Friday 25 January 2019

EYES & EARS (PART 1)- CATALYST YOUTH- January 15, 2019



This week we kicked off a two-part series called EYES AND EARS, where we’re talking about the importance of making healthy and wise decisions when it comes to what you listen to or what you watch.

It's a pretty important topic for all of us because, honestly, the world is at our fingertips. With just one click, we can watch or listen to stuff that’s the opposite of what God wants for us—stuff that might tempt us or influence us in negative or unhealthy ways. 


1. TAKING THE ADVICE OF OUR HEAVENLY DAD 

Any good parent wants the very best for their kids. Parents want to protect their kids from things that will do them physical harm (which is why we teach our kids not to play near the stove or run across the street looking both ways). But good parents also want to protect their kids from stuff that might harm them emotionally or spiritually.

All through the Bible, God is referred to as our parent. Often it describes him as our Father—our Heavenly dad—although there are a few times where he’s also described like a mom! For example, in Luke 13:34 it describes God as “wanting to gather his children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings”. 


That’s a pretty cool metaphor for God. He loves us SO much and he wants the very best for us. He wants us to be protected from getting hurt, from going through life and making bad choices and living with regrets! He wants us to stay close to him! He doesn’t want us to be damaged or messed up! When God gives us rules to live by and tells us that some things are right and some things are wrong, it's not because he wants to suck the fun out of our lives, but because, as our Creator, he really does know and want what's best for us! In the Bible, there are a lot of rules or guidelines for life, and even if we don't always understand why God asks us to live a certain way, we have to trust that it's for our very best!

2. WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT OUR MEDIA CHOICES

When I was in youth group, there aren’t a TON of things I remember that my youth pastor said… but one of the things I still remember is the Bible passage that he called “The SCREENS chapter”. Even though this Bible passage is thousands of years old, it’s something that’s SUPER RELEVANT today—especially when we all carry screens in our pockets, and with just one click we can watch anything we want or listen to any music we want FOR FREE! There has never been a time when media has been so convenient!

Have you ever heard someone use the numbers 101 to describe something? In colleges and universities, they usually have introductory or foundational courses called __________101 (like Philosophy 101). It means that it’s the most basic course you can take on that topic. Well, tonight, we’re talking about MEDIA 101, SCREENS 101, MUSIC 101. And it can be found in Psalm 101. 

Psalm 101 is a prayer from David where he’s making a commitment to God.

Psalm 101:2-4 says, “I will be careful to live a blameless life. I need you to help me! I will lead a life of integrity in my own home. I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil”.

Here, David is making a commitment not to sin. Not to look at stuff that is VILE and VULGAR—stuff that will dirty him up and is the opposite of what God wants, stuff that you wouldn't watch with your grandma sitting right beside you..

David also says here that he’s committed to rejecting PERVERSE IDEAS (the word perverse means things that are wrong or twisted- more on that in a minute). David is committing himself to stay away from evil (or things that celebrate sin).

In 2019, his prayer would be something like this—“God I need your help. I don’t want to mess with sin. I want to make sure my eyes are looking at stuff that’s right- that when I’m surfing the net on my phone, when I’m texting my friends, when I’m binge watching Netflix, when I’m alone in my room and nobody else is around, I want to be a person of INTEGRITY- a person who does what’s right! I also want to make sure that when I’m listening to music, that the ideas and lyrics aren’t wrong or twisted. I’m committing myself to staying away from garbage—stuff that influences me in bad ways. Stuff that is the opposite of what you want for me. I’m trusting that you know and want the best for me--- and I want you to be proud of what I’m watching and listening to!”

What an amazing prayer that is! It’s amazing that even THOUSANDS of years later, David’s prayer is SO relevant for today! And that’s before everything was just one click away! God wants the things we watch and listen to to be things that are RIGHT, things that won't tempt us or lead us to sin, things that won't fill our minds with images, thoughts, or ideas that are the opposite of the way He wants us to live.

3. A LOT OF MEDIA IS “EXPLICITLY TWISTED”

In David’s prayer he talks about wanting to stay away from stuff that’s perverse (stuff that’s twisted—which means thoughts, images, video, ideas that are the opposite of what God wants for him)…well, funnily enough, LADY GAGA was just in the news last week talking about this!

