About Water Baptism

On Sunday June 3rd at 10am, we're offering people the opportunity to be baptized in water. To help answer a few questions about what baptism is and why we do it, Pastor Ben has attached his notes from a talk he gave to the youth about a year ago on this subject.

Water Baptism is such an important part of the church that most churches actually have "baptismal tanks" installed somewhere near the stage. That's right- they actually work it right into the building design! Other churches will baptize people in lakes, rivers or swimming pools- wherever water is handy! But, what is water baptism? Why is it significant? 

Water Baptism generally involves someone getting in front of the whole church and stepping into a giant tub of water. This is kind of an odd thing, considering we don't normally get into a tub with an audience watching, but don't worry- the person getting baptized will be fully clothed (we have tips on what you should consider wearing) and will be in the water alongside the pastor. The pastor will usually interview you and ask you why you wanted to get baptized and what it means to you, and then you will be dunked completely under the water. This sounds like a pretty fun perk of the job as a pastor, but he/she doesn't hold you under the water- it's a pretty quick 'down and up'. When the person comes out of the water—the whole church is usually cheering and celebrating! You’ll never forget the first time you see a water baptism because it just seems so bizarre! 

So, why do people get baptized in water? Why do people cheer and celebrate when it happens? Well, the first time we hear about baptism in the Bible, this person named John (who is actually known to us as John the Baptist) was telling people by the riverside that they needed to turn from sin and make their lives right with God. When people were deciding to do this, John was dunking them underwater in the river as a symbol that their sins had been washed away and they had, spiritually, been given a brand new start.

Matthew 3 (along with a few other places in the Bible) tells us that right before Jesus began to teach people about God and do miracles, he asked John to baptize him. At first John didn’t want to do it, because he knew that Jesus wasn’t just some ordinary person—Jesus didn’t have any sin to be forgiven---but Jesus told him that it was important. When John baptized Jesus, something amazing happened. The Bible says that people heard the voice of God, OUT LOUD, say "This is my Son, and I love him. I am very pleased with him" (Matthew 3:16-17). Next, the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove, which meant that people somehow visibly noticed the power and presence of God falling on Jesus. It's an amazing moment in the Bible.

In Matthew 28:19-20, it tells us that after Jesus died and rose again, he gave his disciples a special mission- “Go into the world, share the good news of God's love with others, and BAPTIZE THEM!" -so the disciples started doing that right away! In the Book of Acts alone, it tells us 6 different times that when people believed in Jesus, the next step was that they were baptized in water right away! (Acts 2:41; 8:12; 8:38; 10:48; 16:15; 16:33)

Baptism is a symbol. It symbolizes how through Jesus, God has cleaned us up and given us a brand new start. Getting dunked in water doesn’t actually wash your sins away, it doesn’t do anything magical, but it’s a symbol of what God has done on the inside! It’s also a way for you to make a public declaration that you’re a Christian- someone who has decided to follow Jesus. Most people who choose to be baptized find it to be a very meaningful, and spiritually rewarding experience. So, that’s the reason why people get baptized in church- that’s the reason why people will cheer and be all excited about it-- because it’s that person saying, “Jesus has forgiven me and I’m serious- I want to follow him with my life”. 

Now, there are some churches that baptize babies (including ours), but -FUN FACT- that’s more of a church tradition. Infant baptism is actually never specifically mentioned anywhere in the Bible. It does tell us in a few places that families were baptized after they came to faith in Jesus (Acts 16:15; 16:33), and while this may have included young children, it likely would have only been for children who were old enough to make a faith decision.

Usually, when a baby is baptized, the parents bring their baby to the front of the church and instead of dunking them underwater, the pastor sprinkles them with a little bit of water. In our church tradition, when we baptize a baby, it’s a way to ask God to bless that baby, that he/she would grow to know and follow Jesus, and it’s a way to welcome the new addition to the church community. It’s also an opportunity for the parents to make a promise to raise their child in a way that they would know and follow Jesus when they’re older and for the congregation (the people in the church) to promise to be a help and support to those parents and that child! 

Because it doesn’t mention anywhere in the Bible where infants were baptized, and because, in the Bible, water baptism always happened after someone made a personal decision to follow Jesus, most churches opt to do baby dedications instead of baptisms. Baby dedications have the same meaning as what was described above, but they don't involve water. The reason why we prefer to do baby dedications is that we don't want to confuse parents or others in regards to what water baptism actually means. Unless you go to a Roman Catholic Church, which almost exclusively baptizes babies and holds different beliefs as to what baptism actually does, you’re far more likely to see older kids or adults being baptized—something people do when they are old enough to understand the faith decision they’re making.That said, at Arlington Woods, we can do an infant baptism or a dedication, depending on what the parents would prefer. 

