Faith Without Actions is Dead

This is what we talked about on Wednesday night.

James 2:14
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (NIV)

FAITH WITHOUT ACTIONS IS DEAD

Faith is good we need faith and we need to speak about our faith. But faith without actions means nothing. It is Action that validates the faith. This means our lives have to truly reflect what we claim to be. Yet so many people do the opposite every single day. We speak one thing, we come to church and lift up our hands in worship, we sing, we say we are a Christian, BUT OUR LIVES LOOK NOTHING LIKE THAT. I’m not talking about being perfect people. I think the point that James is trying to get across is our faith has to be lived out with deeds. This challenges us to be more than church goers. On my end, this challenges pastors and church leaders to do more than sitting in an office. We have to be the change we want to see in the world.

 

Sex and Purity

Last night we had guest speaker, Josh Homan, talking about sex. He discusse that sex is in fact God-created and necessary for procreation and meant to be fulfilling and fun. However, it is also meant to be practiced within the confines of marriage.Josh stressed the importance of purity before marriage and he gave the reasons why God asks this of us and the benefits of staying pure.  ”Purity paves the way to intimacy.” Without intimacy, “the joy of knowing someone fully and being known by that person with no fear of rejection,” a marriage cannot work. “Impurity, on the other hand, erodes the capacity to experience intimacy and consequently diminishes the satisfaction of sex.”

1 Corinthians 6:18   “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.”

What is considered “pure”? How do we live lives of purity? If we’re to not have sex until marriage, how far is too far?  The question we should be asking ourselves is how far can i stay away from sex? crossing lines that are closer to sex is dangerous because once you go that far you just keep going. so staying as far away from it as possible is what is pure.

so where have you drawn the line?

where are you compromising?

do you need to draw a new line?

 

Collide 3 degrees Part 3

Tonight we have a guest speaker at Collide, Kyle Jackson. Kyle is a former traveling speaker in Tennessee and is one of our Collide small group leaders. We will be talking about the third piece to having a great relationship, happiness and love. This is a piece for all our relationships in life including our relationship with God.

Our bottom line is that: “What we put IN is what will come OUT when Pressure is put on!”

Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth,
but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs so it benefits all that listen.”

 

Breath of Life

Someone once asked me, “Why did God make us out of dust?” I thought about the question for some time. Why would God make us from dust? Everything is made from dust and everything eventually returns to it. Everything that is alive, dies, and breaks down turns back into carbon, calcium, and a slough of other minerals. Really God? This is it? We are creatively made from a bunch of minerals and dirt? Well, that doesn’t seem too encouraging. It doesn’t make us feel “perfectly and wonderfully made.” However, as I looked back on the creation story, I realized what we were really made of.
Genesis 2:7
“The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being.”
Sure on the outside we are just made of dust, but the man did not become a living being until God breathed the “breath of life.” You and I are so much more than just dust. Our God, our Creator, made you from His own breath! You are so much more than dust, you are in the image of God and alive by His own breath.

 

Last day of the trip!

Well, we are packing our backs and getting ready to head to the airport.  Our first flight goes to miami, where we have a layover for a few hours.  The students will be calling their parents during that time.  Parents…don’t forget you’re picking your kids up tonight! 

Yesterday was a great day….we got to go snorkeling at the beach and see a bunch of tropical fish.  Later on in the day we were in the mountains, where we had our “testimony dinner” together with the missionary.  Everyone shared their experience on the trip and what they’ve learned.

Family and friends who miss us…just hang in there a little longer.  (I can’t wait to see my fiance Arianne! )

 

Dominican Republic

So today is our free day…we get to travel about an hour and a half to the closest beach, which we hear is beautiful.  It will be great to relax after going full speed for a week.

Yesterday was awesome.  In the morning we passed out tons of invitations to the evening service, which was a  street outreach.  Many children and a handful of adults wanted to accept Christ into their lives.  We did a couple of funny dramas at the service and Derek and Sam gave their testimonies.

We also got to visit a school for mentally-handicapped children.  It was so cool just to spend time with them and show them God’s love.

We will be packing up tonight and getting on a plane tomorrow!

 

DR Update…

Yesterday was the final day of the youth camp so we did our thing and then tore all of the stuff down.  We traveled back to Santiago, where we will be staying until we leave Wednesday.  And actually, yesterday Sam, Derek, and Cody were water-baptized at the camp!  How awesome?

The plan for today is to do some street ministry, which should be really awesome.  For those of you who are praying for us, thank you.  Please continue to pray for our team and that God would just give us strength to finish the trip strong and get home safely.

Today is actually our last “ministry day”.  We are having a free day tomorrow.

Everyone is staying healthy and well, so praise God.

 

DR

Sorry I haven’t posted yet today.  Just wanted you to know that yesterday was a pretty easygoing day. 

Dominique actually spoke the sermon at the service.  She did really well!

We got to do some water balloon games and activities with the students at the camp.

We all miss family and friends… but we are having a blast and everyone is doing well.

PS…We actually got to eat at a Burgar King yesterday for lunch after discovering that there was one only a few minutes from the camp.   Even though the food hasn’t been bad, our team enjoyed that.   :)

 

Half-Way…

Today is the half-way mark for our trip.

I don’t really know how to put into words what happened yesterday at the camp.  Everyone there really experienced God in a powerful way.  I spoke about how we need the Holy Spirit in our lives and Sam gave his testimony.  The service last night really impacted our NLC team as well because we experienced a strong presence of God.  Some of the students just couldn’t stop praying and weeping long after the service was over. 

Please continue to pray for us and those at the camp.  Thank God for His love and awesomeness.

 

 

So, yesterday was really amazing… After traveling to LaVega and getting set up for the camp, the guys and I got an opportunity to go minister at a young men’s prison.  Sam gave his testimony and I spoke.  30 prisoners came forward to accept Christ into their lives!  It was so cool!

Then last night we did a service at the youth camp.  The message was about freedom and once again our students got to pray for so many people dealing with everything from guilt and unforgiveness to sickness and disease.

We prayed for one young man to be healed who wasn’t able to breathe out of his nose.  And God totally healed him!!  He was able to breathe freely add the end of the night.

All glory to God for who he is and the great things he is dong here.  We are so blessed and humbled to serve Him.

Talk to you soon…