A Pastor's Reward

You'll read below a message I received on my Facebook page from an assistant. This is what a pastor wants to hear. Nothing else matters.

Disciples

Hey Pr,

Its been a long time. Hope you and Mrs. Raphaela are doing great. 

Pr. I was thinking about the day I was raised as a collaborator, I remember it like it was yesterday. It was one heck of a surprise. The Sunday after that great WWG night vigil and you took me to see Bp Julio straight after the morning service. It was a blessed day for me.

But what really sticks in my mind is what happened later that day, when you called the 6 of us who had been raised on or close to that day onto that block in the middle of the auditorium during the youth meeting and you asked everyone to pray for us and then us to pray for them. Its blessed Pr - all 6 of us are still very much in the faith:

Asst Catherine - who is out of all of us the only one still in VYG FPK and is still making the difference, she has many responsibilities and as you'd expect is who probably all the girls look to as an example when they enter the youth group.

Asst. Patricia - discreet as ever but still a blessing, taking photos, working with the magazine (which is now weekly again) God is using her so much I'm sure, maybe more than she realises.

Asst Venice - If I'm not mistaken, she was and still might be the deputy of the Kidzone throughout the UK. A strong woman of God this is clear for all to see, not from the position but character wise and everything else.

Asst Linborn - married now as you know, and blessing the church in the Love team and I think baptism group.

Pr Chris - of course Chris is now a Pr! Enough said really. Imagine how many will be blessed through his life and with his testimony...

Myself - well am finally about to finish Uni and of course am still very much fighting the good fight, here in Oxford and at our newest branch in Hackney where I moved almost 2 years ago now.

You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this Pr. But I read something yesterday from the book of Mark and Jesus was telling the parable about the kingdom of God being like the growing seed. 

(for quick reference/reminder -http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+4.26-29&version=NKJV)

This is truly the work of God Pr - to make disciples. I have very little experience but even I have been able to see that sometimes its easy to make it about numbers, to make it about the church looking full or whatever. But when we toil and toil and work and strive to make disciples, though there may be few (only 6 of us I mentioned here) we do a work bigger than we can imagine, and effect souls we may never meet through that worker we raised.

I know we are by no means at the end - the true victory is making it to the day we get to meet our Lord face to face.

But Pr, thanks for being used by God to make disciples out of us. How can we forget you?

May God continue bless you and your wife and your ministry ABUDANTLY.

Davi Nzuruba, UK

Who Are You?

Stop for a moment … take a piece of paper and answer this question, 'who am I?' Finished? Good. Now answer this, 'who do I want to become?'

It's likely that there is a big gap between the who you are and who you want to become. So what's the bridge that closes the gap?

WORK! In order to achieve anything you have to work hard for it and the time to invest in it is now. Many young people have big plans for their future. They are even told that they can be successful, as I'm sure you've heard or read on a report card, e.g. 'so and so has great potential'.

But years go by and the person's potential seems to just waste away … why? Because they allowed themselves to get sidetracked from their goal, they allowed themselves to get lost in the crowd. Exodus 23:2 reads, "You shall not follow a crowd to do evil."

"Where is this crowd leading you? 
Where are you going with this? 

Closer to your goal or on a completely

different path?"

If you know what you want, go ahead and work for it. What's the point in delaying what you want for the sake of following people in a direction that leads you nowhere near where you should be?

Maybe all you want at the moment is to have fun and just hang around. You're thinking, 'I'll get serious when I'm older'. But remember that as years go by and you take no action towards your goal, it will not only make it harder as you may never get there! You might become like many 40-somethings, only dreaming of what they should have been.

Focus. Don't follow the crowd.

This advice is contrary to what you learn outside. You are taught that you should be part of a gang, a clique… whatever you want to call it - it's a crowd! But stop and think … where is this crowd leading you? Where are you going with this? Closer to your goal or on a completely different path?

Pr Luke Castro

YPG National Coordinator

Time to ACT, like the Apostles

We've just finished the 21 Days Fasting of the Holy Spirit and I'm sure many youths have had an unforgettable and amazing experience with Him. The question that many are asking now is, 'What next?' 

I'd like to answer this question directly and straight to the point. 

If you read the first chapter of the ACTS of the Apostles you'll see right at the beginning of the chapter the Holy Spirit encouraging the disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they were baptized (Acts 1:4-5).  Immediately after that He said they would receive power, after the baptism, not to worship or sing nice songs of praise, but to "... be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). Hence the title of the book is ACTS of the Apostles. 

This means that the Holy Spirit has been given to us for action and not to become religious. There is this false idea that after the baptism our lives will become a bed of roses. Jesus said that He came not bring peace but sword, referring to the constant battle we'll go through until our death or His return. And this battle is fierce. We're fighting against the spiritual forces of this dark world that want to drag every single soul, especially youths, to hell. LET'S BECOME THE WITNESSES JESUS SPOKE ABOUT. The Holy Spirit is here for that cause, and not so we can use Him as an accessory.   

The YPG will be screening Paul, the Apostle nationwide. You will have the opportunity to see what you've heard so many times in church and read tirelessly in your Bible coming to life.

Speak to your local YPG leader and find out when the screening will begin.

It's time to ACT!

Pr Luke Castro

YPG National Coordinator

21 Days

Now if anyone does not have 

the Spirit of Christ, 

he is not His.

Romans 8:9

Dead Man Walking

"For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." 

Romans 8.6

To be carnally minded means that all you think about is pleasing yourself. It refers to those people whose only worry is who they’ll be dating next, how to get the latest trainers or cell phone, how they will make themselves the most popular girl/boy in their little group - in other words their minds are only set on satisfying the desires of their flesh. And because of this they are prepared to lie, steal, hurt, cheat and even kill for it.

These are the people who are dead spiritually. They are completely self-absorbed and ignore God; they have no life in them. They come to the YPG meetings thinking that because they spend a few hours in the church they are exempt from eternal death. Poor people! They are already dead without knowing it. They are breathing, studying, playing, laughing, talking, etc. but are dead spiritually.

"What are you right now, alive or dead?"

Now those who are spiritually minded - those who mind the things of God - are constantly thinking about what Jesus would do if He were in their place. They seek God’s direction through praying and meditation on the Bible.

Amongst other things they attend the youth meetings not for appearance but because they understand that what the pastor preaches is God’s instruction for their lives. Therefore they always make the difference. They stand out. They are not problematic people who need to be constantly rebuked or reminded of their duties as Christians. They are like flames of fire, they’re ALIVE!

Because their minds are set on the things above, they do not need to be around other people to fill the void. They are at peace.

What are you right now, DEAD or ALIVE?

Adj. Carnal - 1.Marked by the appetites and passions of the body… involving the body as distinguished from the mind or spirit. 2. Of or relating to the body or flesh

Pr Luke Castro

YPG National Coordinator