“Feed the spirit not the flesh”, that’s the crux of Paul’s writings in Galatians 5 vs. 16-26, and in doing so we will produce fruits of the Spirit, rather than sins of the flesh. Its only by allowing the Holy Spirit into our lives and indeed controlling our lives that we can produce these kinds of fruit, and nail our sinful desires to the cross. And this is a regular, even daily process, because in doing so the devil will heighten his attempts to drag us back down into the gutter. This is a particular passage that God has used to speak to me recently.

Looking into learning and teaching styles last night at the youth ministry course, and how our own learning style will influence how we minister to our young people. We will adopt a teaching style that reflects our style of learning, and as a result may be excluding a range of young people who will respond better to another style of teaching. I discovered I am apparently an imaginative visual learner, adopting a more people-oriented approach. The need for variation in programs became apparent in order to address and embrace all young people n your setting, and indeed “The only bad method is the one you use every week”.
Heavenly Father, help us to embrace all your young people, and see what you see in them, vessels of potential. Teach us how to nurture this potential, and minister to them effectively, so that you can rise up young men and women who have a passion for you.

"Look at DANGER and laugh your head off - No Fear"
NO FEAR. I can remember when the whole No Fear range of clothing was all the rage, many of them were quite humorous, but they were the t-shirts to have. You put these t-shirts on and thought you were pretty macho and manly, into all the extreme sports kinda stuff, and of course without fear. But how do we truly have “No Fear”, some would claim to have no fear in life, but how many have no fear in death. I would suggest that the only people who truly have No Fear in either life or death are those who have put their trust and faith in Christ, and who truly know Gods unconditional and immeasurable love for them.
1 John 4 v18 “Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear”
This perfect love can only be found in one place, and that is in God through Christ, who freely offers his love to all who knock on the door. And when we truly know and comprehend His love we can be truly fearless, and should reflect His love to all we meet.

JEREMIAH 29 vs.11-14 (MSG)
“I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out – plans to take care of you, not to abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you wont be disappointed. Gods Decree”
What an awesome promise from our father this is, and how re-assuring it is to know that God has a unique and wonderful plan for each of our lives, plans to give us the future we hope for. These words are a tremendous comfort for me as I am currently unemployed, and as the rejection letters pile up, I know that God is using this experience to work out His perfect plan. He is drawing me closer to Him, and strengthening my trust in Him to provide the right job in His perfect timing. As this passage challenges us, lets get serious in our pursuit of God, getting to know Him more as His spirit reveals Him to us through Christ.

United Sharing Believers, that’s the picture painted of the early Christian church in Acts 4 32-36. “All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had” Acts 4:32(NLT). Our possessions are not ours, but gifts from God, and therefore we have no right to hold them back from Him if we have plenty, and others are in need. How far have we fallen from this image as 21st century believers, where in the west especially our houses are coming down with “stuff”, and we scrape together some loose change for the collection plate on a Sunday morning. How far have we fallen from the sharing church we read about here, a huge challenge to me personally, and I feel a lot of Christians today. Father help us to become a united sharing church once again, witnessing to the world your love and compassion that should dominate our thoughts and actions. Help us to be the people you want us to be, and thank you for challenging us from your word. Show us how to set about changing our lives, and witness to be truly reflective of you.

Do our prejudices over-ride our ability to love our neighbour? Are we aware of our prejudices? I found myself to be asking these questions after the youth course last night, which was looking at the area of “ministering to young people in a divided society”. Christ commands us to love our neighbour unconditionally, just as he demonstrated to us through his life and ministry. We must get alongside people and show them Christ’s love, revealing Christ to them, rather than allowing our prejudices or differences to over-ride our love for fellow human being. We are all created in Gods image, and as Christians we have experienced Gods unconditional love, grace and mercy. Likewise we should show this in our attitude to others, despite our differences. We are called to embrace firstly, not exclude, and in an attitude of love reveal Christ to others.
Do we pass on a polluted faith or a truthful faith to the next generation? A huge challenge to me personally, and I believe to the church as a whole. To do this our lives must be wholly focused on, dependant on and surrendered to Christ.

God is Good. That was my first thought this morning as I look back on what was a successful youth service and yf event last night where God really amazed us by bringing along a great crowd of youth from our area, and also from Raffrey congregation. He also was with me totally as I took the sermon-type part of the service, and I know that definitely was not done in my own strength. What an answer to prayer, and I pray that His word will have challenged those who attended, young and old in a fresh and challenging way.

Midweek last night was looking at discipleship, and the role each believer has in teaching, nurturing and guiding fellow believers in their faith, especially during the early years of faith. To do this we need to be real with each other, learning from one another’s experience, encouraging and looking out for each other, and praying specifically for one another’s needs. The pattern of Christian commitment is outlined in Acts 2: 38-47 as apostolic teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. Sometimes while focusing on evangelism, we forget about nurturing. In seeking to convert the unsaved by pointing them to Christ, we forget the follow-up process of nurturing them and encouraging one another in our faith. To do this we have to get alongside new converts, be real with them, and share experience with one another just as Christ done while on earth.

Cochrane Corry cup match today against Carryduff Young Men, abit of a local derby. Exciting to watch I�m sure, but a real rollercoaster ride of emotions when playing in it. 1-0 down, 2-1 up, 4-2 down with about 10 minutes to go, back to 4-4 before full-time. A few chances to clinch the win, but it went to extra time, and then the dreaded penalties which we eventually won 4-3. Such a rollercoaster of emotions, but such a high when the final penalty went in. Would be nice to get a cup-run going, but we shall see how things develop.