Hey guys. For this video I just want to hear from you my viewers. What topics would you like to hear more about? Please share in the comment section below!
 

Today’s message is about the power of prayer. For the past several weeks I have been blessed with the opportunity to sit in on the youth group at Scottsdale Bible Church’s Cactus Campus. This past week their leader Ryan asked them some really Great questions that I’d like to ask you today. Sidenote if you are looking for a church or youth group and you are in the area near Cactus and Cavecreek this is the place to go. The church is so welcoming and their youth program on Sunday’s is an awesome place to learn about God. 

So let’s get to the questions. How often do you pray? Do you pray once a day? Once a month? Only when it’s absolutely necessary? I’m not asking this question to guilt trip anyone, Just to get you thinking.

 Prayer is one of the most important things that we can do to keep our connection with God strong. If you don’t think prayer is important just remember Jesus himself was often found going off on his going to pray. That was Jesus. And he’s perfect. I don’t know about you but I sure am not          

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 5:16 . 

Next question, when you pray, what is it that you pray for? Is it for something to happen in your life. Maybe that God would ease your stress at work, or he would help you if you were troubling time, or maybe that your sports team would win this week Sunday game. Go Cardinals just saying! How about praying for others and the events in their life, do you pray for your sick friend to get better? For your worst enemy to have a nice life? Yeah most people don’t pray for for that last one but that’s A sermon for another day.

 Let me ask you this question. do you believe that God truly answers those prayers? I mean true answers them…. The bible says, 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

Problem is a lot of the time we fear asking for the Big things. Or if we are willing to actually ask for these things we don’t truly believe in my heart that God has the power to do that. We doubt the power of God. Don’t worry you are not alone it’s human nature. 

Those of you who don’t know my story I was hospitalized for a long period of time and they didn’t think that I was going to make it. There were a lot of struggles during that time and I was presented with many opportunities to hate God. For instance I lost function to my fingers and my toes. Something that anyone could be willing to get mad about. Instead I made the choice to take it as a blessing that God spared my life. Not that God ruined it or took things away but that I was blessed to be alive and breathing. This verse comes to my mind when I think of that time, 
““ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”’ Mark 9:23 NIV

I am healed due to my faith and belief that anything is possible with God. Back to my point on prayer. I am still in healing and I am currently dealing with my kidneys not coming back. I’ve caught myself praying that he would heal me but not believing it in my heart, but I finally caught myself. We have to remember if we don’t fully believe in what we’re praying Will come true, how do we expect God to come through with it. God knows everything that is on our hearts which means he knows when we are doubting him. So I pray diligently, I pray for a full recovery of my kidneys, I’ll pray that I would not only be healed but I would grow from the experience and be used by God. Because isn’t that why were all here? To be used by God.  

So remember not to be afraid to ask for the big things. We serve a big God who is capable of all things. Thank you for your time. God bless! 

Today’s message is all about love.

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3:3-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Temptation is something that we must deal with on a daily basis. We are always being tempted and all of us in different ways. The good news is God is faithful and he will provide you the way out if you are keeping your eye out for it. The key is to be on your guard. 

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

This first reminds me that there’s always a way out if we are willing to look for it. It made me think of the movie pursuit of happiness with Will Smith. There’s I joke the son in the movie tells that I have quoted below. I think it sums up the same idea that we’re dealing with here.

 “There was a man who was drowning, and a boat came, and the man on the boat said ‘Do you need help?’ and the man said ‘God will save me’. Then another boat came and he tried to help him, but he said ‘God will save me’, then he drowned and went to Heaven. Then the man told God, ‘God, why didn’t you save me?’ and God said ‘I sent you two boats, you dummy!'” 

I use this joke because I think it perfectly sums up a moment where someone can be so blinded did they miss the moment that’s right in front of them. God gave the faithful servant a way out, but because he had in his mind A specific Way he thought God would save him, he missed it. Sometimes we are just blinded because we can’t see past your own vision. Be on your toes and always be seeking a way to escape the temp Tatian that is in front of you. God will never give you more than you can handle.

For today’s blog we will be using a few different versus coming from Psalm 139. Our topic is gods plan. I wanted to remind everyone that you are so unique. God loves you for who you are and he wants a specific relationship with you. He created you in his image unique to everyone else. He has had a plan for you since the moment you were born. I’m going to read for you first Psalm 139 verses one through three.

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139:1-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬
I’m going to repeat that last part again. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, no it completely. This means that he already knows what’s going to happen before it even happens. I don’t know about you but that brings a lot of relief to me. I would also like to read Psalm 139 verses 13 and 14

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139:13-14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This part always gets to me. The fact that God had a plan for my life before I even took my first breath. Not just that but that I was fearfully and wonderfully made. I wasn’t just put together really fast with the same traits as every other person but I was made special and unique. 