Lady Gaga is a pretty famous singer (with a terrible celebrity name, in my opinion. It’s hard to take someone seriously when their name is Gaga) who is actually up for an Academy Award for best actress this year. For years, she’s been putting out music that has influenced a lot of people (in some good and some not so good ways). She has over 77 MILLION followers on Twitter! She’s won a ton of awards for her songs and her videos! People are really interested in what she has to say…and some of her fans (called Little Monsters) are OBSESSED with her. She is worshipped by some people!

This week she posted something on her Instagram that I thought was REALLY interesting. She wrote that she REALLY regretted writing one particular song—and that she wished it would just disappear. Now, part of the reason for that is because the song features the singer R. Kelly, who has been charged (AGAIN) with sexual assault. Looking back at her song, Lady Gaga has come to the realization that the message in the song is a terrible one!

The song is definitely not something that would meet David’s criteria for what would be good to listen to—it has quite a bit of swearing it, it talks about doing drugs and getting drunk (and let's not even mention the video that contains a lot of sexuality), and it repeats over and over the line- “You can’t have my heart and you won’t use my mind but do what you want with my body”. Great message, right? It’s hard to believe, at a time when the #METOO movement is on everybody’s minds, that this song was made just 5 years ago! And the guy she recorded the song with? He has a long history of some messed up stuff, including charges for making child porn (and that was BEFORE this song was written)!

Here’s a quote from Lady Gaga—“I made the song and video at a very dark time in my life, my intention was to create something extremely defiant and provocative because I was so angry and still hadn’t processed the trauma that had occurred in my own life. I think it’s clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time. I’m sorry both for my poor judgment when I was young, and for not speaking out sooner.” (paraphrased- actual link here)

Here she’s saying, “You know that super popular song and video off of my award winning album that I made 5 years ago? Well, I was kind of young and I had poor judgment, and I didn’t really think about the message and whether or not it was something good and healthy. I really regret it. And let's not mention the person I sang it with.”

I wanted to talk about Lady Gaga just to highlight the fact that MOST artists, movie studios, youtube channels, websites-- only care about the money and the clicks. They don’t really think about (or care) about how a kid or teen or even an adult might be influenced or negatively affected by what they put out into the world. Honestly, it boggles my mind that a song that kind of encourages sexual assault and treating a woman like an object was greenlit—that nobody close to Lady Gaga, that the record company, that her friends wouldn’t have suggested that maybe the song was carrying a message that wasn’t very healthy- that maybe it wasn’t something worth putting out, that maybe the lyrics needed to be changed!

The thing you’ll find about a lot of music is that there’s lots of stuff that’s put out because it’s got an awesome beat or a super catchy chorus, but the message of the song is terrible. In fact, the #1 song on iTunes right now is “7 Rings” by Ariana Grande—the song contains a bit of swearing and is all about how hot and rich she is. Yup, the WHOLE song is about how great it is to be her. The video is also VERY sexually provocative. Some of the lyrics include, “I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it. Whoever said money can't solve your problems must not have had enough money to solve 'em”. 

The song glorifies the pursuit of wealth and good looks and is pretty much the opposite of what the Bible teaches--- that it's not what's on the outside that matters, but God looks on the inside, that you can have all the money in the world, but if you don’t know God, then you’re missing out. That’s just one example!

I wanted to highlight that because the people who put out media don’t really care about you or have your best interests at heart. Most artists don’t care if their message is terrible--- they just want to make more money off of you! When you realize that a lot of the music and movies you watch MIGHT have garbage values, it reminds you to pay closer attention to what the message is before you hit play. 


And you could say, "But it’s just a fun song with a good beat! Really, can it be that bad"?, but when you’re singing or thinking about those lyrics over and over—it can influence your thinking and can influence your own values. I don’t want my kids growing up believing that as long as they look hot and have lots of money to spend on whatever they would like, that's all that matters, and I definitely wouldn't want my daughter to be dancing like Ariana Grande in that video. We're God's sons and daughters! How do you think he feels about it?

