Jesus and today

I wonder what Jesus' ministry would have been like if He had a computer or a phone that he could text from. I wonder if he would have been busy doing myspace or facebook or texting his friends instead of loving on people. Imagine Jesus talking to people about God's forgiveness and those people were to busy texting their friends or even worried about how they looked so they put more importance on what they looked like and what people thought of them before they went to hear him.

Jesus was so revolutionary because instead of going with the social norm or worrying about what people thought of him (looks or actions). He wasn't wasting his time texting people or making sure his profile looked great. He was never worried about staying in his group of friends, because if He did, He knew that people wouldn't hear the message of God and that people would feel excluded and not experience His love. Jesus was all about making sure people knew that He loved them and that God has a plan for them.

I want you to think about some of these questions as I have witnessed them at youth group, at school, and on our profiles. When we come to youth group are we more worried about what we look like instead of coming and being excited about what God can do in our lives? Are we more worried about hanging out with our friends so we don't feel uncomfortable instead of making sure that no one is sitting alone and everyone feels loved? Are we more concentrated on our profiles and texting that we don't spend time with God? At our schools are we more worried about what people think of us instead of worrying about what God thinks of us? and on our profiles are we more worried about being cool instead of using it to show that we love God?

I wonder what would have happened if Jesus had an importance on the stuff we do, would his ministry been the same? would people have come and still come to know God?

In Him,

Brett

Actions

This video is hilarious, It is funny to see this kids reaction, and it's interesting to think that sometimes we can't help our reactions to things. Like if someone hurts us, or a situation at school. But there is something that we can control, the way we act and the intentions (the reason that we do things) that we have with life, the friends that we hang out with, the way we represent Christ and how we look at situations. Everday we are in school we have the chance to tell someone about God's love and we have a chance to pray for them. I want us all to think about the action of prayer and what we pray about. I want to challenge all of you to start praying for the people at your school, start praying for opportunities to tell people about Christ or for yourself to be more aware of how we portray Christ and that God will give us the courage to start talking to our friends about Christ. I truly believe that God answers our prayers (when He sees fit) and that we change from prayer and mature in our relationship with God. Start looking at yourself as an ambassador (someone who represents someone or something) for God and step out in faith and let people know who God is. I truly believe that God is changing the students of Moreno Valley, be a part of it, Pray that God will give you opportunities and step up to the challenge of letting people know who God is, invite your friends to youth group and love on the people at your school.


In Him,


Brett

challenge in prayer

so I am at this leadership conference for the high school students and I spent some time in prayer this morning for all the students in Moreno Valley that don't know God. I want to challenge all of you this weekend and everyday before thursday to take 5 minutes and pray for the people you know that don't know God or that aren't plugged into a church. Pray that God will give you an opportunity to talk to them and that He wll soften their hearts so they can come and know the Lord. I miss you all!

In Him,

Brett

Last night

Last night was amazing as I hurled glass bottles at a board that outlined a person and we talked about how we get distracted from Gods love for us and the purpose that God has for us and going out and telling people about the love of Jesus. I want everyone to really think about what hits us in life and what takes off the path that God has for us. I was so proud of all of you that came and worshiped with true hearts, never stop in your relationship with God, never settle for just doing good but in every situation honor God. Don't let life stop you from telling people about the Love of Christ.

In Him,

Brett

My dog Rocko

So lately I have noticed something about my cool dog Rocko. Everytime I have to go somewhere I put him outside, he hates going out side, in fact (it's funny) sometimes he will go hide so I won't put him out. But here is the thing, if I get a treat and take it outside he gets so excited about the treat he goes outside on his own not even thinking about the fact that he is getting put outside. Think about it, he is so concentrated on one thing that he forgets about everything else. And no I am not mean, because if he stayed inside he would pee everywhere haha.

Sometimes in life I think we get so caught up in the things that are going on around us that we forget or get distracted from what God wants us to do and the purpose that He has for us. It could be good things and bad things that distract us and take us off track.

