Week TWO! "Faith without action is dead"

James 2
14What 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.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[e] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

I think that so many times that we as an american christian church can be "chained to the pew" and are sunday morning christians that spent more of their time in their christian community and we not willing to do what James calls true religion "Religion that God out Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress aand to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (1:27) One thing that has hti me to the core of my heart is the fact that the Washbasin and Green Pastures church are so active in their community. They are ALWAYS doing something in their villiage to get people connected with Christ and to a place where they are welcomed. I will address this more later...
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To break down the week a little...monday night was our kids club meeting so this is for all the leaders of the kids club during sonshien week to meet and brainstorm and practice what we are going to be doing! We learned some fun and crazy dances to songs! But guys there are going to be like 300 kids there and this is such an amazing opportunity to bring the name of Jesus to them! Please be praying that i will be able to know how to lead these wee kids to the a closer relationship to the lord and for those who dont' believe that i can point to the cross!
My days have been filled with TONS of work preparing for sonshine week! On tuesday we delieved all those gifts we packed last week to the people of Ahoghill! My partner Chelsie is an adorable young girl about 14 who has a passion for Christ and is helping with kids club too! We went to about 40 doors that night and encountered everything from Christian's who were super encouraging and were attendeing sonshine week...to people who didn't know what sonshine week was and wanted to know more...to people like Paul...Paul was an older man who once he opened the door i new this wasn't going to easy. Paul was where all black and had a shaved head with a mohawk of black hair. His eyes were piercing and were a blue, almost turquise color that i have never seen before. When chelsie handed him the gift the first thing he says is "oh i dont agree with you christians!" and goes off for like 20 mintues about how he is tormented by evil spirits and believes in Chinese religion...while he is saying all of this--i could feel the oppression of that house---there was evil there...and i would try and interject my thoughts and opinions but it wasn't time for that...he needed to vent and to get out his frustration...about half way through i asked if he wanted us to pray for him and he wanted nothing to do with our God or our prayers! but looking into his piercing eyes...he was in bondage...he was truly tornemented and couldn't be set free unless he turned to Jesus...he also went off on how he hates the pople in America and the UK who say they are christians and belive in capitalism becuase why are they polluting the earth and using its beautiful reasources yet say they love God and his creation...also he talked about how the rich are rulling the world and they are not doing a very good job and why is it that there are so many people who are dying with aids in africa and the rich aren't doing anything about it! Why are the governments who say they are christian(aka america) letting these thigns happen!
Let me tell you this was a slap in the face! I know that my eyes have been opened this year to some of these issues and right now i am reading a book my Shane Clairborne (THAT YOU ALL SHOULD READ) called Jesus for President and it addresses some of these issues! So i am being bombarded by another way of thinking! The thigns that i have thought about my country since i was born are now having to be rethought! I am not saying that i hate america or i am not going to support the things going on in my country! But you know what i mean...it is hard and challenging when you hear the other side! I WOULD challenge you all to check out the book or the website jesusforpresident.com and see what i am talking about. and i pray that today your thinking would be challenged! And just because your thinking is being challenged doesn't mean that you are going to change your mind about antying...i am just saying that by being forced to answer some hard question you can made your ideas stronger or adapted them to a new way of thinking.
---sorry guys this is super rambly but i have a short amount of time and i praise God for this little down time!---
Also on tuesday ---God withheld the rain for 90% of our delievery but the last 30 minutes it was POURING! but that didn't stop us from doing what we had to do! And it was hard for me to becuase when we were talking to Paul i was like "we have so many bags to deliver still o my goodness" then God hit me in the head that HELLO it isn't about the task it is about the people! i can't lose sight of that!
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Wednesday held more sonshine week prep! Also, the Heartbeat team is going to Mozimbique this summer and they did a change drive at Culleybacky High School whcihc is the school that they go to every tuesday during lucnh to build realtionships with teh kids! They made over a 1000 pounds! it was a blessing to them but o man counting all of that money was a great way to learn the money! the bank of ireland hated us coming in with a 1000 pounds of change!But then on wednesday night: the bus from GREEN PASTURES came to the house in Antrim to pick me up for the wednesday night prayers meeting! It is great that they have busses that go to all of the villages in the area to pick up poeple hwo dont have rides to get to hcurch! This weeks time focused on what the years ahead held for the chruch! It was wonderful to see their passion and their vision for the next couple of years!
Guys...they EXPECT god to do great things! That is challengeing for me becuase i think that so many times i dont make my plans BIG enough ya know...i thnk we can become a little to caught up in the common sense of it all when we forget that luke promises that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR OUR LORD!!!!!!!! (tiff)=)Pastor Jeff talked about Luke 14 and the Parable of the Great Banquet! He said that we need to be inviting people to this House Party!(their church) but the passage talks about how when we invite people we know sometimes they give excusses as to why tehy can't come and so then it says that we need to go out into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled to blind and the lame to the banquet! and that even with all of those people in the church THERE STILL IS ROOM! and we need to then go to the roads and coutnry lanes and make them come in so that the Hosue of the lord will be full!
are we doing that?
He talked about how our best harvest is many times amoung the pople that we dont know.....so HOW ARE WE MAKING THAT HAPPEN! GP and the WB have a team called streetreach! and guess what they do...GO OUT INTO THE STREETS and do whatever the community needs! Each team member is assigned an area and they help with home improvements and yard work...during holidays help single parent family with needs and then they build that relationship with them so that they can then invite them to church!!!!!!!!!!!
guys how can we do that in our towns? ---->that is the question i am wrestling with.....pray that my thoughts can be sorted out....
Yesterday...thursday was CRAZY!
Rebekah (whom i praise the lord is here with me) and i spent to whole day 9-9 working on stuff!!!! but last night was a blast we helped in the upper room because there was a party for all the kids who are part of this thing called Coaching for Christ (a futball team/league that all the coaches are christians and have devotions and stuff but they work in the community--again another way to get the name of Jesus out there without people the intimiation of a church serivice) had their end of the year party! So Rebekah and her brother Steven(who is the chef of the upper room) served 60 boys under the age of 13---CRAZINESS!---but marvelous! and now it is friday and Sharon and i are sitting in the COMFORT inn becuase it is our day off and then we are heading back to her house then to Killrea (her parents house (where we got spend fathers day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Her dad is farmer and her mom is an adorable house wife!) Because Sharon and melvin are having a fundrasing bbq for their africa trip! pray that all that goes well and that God holds out on teh rain!

Tomorrow i am going to an OMS orientation thing....i dont realy know detials about it but i am sure it is going to great!
i have to go and get detials done for the bbq tonight!
guys i love you all an dmiss you so much! and i LVOE LOVE LOVE hearing your comments! so keep um coming!
but i want to know how you all are doing as well!
Thanks again for the love and prayers!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan frew

Praises!
~God gave us some amazing opportunities to share his love to the people of Ahoghill and Galgorm and Gracehill through gift delivers.
~I have made some truly GREAT relationships with some great brothers and sisters in teh Lord!
~God is faithful in providing for all my needs(emotionally, social, and spritiually) and is giving me the strength that i need to get through these crazy long and amazing days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prayers:
~That we will get everything done for SONSHINE WEEK which is rapidly apporaching in ONE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~That i will be able to know how to take what i have learned home with me and ACT upon it!!!!!!!!!!!!
~That the healing service on sunday night for GP will be God honoring and that poeple will be able to come and encounter the Lord AND BE HEALED!!!!!!!