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"As it is written: 'No eye has seen,
no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those
who love him.'" 1 Corinthians
2:9 (NIV)
CONSIDER
"We become atheists in practice
when we rely more on ourselves than on God." Life Application Study Bible
THOUGHTS ON FOOTBALL
by Christian Sheppard
"Football is violent and, in
many ways, is *about* violence -- what NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue
calls "contrived adversity."
Indeed, the U.S.
military often explains its strategies and activities in football terms. Football has evolved with American
culture to conjure communal ideals as old as the Homeric epics. In the Iliad, mythic heroes battle
before cheering Olympian deities; virtues displayed amidst violence --
courage for Hector, cunning for Odysseus, and lethal speed for Achilles
-- earn eternal glory. As respite
from fighting, the heroes stage athletic games (boxing, wrestling,
running, chariot-racing, and archery) meant to mimic the skills required
for war. It is no surprise that
Homer's best recent translator, Robert Fagles, found inspiration for his
work in watching football."... Read this commentary in full (even
though Super Bowl is over) at
http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/sightings/archive_2006/0202.shtml
AN INSTRUMENT OF PEACE
"Lord, make me an instrument of
Your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow
love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may
not so much
seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are
pardoned,
and
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
(SOURCE St. Francis of Assisi)
QUOTES FROM BRENNAN MANNING'S "RAGAMUFFIN GOSPEL"
"Our world is saturated with
grace, and the lurking presence of God is revealed not only in spirit but
in matter -- in a deer leaping across a meadow, in the flight of an
eagle, in the fire and water, in a rainbow after a summer storm, in a
gentle doe streaking through a forest, in Beethoven's ninth Symphony, in
a child licking a chocolate ice cream cone, in a woman with windblown
hair. God intended for us to
discover his loving presence in the world around us."
"God is perfect, but He is not
a perfectionist."
"Just as a smart man knows he
is stupid, so the awake Christian knows he/she is
a ragamuffin."
"Though our Christian language
pays lip-service to God, our way of functioning assumes that God is dead
or in a coma."
"Becoming a little child meant
becoming aware that all is gift..."
"Children don't try to control reality; they embrace what
is."
"The Reformation was a time
when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the
dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellar full of
fifteen-hundred-year-old, two hundred proof grace -- of bottle after
bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince
anyone that God saves us single-handedly.
The word of the gospel -- after all those centuries of trying to
lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of you
bootstraps -- suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the
saved were home before they started...Grace has to be drunk straight: no
water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale; neither goodness, nor
badness, nor the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality
could be allowed to enter into the case."
PASTORS CLAIM CONGREGANTS ARE DEEPLY COMMITTED TO GOD BUT
CONGREGANTS DENY IT
According to the research, pastors
have a far rosier picture of the spiritual condition of their flock than
the average person in the pews....
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=215
LEADERSHIP TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE)
How big is your vision?
by Rick Warren
"Over the years, I've learned
that contrary to popular opinion the bigger the vision, the easier it is
to reach that vision, and, ultimately, the size of your vision should be
determined by the size of God. How
big do you think God is? The issue
is not who do you think you are, but who do you think God is? In your dreams for your ministry, don't
limit yourself by saying, What can I do?
Instead ask, What can God do in this place?"...
http://www.pastors.com/rwmt/default.asp?id=243&artid=5286&expand=1
DEEP DOWN FROM HEAVEN
by Max Lucado
"...God sent His Son to die in
our place. Yet, it's not just
about us. God's priority is His glory. He occupies center stage; I carry
props. He's the message; I'm but a
word. It's not about me; it's
about God. Would we really want
the world to revolve around us, anyway?
If "it's all about us" then "it's all up to
us." The heavenly Father
rescues us from such a burden.
While we are valuable, we aren't essential. We're important, but not
indispensable...." Read this
in full at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2004/002/10.34.html
VERSE TO PONDER
"You are forgiving and good, O
Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you." Psalm 86:5 (NIV)
CONSIDER
"It is in the ordinary duties
and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his
spiritual union with God."