Water baptism isn't something that you need to do in order to be saved (to receive God's forgiveness). It's not something that you're required to do in order for you to be a part of heaven one day. No. Water baptism is a public declaration of the change that Jesus has made in your life. It was something that Jesus modeled himself, something that he told us to continue doing, and something that was done when people came to faith all through the New Testament. It's a way for us to show and tell others that we love Jesus and want to follow him with our lives. If you've never been baptized before, we would love for you to consider it!

How Are Our Kids & Youth Ministries Making A Difference in Our Community?

This past Sunday (January 21, 2018), Pastor Mike continued his series "Where In The World Are We Headed?", tackling the vision of our church and how we impact our community. You can stream/download the talk from our website or you can listen to it through iTunes.

Earlier in the service (not recorded on audio), I (Pastor Ben) spoke about some of the ways that our kids and youth ministries impact our community. If you missed what I said, you can check it out below along with some other things I didn't have the time to share.

Pastor Mike asked me to share for a few minutes about how our family ministries impacts our community. That’s a really important question. Churches should always ask, “If we were to disappear from our community, would we be missed?". Through some of the things mentioned below, I think you'll be able to say that this community needs and loves Arlington Woods Church.

KIDS MINISTRY:

• POP (Parents of Preschoolers) drop-in on Mondays- creates a community for parents and their preschool kids. We average about 50-70 people each week with a good 75% of parents and kids being from our neighborhood. This is one way we can show parents and kids that our church loves and supports them.

• Summer Blast kids nights- Each summer we run a few evening kids programs where at least half of the kids who attend aren't regular attenders at Arlington Woods. We provide supper, games and activities, crafts, music, and share a Bible-based lesson. Another advantage to this is that it allows parents to drop off their kids and go out on a date night!

• The Bike Rodeo- This is a HUGE annual community event that sees hundreds from our neighborhood come with their kids. The Bike Rodeo is also co-sponsored by Trend-Arlington Community Association (our neighbourhood community centre). Through the BBQ and bake sales, we've given THOUSANDS of dollars to help our local schools provide for kids/families in need (food, clothing etc...) and have supported other community organizations.

• The Royal Ball (coming on February 17th) is another community event that many neighborhood kids and families look forward to every year. It features snacks, crafts and activities, games, a dance party, a photo booth, and we try to share a very simple message- that God loves kids (we're sons & daughters of the King) and thinks they're amazing.

• Easter Sunday- Every Easter Sunday we have a community continental breakfast and easter egg hunt for kids before our service. Over the years we've seen many community families participate and stay for our KIDZONE program and Sunday service to hear a message about God's love and forgiveness.

• Family Movie Nights- Several times a year we host fun family movie nights and provide free popcorn and drinks to our guests. When we hosted one in January, the vast majority of those who attended were from our neighborhood. This is just a simple way we can help foster a spirit of community and provide a fun, free event for families.

• Community Involvement- We encourage people from Arlington Woods to be involved in community events. We often see several people from our church serving food or helping at the annual community winter carnival, and many of our families join in for our community clean up day.

• Other Community Initiatives- Just before last summer, we were vandalized, where a fair bit of damage was done to our building. We found out that three young kids (under the age of 12) were the ones who had done the damage. We talked to them and their parents (without getting the police involved) and Sam, our summer student, oversaw them doing clean-up work around the church all summer to help them take responsibility for what they had done.

• Restoring Hope- Restoring Hope is a youth shelter (specifically for teens) in downtown Ottawa. Over the year, kids from our KIDZONE program have donated toiletries, notebooks, small toys, snacks, and drinks, and created artwork, putting them in gift bags for teens who drop-in to the shelter. Each bag we've given sends the message that our kids (and our church) loves and values these teens. (see pictures below)

YOUTH MINISTRY:

• Over half of those who are a part of our CATALYST youth program on Fridays are teens who are not a part of our church. Each week we do crazy games, sing worship songs, hear what the Bible says about their lives, we share highs and lows about our weeks and pray together, we enjoy delicious snacks, and do a bunch of fun monthly events. Coming this Friday, we have a special guest from THRIVE (FIRST PLACE OPTIONS) who will be chatting about how to make good decisions when it comes to dating and relationships—which, I think we can all agree, is important stuff to learn BEFORE you’re dating!

