(Goals: To exhort YFC members in their efforts to build God’s kingdom in their school through

YFC; To impart the right perspective YFC members should have regarding service;
To use the lives of two biblical heroes–Joshua and Caleb–as a source of inspiration for
YFC members who may be experiencing challenges in their areas of service.

I. BORN INTO A BATTLE

A. THE NORMAL LIFE?
If you look around you, you will see that things are normal. We go to school, meet
new friends. We sweat it out during exams, and more often than not we pass. We
go to parties and watch movies… just your ordinary – run of the mill – college life.

B. BEYOND THE VISIBLE

As Christians however, as “Youth for Christ”, if we try to open our spiritual eyes and
look “beyond the visible”, we see a different picture altogether. We were “born into a
battle” – a battle for the hearts and minds of people – a battle between good and evil,
between the kingdom of Jesus and the kingdom of darkness.

It may sound weird at first, like some sci-fi movie but it is real… you can feel
it… because in this battle there are casualties. There are people who are hurt,
in pain, people who are depressed… and many are literally dying everyday –
because of abortion, crime, suicide… the list can go on and on.

C. MANY HAVE LOST THE BATTLE

This is the battle we fight in, a battle that cannot be won by improving the literacy
rate or through psychology or economics. Many have tried through these means and
have failed miserably – because the battle is mainly spiritual.
(Share about people in YFC who have been saved from suicide, a life of drugs, crime and as
a result death… because they found Jesus).

II. HOW CAN WE BE PREPARED FOR THIS BATTLE?

A. FIRST WE MUST “SEE THE PAIN”
"Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country. And see what the land
is like” (Numbers 13:17)
If we are to fight in this battle, we cannot go out into the battle field naïve. We need
to be aware of the situation that awaits us.

1. We need to see that many people are in pain

Many come from broken families, live in fear and / or anger. Even the people
who seem like winners to us (campus personalities, athletes) are living empty
lives
2. We need to be ready for rejection.
Most of those who need Jesus the most will reject us. Some people will say
“yes” to a youth camp right away, others will say yes after ten or a hundred
 invitations. The most important thing is that we never quit because we know in
our hearts that these people need Jesus more than anything else.

3. We need to know that we too are weak and in need of healing

We don’t serve because we are perfect… in fact, we serve because we have
experienced first hand how God forgives and heals and continues to forgive and
heal us. We know that it is God who does the work of building His kingdom
through YFC and not us – although we are weak – HE is strong.

B. WE NEED TO “SEE WHO WE’RE FIGHTING FOR”

Only Jesus can bring healing, peace and joy.

We need to always be aware that only Christ can heal the pain. He is the only
answer.

If God is with us, then who can be against us?

In the long run we know, the work of bringing young people to God in YFC will be
successful as long us we keep our focus on Him and not on glorifying ourselves
or YFC.

C. WE NEED TO “SEE TO IT THAT THE WORK IS DONE”

1. We need to pray hard and intercede.

Even now, we should start praying and fasting for our work of evangelization and
our camp. We need to have a “hit list”. We need to pray that God place in our
minds the names and faces of our schoolmates / friends He wants us to talk to
and invite. We cannot choose (this way we will invite only those we like or those
we find comfortable to be with), rather we leave the choosing to the Lord –
whether we like these people or not. (If God gives us these names then we know
that sooner or later they will say “yes” to our invitation).

2. We need to be courageous enough to talk to our friends and classmates.

Posters and announcements don’t bring people to camps, people bring people to
camps. We can’t leave the work of evangelization to flyers, posters or
announcements during mass at the university chapel. We need to invite people
ourselves, to follow them up, to bring them to the venue of our activities.

3. We need to be effective witnesses.

We should make sure that when we invite people to the camp we are credible.
People should see that we are good examples. We don’t cheat during exams,
we are righteous in our relationships (e.g. if we have a girlfriend or a boyfriend),
we are not living double lives.

III. NARRATE STORY OF CALEB AND JOSHUA

A. REFER TO NUMBERS 13:1-3, 25-30)

 1.Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, 2.`Send out men, one from each tribe, to
reconnoitre the land of Canaan which I am giving the Israelites. Each of them is to be a
leading man of the tribe." 3. At Yahweh's order, Moses sent them from the desert of Paran.
All of them were leading men of Israel.

25. After forty days they returned from reconnoitring the country. 26. Making their way to
Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israel, in the desert of Paran, at Kadesh, they
made their report to them and the whole community, and displayed the country's produce.
27. This was the report they gave: "We made our way into the country where you sent
us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey; here is what it produces. 28. At the same
time, its inhabitants are a powerful people; the towns are fortified and very big; yes,
and we saw the Anakim there. 29. The Amalekites occupy the Negeb area, the Hittites,
Jebusites and Amorites the highlands, and the Canaanites the sea coast and the
banks of the Jordan." 30. Caleb called the people round Moses to silence and then said,
"We must march in immediately and take it; we are certainly able to conquer it."

B. LEARN FROM THE ATTITUDE OF CALEB – We must trust in God’s power and
victory

There is a battle and there will be casualties. We will be bruised and hurt, we will
feel tired at times. But we should have the same spirit that Caleb had. He knew that
God was sending them out and that He would be with them. In the same way we
know that God is with us. If we prepare our hearts in the right way we know that we
will surely take the land.

IV. REFLECTION
Sing the song “Strong and Faithful” and end with a prayer.