How Can I Show That People Are Valuable - Day 1

Hey youthies....well ATL has come and gone with the rest of our summer, and most of you guys start back at the "S" word this week ("School" for those of you whose minds may be farther in the gutter than they should be!)  With school starting back, you guys are entering one of the most fertile mission grounds around: your schools.  You have the chance to fall back into your regular routine and continue impacting only the same old group of friends, or this year you can set out to change things up a bit and make a much larger footprint wherever you are!  This week we're gonna look at a helpful question to get you started.  Sunday we talked about how we can know that we are important to God and we found that He knows us, He's with us and He made us and therefore He loves us.  So the question now becomes how can we show that other people are valuable?

So how do you guys determine how much value something has?  Is it based on price?...or maybe whether you love it more than something else?  If you do believe an item is worth greater value, do you treat it differently than you do items you don't think are worth as much?  Why?

If you had a brand new iPad or a laptop or even a new Droid or iPhone, would you treat it differently than something you've had for let's say 2years?  Why?

This month we're going to discover how our actions and attitudes indicate the value we hold for other people.  So here's the first way that we can show people that we know that they are valuable:

Don't use people.


Has anybody ever told on you for doing something wrong?  My sister used to "rat" me out all the time and usually I ended up paying for it with my rear end (My pops was a Marine who knew how to give convincing spankings).

What does it mean to use someone?

Read John 8:1-6......

How did the people in this story use the woman?

A group of religious leaders brought before Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery...(basically she was having sex outside of marriage).  But they didn't bring the man with whom she was having sex with....according to Jewish law at that time, the penalty for adultery was stoning to death.

How do you think this girl felt in the presence of all the people accusing her?

What could the religious leaders have done to show love for this woman in spite of her sin?

See, the religious leaders could have brought the woman to Jesus privately instead of accusing her in public.  If these leaders were truly offended by this act of sin, they would have brought both the man and the woman.  The accusers weren't really concerned about this woman - they were simply using her to trap Jesus.  If Jesus said the woman shouldn't be stoned, He could be accused of not obeying the Jewish laws.  If Jesus said she should be stoned, then the religious leaders could report Him to the Roman authorities who didn't let the Jews carry out their own executions.

The religious leaders used this woman for their own purposes.  In what ways are people "used" today?  Have you ever felt like you were "used"?  Have you ever "used" someone else?

How does "using" someone demonstrate that you don't value them?

Being used is not an enjoyable experience....it's deeply hurtful to whomever is being used.  If we truly believe that people are valuable and important then we won't do something that purposely is hurtful and causes them pain.  Think on that one tonight and hopefully we'll see you guys at Ignite in about 90 minutes!!!

Heffe