• In February at CATALYST we’re running some of the  YOUTH ALPHA sessions, where we watch fun video segments about the basics of the Christian faith and get teens thinking and discussing what they believe. 

• Youth Offering- Each week at CATALYST we encourage the teens to give a couple of dollars in our youth offering. Every December, we get teens to vote on the needs that are most important to them as a whole, and then we use the money they've given to meet those needs. This year, the things that were, far and away, the needs our teens were most passionate about was providing emergency water and sanitation, and stocking a medical clinic with supplies through World Vision.

• Over Christmas, our teens (and kids) helped create and decorate cards for some of our church’s seniors or people who are sick and can’t be a part of our church community on a regular basis--and just last week I received a nice note from one of those seniors expressing how much receiving that card meant to them.

• Capital City Mission- Every February, our youth group has a MISSION WEEK where we take two small groups of teens downtown to the Capital City Mission to serve coffee, cookies, and sandwiches to the guests that drop in. The guests range from people who are homeless, to those who are lonely and needing community. Leading up to that week, teens can be involved by baking and decorating cookies on one of youth nights or providing snacks or sandwiches that we can bring with us. This February we will also have one of the leaders at the mission come and speak to our group about what they do and why it's important.

Please pray for our kids and youth ministries. If something you heard or read about has you excited and you want to be involved in some way, email ben@arlingtonwoods.ca.

CATALYST Youth- "BEST PRESENT EVER!", Friday, Dec. 8, 2017

This week we talked a bit about some of the most terrible presents we've ever received.

I remember when I was a kid, my grandma knit me a pair of wool socks—which was super nice and thoughtful, and she put so much work into making them, but I’m allergic to wool. Another Christmas, my aunt couldn't get me the toy I wanted because it was out of stock, so she promised to get it when it came back in stock....AND I'M STILL WAITING FOR IT! There was one time when we told the kids' grandparents not to get any really big gifts for the kids because we live in a small apartment and don't have a lot of room...and they gave my boy an 8 FOOT LONG CATERPILLAR that played the alphabet song at ear-piercing levels!

Because we're only got a few weeks before Christmas, this week we talked about the BEST PRESENT EVER! The reason why gift giving is a thing at Christmas is because Christmas began with one AMAZING GIFT-- a miracle-- something incredibly supernatural and mind-boggling-- that Jesus, this promised saviour, was born!

1. A GIFT WE REALLY NEEDED

Getting something that you REALLY need is pretty much the perfect gift. Nobody wants a gift that they have no use for, that will gather dust on the shelf or never be worn because it’s made of wool.

The Bible tells us that this gift of salvation is something that we really need. It says that we all have this sin problem where we keep doing the things that are the opposite of what God wants for us…and that every time we sin, it’s like we’re building a wall between us and God—and we are in desperate need of RESCUE. So God decided to do something about this—he decided to personally make a way for us to be rescued from sin, find forgiveness, and to have a restored friendship with him!

Matthew 19:25-26 says that the disciples asked Jesus, “How can anyone ever be saved? Jesus looked straight at them and said, “There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything.”

We can’t save ourselves—we can’t solve our sin problem. We NEED God’s help. And that’s what Christmas is about!

2. SPECIAL DELIVERY!

The way he chose to rescue us is incredibly weird and mind-boggling. The deep theological word for this is INCARNATION—which describes this mystery of how the God of the Universe was born as a human being in order to take the sins of the world on himself, so that we could be saved! It sounds kind of crazy, doesn’t it?

In fact, it's so hard to believe that when Joseph learned that his fiancée, Mary, was pregnant…and that she claimed that it was something that supernaturally happened…and that she was pregnant with the saviour of the world—he didn’t believe her! The Bible actually says that he was going to call off the wedding because he thought she was either lying or insane (which is probably a pretty natural response in that situation).

Matthew 1:18-25 says, “While Joseph was thinking about this (how to quietly break things off), an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (The name, Jesus, literally means “saving one” or “rescuer”.) So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

Now, while this was enough to convince Joseph, it’s still really hard for US to believe this incredible story just because a guy had a dream that cleared the whole thing up a couple thousand years ago. But thankfully, we have more than a dream to convince us that this was a real, miraculous moment in history!

A) PROPHECY

Often times you might see a movie where they tell you that there are prophecies written that talk about something that’s going to happen in the future—that a hero is going to rise up and rescue the world. Well, those movies use the Bible for their inspiration.

