"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Romans 15:13

     CONSIDER

"If you drill down to its core, Christmas is based on a historical reality -- the incarnation: God becoming man, Spirit taking on flesh, the infinite entering the finite, the eternal becoming timebound.  It's a mystery backed up by facts."  Lee Strobel, The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger

http://www.zondervan.com/Books/Detail.asp?ISBN=0310266297

     IS THERE A GOD?

Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for God's existence?  No arm-twisting, no badgering.  No statements of, "You've just got to believe."  Just the simple, straightforward reasons that would lead one to conclude there is a God?  This brief article is an opportunity for you to take an honest look at the possibility of God.  It will answer the question, "Is there a God who is powerful, personal and loving?  Does such a God exist?"  Perhaps a little surprising, many people believe in God not out of desperation or wish fulfillment, but as an honest response to the compelling facts before them....

http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/isthere/isthere2.html

     BETHLEHEM'S BIOETHICS

"...I often wonder how many people who hear the famous Bible text that begins "In the sixth month" are aware of what is going on (Luke 1:26).  It does not refer to the month of June, or for that matter to Elul, the Hebrew sixth month of the year.  The reference is gynecological: the dating is by Elizabeth's pregnancy.  And it focuses us on the design of God to use the weak things of the world to confound the strong.  The divine conspiracy is hatched within the walls of the womb...."  Read this commentary at

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/151/42.0.html

     ONE SOLITARY LIFE

JESUS:  Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.  He grew up in another village.  He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty.  Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

He never owned a home.  He never wrote a book.  He never held an office.  He never had a family.  He never went to college.  He never put His foot inside a big city.  He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born.  He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness.  He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him.  His friends ran away.  One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies.  He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves.  While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth -- His coat.  When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

[Twenty-one] long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

This essay was adapted from a sermon by Dr James Allan Francis in "The Real Jesus and Other Sermons" (c) 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled "Arise Sir Knight!").

http://www.anointedlinks.com/one_solitary_life.html

     JESUS IS LORD

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.'  That is the one thing we must not say.  A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell.  You must make your choice.  Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.  You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.  But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher.  He has not left that open to us.  He did not intend to."

Excerpt from "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

     READ THE BIBLE IN 90 DAYS

Start the New Year off right by planning the read the Bible through.  And this year do it differently; do it in 90 days!  Here's how

http://www.biblein90days.com/kickoff

     THE ULTIMATE TENDER WARRIOR

by Stu Weber

"What Does It Mean to Be a Man? Where do you find what it means to be a man?  There are all kinds of false models out there.  Where is the real?  Jesus Christ is the ultimate man.  Maximum manhood.  The perfect model.  Why is it that when someone says, "Picture the archetypal male," the image that comes to mind for most of us is not one of Jesus?  I think it's because we've looked in all the wrong places for our images of manhood.  We've allowed our vision of Jesus to be truncated by media that either hates and distorts Him, or vastly misunderstands Him...." Read this in full at

http://www.newmanmag.com/article.php?sid=619

     2005 TOP 10 NEWS STORIES OF EVANGELICAL INTEREST

Hurricane Katrina is the top story of the year as selected by the editors of Christianity Today: "The storm prompts local churches, denominations, and ministries to deliver unprecedented aid response."  Coming in 2nd is the Southeast Asia Tsunami, followed by the new pope, the death of Terri Schiavo, and the debate over Supreme Court vacancies....

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/001/8.18.html

     RNA: JOHN PAUL II's DEATH OVERSHADOWS OTHER RELIGIOUS EVENTS IN 2005

Religious disagreements over the end of life, intelligent design, and fights over ordaining gay clergy are among the Top 10 religion stories of the year, according to a poll of religion writers.  But the overwhelming 1st and 2nd choice for top stories are Pope John Paul II's death and the election of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI....

http://www.rna.org/

Also see

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly: "A Look Back at the Year 2005"

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics

     A BLESSING FOR YOU AS WE APPROACH 2006

Good decisions: May you have wisdom to determine the best course of action in every situation.  May you receive sound advice from those you ask for counsel. (Ecclesiastes 8:5-6; Proverbs 15:22)

http://www.navpress.com/Assets/PDF/Product/Sample/1576839494.pdf

Blessings for Your New Year cards (ISBN #1576839494, in packs of 50) are available by calling 1-800-366-7788 or online at www.praymag.com

     LEADERSHIP TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE)

23 Leadership Ideas

by Pat Morley

*         Do fewer things better.

*         Be faithful to your call.

*         Repetition is reputation.  Repeat your idea (vision, dream, purpose) in every meeting.

*         Be transparent.