Thomas Merton
THINGS ONLY A MOM CAN
TEACH
My Mother taught me about
ANTICIPATION:
"Just wait until your father
gets home."
My Mother taught me about RECEIVING:
"You are going to get it when
we get home!"
My Mother taught me to MEET A
CHALLENGE:
"What were you thinking? Answer
me when I talk to you...Don't talk back to me!"
My Mother taught me LOGIC:
"Because I said so, that's
why."
&
"If you fall out of that swing
and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."
My Mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE:
"If you don't stop crossing
your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."
My Mother taught me to THINK AHEAD:
"If you don't pass your
spelling test, you'll never get a good job."
My Mother taught me ESP:
"Put your sweater on; don't you
think I know when you're cold?"
My Mother taught me HUMOR:
"When that lawn mower cuts off
your toes, don't come running to me."
My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN
ADULT:
"If you don't eat your
vegetables, you'll never grow up."
My Mother taught me about SEX:
"How do you think you got
here?"
My Mother taught me about GENETICS:
"You're just like your
father."
My Mother taught me about my ROOTS:
"Do you think you were born in
a barn?"
My Mother taught me about WISDOM OF
AGE:
"When you get to be my age, you
will understand."
My Mother taught me about JUSTICE:
"One day you'll have kids, and
I hope they turn out just like you. Then you'll see what it's like."
My mother taught me RELIGION:
"You better pray that will come
out of the carpet."
My mother taught me about TIME
TRAVEL:
"If you don't straighten up,
I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
My mother taught me FORESIGHT:
"Make sure you wear clean
underwear, in case you're in an accident."
My mother taught me IRONY:
"Keep crying and I'll *give*
you something to cry about."
My mother taught me about the
science of OSMOSIS:
"Shut your mouth and eat your
supper!"
My mother taught me about
CONTORTIONISM:
"Will you *look* at the dirt on
the back of your neck!"
My mother taught me about STAMINA:
"You'll sit there until all
that spinach is finished."
My mother taught me about WEATHER:
"It looks as if a tornado swept
through your room."
My mother taught me how to solve
PHYSICS PROBLEMS:
"If I yelled because I saw a
meteor coming toward you, would you listen then?"
My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY:
"If I've told you once, I've
told you a million times: Don't Exaggerate!!!"
My mother taught me THE CIRCLE OF
LIFE:
"I brought you into this world,
and I can take you out."
My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR
MODIFICATION:
"Stop acting like your
father!"
My mother taught me about ENVY:
"There are millions of less
fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like
you do!"
NONSTOP BAD NEWS DISTORTS GLOBAL REALITY
by Erich Bridges
Disasters, war and violence
dominated the news last year: the tsunami and Katrina,
Iraq,
terrorist attacks worldwide, the Kashmir
earthquake. These traumatic events
led most of the top-story lists for 2005, and rightly so. Hundreds of
thousands died. Millions suffered -- and continue to suffer. Many Christians responded to human and
spiritual needs with sacrificial love and generosity. But the accumulation of bad news,
relentlessly covered by news media, tends to distort our perceptions of
the world.
The Human Security Report, released
in October by the Human Security Centre at the University of British
Columbia in Canada, shows that mass political violence -- with the
exception of terrorism -- has declined rapidly since the end of the Cold
War. Ignorance of that reality
"is compounded by the fact that the global media give far more
coverage to wars that start than those that quietly end," says
Andrew Mack, director of the centre and coordinator of the three-year
project.
The study, published by Oxford
University Press, includes these findings:
-- The number of armed conflicts has
declined by more than 40 percent since 1992, primarily because of the end
of colonialism and proxy wars spawned by the Cold War. Wars also have killed far fewer people
in recent decades.
-- Wars between countries now constitute
less than 5% of all armed conflicts.