You see, the Bible is a book made up of a lot of smaller books that were written hundreds of years apart by different people in history—so even though it’s all compiled in one book, the books of the Old Testament were written and recorded HUNDREDS of years before Jesus was born…and what’s shocking is that the Old Testament has a bunch of prophecies that all came true in Jesus. The author Josh McDowell says that the odds of even 8 of these things, written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, being fulfilled in one person, is over 1 out of a quadrillion! It’s just impossible!

So, let’s just take at just a few of the things that came true in Jesus:

-The saviour would have a virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14- written 700 years before Jesus was born)

-The saviour would be God (He will be called Immanuel, which means “God With Us”- Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7- written 700 years before Jesus was born)

-The saviour would be born in Bethlehem—a small insignificant town—(Micah 5:2- written 700 years before Jesus was born).

-The saviour would have his hands and feet pierced- Psalm 22- (this was 400 years before crucifixion had even been invented as a form of capital punishment and was written 1000 years before Jesus was born!)

We don’t have time to look at them all, but just google “prophecies fulfilled byJesus” and it’s just mind boggling that all of these things recorded hundreds of years before Jesus came on the scene could come true in one person. Unless it really was God’s plan all along!

B) JESUS’ LIFE

If we’re still looking for proof about the truth of this Christmas story, we just have to look at Jesus’ life. He taught people about God and known for his wisdom. He was followed around 24/7 and no one ever caught him sinning. The people who followed him believed that he was God. He did incredible miracles in front of tons of eyewitnesses, including raising one person from the dead who had been sealed in a tomb for 4 days! These miracles were so incredible that crowds of people were worshipping him and ready to make him king...which is why the government and religious leaders of the day saw Jesus as a threat and killed him! None of that would have happened if Jesus had just been an ordinary person.

C) JESUS’ RESURRECTION

On top of that—Jesus didn’t stay dead! He was crucified and buried—and then three days later he rose from the dead (which is why we celebrate Easter). During that time, he talked and ate with tons of people. 1 Corinthians 15:6 says that he met with over 500 people just at one time, and that a lot of the people were alive at the time Paul that Paul wrote those words and could attest to it being true!

One of Jesus’ followers, Thomas, was super skeptical about the whole thing. He thought the other disciples were lying or insane (kind of like how Joseph felt with Mary), but in John 20, he actually talked to Jesus himself and touched his wounds. After doing so, he became so convinced that he not only said right there that Jesus was God, but he spent his entire life telling other people about his experience!

I wanted to highlight those things because Christmas represents an amazing moment in human history—where God became a person so that we could be saved from our sin problem and have a friendship with him! We’re talking one of the biggest miracles EVER!

3. A GIFT OF LOVE

Gifts are pretty amazing. Nobody owes you a gift. Presents represent the fact that somebody REALLY loves you and thinks you’re awesome. John 3:16-17, one of the most famous verses of the Bible, says this- “For this is how God LOVED the world: He GAVE his one and only Son, so that EVERYONE who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to SAVE the world through him.”

This whole master plan, all of these incredibly miraculous things, all happened because God loves us, because he wants a friendship with us, because he wants us to experience his forgiveness! He wants us to be a part of heaven with him!

The reason why we celebrate Christmas, is we’re celebrating how, even though we don’t deserve it and tend to mess up all the time—God loves us and offers us forgiveness!

If you were in a life or death situation, and somebody stepped in to save you, you would probably be pretty thankful. I’ve heard stories of how paramedics who saved people’s lives were invited over for BBQ’s or became friends with the people they helped because they just wouldn’t be alive if those paramedics hadn’t stepped in to help.

This is why Christmas is celebrated! Jesus stepped in to save us! Jesus stepped in to rescue us! This is the BEST PRESENT EVER!

No discussion this week, but please look over the email I sent to the group about the different opportunities we have to give as a group this year. Each December, we let teens vote on how they would like to give the money they've given in our youth offering. The email I sent out contains links to give more information about each opportunity to give. Thanks! PB

CATALYST Youth- Friday, December 1, 2017- "THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD: PART 3"

This week we continued our series "The Greatest Stories Ever Told" where we've been looking at some of the stories (parables) Jesus told that communicated some truth about God or life. As a fun treat, this week we had story time with Pastor Ben! He read one of his favourite children's books to the group (and one that's VERY similar to a story Jesus told). You can view it on Youtube below (but Pastor Ben's rendition was WAY better).

If you haven't guessed, the story we focused on this week was Jesus' most famous story- "The Good Samaritan"- found in Luke 10:25-37. 

In it, Jesus was teaching crowds of people when one guy stood up and asked Jesus a pretty important question. “How can I be a part of heaven one day? What is it that I have to do?”