God wants us to make wise choices when it comes to what we put in front of our eyes or what we put in our ears! We need to think about whether or not the messages are positive ones. We need to ask ourselves if the stuff we’re watching on our screens is leading us to sin, tempting us, or pulling us away from God! Is the media we’re consuming good for us? Is it making God proud?  Is it celebrating things that are good and right, or is it celebrating sin (actions and choices that are the opposite of what God wants for us)?

The good news is that God offers us forgiveness and a brand new start! We can make better choices starting today!

DISCUSSION FOR HOME

1. Parents, take the time to sit with your teen while they watch a channel or show that they like. Afterwards, talk to them about it. What is the message in the story? Is there anything in it that celebrates sin? Does it have content that features sexuality, profanity, or excessive violence? Does it promote values that are contrary to how God wants us to live? Discuss what the positive messages might be in it.

2. Parents, ask your teens what their favourite song is right now. What's the song or video that all of their friends really love? Take the time to look at the lyrics (and if you dare-- to watch the music video together) and discuss some of the same questions above.

3. Remind your teens that God wants us to make right choices when we "consume" media. He doesn't want us to focus on things that celebrate sin or things that promote values that are the opposite of what he says is right. Take the time to pray together and ask God to help you and your teen make viewing and listening choices that reflects your faith and values.

Friday 11 January 2019

AMAZING GRACE! CATALYST Youth, Friday, January 11, 2019


My wife and I recently got a board game where we have to be detectives and solve crimes (like we're in the middle of a crime show on TV), so I thought it would be cool to start the year off by looking at the story of a pretty bad dude in the Bible—he even KILLED people…and yet, there’s a pretty big twist in his story! It doesn’t turn out the way we all might expect it to!

It all starts in the Book of Acts. After Jesus had died and rose again, people were coming to faith in Jesus all over the place and churches (groups of Christians who met together) were sprouting up in different cities. Now this kind of thing was a real threat to the Jewish religious leaders who believed that Jesus wasn’t God (because that’s impossible, right?), so he must have been an evil liar who was tricking people into putting their faith in him. And that’s the whole reason why they killed Jesus in the first place! These religious leaders hated Jesus and believed he was a liar and deceiver, even though they had witnessed Jesus doing incredible miracles with their own eyes and couldn’t explain it! They saw Jesus as a threat to their religion!

So, because of this, the Jewish religious leaders made it their mission to put an end to this movement of Christianity. They began to accuse and punish anybody who believed in something different than them, and they made it their goal to kill or imprison anybody who taught that Jesus was the Son of God and that people could experience forgiveness through him.

Last year, we talked about how, one of the reasons we can have confidence that what the Bible says about Jesus is true is because the disciples kept sharing their faith and leading people to believe in Jesus even though there was NOTHING good in it for them! They didn’t make millions of dollars selling their story, they didn’t become rich and famous! In fact, talking about Jesus at the time was SUPER RISKY! Most of the disciples actually ended up being killed for talking about Jesus and refusing to say that it was all a made-up story…and I don’t know about you, but I would NEVER die because I wanted to convince people of a story that I made up. That would just be insane!

Anyhow, in Acts 7, it tells us about the FIRST MARTYR (someone who is killed for their faith). This guy, Stephen, just kept telling people about Jesus, and this angered people so much, that they actually threw stones at him until he was dead! Acts 7:57-58 says that the person overseeing the whole thing, was a young man named Saul.


In a lot of movies, they establish how bad the villain is and make you hate him by having him doing something terrible right near the start. For example, if you saw AVENGERS:INFINITY WAR, it took us about 5 minutes to realize that Thanos was ONE BAD DUDE. Well here, we’re first introduced to a guy named Saul…and it’s pretty easy to see that he was a villain…. the first time we hear about him, he’s helping people kill a guy!

Saul was a Jewish religious leader who HATED all of the “lies” that Christians were saying about God! Acts 9: 1-2 says that he was given a mission by the other Jewish religious leaders- to hunt down Christians and arrest or kill them! This guy, Saul, meant well….he thought he was doing the right thing and making God proud, but little did he know that HE was the villain! It's kind of hard to wrap our minds around this kind of thing these days, but I guess you could kind of compare it to life in a community country. For example, in China, there are people who are arrested and even tortured JUST BECAUSE THEY WENT TO CHURCH!