I have a specific purpose on this earth and so do you! My hope and my prayer is that these verses would be a reminder of that for you. So what now? Now you find out what your purpose is. Start to explore. Ask questions. What gifts do you have? what is it that brings you joy? If you have trouble finding these things ask your friends for help. Remember God already has a plan in place! 🙂 

Today’s challenge is really simple. I asked for you to find someone and just ask them if they need any form of prayer. If they tell you something then take the time in your day to pray for them and for anyone else that you know needs it. God bless!

You may notice that in today’s blog I’m dressed a little differently than normal. That’s because today’s message is all about using the Spirit of God to be a superhero to others. Also I really really really wanted to wear this Superman robe. You don’t have to be a minister or missionary to build up the kingdom of God. We are called as Christians to reach out to others and spread the word of Christ daily to those around us. However this can be a very scary thing and I totally understand that. That is why I chose to read this verse from Matthew today.
“On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”Matthew‬ ‭10:18-20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Let us remember whenever we are scared that we have the Spirit of God in us. If we pray diligently to the Lord and ask for opportunities he will present them to us. When we don’t know what to say or do the spirit will take over for us. I challenge you to trust in the Lord and the spirit within you. I think you will be surprised by the results! 🙂 God bless!!!

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬
How many times in your life have your parents or someone told you to live life by the Golden rule? Treat others the way you want to be treated. Well there is a reason for this, it works. It’s quoted here in Matthew as a way to some all the law. 

Here’s the real question… How do you want to be treated? I want you to imagine for me the perfect day. This is a visualization exercise so I would like you to start from the moment you wake up until the moment you go back to sleep and everything that happens in between. On a typical day what would you love to see happen in order to make a perfect day. If a negative thing comes to your mind that might have happened during the day just flip it to be a positive. Remember you have full control over this vision. The point of this exercise is for us to realize the kind of things that really truly affect us. What things make a smile and create the energy needed to be a light for Christ. If we can start to pinpoint what those things are then we can start to help build other people up. I wish you the best of luck in this exercise. If you have any cool experiences I would love to hear them in the comment section. God bless!!!

In today’s blog we will be talking about the story of Zacchaeus. There are two major lessons that I would like you to get out of this. First is to be cautious about judging other people. And the second is to remember not to just play it safe. Below is A quoted Bible text from the book of Luke. Please read this story and check out the discussion and video underneath.

“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭19:1-10‬ ‭NIV‬‬
First off let us start by realizing that Zacchaeus was hated by most of the people. He was a rich tax collector who took more from people then what needed to be taken. He was known amongst the people as a sinner most likely in their eyes an overall negative person. 
The story starts out with him so interested in seeing Jesus that he climbs a tree just to get view of him. Here’s where it gets interesting. Jesus himself then calls upon Zacchaeus and asked to stay with him not the other way around. This brought shock to so many of the people who were witnessing this. Why would Jesus want to be associated with a sinner like Zacchaeus? I will tell you why, because that is what Jesus did! He reached out to the sinners. And for those who listened and repented they were forever changed.
Too often we end up being the people in the crowd who think that they’re better than everyone else instead of being like Jesus. We need to remember that we are all sinners who fall short of God’s glory. It is our responsibility as Christians to love on our fellow man regardless of the way that they act towards us. 

Brian Sweeney We Believe Blog  Hope in the Lord

Hey everyone! Today’s message is about remembering the hope that we must have in the Lord and what comes from that. Life can be very difficult sometimes. Things happen that we simply cannot predict or control. What we can control is the way that we react to those situations. 

For me this is been manifested in the way that I handle my surgeries. There have been several surgeries that I was not expecting to have to do, but I chose to have a good attitude about it. For example this last week I had to get a new catheter put in because the brand-new one I got just two weeks previously wasn’t working. These surgeries can be draining and this specific one happened to follow after a hand surgery I had done just a one week previously.

It would have been really easy to just get mad at God because this was unexpected and set me back in my plans for growth. Here’s the thing though, it would do no good to complain or pout about it. Instead I trusted that God had a reason for this and that he would take care of me. Although recovery was difficult when I trusted in the Lord I was made stronger by him. The new catheter is now working without a problem and my hand is healing up nicely! It is in these times of trouble that we must remember that if we hope in the Lord he will help us find our strength! 

So whatever it is that you’re dealing with right now in your life just remember that if you run to God you have a much higher chance of getting through the struggle than fighting God and getting mad. I pray that this message speaks to you and then you take some time here today to trust in the Lord and the plan he has for you. God bless!

“but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:31‬ ‭NIV‬‬