That’s a question that a lot of people have. A lot of people think that if you're a good person (so you don’t kick puppies and you help old ladies across the street) that you’ll get a golden ticket to heaven when you die. And while Jesus DID say that loving others is important (and that's what we focused on this week), Jesus said that the most important thing is that we love God (that we accept his forgiveness, have a restored friendship with him, and follow him with our lives). Really, if we love God and follow him, a natural result is that we'll love others.

Jesus then went on to tell this famous story to the crowd about a man who was travelling on the street and was beaten, robbed, and left half-dead at the side of the road. As the man lay there, a couple of people who you would have expected would have helped the guy (they were both church leaders) actually crossed to the other side of the road or seemed too busy to help. Maybe they just didn’t want to get their hands dirty? But then, Jesus said that a SAMARITAN MAN—someone who was considered to be an enemy because, at the time, Jewish people and Samaritan people didn’t get along, stopped when he saw the man.

The Samaritan man didn’t just stop to think about helping. He actually bandaged up the man’s wounds. He then put him on his donkey and helped the man get to a place where he could be taken care of. AND THEN the Samaritan man payed the guy’s medical bills and said he would return to pay if there was anything else the man needed. When Jesus finished the story, he told the crowd—"I want you to go and do the same thing".

It’s really easy to be selfish and to care only about yourself and doing the things that you want to do. It’s pretty tempting to spend every night watching Netflix or playing video games instead of volunteering in the church or community. It’s pretty tempting to spend your money all on yourself instead of using it to help somebody else. We all have to fight against that urge to be selfish and greedy every day! It also might be pretty tempting to join in on making fun of somebody or gossiping because all of your friends are doing it- but, here, Jesus says that he wants us to be known for our love!

The thing I love about the Smartest Giant in Town is that this giant didn’t have a lot—he was known for wearing a pretty grubby gown. So, on the one day where he decided to spend money on himself—to get a bit of a makeover—as he walked, he kept bumping into people who needed help…and the guy LITERALLY gave the clothes off of his back in order to help others! Of course, the twist in the story is that while he spent money on clothes to make him look "smart" (a British term for being well-dressed and attractive), it was actually his heart—it was his love for others—that made him look good- not what he was wearing on the outside.

Similarly, in Jesus’s story of the Good Samaritan, this guy took the time to stop and help. He actually bandaged the injured man’s wounds (which probably would have been pretty gross and messy), and then he used the money he had to ensure that the man would get the care and help he needed! Jesus said that this guy should be our role model! If you love and follow Jesus—this is the kind of reputation God wants you to have.

Most young teens probably don’t have jobs right now, or don’t have a lot of money to give and be a help to others (one day they might!), but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be like the Good Samaritan or the Smartest Giant in Town. What I think is so cool about the giant was that, as he did his normal everyday stuff, whenever he encountered someone in need, he stopped and DID WHAT HE COULD to help. You don't have to have thousands of dollars to help people, you can simply do what you're able to do! Even the small things can make a difference!

Are you known for your kindness? If people were to describe you, would they describe you as someone who really cares about others? Would they describe you as someone who helps people—and not just around Christmastime, but ALL YEAR LONG? One of the best ways that you can show others that you love God and are serious about following him with your life is through the things you say and do—sometimes even the little everyday things. This week, (and hopefully every day after), I really want to challenge you to be on the lookout for people who might be in need or in trouble and then to DO WHAT YOU CAN to be some kind of help- to be the SMARTEST TEENAGERS IN TOWN.

DISCUSSION FOR HOME

1. Ask your teen about the "Smartest Giant in Town". What was the story about? It's very similar to a story Jesus told- do they remember what it is? What is the point of both of those stories?

2. Ask your teen to think of some simple everyday situations where they might be able to show kindness, helpfulness or generosity. (Examples- standing up for someone who is getting made fun of or not joining in on gossip, saying hi and being friendly to someone who looks sad or seems to be having a bad day, holding the door open for someone instead of letting it slam in their face, giving up your seat on the bus for an older person or a pregnant lady, doing your chores or helping your parents without grumbling and complaining- but being happy to help).

3. This month, get the family together and brainstorm some ways that you show generosity, kindness, or be a help to others as a family. While giving money to help people in need MIGHT be a good option, try to think of other simple, practical things you could do that are more "hands on". (For example- helping a neighbour, baking cookies and delivering them to someone, volunteering somewhere as a family, inviting someone over to dinner, buying food and giving it to the food bank).

