CATALYST Youth- "Don't Be A Turkey!", October 14, 2016

Thanksgiving was last weekend, so after a one-week break, we returned to talk about how we should be thankful all through the year! While Thanksgiving isn't an official church holiday like Easter or Christmas, it's a holiday rooted in the Christian faith. All through the Bible we see examples of people expressing thanks to God. In the Old Testament, many Jewish annual feasts/celebrations focused on thanksgiving. It's been happening for thousands of years!

In North America, the very first Thanksgiving took place when Martin Frobisher was trying to find a shipping route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in 1578. In Nunavut, they were hit with intense storms and dangerous ice flows-- so much so that one of their ships sunk and they lost many supplies. After surviving such an ordeal, they camped in Nunavut where a pastor on their ship encouraged them to be thankful "for their strange and miraculous deliverance in those so dangerous places". They were thanking God for protecting them! They then celebrated Communion, thanking Jesus for not only saving them from the storm, but for saving them spiritually-- forgiving them of their sins. What's really cool is that this was the first recorded thanksgiving AND the first recorded celebration of the Lord's Supper in North America...and it happened in Canada! Oh, Canada!

In 1789, Abraham Lincoln said that a day needed to be set aside in the United Stated to express their thankfulness to God. When Thanksgiving became an official holiday in Canada in 1957 it was to have "a day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed." See what I mean? The Thanksgiving holiday was created because government officials believed that a day needed to be set aside to worship and express thanks to God. It was a day when people were encouraged to pray! It was a day when people were encouraged to be a part of church community!

While having a special day set aside for us to be thankful is a really good idea, how many of you actually took time to express thanks on that weekend? Sure, you likely ate a meal with family and had a couple of extra days off school, but did you take the time to list things that you're thankful for? Did you pray, thanking God for everything he's done? Did you sing heartfelt songs of thanks to God when you were at church? Most people would answer "no" to all of those things.

DON'T BE A TURKEY...BE THANKFUL!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "Be thankful in ALL circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus".

I used to think that verse sounded completely ridiculous! It's saying that if we belong to Jesus (if we've accepted his love and forgiveness and follow him), than what God wants for us is to be thankful ALL OF THE TIME! No matter what!

Really? How can you possibly be thankful when your pet dies or when you fail a test at school?

Well, the reason why the Bible encourages us to be thankful, is because when we focus on only the bad stuff of life- the things that aren't going well, it's easy for that to become the ONLY thing we see! I've seen people complain because they don't have the latest gadgets or clothes, even though their closet is full and they have all kinds of cool tech sitting on the floor of their room! When they focus on the things they don't have...they can't really see all of the things they DO have! When you focus on all of the negative stuff, it might start affecting your attitudes...even your health! You might grumble and complain a lot and seem unhappy to the people around you.

This week, I shared a story about how ironic it was that on Thanksgiving Sunday, while we were on the way to church, our tire exploded. It meant that after church I would have to put a spare tire on it, drive to Canadian Tire to spend hours in the waiting room, AND that we wouldn't be able to visit my family as we had planned. But do you know what? I made a decision not to focus on the negative stuff, but focus on all of the things I have to be thankful for! The worship service was awesome and we got to celebrate God's amazing love for us! Tons of people at the church offered to help me fix the car or get my family home! When I went to the Canadian Tire, I had the chance to talk to the service manager about what I did for a living and invited him to church! AND my in-laws decided to take the full turkey dinner they had cooked, and deliver it to our house so we could still celebrate together! When I focused on all of the amazing ways God and others had blessed me, just on THAT day, how could I grumble and complain about a flat tire?

Have you ever seen videos of people in Africa who live in terrible conditions and have virtually nothing? You might have seen them full of joy-- with huge smiles on their faces! While life isn't perfect for them (and in comparison, we live like Kings and Queens), they are thankful for how God has blessed them and taken care of them. Their thankfulness brings them joy!

When things aren't going your way, when you're having a terrible day, don't be a turkey! Don't focus on all of the bad stuff! Force yourself to think about all of the amazing things you have in life and how much God loves you. When you have a thankful attitude, you might discover that those SUPER HUGE, OVERWHELMING PROBLEMS, just don't seem that big anymore.

QUESTIONS FOR HOME:

1. When you get together around the dinner table this week (or at a more convenient time when you're all together), take a few minutes to each share one thing that you're genuinely thankful for. This is an especially good exercise to do if one of you has had a bad day.

