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

Are we too comfortable with Jesus?

How long have you been a Christian? One year? Two years? Three years? Ten years? For the past number of months we have been focusing on getting out of our comfort zones and living for Jesus. I mean really living for Jesus! That means getting out of our comfort zones, seeing people the way Jesus sees them, and really having an Impact on their lives. Check out this link and comment on the video. Does this woman represent you?

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=7b4dd4de9138d11a6364

 

 

 

Principle of the path

So I am reading this new book called "Principle of the path". It is amazing!!! So let me break it down for you guys and show you guys what it means for all of us. So this author talks about how in life we all take a certain path, we might have good intentions but ultimately if we look at our life and what's happened to us so far we have started a journey on a path that we haven't even notice. For instance, we have the intention of getting good grades, but look back at the times you haven't studied when you should of and see the result of the grade. Do that with anything...... Girls, I hear you talk about how you want to marry this great guy but yet sometimes you date any cute guy that asks you out. One of you might say "I want to develop a deep and lasting intimacy with God".... so you get up every morning and spend your time watching tv or getting ready instead of praying.

Basically what this guy says is that if we have a destination that we want to be at, we need to really think about the path were gonna take, meaning the intention and the decision were gonna make. For instance, we have been talking about "telling your friends about Christ" and I am sure there is a lot of you out there that is all for it.. you have GREAT intentions (meaning to do something)... now look at how many times you have talked to your friends about Christ... you see intention doesn't always bring result, but looking at where we want to be and making sure were staying on the "path" we originally set out to accomplish, which could be doing better in school, being an example of Christ on campus, inviting our friends to church, getting along with people (family members, friends). Have a goal but realize that every decision you make directs your path and will give you the result that your looking for or that you were looking for regardless of what you wanted.

Today I just spent time in prayer for all of our hearts to just be open to the path that God has for us and for us all to be wise in our decisions so that way we can look back later on and see that we did the right decisions to get the right results.

Remember, good intentions don't bring results, making the right decisions and stepping up and out for God does.

In Him,

Brett

Million Dollars

So if you had one-million dollars, how would you spend it?

Distractions

So we talked about distractions at youth group tonight and the talk did not go exactly as planned, meaning the bottle (which represented various distractions and issues in our lives) did not break. The point was we tend to focus on ourselves when we are going through stuff, but we should be focusing on Jesus because there is an entire hurting world that desprately needs Jesus. Even though the bottle didn't break, the point was do not let distractions keep you from focusing and telling others about Jesus! Keep on talking to your friends about Jesus, and be sure to invite them to youth group!

See You At The Pole

Tomorrow, (Wednesday, September 23) is See You At The Pole (SYATP). SYATP is a great way to honor God by waking up early and praying for the school year. Tomorrow you have the oppotunity to join thousands upon thousands of students who have the same desire--to make a difference in the name of Jesus! I know meeting at 7:00 a.m. is early but this is a great way to honor God.

If you attended SYATP, post your comments about your experience and what God taught you.

Honor who?

Lately I keep running into situations that require me to truly think of how I am going to act, these are things that have just been placed on my heart, but I have realize something that is very key to all these decisions. In life when we are faced with hardship or choices its easy for us to sway our thought to act selfishly. This is the battle that all of us are in, there are times where we try to stretch the truth of why we do things so we don't feel bad or we stretch the truth to justify reactions that we have had. If we are doing the right thing... there is no need for justification... God justifies us.

Matthew 22:37
Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

 Its simple when you finally have the courage to say it to yourself..... your either gonna honor YOURSELF or your going to honor GOD......

Who have you been honoring?

In Him,

Brett

Tuesday Youth Group--September 22

This Tuesday we continue our series, "Impact!" Brett, Lindsay, and I have been thinking about this message and it is going to be one like you have never seen before. Also...think back to all the messages you have heard, which one has had the most impact on you?

Consumer or Contributor?

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 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 28:19-2

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

Kayne West

Wow what an eventful week for some celebrities. First of all lets talk about Kayne I was in shock when I saw what he did to Taylor Swift, in the middle of her speech he came up took the mic from her while she was about to give a speech for winning best female video and he told everyone that Beyoncee should have won because she had the best video... after that Taylor didn't have any time to finish her speech, in fact she was just shocked and didn't say anything. But good job to Beyoncee for when she won VIDEO OF THE YEAR AWARD, she invited Taylor Swift up to finish her speech. Great job Beyoncee, in your moment to shine you thought of others before yourself. I couldn't believe that Kayne did that, I mean here is Taylor Swift that worked hard for where she is and in her defining moment of a country singer getting recognized at the VMA's Kayne gave credit to someone else........................... You know that made me start to think.

In our lives how many times does God do some miraculous things, and then when it happens we give the credit to ourselves or to something else instead of Him. but I got to say I was really proud of what Kayne said on Jay Lenos Show.



He went on to say he was embarrassed and that he was sorry, and that it was a selfish act.... Sometimes I think we need to do that with God, and get back on track and realize that the great things in life are blessings from Him and to take responsibility in situations where we might have messed up.

Now now Serena Williams, woooo man was she mad.... but her getting mad may have cost her next years US open. Not worth it.... I wonder how many times we get mad and ruin our chances that we could of had to honor God. Maybe it was a time when some people were talking about us at school or maybe a time where we ruined our witness because we didn't handle a situation in a Godly manner. whatever the situation, just like Serena Williams we need to realize as Christians we are being watched by the world around us and its up to us to keep our cool and to glorify God, even in situations that don't seem fair, or that are down right wrong.

In Him,

Brett

The enemy of Great is good

So I have been reading this book, I know, I know, why would you read a book, they are sooooo boring. Not really, sometimes when we read books we get more insight to God or about life. So anyways, I have been reading this book called "Good to Great" by Jim Collins and its all about how a lot of times we settle for good and never go for great. and while reading this book the first part of it stuck out to me

"Few people obtain great lives, in large part because it is so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good- and that is their main problem."

You see this author is really trying to portray that sometimes in life or companies, or anything in general, when we become good at something, or are doing good, we get comfortable in that, and then we never challenge ourselves to do great simply because we think its good to just be doing good. And it got me thinking.............

A lot of times I think that is our attitude towards God. Sometimes I ask people "hey how are you doing with your relationship with God?" and sure enough usually the answer is "good". Don't get me wrong, it's a great thing to be doing good with God, but are we just becoming comfortable with where we are and not striving to do better, not striving to be doing great. Colossians 3:17 says this

17"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

We need to always remember to keep striving for our relationship with God and what we can do to glorify Him. It's always good to be doing good with God, but it shouldn't stop there, we should always be striving to do better and to get closer to God. This could mean a number of things for a number of different people, maybe it's our prayer time with God, maybe we need to spend more time in prayer, or how much we read our bible, or how much we talk about God with people, maybe it's inviting our friends to church, maybe we need to reach out more and invite our friends so that way they can come to know the Lord, or maybe it's just in our daily self, maybe we need to challenge ourself to act more like Christ in situations. So my challenge is think of where you are with God, and then think of how you can get closer to Him and think of how you can turn the good things that you do into great things, because everything that we do, should be done for God.

In Him,

Brett

Connect Youth Group at Discovery

Tonight we had an opportunity to connect with the Lord! What impacted you the most?