CATALYST Youth- "THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD PART 2", Friday, November 17, 2017

This week, we’re continuing our series on THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD- looking at some of Jesus’ parables—these made up stories meant to communicate some kind of truth about God or life. Most people LOVE stories. It’s the reason why binge-watching is a thing. If you don’t know, “binge-watching” means sitting down and watching a bunch of episodes in a row without stopping. Of course, NETFLIX makes that pretty easy because it auto-plays the next episode without you even having to click a button! (And by the way, IF you watch a ton of shows on Netflix without stopping, after about four or five, a little pop-up will appear asking if you’re still alive and whether or not you want to watch more. Don’t ask me how I know this). We love stories so much that even Netflix is hinting that we might be over-doing it a little!

Well, as I mentioned last week- JESUS knew the power of a story. He was known for travelling around and talking to huge crowds of people, often telling stories (parables) in order to help teach people something important. He told stories so that people would remember what they heard and would be able to pass it on to other people—and it’s the reason why there are a lot of people who’ve never even been in a church, but they would know a lot of the stories that Jesus told.

This week, we’re going to look at another of the GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD. This one is about a couple of guys who were building their own houses…and for one of the guys, it ended in complete disaster.

Matthew 7: 24-27 (NLT)
Jesus said “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Now, the first guy in Jesus’ story was pretty smart… I mean, it sounds like he knew exactly what he was supposed to do because he was following the plans! And because of those plans, he ended up building a solid home on a really good foundation that could withstand any kind of storm or hurricane that came its way. There’s a reason why, when you build a house these days, you have all sorts of professional people involved. You don’t want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house only to discover that some guy who had NO TRAINING did all of the electrical wiring and that it could burst into flames at any moment. The first guy in Jesus’ story did things “by the book”. He followed the building codes. He followed the plans, and his house was pretty awesome

But then Jesus tells us about another guy who didn’t seem to be too good at following instructions. Maybe he thought that the instructions were irrelevant, out-of-date, or flawed? Maybe he just wanted to do his own thing instead of following the “rules”? Maybe he was just super lazy and wanted to do a rush job? Ahatever the reason, Jesus said that when the storm came, his house, which he built on sand, on a foundation that wasn’t really secure, was totally wrecked! There was nothing left!

Now, the reason why Jesus told that story is because he wanted to convey the importance of not just recognizing that the instructions exist, but TO ACTUALLY PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE…TO FOLLOW THEM! I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to build or help your parents build something from IKEA, but those instructions (even though they are made of ridiculously simple pictures with no words) are pretty important! There was one time when I bought two shelving units from IKEA, and after I successfully built one by following the instructions, I was pretty confident that I could just build the second one by remembering how I did the first one. Well, after about a half-hour of work on the second shelving unit, I began to notice that I had built the drawers upside down with the opening at the bottom, so, even if you managed to get your clothes inside it, if you pulled it open, all of the contents of the drawer would fall onto the ground. It was so frustrating! I had wasted time, and had to unscrew the whole thing and follow the instructions closely so I wouldn’t mess it up again!

The same thing is true for a LEGO set. I’m a pretty huge fan of LEGO, and when I buy even a small Star Wars set for my office, I’m often amazed at how so many tiny, random, pieces can be built into something that looks pretty cool. But of course, if you were silly enough to not follow the building instructions, even if you studied the picture on the box pretty closely, the odds of you actually building the set successfully are pretty slim. Those instructions are there to help you build the set the way it was designed and created to be built!

Now, when Jesus is talking about following his instructions, he’s not talking about the instructions that come with the furniture you get at IKEA or the LEGO manual…although those are pretty helpful…but he’s talking about GOD’S WORD, THE BIBLE, GOD’S INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR LIFE!

There are some people who think of the Bible as being out-dated…that because it’s old, it’s irrelevant. There are some people who feel that the Bible has TOO MANY INSTRUCTIONS…so they pick and choose what to follow and what to ignore. Some people feel that it limits their freedom…that following it might mean giving up something that seems pretty fun… so why bother?

But, I tend to think of the Bible as being INSTRUCTIONS DIRECT FROM THE MANUFACTURER! As we talked about a few weeks ago, God DESIGNED US, he CREATED US…and because of that, HE REALLY DOES KNOW AND WANT WHAT’S BEST FOR US! He knows how life is meant to be lived! In fact, Jesus himself said in John 10:10 that his purpose was to give us RICH AND SATISFYING LIVES! The whole point of God’s instruction manual isn’t to rob us of fun, but to help us through life, to point us in the right direction, and to keep us safe from danger!