Read this in full at
http://www.bpnews.net/bpcolumn.asp?ID=2133
TRAGIC STATS
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention is warning of an alarming increase in the syphilis rate in the
US, which increased for the fourth consecutive year in 2004, and analysis
suggests that approximately 64% of all cases last year were among men who
have sex with men, up from just 5% in 1999.
http://www.cdc.gov/
WORSHIP, THE ARTS, & YOU
"I think the arts are starting
to stimulate the visual part of praise, which might have previously been
left out of the sanctuary. And I'm
grateful because it tells people sitting in the pews that if you don't
play a musical instrument or if you're not a gifted public speaker, God
can still really use you."
Michael Rozell, in Worship Leader
magazine
FINISH STRONG
Receiving the diagnosis of a
terminal disease can devastate you.
You'd always known you'd die someday, but now the end of your life
is looming much too close for comfort. There's still so much you'd like
to experience, yet you'll soon be forced to exit this world for the next.
You can recoil from the news, lash
out at God, and sink into despair.
Or you can embrace your illness as a valuable opportunity to know
God better before you meet Him in eternity. If you choose to do the latter, you'll
discover the surprising reality that one of your greatest challenges can
lead to some of your greatest joy.
Here's how you can finish your time
on Earth with joy:
*
Make a crucial
decision. No matter what emotions
you might be experiencing at any given moment, decide that you will
continue to love, trust, and obey God as long as you're alive. Determine that the last season of your
life will be a faithful one, in which you stay connected to God.
*
Be honest. Don't try to suppress any of your
thoughts or feelings. Realize that
it's natural to experience fear, anger, sorrow, doubt, regret, grief, and
plenty of other troubling attitudes when facing a terminal illness. Pour out your heart to God regularly in
prayer, acknowledging the full extent of your hurt. Remember that He already knows what
you're experiencing and wants to walk with you through your trial.
*
Know where your
real home is. Understand that Earth isn't meant to be a permanent home;
it's just a temporary place to learn and grow briefly before reaching
your real home -- heaven. Ask God
to help you loosen your ties to whatever doesn't have eternal value and
look forward to meeting Him face to face.
Trust that God's promises about the glories of heaven are
true. If you haven't yet been
saved, begin a relationship with Christ that will last for eternity. If you've already been saved, ask Him
to give you the peace you need as you prepare to go to heaven.
*
Ask God to give
you His perspective on your suffering.
Realize that God wouldn't have allowed a disease to come into your
life unless He intends it to help accomplish an ultimately good purpose
for you. Even though it's
difficult, ask God to show you what He wants you to learn from this
experience. Find out how God wants
you to look at the challenge before you.
Discover how it can actually increase your faith. Remember that God, who gave you life,
is in ultimate control of both your life and death, and will always choose
to do what's best. Rather than
focusing on your disease, focus on God. Remember His great love and
power.
*
Remember what
Christ experienced. Know that
Christ went through the full range of human suffering during His time on
Earth, so He completely understands what you're going through. Remind
yourself of how He faced His own death with faith, died on the cross to
save the world, and defeated death for those who trust in Him --
including you -- through His resurrection. Look to His example of how to deal with
imminent death: He confronted it through prayer, He spent time in fellowship
with other people, He made arrangements for His family's care, He faced
the pain with courage, He expressed His feelings honestly, He pointed to
the Scriptures, He witnessed to others, and He settled accounts for
eternity.
*
Don't isolate
yourself. Although you may think
it's easier to retreat from your relationships during this crisis,
understand that you need your loved ones more than ever. Use the time you have remaining to heal fractured
relationships and build more intimacy with family members and
friends. Know that people who care
about you genuinely want to help you, and that they're often blessed by
opportunities to help as much as you are by receiving help. Don't be shy about letting them know
specific ways they can help meet any of your needs.
*
Keep pursuing
goals. Don't just wait to die.
Instead, use the time you have left to keep pursuing goals God has placed
on your heart. Realize that you
can still be incredibly productive, using your God-given talents to
contribute to the world and interceding in prayer for others if you're
not mobile. Understand that even if you have just a short time left on
Earth, there's still something important that God wants you to do. Aim
high so you can finish strong.
Tell God that you want Him to keep working powerfully in and
through you. Ask God to give you
the strength you need to stay focused on your goals until you've
accomplished everything He wants you to accomplish.
