsor a child in Africa through Compassion Canada. By the way, if you want to get that kind of direction from God-- the healthier your friendship with him is, the more you'll sense the Holy Spirit speaking to you.

Also, a good thing to think about is- What’s really important to God? How would he want me to use my time or money? What are things that I REALLY care about? What are needs that feel the most important to me? Some people might love animals and be involved in animal shelters. For other people, they would rather volunteer at an innercity mission- caring for the poor and homeless. Some might choose to give money to help scientists try to cure cancer, while others feel more passionate about donating to support a missionary. All of those causes are important-- but we can't be super passionate about ALL OF THEM-- because you can only give so much. What are the things that are most important to you? Maybe that's an indicator of where you should be generous?

Of course, that doesn’t mean that when a need comes across your path you should ignore it if you’re just not “feeling it”. I mean, even if the first guy in Jesus' story who passed by the injured man was a “dog lover”, that’s a pretty sad excuse for not helping someone who was fighting for his life. "Nope. Sorry, I ONLY help injured animals."

4. GOD BLESSES US WHEN WE’RE GENEROUS

When we’re generous—we’re giving up something that’s valuable to us, we’re giving up something for ourselves to help someone else! When we do that, it's a way we worship God. When we’re generous- we’re also trusting God. We’re saying, “I’m not going to rely on this money to take care of me—but by giving away what’s so important, I’m relying on God to take care of me”. 

 I’ve never heard of anybody who was generous, say that they regret living that way. I’ve never heard of anyone on their death bed say that if they could do it all over again, they wouldn’t help anybody.

I just love that verse from Proverbs 11:25! When it's saying that a generous person will "prosper",  it’s not saying that if you give money, you’ll get lots of money back (although, from my experience, I've found that by living generously, I've noticed how God has provided for me in amazing ways). This word, "prosper", in the Hebrew language has more to do with being "fulfilled". When you're generous, you will be blessed! You'll enjoy the rich and fulfilling life that God wants for you! The second part of that verse says that generosity will REFRESH you! It'll benefit you!


QUESTIONS FOR HOME

1. We're continuing our SNEAKY CARDS game for the next couple of weeks. Your teen (hopefully) returned any cards he/she couldn't use, and brought home 5 more! Ask them about what missions they received! Help them complete them!

2. Talk to your teen about the ways your family chooses to be generous. They might not even know about all of the ways you give! Ask them that if they were given $100 and HAD to spend it by donating to a charity, or if they had to volunteer a certain number of hours each month at some charitable organization, what would they choose and why? Perhaps you can think about giving to that need or volunteering in that way as a family sometime in the next couple of weeks- showing your teen that you want to support a cause that's important to them.

CATALYST Youth- "Get Sneaky...With Kindness!", November 4, 2016

This week, we kicked off a new series called 'GET SNEAKY'. It's all about how we can do small things everyday that can make our world a better place. This week, we kicked things off by talking about kindness. To be "kind" means that you're someone who's friendly, thoughtful, and helpful-- where you don't just think about yourself, but you think about the other people around you-- showing in some way that you care about them.


1. GOD WANTS YOU TO BE KNOWN FOR KINDNESS
It's probably not too hard to think of a recent example where someone was mean or unkind. Whether it's something you notice at school, or even on social media-- there is a lot of mean-ness out there! While ANYONE can (and should) be kind- the Bible specifically tells us that people who love and follow Jesus should ESPECIALLY be known for it. Colossians 3:2 tells us that we should stand out for kindness-- that we should wear it everyday like a t-shirt! Jesus said in John 13:35 that one of the ways people will be able to tell that we love Jesus is by our love for other people. When someone who calls themselves a Christian is unkind, it can turn people off of the faith altogether. Why would anyone want to be a Christian if one of the only Christians they know is a real jerk? Hopefully, that wouldn't be said of any of us.