Tonight we are going to talk about this and it is going to be awesome and a night of IMPACT, this is a great chance for you to bring your friends and for them to encounter God, we are doing something on stage that has NEVER been done before at discovery (no rocko will not be there just in case you were wondering)... its going to be awesome!

In Him,

Brett

Tomorrow night!

Tomorrow night is going to be amazing, it is going to be a night that you will never forget, we are talking about how we can get distracted from God and His purpose in our lives, this is a night for you to invite your friends as I am going to do something insane on stage and it will give your friends a chance to see what Gods purpose is for their lives.

Look at the see you at the pole(update) post below this!

In Him,

Brett

See you at the pole (update)

What an amazing day, here are some updates that I have heard so far:

Landmark: I am so proud of everyone in the bible study and everyone from our youth group and other youth groups that came out. We prayed for 30 minutes in front of the school and staff joined us. It was so awesome to see students take a stand for their faith and pray for one another and for God to move at their schools. I am so proud of all of you.

March: So I got a call from a student from March and I found that God moved within see you at the pole, three students from discovery, not going to mention names but here are their initials (G.P., G.I., G.I.) asked the main office to announce SYATP, and they did!!! and then when people came to pray a teacher approached these three courageous girls and told them they could use his room for a bible study but they would have to get permission from the principal. So these three girls being obedient to God and living for God and for His purpose, waited and sought out the principal, got approval and they are now filling out a form to have bible study on campus. I was blown away by this story!!! this is exactly what we have been talking about on Thursday nights, going out and getting things done for God. I am so proud of these three students and all the other students that participated in SYATP. Also for all you students who go to March, when everything is in order, there will be a bible study at march on Wednesdays during lunch, and I will be there.

Homeschool: I read this in one of our comments, some homeschool kids from discovery went outside and prayed together, that is awesome!! I am so proud of you.

Mountain View: One of our students (A.C.) put God first and let the social standards not hinder him, and started the SYATP, 20 people joined in. Praise God, I am so proud of you dude. 

I see God moving in the students and the IMPACT that we are going to have from students stepping out in their faith and living for God is awesome. keep it up!

Is there any other stories that people have from see you at the pole? leave them in the comment and I will keep updating this blog of how God moved!

In Him,

Brett

Slip-N-Slide

Check this out.... is this real? what do you think?

In Him,

Brett

See you at the pole!!

 SEE YOU AT THE POLE

I am so excited about tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning is see you at the pole, that means that everyone and anyone who wants to pray comes to the flag pole 30 minutes before school starts. I will be attending the one at Landmark. I want to encourage you all to take a stand for what you believe in and to invite your friends to take part in praying for your schools, the nation, and for God to move among us.

See you at the pole,

 

Brett

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

Landmark Students

Hey Landmark students, Here is a picture of my wife and I like I promised, It was awesome hanging out with you today, I am so proud of you bringing your friends and living for the Lord, check out these blog posts and take your time, let God work in you as you read. If you don't have a youth group that you are attending, this Thursday night is going to be amazing at the middle school youth group come and check it out the church address is 27555 Alessandro blvd, Moreno Valley. Also if you have a myspace, Brett's myspace.

In Him,

Brett

With Everything

Watch this whole video and listen to the lyrics.... are you giving everything?

In him,

Brett

I was humbled today

I know this is a very funny video, but I want us to think about something. Take the thief and turn him into  situations in life or sin. Then take the car and turn that into ourselves. Now take the monkey in the back (which is awesome) and turn that into the church. Sometimes life hits us hard or just makes us loose focus on what is really important, sometimes it breaks into our window and tries to ruin us. The beautiful part about what the monkey did is what the church does for us sometimes. It helps us take back control, it helps us gain our focus back into the right direction and gets rid (or throws off a bridge) of the things that aren't good or that were messing up with.

