NLDC BACKSTAGE: September 2008

Like Screendoor on a Submarine

Have you looked around your world lately?  I don’t mean the world as a whole I mean just the little corner of the world that you are in.  Most of us have so many people around us that are just begging to be reached out to, but what are we doing about it? 

The bible has this to say about it: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If 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?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it isn’t accompanied by action, is dead." (James 2:15-17 NIV)

This verse tells us very clearly that we need to be doing something about the pain and need that we see around us. The part that really stuck with me was when it says, "Can such a faith save him?" Here James is questioning the idea that if we believe in God yet doing nothing to help those around us that we are truly in harmony with Jesus Christ. And as harsh as that sounds, it makes sense. 

If you read on from there, James talks about how the only evidence of our faith that we have, is our good deeds.  Is faith the only thing that ignites good deeds? No. But we really need to evaluate ourselves if we lack the one thing that can prove that we have faith.

He then says, "You say you believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder." (2:19 NIV) He is saying that our believing isn't good enough.  If all we are doing is confessing and believing our faith in God, we are no different than the demons.  James tells us that we need to prove our faith in God, and we do so by taking action and helping those in need.

Think of it like this: we are all called to be Christ-like ("Be holy, as I am holy" 1 Peter 1:16).  So, if we are portraying the character of Christ, can we really help but do righteous works? Later on in that chapter of James, he says that faith without works is dead, or, as I heard it put recently, faith without works is like a screen door on a submarine.
~ Nathan Sheets, team coordinator

Testimonies from the Road

A week ago, the family we were staying with had twin 16-year-old girls.  The first night, all three of the girls from our team plus the twins piled in one room and just started talking. Somehow we got on the topic of being luke-warm and one of the twins said she was freezing cold. The more we talked, the more the girls opened up to us; one even admitted that she doubted God. We used our testimonies to help her see the truth and reality in Jesus. Suddenly, it was 2 am and one of the girls was telling me all she had been thinking and feeling. I started praying for her and she cried out to God telling him that she was sorry and that she didn’t want to live the way she’d been living anymore. The next day their dad asked me how last night went. I told him that God touched his girls. His wife came out and, with tears in all of our eyes, I prayed for them. I know a complete change may not take place over night, but I truly believe that God is continuing to work and that whole family will unite together to glorify the name of God. ~Joelle

One Saturday afternoon our team went door to door to do some evangelism and invite people to a service we were ministering at in the morning. I knocked on one door and a man answered and informed us that he was a druid. He told us lots of things that he thought was wrong with society, leadership and the world in general. After talking for about 15 minutes with him I told him that I would look up the guy that fostered all of these ideas in him if he came to the service in the morning. To our surprise he actually came and even brought his four year old son. They stayed through the entire service and remained in the room during the alter call. After the service they joined in some fellowship time and the pastor’s wife got to talk with him. I don’t know what will happen with that man. But I believe being a druid and then coming to church has to say something…something like…God is moving in his heart.
~Angela Piper