INWARD PRAYER

QUESTIONS

1. What is the biggest you have ever received or share about the most generous gift you have ever given to someone else? 
2. Share about a time that God gave you an unexpected gift; have you thought about giving back in return?  
3. Is giving something you are good at? Be it a talent or ability you have or even with money is it something that you regularly do?  
4. Challenge yourselves this week to give. You may have to get creative but how can you give this week once you accomplished the way you gave to someone or something challenge someone else to do the same and keep the train going. If you are stuck on what to do pray about it and see where God leads you in the week. 

OUTWARD PRAYER 

Followology:  Give Together 

WHAT’S THE POINT?: 

We are a team (a youth group) who gives wholeheartedly.  

WORD UP: 

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  

Proverbs 3:9 “Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops” 

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” 

Romans 12:10-13 “Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality”  

 

WAKE UP:
Share a story where you have experienced giving ie. Someone blessed you or you decided to bless someone else no questions asked. (Comment in the chat on these things).  

WHY DO I CARE?
In life, we talk about giving and like many of us our minds go straight to money and finances rather than the other things that are available to offer and provided to someone. Naturally, we think of giving as the money we may have to offer but in reality, there is so much more to giving than just money. Yes that can be a portion of it, and for us in the church we may sponsor a child, and take up offering every Sunday, or maybe an event notes that there is a need for money to meet a need and then we give towards that or even us giving regularly of our tithes as God mentions in the Bible. So, it is no surprise that our mind, when you say giving, goes to the dollar signs. But giving goes beyond that and can also be something that is pretty creative.  

As we know God is three in one, there’s the Father, Son and Spirit; each as their own diverse thing but also as one together. As followers and believers in Christ we understand and know that we are made in the image of God imago dei. But even still in that we became human which caused us to become selfish and separated from God and one another. We drifted from what God wanted for us. So it is in this we need to know what God wants for us. He wants us to be restored and renewed in Him, He wants His followers to be like Him, to be examples of Himself here on earth. Mark 10:45 states “for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  

This was God in the flesh, He came to serve He came and offered His life, He came and showed us grace, forgiveness and love, all throughout his actions we see Him examining a life of serving and giving. If we plan to follow Jesus to live out “followology” we should be eager in loving one another, to serve one another and to give to one another to be GENEROUS.  Ephesians 2:10 says “for we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. As believers we are blessed by God, we are examples of Him here on earth, our world needs to see a light that is not dim but that is shining bright for the gospel. A way this is established is through giving.  

Giving together within our youth group, as a church and even individually in our everyday life means that we are aware of the time, abilities, and gifts he has given us (including both things & finances), and we give to others from what God gives us. When we serve, we imitate Jesus, who came as a servant King to seek and save the world. Giving together means that we desire people to be followers of Christ who respond to God’s love by contributing through bold generosity and service. We want every disciple to know how to express our faith through our Holy Spirit-given gifts and abilities, because Jesus uses His family, His “team” US serving together to effectively impact others in our church, our city, and our world 

WHAT DO I DO? 
Winston S. Churchill once said “we make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” Our lives are the biggest example of Christ here on earth, we need to be challenged by this and take action in this manner. If it’s a talent on the tech side of things and you are blessed in knowing photography, or music or sound tech those talents can be given within the church and to others. It may be cooking or your love for kids, offering to teach people how to cook so they can in turn provide for themselves, or maybe you know a neighbour that has a kid and they need help watching them at times. It could be selling your clothes or donating it to a shelter. It could be offering your time and meeting people who are isolated right now and just want to connect on zoom. And if God has blessed you with a job and you can financially give then pray about an organization or way you can multiply those funds to bless those around you. You see giving can be creative and it doesn’t have a limit, you just have to step out in faith and action.  

 Proverbs 3:9 “Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.” 

If we are blessed like expressed in the Bible an example the firstfruits of our crops, in other words, the physical things we are blessed with may it be money, talents, time. No matter what it is we should be challenged every day to give without hesitation, if we hesitate then it shows us our trust is not in a God who provides but rather it is within ourselves and the means we physically see rather than what God will do or bring.   

As a group needs to go beyond the borders of our comfort and trust that Jesus will provide for our needs as we give and be an example of Jesus to others. If we are generous people we will give even when it doesn’t make sense. Sometimes we are mistreated, or we feel we aren’t in a place to give and our feelings can be hard towards this. But it is in these situations we must test ourselves kind of like a “grace check” hitting the very bottom of our hearts and moving beyond our own selfish feelings and humanity and understanding that giving is the right thing to do and is an act of Christ.  

Lastly Romans 12:10-13 “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” As followers we must be challenged, we need to trust, and we need to be hospitable to those around us. We each need to pray that God will prepare each of us in our own ways to be boldly generous in our giving and in our time.