2. Can you think of a time when God took care of you or provided for you in an amazing way? Share that story with your teens, reminding them that even when life isn't perfect, there are tons of things to be thankful for.

2. Pray with your teens, thanking God for all of the ways he has blessed and taken care of you! Thank him that even when we have bad days, we still have so much to be thankful for.

CATALYST YOUTH- "The Case of the Treacherous Sleepover", Sept. 30, 2016

This week at CATALYST, we wrapped up our series on Daniel with the story of how he survived a night in a lion's den. Daniel was now an older man who had risen to be the third most powerful person in the country. Considering how he first arrived there as a slave, God had really taken care of him! Daniel 6 tells us that some of the other officials of the country were jealous of Daniel, so they set up their hidden cameras and watched his life closely, hoping they could catch him breaking a law or doing something that would have him fired (or worse). What's amazing is that, even when they tried to dig up dirt on him, they discovered that Daniel was a hard worker, that he was honest, faithful, and a person of integrity- which means that he did the right thing even when nobody else was around. Desperately, Daniel's enemies decided to use his faith against him. They knew that he loved and followed God and prayed every day, so they decided to trick the king into repeating something from the past. Remember the story of Daniel's three friends and the fiery furnace? Well, this time, they convinced the king to pass a law that nobody could pray or worship anyone but the king for 30 days, and that the punishment would be getting fed to the lions. The king agreed without knowing that they were plotting against Daniel, one of the people he liked the most. Of course, Daniel never stopped praying, and when he was watched, the jealous officials had him arrested and sentenced to death. When Daniel was thrown into the lions den, the king was so distraught that he stayed up all night praying that God would rescue Daniel. In the morning, he ran to the lions den to discover that Daniel had survived! An angel had shut the mouths of the lions and Daniel was unharmed! This amazed the king, who decreed that the entire kingdom worship God.

DANIEL HAD AN AMAZING REPUTATION ON THE JOB

One of the ways that Daniel showed that he loved and followed God was that he was a worker known for his integrity. Even when his enemies watched for an opportunity to accuse him of wrongdoing, they discovered that Daniel wasn't the kind of guy to fall asleep on the job or steal money from the register-- this guy was faithful, honest, dependable, and committed to doing the right thing. Some of the teens at CATALYST are working for the very first time, others haven't started yet, but Daniel's story tells us that when we work with integrity it makes God proud. When people watch you working, would they find you to be faithful, dependable and honest? When you do chores around the house, do you grumble and complain, or do you do your very best? Even when doing the worst jobs, if you do them as if you are doing them for God (as worship), you'll find that your attitude toward that job will change- and you'll be inspired to do your best.


FOLLOWING GOD DOESN’T GUARANTEE A TROUBLE-FREE LIFE.

Have you ever had a really bad day? A day where nothing seemed to go right? Just because you love and follow Jesus, it doesn’t mean those bad days will just disappear. As we’ve seen through all of the stories of Daniel and his friends—these guys followed God and did the right thing…but life wasn’t perfect for them. They experienced some scary stuff. They experienced some tough challenges. But through it all, God was with them-- he even kept them safe and provided for them when they were in impossible situations. When times are tough , while we should pray and ask God to help us, sometimes his help doesn't mean erasing those problems from our lives (although that IS a possible option), but he will carry us through those difficult times and can even bring amazingly good things out of the worst bad days.

QUESTIONS FOR HOME:

1. Parents, can you share with your teens about how your faith influences the way that you work and the decisions that you make while you're on the job? How has your faith impacted the reputation you have? Encourage your teens to do their work as if they are doing it for God-- as worship-- and that a good reputation at work not only leads people to think more highly of you (and maybe even earn you a promotion!), but also makes God proud.

2. Is your teen experiencing a bad day or a bad week? Have they experienced a recent disappointment in life? Talk about it. Remind them that God can make good things come from those bad situations. Remind them that for Daniel and his friends, while they were people of integrity who loved and followed God in the things they said and did, they still experienced some pretty scary or challenging situations. Remind your teen that God is with them and pray that God would help them through their bad day. Pray expecting God is working behind the scenes and that something good will come of it!