I remember, when I was a new dad, I had to safety-proof our apartment so that it would be safe for our little boy. Because I wanted to be a good parent, I had to place restrictions on what he could play with, I had to show him what was safe and what wasn’t safe, and I had to warn him about stuff that could hurt him. I remember that there were times when he would cry or fuss because I wouldn’t let him wrap the cord for our drapes around his neck, or when I put a safety gate at the entrance to the kitchen so he wouldn’t grab stuff off the stove. He didn’t like those rules and boundaries, because he just didn’t understand that the thing he seemed to desperately want might hurt him OR WORSE!

Well, God is the ULTIMATE GOOD PARENT, and even if we don’t always understand WHY he tells us to stay away from stuff, why something is considered sin (something that separates us from God), we need to TRUST that it’s for a GOOD REASON- it’s for our health and well-being! God doesn’t want our lives to be all busted up because we make horrible mistakes and do what we want instead of what he wants. Like we talked about last week, he also doesn’t want any of us to be lost—to end up far from him and to miss out on heaven. Of course, we all have the freedom to accept God’s instructions or reject them, but we have to understand that God warns us about stuff and tells us the right way to live for a reason.

That’s one of the reason why we have CATALYST on Friday nights, it’s why people get together in churches all over the world. Whenever we get together, we want to have fun together and be a great community, but we also want to check out what God has to say about life, so that when we “build our lives”, so that when we make important choices and face big decisions, we would look to that instruction book direct from our manufacturer instead of going our own way, doing whatever we want, and possibly making a real mess out of things. Be committed to be a regular part of CATALYST youth! Be a regular part of some kind of church community! During the week, take a few minutes each day to read the Bible and think about what it says! At CATALYST we offer a bunch of different Bibles and even devotional books you can borrow to make it easier for you to make Bible reading a daily habit.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “-“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.” Let's be like the wise builder!

DISCUSSION FOR HOME

1. Have you ever ignored the rules or instructions for something (like a recipe, something you built, something your parents told you) and it ended in disaster or really regretted it later? Share that story with your teens. Have they ever decided to ignore rules (maybe as younger kids) and were nearly seriously injured? Talk about it why rules exist.

2. As much as we don't like rules, they are pretty essential for survival. Encourage your teen to spend a few minutes each day reading the Bible or using a student devotional (there are some online resources below). Maybe that might look like doing family devotions together after a meal? Tell them that, at least a couple of times during the week, you want them to tell you about what they read and what they think it means for their lives.

ONLINE DEVOTIONAL RESOURCES:

STUDENT DEVOS 
DEVOZINE

DAILY DEVOS
FOR KIDS/YOUNGER TEENS: KEYS FOR KIDS

Kids Worship and Lyric Videos 2017

Here's a list of songs we've done in our KIDZONE program over the last year. In some of these cases, we've made our own lyric videos and purchased the songs/videos whenever possible.

1. SONG OF LOVE- HILLSONG KIDS

Purchased through: http://hillsongstore.ca/crazy-noise-digital-lyric-videos/

Listen on Spotify

2, BE STRONG- HILLSONG KIDS

http://hillsongstore.ca/crazy-noise-digital-lyric-videos/

3. FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT- KIDSPRING

4. THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT- HILLSONG KIDS

Purchased through: http://hillsongstore.ca/crazy-noise-digital-lyric-videos/

5. GOD MADE A WAY- KIDSPRING

6. STOP AND GO- YANCY

Purchased through: http://www.worshiphousekids.com/

7. SUPER WONDERUL- YANCY

Purchased through: http://www.worshiphousekids.com/

8. MY GOD IS NUMBER ONE- YANCY

Purchased through: http://www.worshiphousekids.com/

9. LOVE WILL NEVER FAIL- KIDSPRING

10. PRAISE THE LORD EVERYDAY- KIDSPRING

11. JESUS SAVIOR- KIDSPRING (CHRISTMAS SONG)

CATALYST YOUTH- "The Greatest Stories Ever Told", Friday, November 10, 2017

I LOVE a good story! I can burn through a novel in DAYS, sometimes HOURS, but it takes me FOREVER (and sometimes NEVER) to read a book full of facts and statistics.

I would say that most people LOVE stories! It’s why some movies make HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS! We want to escape from reality for a bit and be taken on a journey through our imagination. There actually isn’t a lot of difference between sitting in a movie theatre, and being a kid, sitting on the lap of your mom or dad while they read you a story. (Except a movie might not help you learn to read and its budget is a whole lot bigger).

