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?