CATALYST Youth- Sept. 15, 2017- "SQUAD GOALS PART 1"

This week, as we kicked off a new season of CATALYST, we launched a new series called 'SQUAD GOALS'. This week we focused on how the friends that you choose will either influence you in good or bad ways. We looked at a few verses from the Book of Proverbs that talk about making wise friendship choices.

Proverbs 12:26 says, "The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray”.


This verse says that people who love and follow God and do their best to live the way that he says is "right" need to be a bit choosy when picking friends. One of the reasons why Christians often get together at church or youth group is so they can be encouraged to keep following Jesus, and challenged to make good choices in life. This is important because there's a lot of temptation and pressure in life to walk away from God or not take following him seriously. We need friends who can cheer us on and encourage us to make right choices in life! 

Proverbs 22:24-25 says, “Don’t be a friend of a person who has a bad temper. Don’t go around with a person who gets angry easily. You might learn their habits. And then you will be trapped by them”.

Most of us have probably got into trouble because we were hanging out with a crowd who liked getting into trouble. This verse reminds us that the people we hang around with might lead us into trouble or into dangerous situations, so it's best that we think carefully about how our friends might influence our choices or behaviour. 

Proverbs 13:20 says, “Walk with wise people and become wise. A companion of foolish people suffers harm”.

Here we're reminded that when we surround ourselves with "wise" people-- people who make solid choices in life (people who love and follow Jesus, people who are hard workers or good students, people who are kind, caring or generous etc...)-- they'll influence us for the better!

Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend”. 

Back in Bible days, they would rub the blades of knives back and forth against each other, and when they did, it would make both those knives sharper. It seems kind of magical to me, but I’m sure some science is involved. Anyway, the point of this verse is that friends should help each other and make each other better the more they spend time together. Does that describe the friendships that you have?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR HOME:

1. Ask your teen if they can think of a time where either they, or someone they know, was influenced in a BAD way by one of their friends. What happened? Do you think the friendship was healthy? Why or why not?

2. Ask your teen to think about their group of friends. In what ways are they a good influence? In what ways are they a bad influence? Remind them that if the bad outweighs the good, then the Bible encourages us to be VERY careful about remaining in those friendships.

3. Take the time to pray with your teen and ask God to help them surround themselves with the kinds of people who make them better instead of worse. Pray that your teen would be someone who would influence his/her friends to know and follow Jesus or to make wise choices.