Jesus was an amazing storyteller! In the Bible, Jesus’ stories are called PARABLES- which means that they’re made-up stories that communicate to us some important truth about God or life (they have a moral). The reason why Jesus told stories is because he lived during a time before TV and the Internet, and he KNEW that people would remember a story WAY better than they could ever remember a bunch of facts, and if they remembered the story, then hopefully, they would remember what the story meant and would be able to pass it on to other people!

This week we kicked off a new series called, “THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD”, by looking at three stories Jesus told about people who lost something valuable.

STORY 1: THE LOST SHEEP (Luke 15: 1-7)

STORY 2: THE LOST COIN (Luke 15: 8-10)

STORY 3: THE LOST SON (Luke 15: 11-31)

You can read all of the above stories here.

All of Jesus's stories here have a few things in common. They all involve something that was lost. The thing/person/animal that was lost was incredibly valuable to the person who lost them. They searched for the thing that was lost (The dad didn't leave home, but the Bible says he was on the lookout for when the son decided to return). In all of the cases, when the thing that was lost was found, there was a huge celebration. As we talked about, parables are stories meant to convey some truth about God and life…and there’s really ONE BIG THING that Jesus’ “lost stories” tell us.

“LOSTNESS” ISN’T GOOD

In all of these cases, the caretaker of the sheep, the owner of the coin, and the dad were all pretty stressed—they were sad—they were worried, they were freaked out—and these are all pictures of God.

Last week, I talked about how God is our creator—that he designed all of nature and humanity and that WE”RE HERE FOR A REASON. We’re not a result of some cosmic accident where we have no purpose. The Bible tells us that one of the main reasons why we exist is to know God and to have a friendship with him. To be close to our Creator and to live life the way he designed it to be lived so that we’re happy and fulfilled and have as few bumps and scrapes as possible.

I remember one time when I couldn’t find my daughter at the playground, and in those few seconds (which seemed like an eternity) the worst things flashed through my mind. Someone kidnapped my kid, my kid is lost forever, my kid is in trouble or hurt somewhere and I can’t help her. In those few seconds I felt complete fear and horror.

Thankfully, I ended up spotting her, and when that happened, all of those fears suddenly melted away and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. My heart rate returned to normal. But that experience reminded me just how much I love my kids and how much of a wreck I would be if either of them ended up being lost or in trouble.

Jesus is telling this story to remind us that God loves us like a good parent loves their kid, and that if we don’t know God…if, like the son in the story, we walk away from the closeness of our Heavenly dad and live life apart from him, we’re in trouble. The word the Bible uses to describe this ”trouble” is “sin”, which basically means to go your own way instead of God’s way—to choose to do life without him—and this is a bad thing, not only because we’ll likely make a lot of bad choices and live with a lot of regrets in life, but because we’re separated from the God who loves us. The Bible says that if we’re separated from God, we’ll never be a part of heaven one day!

That separation HORRIFIES GOD like it HORRIFIED me when I couldn’t find my daughter on the playground. These three stories Jesus told reminds us just how much God loves each one of us- that we are VALUABLE to him! That we are meant to be “in his sheep pen” or “in his pocket” or “in his living room”. We’re meant to be close to him! We're meant to "do life" with him!

At the end of all these stories, when the person who represents God finds the thing that’s lost, the person becomes super excited! They jump up and down! They call their friends! They throw a huge party! This reminds us that being SAVED FROM SIN—being forgiven of all of the bad things we’ve ever done—and having a restored relationship with God, is a HUGE DEAL. In fact, Jesus said that when a person who is lost returns to a friendship with God, there are angels in heaven throwing a huge party! They’re dancing! They’re cheering! They’re screaming! All of heaven is celebrating!

These three stories that Jesus told tell us something really important—that we are MEANT to know and follow God—that we are ALL MEANT to be close to him- that he doesn’t want any of us to be lost and to live life and spend eternity without him! The really great news is that, just like the son in the story, even if we’ve done stupid things and made a lot of terrible mistakes. Even if we’ve done things that we know God isn’t proud of—he offers us forgiveness and a brand new start. The thing he wants most is for us to be found, for us to come home!

DISCUSSION FOR HOME

1. Do you remember a time when your teen was lost or you discovered that he/she was in trouble? Talk about it. How did it make you feel in that moment? Remind your teen that this is how God feels if you don't have a close relationship with him.

2. Ask your teen what they think it might mean to "stay close to God". Ask them about Jesus' story about the lost son. What might that mean for us?