Rest with your crush

Today I had so much going on, planning for the Mojave trip (which is going to be awesome), planning the Tuesday night IGNITE high school, making sure everything is in order for the things we are doing for the summer, needless to say I was stressed out, and i totally forgot to do my time with God, I like all of us forgot that He is my crush, the one i should seek after daily. like I said Tonight i have been reading through Psalms and Proverbs and just journaling the journey that God is taking me through.

So I turned off my computer, sat back in my chair at my desk, took out my iPod and put on some worship music, and then I read this amazing verse in Psalms.

Psalms 4: 2-5 "How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? Know that the Lord has set apart the goldy for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him. In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord."

How amazing is that love letter, and right when i read that, i felt this great peace come upon me and i felt so comfortable, i closed my eyes, listened to worship music and got lost in the love of God. what a beautiful and amazing moment.

I want you to focus on what David wrote when he said "when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent, offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord" So today and tonight i want to challenge you to do something, go in your room, lay on the bed or get in a comfortable chair. take out your bible, turn on your iPod and listen to christian worship, read some scripture, and then just rest there, ask God to meet you their, and just be in peace... let your heart feel love from Him, what an amazing God we serve, just spend time with Him, remember He is calling us to a divine romance.. and what a romance it is.

Brett

Winter Camp

Winter Camp is coming up and we are so excited for all the new memories and spiritual growth that is going to happen at Angeles Crest Christian Camp this year. Many of you have gone with us to winter camp before and have some amazingly funny stories and good memories, We want everyone that has had a blessing or funny moment from camp to share it, let us know what has happened? also don't forget this tuesday sign up for winter camp and talk to Pastor Bryan if money is an issue, the camp is Feb 5-7

In Him,

Pastor Brett

Etnies

Find what color the cat is in this blog and be the first to comment and you will win etnies gear

My brother once said "Brett i am so tired of people just being consumers of the church rather then being a contributor of the church". Now when I say church I am talking about the body of believers in this world (you and me) and the people that attend "The church". This statement always hits my heart about people that go to church and all of us Christians that are referred to as The church . There are two types of people in the church , consumers and contributors. Let me explain more...

"The Consumer"

There are the people in the church that just take in everything and really do nothing with what they learn and think that it is "all about me". These are the type of people that think that the church is there for "me". When they go and learn something new at church, they do nothing with it, and they sometimes just sit on the knowledge they gained. As well in their relationship with God they don't think of others or how to further the kingdom, rather they think that the cat is green God is just there for them.These are the type of people that when someone talks about serving, going out and letting people know who God is, or just taking part in what is happening, they ignore it and expect someone else to do it because they don't "feel" like it or they are just to concerned about their own life and their own agenda.

"The Contributor"

 There are people in the church that are contributors. These are the type of people that when they go to church and learn something about God they apply it to the people around them and they reach out to the people around them. These are the type of people that when at church they know that God cares about them and that they are important in his eyes, and that they should strive to let people know that God cares just about them as well.These are the people that don't think that it is "all about me", rather they think "it is all about the kingdom and being a part of God moving in peoples lives". These are the people that go to other countries and witness to people about God, these are the people that when they see someone in need they drop their agenda and help that person, these are the type of people that want to serve in the church and instead of thinking "someone else will do it" they jump to action because they know that God has called us to go out and live for Him, not to stay in a bubble and just be concerned about ourself.

Philippians 2:3-4

3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

 Matthew 28:19-20

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

 It's not wrong for us to concentrate on our relationship with God or to even be concerned about ourselves. The church (that we go to) was designed for us to learn and to be in fellowship and to grow. But when that is all we do, we are not living the purpose that God has for us, That is to serve one another and to go out and tell people about Christ and his forgiveness and love. We all do this in different ways, maybe its being a good example and when people notice, you give Glory to God, or maybe its talking to one of our friends about God and encouraging them, or it could be serving at our church or helping someone when they are in need, or it could just be inviting people to church, or it can even be going to another country and ministering to people. There are so many ways that we can be a contributor of the church (the kingdom of God).