CATALYST YOUTH- "The Strange Case of the Human Lawnmower", Sept. 23, 2016

This week at CATALYST youth, we continued our series from the book of Daniel, by looking at one of the strangest autobiographies ever written. King Nebuchadnezzar (Neb) was the king of Babylon. He was the guy who kidnapped Daniel and his friends and forced their names to be changed. He was the guy who ordered Dan’s three teenage friends to be tossed into the furnace for not worshiping a giant golden statue of himself. This guy was rich and powerful. He was filled with pride- even going so far as to build that 90 foot tall gold statue of himself and demanding that the entire country worship it under threat of death. But despite the fact that he had been an eye-witness to how God miraculous saved the three friends in the fire, we also discover that this experience didn't impact his life in any big way. He continued to demand that people worship him. He continued worshiping idols. And he continued to be full of pride.

In Daniel 4, King Neb writes about how he experienced a dream that scared him. In his dream he saw an amazing tree that was full of fruit and reached to the heavens, but then an angel appeared and cut down the tree to a stump. This dream had Neb so worried, after consulting magicians and astrologers about what it meant, he asked Daniel. Well, God helped Daniel interpret the dream-- but Daniel definitely didn't want to deliver bad news. Who wants to be the person who delivers bad news to a crazy power-tripping king who thinks he is a god? When the King insisted, Daniel told him that he had been blessed with prosperity and wealth because God had allowed it, but because of his sin, God was going to take it all away. In fact, Daniel told him that Neb would become a human lawnmower-- that he would be cast out of his kingdom and would eat grass like a cow until he decided to turn from his sin and make things right with God. After interpreting the dream, Daniel said, 

“King Nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper”. (Daniel 4:27)

 Well, Neb ignored Daniel, and the passage goes on to tell us that a year later, he went totally crazy, was thrown out of his kingdom, and lived with the wild animals in the fields, eating grass to survive- just as Daniel had said. Neb lived like this for 7 years until he looked up to heaven and worshiped God. When he did this, his sanity returned, his kingdom was restored to him, and he became known from then on as someone who loved and followed God.

GOD IS CALLING US TO HAVE A FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM- TO LOVE & FOLLOW HIM- DESPITE HOW FAR AWAY WE ARE FROM HIM OR HOW MUCH WE FEEL WE DON’T DESERVE IT.

King Nebuchadnezzar was a guy who knew about God—he had even seen some pretty miraculous stuff—but it didn’t make a difference in his life. Despite the fact that he was an evil man who worshiped idols and was full of pride, God wanted to have a relationship with him. God wanted him to turn from his sin. Why? Well, because God loved him. For whatever reason, sometimes it takes a crisis—something terrible—to wake us up and get us serious about our relationship with God. God often allows these things to happen in our lives to help us get back on the right track- to steer us towards a friendship with him. This story isn't in the Bible to warn us that if we don’t love and follow Jesus we’ll end up eating grass for 7 years, but it does remind us that there are consequences when we choose to live life without God being a part of it—we might experience an emptiness or a spiritual distance from the God who loves us and wants a friendship with us- we might even feel completely lost—far away from the path that God wants us to walk on—and ultimately, the Bible describes a future of being apart from God as “hell”. While some people have to hit the bottom before coming to their senses and calling out to God for help (like in the story of the prodigal son), these kinds of stories are in the Bible to encourage us to make things right with God now-- not to wait until we go through an incredible crisis.

If you’ve been going through life without really giving God the time of day—without really loving and following him—the good news is that you can ask God to forgive you and invite him into your life today. What’s so cool is that King Neb was totally far from God—but God loved him and wanted a friendship with him. This reminds us that despite what we've done or how far away we might be from God-- he offers us love, forgiveness- amazing grace- if we're willing to take him up on the offer. In the worship song, "The Same Love", it says,

“You take the faithless one aside and speak the words “You are mine”. You call the cynic and the proud, “COME TO ME NOW”.

God is calling us to a friendship with him too- and all we have to do is take him up on the offer!

QUESTIONS FOR HOME

1. Parents, has a stressful/bad situation in your life ever helped you realize that you needed to make things right with God? Did that experience help you get back on track with him? Share that story with your teens.

2. Nebuchadnezzar was someone who knew about God and even witnessed miracles, but spiritually, he was far away from the God who loved him. Encourage your teens this week to spend a few minutes every day praying and reading the Bible or a devotional book (and thinking about what it says)- to help strengthen their walk with God. If they've never done this before, encourage them that 2 minutes is better than 0 minutes.

3. Ask your teens if they have any friends who seem impossibly far from God. Nebuchadnezzar seemed like he would never change, but God brought him to the point where he realized that he needed God in his life. Pray with your teens that God would bring their friends to know and love him.