2. GOD WANTS YOU TO BE KIND TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T DESERVE IT
One of the biggest challenges in the whole Bible is in Luke 6:27 where Jesus says, "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you." WHAT?!? Jesus goes on to say that it's no big deal to show kindness to people who are kind to you-- but people will be able to tell that you're serious about following God when you love the people who treat you like garbage and when you're kind to those who don't deserve it. I shared a story of how I worked with a guy who was totally in love, but when he broke up with his girlfriend, he said things about her that I wouldn't say to my worst enemy. There are days when we'll encounter people who have hurt us, said mean things about us, or offended us in some way. In those moments, it's tempting to "unleash the beast"- to tear them to shreds with our words and get "sweet revenge". But, Jesus tells us to choose the high road. He challenges us to show love and kindness to the people who don't deserve it.

3. GOD WANTS TO RENOVATE YOU
I used to be a pretty mean guy- I was sarcastic and would make fun of people a lot. I definitely didn't have a reputation for being kind-- BUT when I invited Jesus into my life and asked him to forgive me and clean me up- that's exactly what he did! It didn't happen overnight, but people began to notice that I was a kinder person-- that I actually cared about others and their feelings! In Galatians 5, Paul lists the "fruit of the spirit", which basically means that when you're close to God-- when you're relationship is healthy and strong-- you'll notice positive changes in your life. Some of those changes include being more patient, being slow to anger, being more joyful, and being more KIND. We can ask Jesus to come into our lives and clean us up for the better- to renovate us into the best versions of ourselves- that we would be known for our kindness and love.

QUESTIONS FOR HOME

1. This week, we introduced an interactive card game called "SNEAKY CARDS" where teens have cards that ask them to complete some kind of mission. Some of the missions are silly (like play 'rock, paper, scissors' with someone and, if you win, to give them the card) and some involve caring and kindness (like holding the door open for 10 people in a row and giving the card to the 10th person). Teens will be given 5 cards, with 5 missions they can try to accomplish that week. If they can't do them all, they can bring their cards back the next week to add to the deck. We'll then shuffle them and redistribute them for the next week! The whole point of the game is to show that the small things we can say and do everyday are important and can be meaningful to other people. What's even cooler, is that the cards can be tracked-- so if people who receive the card enter the code at the bottom online, it'll show us on a map where the card has traveled. So, theoretically, our small acts of kindness could be multiplied and travel across the world! Ask your teens to show you their "sneaky cards". Encourage them to complete their missions and help them out if you can (it can be fun for the family too!).

2. We talked about how Jesus wants us to show kindness to people we would consider our enemies. Why is that so hard? What difference might it make if we actually lived like that? Discuss this and pray with your teens- that they would stand out and represent Jesus well-- through their kindness.

CATALYST YOUTH- "Toss The Cookies!", Oct 22, 2016

(source: http://www.feelguide.com/2016/08/04/meet-donald-lau-the-most-read-author-in-america-who-writes-all-those-fortune-cookie-messages/)

Apologies everyone-- I typed this up weeks ago but forgot to post it! :) PB
With Halloween approaching, this week at CATALYST, we looked at the many ways people seek answers about life and the future, and what the Bible has to say about astrology, mediums, and psychics. We watched a short video clip introducing a man who writes all of the fortunes found in fortune cookies- someone who got the job simply because he happened to be the best at speaking English. While there aren't many people who base their life on what a cookie tells them to do, there are a lot of people who look for answers about life and the future by consulting horoscopes, visiting mediums or psychics, or even playfully using Ouija boards, which can be bought in any toy store.

What does the Bible have to say about consulting cookies, psychics, or the stars?

While people might read and follow a horoscope or fortune cookie's advice- advice that might be randomly printed out by a computer or written by someone we wouldn't think would be qualified to do that kind of thing- there are also people who claim to communicate with spirits or have special knowledge who aren't necessarily con artists.