*         Make yourself dispensable. The architect does not have to occupy the building for the building to stand. Develop leaders who can exceed you in ministry.

*         Take to heart: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."

Read more at

http://www.pastors.com/article.asp?ArtID=8504

     A DOXOLOGY: ROMANS 11:33-36

by Lee Brase 

"The Apostle Paul was not one to avoid the tough issues surrounding the puzzling actions of God. In Romans 9, 10, and 11, he addressed predestination, the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, faith versus works, the necessity for humans to spread the gospel, God being found by those who do not seek Him, the hardening of Israel's heart so the Gentiles could be included in God's plan, and mercy for the disobedient. Paul went into great detail about these things, probably because he was writing to a group of Christians he had never met.

"As Paul neared the end of these explanations, it was almost as if he was overwhelmed by the inexplicable mysteries of God. Perhaps he felt as Job did after encountering God: "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know" (42:3). Aware that he had stepped into a realm far beyond human understanding, Paul exclaimed: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!..."  Read this in full at

http://www.navpress.com/EPubs/DisplayArticle/2/2.25.13.html?aCode=NL101205

http://makeashorterlink.com/?T6231205C

     VERSE TO PONDER

"Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you."  Philippians 4:9

     CONSIDER

"Looking at the doctrine of Darwinism, which undergirded my atheism for so many years, I realized I would have to believe that nothing produces everything, non-life produces life, randomness produces fine-tuning, chaos produces information, unconsciousness produces consciousness, and non-reason produces reason."

Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator

http://www.caseforacreator.com/intro_content.htm

     COURT REJECTS 'INTELLIGENT DESIGN' IN CLASS

"Intelligent design" cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said last Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial.  Dover Area School Board members violated the Constitution when they ordered that its biology curriculum must include the notion that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III said.  Read this in full at

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/20/intelligent.design/index.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/151/32.0.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/151/31.0.html

     THE YEAR IN REVIEW

It was the year that Catholicism mourned a pope and America's fallen in Iraq surpassed 2,000.  Natural disasters wrought chaos and death, terrorists attacked from Britain to Bali, and an outbreak of bird flu unleashed fears of a pandemic....

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/year_in_review_2005

AP Chronology of News Events

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051214/ap_on_re_us/ye2005_chronology_ye7a_1

TIME: Persons of the Year (The Good Samaritans)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1142278,00.html

TIME: People Who Mattered in 2005

http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2005/people/

CNN Year in Review

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/yir/

MSNBC Year in Pictures

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10467269

Pulitzer Prize 2005 Photos

http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2005/breaking-news-photography/works/

World Press Photos 2005

http://www.worldpressphoto.nl/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=blogsection&id=7&Itemid=87&bandwidth=high

VOA Year in Review

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-12-20-voa61.cfm

InfoPlease Year in Review

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0930053.html

RefDesk Links Year in Review

http://www.refdesk.com/2005best.html

Google Zeitgeist

http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/archive2005.html

Wikipedia Year in Review

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005

US Army 2004 Year in Photos

http://www.army.mil/yearinphotos/

Timeline Charts of the Western Church by Susan Lynn Peterson

http://www.zondervan.com/Books/Detail.asp?ISBN=0310223539

     SEND YOURSELF A MESSAGE IN THE FUTURE

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/12/18/future.email.ap.ap/index.html

     CONSIDER

"Faith is not only a commitment to the promises of Christ; faith is also a commitment to the demands of Christ."  William Barclay (1907-1978), The Letters of James and Peter [1976]

     VERSE TO PONDER

"He will proclaim peace to the nations.  His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth."  Zechariah 9:10b

     THIS WEEK'S HYMN: THE NEWBORN KING WHO COMES TODAY

Words: Unknown author, before 1926.

Music: Gottfried W. Fink, 1842

The newborn King Who comes today

Brings tidings of great joy,

Which sin can never take away,

Nor death nor hell destroy.

Rejoice, ye Gentile lands, rejoice,

And hail this glorious dawn,

For God comes down, frail man to crown:

The Lord of Life is born!

He comes not as a king of earth,

In pomp and pride to reign;

He seeks a poor and humble birth,

But free from sinful stain;

Rejoice, ye Gentile lands, rejoice,

Glad hymns of triumph sing:

The Wonderful, the Counsellor,

He comes, your God and King!

For us He leaves His Father's throne,

His sapphire throne on high,

And comes to dwell on earth alone,

For fallen man to die.

Rejoice, ye Gentile lands, rejoice,

All hail Messiah's dawn:

Our God comes down, earth's joy and crown,

The King of Love is born!