*
Give your worries
to God. Whenever a worry pops into
your mind, take it captive and offer it to God in prayer. Know that He
cares about you, and will always respond.
Ask the Holy Spirit to constantly renew your mind to help you
think positively.
*
Maintain spiritual
disciplines. Don't neglect basic
strength-building spiritual disciplines such as prayer, meditation, and
reading the Bible. Practice them regularly. Ask Christ to use them to guide your
plans, desires, will, and emotions, since He is the way, the truth, and
the life.
*
Embrace God's
mercy in a fresh way. Let your struggles
make you even more aware of the dark depravity of your condition in a
fallen world, and how much you need God's mercy. Thank God for that mercy, and embrace
it with joy.
*
Take care of final
details before you depart. Prepare
a will, plan and pay for your funeral, write down or record your personal
testimony of faith, and hold conversations with loved ones to tie up
loose ends and communicate forgiveness and enduring love.
Adapted from The Journey Home:
Finishing with Joy, copyright 2003 by Bill Bright.
CONSIDER
"One of my goals is to take
evangelicals back a century, to the 19th century. That was a time of
muscular Christianity that cared about every aspect of life." Rick Warren, quoted in the Washington
Times
VERSE TO PONDER
"Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength." Deuteronomy 6:4
and 5 (NIV)
THIS WEEK'S HYMN: FATHER, MAKE US LOVING
Words: Flora Kirkland, 1901
Music: Isaac H. Meredith
Father, make us loving, gentle,
thoughtful, kind;
Fill us with Thy Spirit, make us of
Thy mind.
Help us love each other, more and
more each day,
Help us follow Jesus, in the narrow
way.
Refrain
We would learn of Jesus,
Help us here below,
Follow in His footsteps,
Who hath loved us so.
Father, we would ever, live as in
Thy sight;
Thou dost know our longings after
what is right.
Fill our hearts with kindness as we
onward go,
Teach us to be
loving, Thou hast loved us so.
Refrain
Help us to remember, Thou art ever
near;
Teach us lovingkindness,
tenderness and cheer.
There is much of sorrow, in this
world below;
Father, make us loving, Thou hast
loved us so.
Refrain
>from CyberHymnal at
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/f/a/fathmake.htm
GOD FAQ
Question 58: How do we come to be
made partakers of the benefits which Christ has procured?
Answer: We are made partakers of the
benefits which Christ has procured, by the application of them unto us,
which is the work especially of God the Holy Ghost.
http://www.shortercatechism.com/
ON PRAYER
"Prayer means a launching out
of the heart towards God; it means lifting up one's eyes, quite simply,
to heaven, a cry of grateful love, from the crest of joy or the trough of
despair; it's a vast, supernatural force that opens out my heart and
binds me close to Jesus."
Thérèse of Lisieux
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.
Looking for a good
book? A new Bible? How about some inspiring music? We’ve got what you
need. Visit our online
Christian bookstore to get the best prices around. Log on today and you’ll
find a huge inventory, totally convenient shopping and great prices on
the products you’re looking for. Are you using the power of books to grow
in your relationship with God and lead people to Christ? Books really do
change lives. Take this opportunity to bless your congregation so they
can go and bless others. Visit our bookstore today!
http://www.thechristianconnection.net
BEAUTIFUL, NEWLY
RENOVATED CONDOMINIUMS
1 BEDROOM 1 BATH, $ 85,000
PAYMENTS CAN BE LESS
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2336 UNION ST.
BLUE ISLAND, IL.
WALK TO TRAIN.
NEAR ST FRANCIS HOSPITAL
CALL
773-732-8843 FOR MORE INFO.
SHARE YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITES
Tell us what sites you find
enjoyable and why.
Teaching children to walk like you
http://www.pastors.com/article.asp?ArtID=9065
Vexed Puzzle Game
http://oos.moxiecode.com/examples/vexed/index.html
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.)
Decisions can take you out of God's
will but not out of His reach.
Min. Frank Coleman, Editor
[email protected]
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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/
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