The Bible lets us know that some people really are tapping into something evil; that there really are evil spirits (demons) which might be communicating back to them, and that there really are people out there involved in sorcery and divination. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of places in the Bible where we're warned about dabbling with the occult and seeking answers from spirits or the stars.

-2 Kings 21:6 talks about a guy named Manasseh who “practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics”. And that “he did much that was EVIL in the Lord’s sight, arousing his anger”.

-In Deuteronomy 18, God told the people of Israel to be different than their neighbours who didn't know or follow him. “Be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there…Do not practice fortune telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. ANYONE WHO DOES THESE THINGS IS DETESTABLE TO THE LORD”.

-Galatians 5:20-21 tells us that our involvement in this kind of stuff is “sin”- that it’s the opposite of what God wants for us…and it pulls us further away from him, which incidentally, is why so many Christians would tell you not to read books, watch movies, or play games that involve casting spells or exploring witchcraft.

-Deuteronomy 4:19 says “When you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of the heavens—don’t be seduced into worshipping them. The Lord your God gave them to all the peoples of the earth.” This verse reminds us that we should seek answers from our Creator and not his creation!

-Isaiah 8:19-20, says, “Someone may say to you, ‘Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.’ But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead? Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark”.

While there probably aren't to many of us who read horoscopes, play with ouija boards, or consult psychics, the Bible reminds us to keep our distance from that kind of stuff. Besides the Bible specifically telling us that dabbling with those things are sins (things that are the opposite of what God wants for us and will, in fact, steer us further away from the God who loves us), it also lets us know that if we’re interested to know what we should do with our lives or what choices we should make…we need to look to God!

He’s the creator—the designer—of life…and more than that—he loves us and invites us to have a friendship with him! If anyone knows what will bring us happiness and fulfillment, it’s him!

Now, that doesn’t mean that when we pray, a little piece of paper will fall from heaven with specific instructions of what we should do. God isn’t some machine that dispenses fortune cookies when we pull a handle, but when we love and follow God—when we’re tight with him—when we’re talking to him regularly and reading and thinking about what the Bible says, we’ll be able to hear his voice and know what he wants us to do a lot more clearly.

The verse from Isaiah listed above says that when we look to other things for wisdom or direction, we’ll end up “completely in the dark”- that the "wisdom" we receive will steer us away from what God wants for us. And remember- he loves us and always wants the very BEST for us! Why would we want to distance ourselves from that?

While this kind of thing would have been more common during Bible times, we're reminded that nothing good can come from inviting evil spirits or demons to be the voices that we follow or listen to. We're reminded that seeking answers from the stars or following the advice a deck of cards gives us is quite a foolish thing to do considering that we're in a relationship with the God of the Universe.

It's also important to remind ourselves that whenever God warns us about stuff in the Bible, it isn’t because he wants to suck the fun out of our lives- it’s not because he wants to withhold secret answers or information from us. We need to trust that, as the ultimate good parent—as our Heavenly Father, He really does know and want what’s best for us…and that when he tells us to “Toss the Cookies” he’s got a really good reason for it.

Questions For Home:

1. Ask your teens what they think the future will look like? Years ago, people assumed that we would all have flying cars and jet packs by now, but those things haven't happened. What do they think they might do for a living? Where do they think they'll live? When they think about the future, does it worry them? Why or why not?

2. Can you share a story with your teen of how you trusted God for your future? Can you share a story of how, by staying close to him, he led you or guided you through life even though at the time, you couldn't see it?

3. This week at CATALYST, we saw how there are some people who are so desperate to know the future, that they'll consult psychics or have their fortunes read. The Bible, however, tells us that we should stay away from that stuff- that we shouldn't consult spirits or the stars- but that if we have questions about our future, we need to talk to our Creator about it! Take the time to pray with your teen. Pray that even though their future might be uncertain right now, if we stay close to God, he promises to direct our path (Proverbs 3:6).