God's Love Letter to You

It's amazing that when we like someone, we do all sortsof things for them. We send flowers, we give gifts, and, my favorite, we like to write notes to the one we love. God is no different. We see the flowers he gives us every spring, and the gifts he gives us in the form of the many blessings he gives us. Yet we sometimes walk right past the love note He's sent to us. His word, the Bible, is that love letter. It's the anavoidable truth that God is not some distant creator watching what happens to His creation, or that He doesn't get directly involved in the lives of people. On Every page, if you truly are looking, you can see how much He loves you. Some passages, like 1 John 1:5-10 speak about how awesome He is and the power of His grace and love:

"5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.


8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."

I love this! God is light, in him there is no darkness! He is faithful and just to forgive us! This gives me comfort and hope for my life in a world full of darkness.

I want to challenge you all to pick up god's love letter once a day. If you don't know where to start, begin with 1 John.

If you want to hear about Jesus, there's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. If you want to hear a love song to sing to God, look up Psalms. There's a wealth of love and knowledge that God has prepared for us to read and just listen and love Him with.

If you're struggling with an issue, Pastor Brett and I will be happy to help...post your issue, we'll find the verse that corresponds with that issue. If you want to talk about reading your Bible more, post it, and we'll talk!

I love you guys so much, and pray for you daily

In Christ,

Brian.

In peace with your crush

So this last thursday at IGNITE we talked about just being in a divine romace with God. letting your heart just trust in Him, being excited about just being in His presence, always wanting to talk to Him like He is your crush. What an amazing night seeing you all come up and pray that prayer. What an amazing generation that has chosen to fall deeply in love with God.

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 Thursday 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

thursday!

I know what you thinking........ why is there a picture of eggs on this blog....... Well let me tell you something, this thursday I have given the go ahead for Brian Doyle to preach.... and he is gonna do something really cool and it might involve and egg, but you got to come to find out. BRING YOUR FRIENDS, this series is all about outreaching and inviting our friends to church, make sure that you are being the salt and the Light to the world. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HE IS GOING TO DO WITH THE EGG!!!

In Him,

Brett

letter from brandon

Dear Middle Schoolers,

Well, I'm sitting here in my barracks and it is 6:40pm and the day is pretty much done far as now. Soon it will be time to take advantage of the 9, yes I said 9 hours of sleep they have decided to give us tonight (this is very very rare). Its hard to believe that I have been here at Fort Knox for as long as I have, I have only 3 more weeks (21 days) left here and by the time pastor brett gets this to post up it will be more like 15 days left or so. I graduate on the 6th of May and as much as im looking forward to that, I am really excited and looking forward to the birth of mine and lindsays son! i can't wait to officially become a dad! i miss all of you like crazy and i know with jared also gone now it probably feels a little weird at times. just know that it doesnt matter who is helping pastor brett or who is leading worship for as long as christ is FIRST in their lives and HE is FIRST in our own lives God will bless it (the ministry and the lives of those individuals) greatly! I am excited to hear that youth group is growing. That means all of you or some of you are answering God's call to share the good news, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know pastor brett has  great things in mind that i know God is in 100%. thank you to those of you who have been able to write me. It puts a big smile on my face when i get them and read them. I can truly see God at work here. I don't know all of what you have heard but recently I have had thechance to speak at our church service on Palm sunday and i have been asked again to be apart of the service this sunday on the 18th (so by the time you have read this it will be already of past) i truly believe with all my heart that God has me here in the army for a bigger purpose than i had first thought and i am excite to explore that call! well, i got to go now (time to shower and go to bed). again i miss you all and remember to keep god FIRST in your lives at ALL times.

In Christ,
Brandon Sweeney

write me at:

Mailing Address:

PFC Sweeney

C. Co, 1-46 IN 4th PLT

3576 Wilson Road

Fort Knox, KY. 40121-5728

Salt and light

This thursday were gonna talk about being the salt and light of the world, its interesting, I had one of the creative team members come up to me the other night and ask me "Brett, i was reading acts the other day and i started to ask, why don't we have these big numbers of people coming to God like it did in acts, it was like thousands of people"

After a while i had to think but the answer was pretty clear and as well it was pretty harsh, i looked at him and i told him "because now days people don't really want to follow God, they want to just act like christians on sundays and thursdays and tuesdays."

I then started to ask him, when was the last time you met someone who wasnt a pastor that was just on fire for the Lord and actually living out their faith, he was surprised but realized it was true and commited to starting to get on fire for God and spend 30 minutes a day in deep study and prayer.

I want to challenge you all to think about this, don't be a sunday, thursday, or tuesday christian, be someone who actually takes their faith serious and see where it leads you, just read Psalms 1:1-3

In Him,

Pastor Brett

P.s.
THIS THURSDAY IS GONNA BE AWESOME, BRING SOME FRIENDS AND DON'T FORGET TO GET YOUR PERMISSION SLIP IN WITH YOUR $50 NON REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT FOR LAKE MOJAVE

Letter from brandon

Dear Middle Schoolers, Hey everyone, I hope and pray that this letter finds you all well. I miss you all very much but I know you are all doing great with staying on fire for God and for those of you who said you are praying for me (or will be praying for me), thank you. I truly believe now that God has me here in the Army for something big. I have already had the chance to share with people about God and 2 of them came to church today. God has also used me to help others though talk (counsel) and prayer. So much so that the guys here are all calling me either "Rev" or "Preacher" and its nice because so far they all seem to like me (and I them). Let all that continue to help you all and encourage you to know that God can and will use you whenever and wherever you are. I get so excited when someone here asks me to pray or lead a quick study. Things here aren't that easy, but they aren't all that hard either, it just takes a lot of being quite, paying attention, and focus on the task at hand. When you think about it, its a lot like a Christian's own walk with God! Sometimes we need to be quiet, pay attention (listen), and focus on the prize/goal. And as I end this letter, it is my own prayer that you would be still, listen for/to God, and focus on the prize (His promise) at the end. That you would live for Him with EVERYTHING you have and EVERYTHING you are. I love and miss you all (even you too leaders, Pastor Brett, and Jared) and I am waiting on letters from you all (ONLY letters). Stay strong in our Lord and let Him use each of you for His glory! In Christ, Brandon Sweeney Mailing Address: PFC Sweeney C. Co, 1-46 IN 4th PLT 3576 Wilson Road Fort Knox, KY. 40121-5728

Power

It is interesting, a month ago my wife and I were in a lot of debt when it comes to credit cards, but we were still spending like the world told us it was ok to spend. After a while my brother told raquel and I about this program that he is doing. Its a financial program based off of biblical principles. It was hard at first but now raquel and i are getting rid of our debt slowly and bring able to honor God with our financial decisions. Its funny what happens when you believe the lies of the world and you don't look at what the bible has to say about the situation your in. I want to encourage you all, as I am prepping for thursday night to look at some things the world has told you, now we have hit on some of these at IGNITE, we have hit on sex, we have hit on money being the reason to live, but tomorrow night were gonna hit on the fact of stepping out with our faith and being a true follower of Christ, were gonna talk about being transparent for God. I AM SO STOKED!!! SEE YA TOMORROW

In Hm,

Brett

Excitement

This Thursday we are going to talk about "taking your passion and putting it to use" i am so stoked about this because it seems that lot of times we as christians think its ok just to be a sunday christian, its ok for us not to take our relationship with God seriously and this thursday were gonna explore what the bible says about stepping out. James 2:14 read it :)

In Him,

Pastor Brett