Acts 9 says that while Saul was on the road to go and kill some more Christians, something kind of supernatural happened! He was blinded by a light from heaven, fell to ground, and heard the voice of Jesus. Jesus asked Saul, "Why are you persecuting me?" and then told Saul to go into the city and wait.

If the story ended there, we would be all like “YES! Saul got what he deserved! He was killing and throwing Christians in jail, so now he’s going to be blind for the rest of his life as punishment!” Only….that’s not what happened!

God sent a follower of Jesus to meet Saul- a guy by the name of Ananias, and Ananias told Saul that Jesus forgave him for the things he was doing and that Jesus wanted Saul to follow him and tell others about him! Now that's a pretty shocking twist! So, Ananias prayed for Saul, and the Bible says that it was like scales that fell off of Saul’s eyes. He could see again! Saul was so shocked and amazed that right then and there, he believed in Jesus and was baptized (which means that he wanted to show people publicly that he was going to follow Jesus with his life!). Acts 9:19-21 says that Saul started travelling and telling people about Jesus, and this just floored people. People were absolutely shocked that this HATER of Christianity became a Christian himself! I mean, this guy had KILLED people just because they believed differently than him! 


Now, this guy Saul, he became kind of a big deal. In the Bible, you might know him by another name—Paul. And this guy Paul, became a pastor and missionary—a leader of the early church. He actually wrote 13 books of the Bible! Maybe you never thought about that before—but a good chunk of the New Testament was written by a guy who used to hate Christians so much that he had them thrown in prison or killed!

Later on, in 1 Timothy 1:15-16, Paul wrote: “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I AM THE WORST OF THEM ALL. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.”

Isn’t that amazing! Paul here, admits that Jesus came to make a way for sinners to be forgiven (sinners are people who say and do things that are the opposite of what God wants). Paul even says that he was the WORST SINNER OF THEM ALL! He definitely didn’t deserve God’s love and forgiveness! He definitely didn’t deserve a second-chance, but God gave it to him anyway, because the thing that God wants THE MOST is for everybody (no matter who they are, or what they’ve done) to experience his love and forgiveness!

Hopefully none of us are killers, but the Bible tells us that all of us have sinned—we all say and do things that are the opposite of the way God tells us to live. We lie. We’re unkind to people. We might gossip. We might look at stuff on our computers that we know isn’t right. We might be selfish, We might lash out at people in anger….the list goes on and on. And that's just what we did today!

But this is the really good news. Despite the fact that we’re all a mess—despite the fact that we keep making bad choices and do things that we know God isn’t proud of, just like for Paul—God offers us love and forgiveness, and a brand new start. A second, third, fourth, and a one-hundredth chance to follow him! When I think about Paul’s story in the Bible---I sometimes ask myself—WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD GOD FORGIVE THIS GUY? I mean, he was throwing Christians in prison and even killing them! I mean, didn’t this guy cross a line?

Some people have this picture of God being someone who enjoys punishing us--- where he wants you to pay for your mess-ups, but that’s not true at all! One of my most favourite Bible verses is in Psalm 103:8-10 where it says, “God is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, he’s rich in love. He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs”.

Definitely, one of the best reminders we can have as we start a new year, is that God loves us—he wants a friendship with us—he wants us to follow him—and he wants us to accept his love and forgiveness, even if we might not deserve it! He did it to Paul--- a guy who killed other Christians and considered himself to be the WORST SINNER EVER—and he can do it for you and me! Christians (people who try to follow Jesus) aren’t perfect people. We’re just people who try our best to follow God with our lives and lean on God’s grace when we mess up! We're people who NEED God's AMAZING GRACE!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR HOME

1. What do you find the most shocking about Saul/Paul's story?

2. Do you think it's fair that Jesus offered him forgiveness? Why or why not?

3. What is the hopeful thing about Paul's story? What's the good news?

4. Remind your teen that no matter what they've done or how badly they've sinned-- God isn't standing up in heaven pointing his finger down in judgment. His actual response is quite jaw-dropping! He's wanting for us to come to him for forgiveness!