Glad Gentiles in their eastern home

His radiant star behold;

To God, their King, they joy to bring

Sweet incense, myrrh, and gold.

Rejoice, ye Gentile lands, rejoice,

In heaven your praises sing:

Before Him fall, the Lord of all,

Your Maker and your King!

We join your song, celestial throng,

Whose anthems never cease;

We tune our lyres, with angels choirs,

To hail the Prince of Peace!

Rejoice, ye Gentile lands, rejoice

All hail Immanuel's morn:

For God comes down, frail man to crown,

To us a Child is born.

>from CyberHymnal at

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/n/e/newbornk.htm

     GOD FAQ

Question 52: How was Christ exalted in his resurrection?

Answer: Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, not having seen corruption in death (of which it was not possible for him to be held), and having the very same body in which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof (but without mortality, and other common infirmities belonging to this life), really united to his soul, he rose again from the dead the third day by his own power; whereby he declared himself to be the Son of God, to have satisfied divine justice, to have vanquished death, and him that had the power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead: all which he did as a public person, the head of his church, for their justification, quickening in grace, support against enemies, and to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last day.

http://www.shortercatechism.com/

     ON PRAYER

"Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory.  Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people.  Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!"  Andrew Murray

     PRAY FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS TODAY

http://christiansincrisis.net/

     PRAY FOR A COUNTRY TODAY

http://www.gmi.org/ow/index.html

     DAILY BLESSING PACT

Use the following list as your daily prayer guide. Think of a brother or situation that applies and lift them up in prayer.

I am agreeing in prayer with you for God’s blessings to overtake you!

PERSONAL

Marital harmony

Family unity

Children saved

Faithful pastor

Spirit-filled church

Real friendships

Relatives redeemed

Educational benefits

Recreational time

Fulfilling career

Favor with God and man

Be in God’s will

FINANCIAL

Better Jobs

Raises or bonuses

Benefits

Sales & commissions

Settlements

Estates & inheritances

Investment increase

Rebates & returns

Checks in the mail

Gifts & surprises

Money to be found

Bills decrease while blessings increase

"And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God" (Deut. 28:2).

[As you travel on business or vacation, let me know if you'd like the church guys to pray for your safety and spiritual effectiveness.  I'll add your name to the list for the time you'll be away.]

     CLASSIFIEDS

Are you looking for something or do you have something to sell?  Let me know and I'll put it in this newsletter.

     SHARE YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITES

Tell us what sites you find enjoyable and why.

Bible In 90 Days

http://www.biblein90days.com/kickoff

A Magna Charta of Trust by an Out-of-Control Disciple

http://www.leonardsweet.com/magnacharta.asp

Christian Car Club

http://www.holyrollerz.org/

All links to websites are provided as a service, and do not imply endorsement by our church.

(BTW: whenever the URLs in this newsletter are too long to turn into links on your e-mail program, just copy the entire URL (two lines or more) and paste it into a temporary email message.  Then delete the return in the middle of it and copy it again.  Then paste it into your web browser and hit enter.)

Happy New Year!

Min. Frank Coleman, Editor

[email protected]

===== /\ =====

MSM CONNECTIONS is a periodic newsletter of announcements, news, recommendations, articles, and other information helpful to men in our spiritual growth. Thanks for welcoming MSM CONNECTIONS into your in-box!

Who to contact:

Minister Frank Coleman, Men Servants Ministry Chairman, 773-410-1483,

Minister Arnold Whitehead, Men Servants Ministry Vice-Chairman, 773-846-6090

===== /\ =====

The mission of New Joy Divine Full Gospel Church is to be a Christ-centered, Bible based, Spirit guided church meeting the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of its members and the community it serves.

The Men Servants Ministry (MSM) Team offers a variety of activities for men to interact with other men on our journey of faith in Christ together. Large group, small group, and one-to-one events encourage relationship building and spiritual strengthening that result in maximizing the potential we all have in Christ. Contact Min. Frank Coleman, 773-410-1483, [email protected] if you'd like to participate in a men's discipleship program.

New Joy Divine Full Gospel Church is located at 7625 S. Halsted St. Chicago, IL 60620.

Tel: 773-224-5683. Founded & Pastored by Apostle Aaron L. Royster & Prophetess Mable L. Royster.

Visit our website at: http://www.newjoydivine.org/

===== /\ =====

To subscribe to MSM CONNECTIONS, send a message to [email protected] with "subscribe MSM" in the subject line.

To unsubscribe, send a message to [email protected] with "unsubscribe MSM" in the subject line.

THANK YOU FOR READING

MAKE IT A GREAT WEEK!

It is my prayer that, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:18

© 2004, 2005 Frank Coleman