Today at church I was humbled by  one of you, I am not going to mention names (but I will mention initials T.G.) this person came up to me and basically told me how sometimes on Thursday nights or Sunday mornings I am really focused on the "service" and I forget to take the time to chill with people and concentrate on what is important as well. Although preaching and making sure everything runs smoothly is a very important thing, spending time with people and knowing what is going on in their lives is just as important if not more important because it is the main reason why the church started in the bible. It was mainly about fellowship, accountability and encouragement.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Just as I might have lost some of my focus on something that is important at church, I wonder if some of you have ever done the same, when we come to church it should be about building one another up and growing in the Lord and then going out with that encouragement and letting people know about how Christ can change lives and the community and love that we share at church.

So my question to everyone is, when you come to church what is your focus?

In Him,

Brett

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 28:19-20

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

Insane "shoes"

What are these?

So I came across these "shoes" and I thought they looked interesting, apparently they are the "shoes" of the future, they are called "fivefingers running shoes". I guess they improve your running ability, add less to injury and our feet are designed to adjust your stride, distribute your weight, and minimize the impact on your joints—on the fly. Unfortunately, when you encase them in modern running shoes, your feet lose contact with the ground. They don’t adjust. They aren’t free to do what they were made to do. So in essence, when we run in these expensive modern shoes they alter what our feet were somewhat designed to do.... isn't God amazing, think about this... we marvel at all the inventions that we have for footwear, but in all reality it's just what God gave us that works perfect. Now my question to everybody is, if these things work better, won't it give our feet soars and hurt more if there is not much padding? or does our feet compensate for the wear and tear over time? and I wonder what Shaq would look like if he wore these on a basketball court.... what is your opinion?

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

Americas Got Talent

Tonight is going to be intense with all the competition, I really don't know who to go for...i mean i really like Barbara Padilla, she is awesome with opera singing... but also there is Kevin Skinner who I think if he would sing songs that require a lower voice like his first performance he could take it... who do you want to win?

In Him,
Brett

Kayne West & Serena Williams

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

This is sick

So i was reading this blog by a christian guy that has some interesting things to say about God and about living our life for him. And he has this video up in randomness but i still that the video was awesome becuase the guy was able to do the whole thing in one take, pay close attention to what happens, i think sometimes this is like life and our relationship with God if you really want to think about it, we start off small and then progress and eventually alll the things that we have been doing for God come together and make a cool thing happen. The hard part that we should do is find out where our starting point is, and think about where we want to be. You see its easy for us to just look back and go "oh cool I am in a different spot now" its harder and more beneficial for us to have a plan and be intentional with our relationship with God or just life in general. Find your starting point and where you want to be with God, really think about it and pray, God will reveal some cool stuff. Thats how I see thursday nights, Its slowly progressing but God is doing some awesome things, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

In Him,

Brett

Amazing night

What an amazing night! It was such a blessing to see all of you at Palm Canyon. I think it is amazing how much our ministry has grown and how last week we had over 75 students and 14 baptisms for middle school. I am so proud of all of you that are living for God, bringing your friends, and changing yourself so that you can serve God more. It was such a blesseing to see you all being examples and living for Christ tonight and being a part of the bigger picture. So now that we have a new blog i want to find out, What are some thoughts on tonight or on our youth group thursday nights, what are some thoughts on God, lets start blogging it up

Also know that we have a twitter account for the middle school as well. twitter for middle school , Just go ahead and click on it, with both twitter and the blog that you are reading, we need you to sign up for the programs and then you are able to comment on the blog and on twitter sign up for it and have the updates be sent to your mobile phone, that way you can follow whats going on and can be part of the community that we are building for middle school

In Him,

Pastor Brett

Connect

Connect is tonight, I am so thrilled that all of the middle schoolers are getting together to worship God and to prepare for next week. I think a lot of times we forget that its good to have an excited build up to a task, and the task is to take a stand for what we believe in and to pray for our schools and our nation. I am thrilled to be apart of it, when you log on tonight as it is our first night of having a blog, let me know what you think about tonight and what you are thinking about God.

In Him,

Pastor Brett