This week at CATALYST, we continued our "WHO CARES?" series by talking about being generous with our skills, interests, and abilities-- all things that God has uniquely wired into us!
In Acts 9: 36-42 we learned about a woman named Dorcas.
DORCAS WAS A DISCIPLE!
She is the only woman in the Bible SPECIFICALLY referred to as a disciple (even though there were other women disciples at the time). This is pretty significant because it was a pretty male-centric society. Men were the ones who could have an education. Men were the ones who had positions of leadership. Only men would have been called disciples. This shows us how much God cares about gender equality. Jesus had women disciples who learned from him and were a part of church leadership! This was pretty counter-cultural at the time.
DORCAS WAS "ALWAYS DOING GOOD AND HELPING THE POOR"!
Because Dorcas was a person of faith who followed Jesus with her life, she naturally dedicated her life to helping others. She had an amazing legacy! She was known for helping the poorest of the poor in that society (specifically mentioning widows). Widows were among the most poor and vulnerable people because they didn't have husbands to provide for them (remember, it was a male-centric culture at the time).
All through the Bible, it encourages followers of God to take care of the poor, refugees, widows, and orphans- to be involved in social justice issues. For example, in Deuteronomy 24:19 it encourages people to not keep all of their crops for themselves, but to leave some for foreigners, orphans and widows. This is something that the church (and Christians) are known for today. Nearly every major helping organization or emergency relief organization that is in existence today is a Christian organization or founded by Christians (Salvation Army, World Vision, Compassion International, Red Cross, Ottawa Mission, Capital City Mission, Ottawa Innercity Ministries). 1 John 3:16-17 says that we can't have God's love in us if we don't have compassion on people in need.
DORCAS USED HER SKILLS, ABILITIES & INTERESTS TO HELP OTHERS!
Acts 9:39 says, "All the widows stood around him (Peter), crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them".
Dorcas had some skills! She knew how to sew! She knew how to make clothing, and she used those skills and abilities not just for her own benefit or livelihood, but so that she could be a help to others as part of the church community.
God has given us all unique skills, interests, and abilities, and they haven't been given to us so that we hoard them for ourselves, but so that we can show CARE to others. It's important that we think about our skills, abilities, and interests and how we each might be able to use them in ways that assist with the mission of the church (to help people know Jesus and to share his love with others), or ways that help people in need.
DISCUSSION FOR HOME:
1. Dorcas was known as being someone who was always doing good and helping the poor. Talk about what your teen would like to be known for- what they would want remembered the most about them. Does any of it include generosity, kindness, or giving?
2. As a family, talk about the ways that you might use your skills/interests/abilities to help others or as a part of the church community. Help your teen think of ways that they could use what God has given them to be a help and benefit to others. Encourage them to talk to Pastor Ben or Christine about ways they could serve at Arlington Woods or at CATALYST youth.
3. Pray together, thanking God for some of the talents, abilities, or interests that he's uniquely given each one of us. Ask God to help your teens be known for their generosity-- that they would give of their time, their abilities/interests, and their money to be a help and benefit to others.
This week at CATALYST youth, we talked about GENEROSITY—particularly about how we can be generous with the most valuable thing that any of us have or ever will have--- no, it’s not money—it’s TIME! Time is so valuable to us that we get paid by the hour! We often spend money to save time (like avoiding lineups at an amusement park)! Some adults will pay for people to wash their clothes or clean their homes, or do things that they COULD do themselves. People will eat at restaurants and spend more than they would on groceries in a week JUST BECAUSE it saves time and is convenient! People can even become really angry if their time is wasted!
We all have the same amount of time every day! Days can pass by quickly, our time can fill up quickly, and once we spend that hour, DESPITE what AVENGERS: ENDGAME teaches us, we just can’t ever get it back!
My dad recently learned an important lesson about time. He was feeling a bit sick and went to the hospital only to discover that he had a heart attack! They thought it was pretty minor until they ran tests—and they ended up doing a quadruple bypass on him (putting in new tubes so that blood isn’t blocked from getting in/out of your heart). In fact, the doctor said that if he hadn’t gone to the hospital when he did, he could have just DROPPED DEAD at any time!
That’s a pretty scary thing to hear--- and even though teens might not think about it very often, the reality is that WE HAVE NO GUARANTEES how long we have to live. An accident or sickness can happen at any time! Nobody has a guarantee of living for exactly 100 years and in being good health the whole time! Every single day that we have is a gift from God to us! So what are we going to do with that gift?
Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
This is a prayer that we would remember how precious time is and that we would use our time WISELY—to manage our time well and to spend some of our time on things that REALLY matter. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t play video games or binge-watch Netflix, because it’s super important to relax and unwind and have fun, but IF THAT'S ALL WE DID every night, we might have regrets later on. We might feel that we wasted the time that God gave us. We might feel that we should have invested it more wisely. We might wish that we had spent our time doing things that would have helped others or made our world a better place. Instead of regretting stuff later, it makes A WHOLE LOT OF sense to manage our time well NOW!
This week, I shared from the Bible about two valuable ways that we can spend our time. We looked at a time when two sisters named Mary and Martha invited Jesus over to their house for dinner in Luke 10:38-42.
LOVE GOD WITH YOUR TIME
Martha was angry and annoyed with Mary, but it turns out, Jesus said that she was spending her time wisely. What was she doing? She was listening to his teaching. She was talking to him. She was investing in their friendship.
This reminds us of something really important. The most important thing that any of us can do—the thing that matters more than anything else is that we know Jesus, that we’ve experienced his love and forgiveness, and that we are growing closer to God spiritually!
Jesus, in Matthew 16:26 said, “What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
In other words, if you are rich and famous and have everything you ever wanted in life, but are far from God, then all of that other stuff is just empty and meaningless!
We can love God with our time by setting time aside in our schedules to grow in our faith (being a part of CATALYST, singing and listening to worship music, reading the Bible or doing a devotional etc...). Don’t go days, weeks, months or years without investing in your friendship with Jesus!
LOVE OTHERS WITH YOUR TIME!
Martha sometimes gets a bad rap here. She was doing something pretty important. She was doing something that was pretty great! She was showing generosity by spending money on food to prepare an awesome dinner for Jesus who was tired from travelling. She was showing hospitality by turning her home into an AIR BnB for Jesus! She was loving Jesus with her time too!
Of course, the main thing we can learn here is that we can be SUPER BUSY doing all kinds of good things, but if we don’t know and follow Jesus than NONE OF THAT REALLY MATTERS. Knowing God is the most important thing…and then loving others with our time naturally comes from that!
Oftentimes kids or teens might think that because they don’t have a job and don’t have very much money that they can’t really be generous- that generosity is something that only adults can do. But even if they don’t have any money (or very little of it), they can still show GENEROSITY with their time---the most valuable thing they have! We can all be generous with our time by not being too busy to help others (think of the Good Samaritan!). We can be generous with our time by being a help around the house or volunteering in the church or community.
We are encouraged in the Bible to NUMBER OUR DAYS- to think about the time we have, and make wise choices with how we spend our time. Two of the wisest uses of our time is to invest in our friendship with Jesus and to devote some of our time to caring for others.
HOME DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Talk about ways that you (as parents), or as a family, show generosity with your time. Why is it important to you?
2. Talk about how you and your family can be like Mary. Mary hung out with Jesus and listened to his teaching, and Jesus said this was the BEST way she could have spent her time! What are some things that you can do as individuals or as a family to ensure that you're growing in your faith? Is there something new you could start doing?
3. Pray together and thank God for the time he has given you! We are blessed to be alive and every day is a gift! Ask God to help you spend your time wisely and not to neglect carving out time in your schedules to grow closer to God and to make time to help, serve or volunteer in ways that shows others that you care.
This week, CATALYST youth returned, and we kicked off a brand new series called "WHO CARES?" where we'll be talking about friendship, generosity, selflessness (as opposed to selfishness) and kindness.
This week, we looked at the important of surrounding ourselves with REAL FRIENDS and being that kind of friend to others. What is a REAL friend?
A FRIEND SHOULD BE A VOICE OF WISDOM
One of the things the Bible says is that we should choose friends who are WISE.
Proverbs 13:20- Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.
What that’s getting at is that if you’re hanging out with people who use their heads and make wise life choices, it’s going to benefit you a lot! The Bible tells us here that wisdom rubs off! If you’ve got friends who are making good life choices, then they’ll influence you for the better! Of course, the opposite is true. If your “friends” are like the little devil sitting on your shoulder, it’s going to bring you disaster!