My question for myself and for you is, are you a consumer or a contributor?

In Him,

Brett

Etnies (free clothes)

This first two people that comment on this blog at 7:00 pm will win!!!! you get to come to youth group tuesday and pick out free etnies clothes, 1 item per winner. So at 7:00pm today make sure you leave a comment, first 2 comments win :)

In Him,

Brett

Focus

Alot of times I get distracted from what I am doing...... if u have ever seen me preach you deffinatley know what I am talking about. It is so easy to get distracted. For instance when you are in class and the person next to you starts to talk to you, you automatically concentrate on that person and not the teacher, and like always that's when the teacher calls on you.... at least that is what always happens to me. But I have found that when I make sure and try hard to concentrate and to not let myself get distracted and I be intentional about it, there is no limitation on my focus. I say this because lately I have noticed that in reading my bible and in prayer I get distracted because im not being intentional. its the same thing when we feel close to God at church or we make big decisions for God and then during the week we allow ourselves to get distracted.

My challenge is this, start being intentional about your prayers and reading your bible. find a spot in your house or backyard that will be designated as your prayer and reading your bible spot. Be intentional about your relationship with God and you will see such a change in your life.






Tonight is going to be awesome, we have some surprises in store :)

etnies

This first two people that comment on this blog at 4:30 pm will win!!!! you get to come to youth group thursday and pick out free etnies clothes, 1 item per winner. So at 4:30pm today make sure you leave a comment, first 2 comments win :)

In Him,

Brett

Forgiveness

So in the last couple weeks after talking with a bunch of our students at our youth group, I have realized something. We all have way to much pride and not enough humility and forgiveness. When given conflict with another person some of you get mad and think its time to attack that person that has wronged you in some way, and you are even able to justify why you are acting in such a "un-christian way". Some of you are angry about someone that has wronged you but you think your taking the high road by just ignoring the person even though your still angry about what they did, and you justify ignoring them to resulting in resolving the conflict because if you ignore them there is no conflict but yet they know and you know that there is anger on both parts. And some of you just let yourselves be walked on and you really don't talk about the conflict with the person and you just let it go, to where there is so much uncertainty in the air as to what is going on.

When did we as Christians forget why we are Christians? Why are we able to come to youth group? Why do we have so much joy when it comes to God?  BECAUSE HE FORGAVE US!

We all were the person that was doing something wrong to God, we were ALL the person that we might be having conflict with but our actions and our sins were towards God not someone else. God loves us and gave His Son for us so that we can be with him. And we sit here as christians and think we have a right to hold a grudge against another person?!?!?!?

Matthew 6:14-15
¹⁴For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

I want us all to think about this verse........................ Why do we think we should have pride and hold a grudge to someone and not fix the problem. I wonder what the bible would have been like if Christ held a grudge against people or he just ignored the conflict and didn't deal with it. I couldn't sleep this morning because of this and I have some versus for each person and there is two types of people I want to address....

1st person: These are the people who hold a grudge against people and either are mean or ignore the person they are having conflict with.

Matthew 18:23-33
 ²³"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents^[a] was brought to him. ²⁵Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
 ²⁶"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' ²⁷The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
 ²⁸"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.^[b] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
 ²⁹"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
 ³⁰"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
 ³²"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'

What this verse is about is God forgiving us (the king represents him, the first servant is us and the debt is sin) and us not forgiving others for the wrongs that they have done.  When we look at this Christ is telling us that if God forgives us of the wrong we have done, we have no right to not forgive others.

2nd person: This is the person who is frustrated with someone and just ignores the problem to avoid conflict or just doesn't want to deal with it.

Matthew 18:15-17
¹⁵"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'^{[b] 17}If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

What this verse is talking about, is we need to address conflict and we need to be willing to talk to people that were mad at.

We are called to be people that honor the Lord and that when the world tells us to handle conflict a certain way, we should handle it like Christ would. And that in itself is what will change the world and the people around us for God.

In Him,

Brett