A FRIEND SHOULD MAKE YOU A BETTER PERSON
Proverbs 27:17- As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.
Back in Bible times, people would sharpen knives by rubbing the blades against each other, and this little proverb is telling us that a great friend will make you better and stronger! Being around them will make you a better person! They will be a benefit to you!
A FRIEND SHOULD BE THERE FOR YOU
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10- “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble”.
This verse again reminds us that TRUE friendship should be one where you HELP EACH OTHER SUCCEED, and then the last part of the verse says, “SOMEONE WHO FALLS ALONE IS IN REAL TROUBLE”. When you need help, a real friend should be there for you!
If you call yourself a Christian (if you've accepted God's love and forgiveness and are trying to follow Jesus with your life), there's one other thing the Bible encourages us about friendship:
A FRIEND SHOULD HELP OTHERS COME TO KNOW AND FOLLOW JESUS
When I was a teen, my closest friends were people who encouraged me in my faith. They would remind me sometimes of what the Bible said and how it related to something I was going through. They would actually PRAY for me and with me! They would encourage me to be a part of the church or a part of our youth group! They helped me grow closer to God instead of pulling me farther away!
That’s the kind of friend that God wants us to be to others!
John 1:43-46 tells us about how a guy named Philip was that kind of friend:
“The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me”. Philip then found Nathanael (his friend) and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
Philip was a guy who met Jesus and was pretty much totally convinced that Jesus was the son of God- the Messiah—the person God promised who would save the world from their sins! So much so, that he left his job to follow Jesus around and help him! I imagine his friends and family thought he was completely crazy! But before Philip left to hang with Jesus…he did one simple thing- he went and found his friend Nathanael and told him about Jesus.
Nathanael had a lot of questions. He kind of doubted what Philip told him. He was a bit skeptical. He was like, “SURE…This person that you met from Nazareth is God’s promised savior. NOTHING good comes from Nazareth, it’s a small, insignificant town!”
And Philip simply said—“come and see for yourself”!
You probably have friends like Nathanael—friends who have questions about God or faith (even if they haven’t told you yet), they might have doubts, they might be a bit skeptical. Some of your friends have probably never heard of Jesus beyond hearing his name used as a swear word! They’ve probably never even been inside a church before!
SO CAN YOU HELP INTRODUCE YOUR FRIENDS TO JESUS?
Here are a few pro-tips to help you be like Philip:
PRO TIP 1: PRAY FOR YOUR FRIENDS!
Pray that they would come to know and follow Jesus and that God would use you to be a part of that introduction! Pray that your friends would make wise choices!
PRO TIP 2: LITERALLY STOP AND PRAY FOR YOUR FRIENDS!
If your friend tells you about something rough they’re going through, here’s a CRAZY idea that takes a bit of boldness—just offer right then and there to pray for them! Just say, “Would it be ok if I prayed for you right now?” Most of the time, even friends who have never been to church before will REALLY appreciate you praying for them and it shows them how much you love God and that you really care about them!
PRO TIP 3: BE OPEN AND HONEST ABOUT YOUR FAITH.
Don’t hide the fact that you’re connected to church or a youth group! When your friend asks you what you did over the weekend, tell them about CATALYST! They might ask you questions about it and there might even be an opportunity for you to invite them along with you!
PRO TIP 4: INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN YOU AT CATALYST!
Some of them might say “no thanks”, but some might want to come out! If you don’t invite them out, you’ll never know!
PRO TIP 5: IF YOUR FRIEND HAS QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD/FAITH, AND YOU DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER, JUST SAY, “LET ME GET BACK TO YOU”.
You can even email myself or one of our youth leaders with the question and we can help you out! You don’t have to have all the answers all the time! When Nathanael had questions—Philip didn’t have all the answers—he just told him to come with him to meet Jesus for himself!
PARENT/TEEN DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Have your teen think about their friends. What are some of their AMAZING qualities? What makes them REAL friends? Do any of them share some of the characteristics that the Bible says are important?
2. Remind your teens of the PRO-TIPS that Pastor Ben shared. What are some simple ways that your teen might be able to show/tell their friends that their faith is important to them? What are some simple things they could do that might help introduce their friends to Jesus?
3. Parents- pray for your teens. Pray that they would be a REAL friend to the people around them. Pray that God would help them make great choices when it comes to the friends they choose.
