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MSM CONNECTIONS For the week of The Men’s Ministry e-mail newsletter
of New
Our mission: Our mission is to lead
men to Jesus Christ and provide opportunity
for Christian men to grow in their faith ISSUE 95 ===== /\ ===== MSM
CONNECTIONS is the
opt-in newsletter for the men of New Joy Divine Full Gospel Church.
It's a periodic service that helps connect you with God and with other men at
NJD. If you'd like its delivery to your email address stopped, scroll down
and follow the instructions at the end of this message. Also let me know if
you change your email address and want to keep subscribing to MSM
CONNECTIONS. ===== /\ ===== "[God] has saved us and called us
to a holy life -- not because of anything we have done but because of his own
purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the
beginning of time." 2 Timothy 1:9
(NIV)
CONSIDER "Faith is
trusting in advance what will only makes sense in reverse." Philip Yancey
GOD USED A MOVIE ABOUT GAY COWBOYS TO RELEASE ME FROM THE BURDEN OF MY
PAST by Dennis Belkofer
"...Perhaps if I had known what http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/004/1.46.html
DECIDE TODAY "The Bible shows that all of us
have a choice. It isn't just a choice
between God and the Devil or Heaven and Hell.
No, this choice is much more subtle.
Each day you and I must choose the kind of treasure to which we will
devote our lives. Either we will spend
our lives filling our attic and garage with a lifetime of collectibles or we
will spend our lives laying up treasures in Heaven. (Luke
12:33-34)" Mark Tabb, Living with
Less
SCREWTAPE ON THE DAVINCI CODE by Eric Metaxas My dear Wormwood, I trust this finds you as miserable and
coarse as ever. I am pleased to take a
respite from our usual tutorial and venture into something a bit broader, but
vastly instructive for our larger purposes.
To wit: I shall today croak a paean of praise to a particular work of
middlebrow non-fiction. The genre has
been particularly good to us, Wormwood! Do you remember The Passover Plot? Or that excellent hoax by Erich von Daniken, In Search of Ancient Astronauts? You may snigger now, but in its day even
that harebrained rant proved helpful to our cause. As did most of the books on The Bermuda
Triangle and "UFO's". And
don't get me started on Out on a Limb!
Oh, but Wormwood. Those books
were mere types and shadows of the one that has in these last days
transported me to ecstasies of embarrassing intensity. It is a type of "romantic
thriller" (penned by someone under the unwitting tutelage of an old
crony of mine from the I surmised it should be well worth the
trouble of familiarizing you with it, inasmuch as it contains such a
precariously towering heap of our very best non-thinking that it is quite
dizzying! It has the genuine potential
to mislead, confuse, and vex millions!
Indeed the mystical sleight-of-hand involved in shoehorning so many
cubic yards of gasbag cliches, shopworn half-truths
and straight-faced howlers into a single volume simply beggars belief; and if
I didn't know that the author had had unwitting "help" from my
former colleague, the venerable Gallstone, I simply shouldn't believe it
could have been done at all! Full blog article at http://dickstaub.com/culturewatch.php?record_id=985
LEADERSHIP TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE) "Lead Like Jesus http://www.leadlikejesus.org/common/content.asp?PAGE=334
THE LIKENESS OF JESUS by David Morgan "Today one finds pictures of Jesus
everywhere -- in books and magazines, on television and the internet. But the profusion of images of Jesus is
nothing new. Beginning as early as the
late third century, the Nazarene miracle-worker appeared on carved Roman
coffins. In fourth-century As Christianity's status eventually rose
from marginal and foreign cult to the official religion of the state, the
visual apparatus of ritual and worship developed apace. Sometimes Jesus appears with the bare,
round face of Apollo, whose cult he rivaled in the upper reaches of
fifth-century Roman society. Elsewhere
he is depicted as a tunic-clad philosopher seated among his disciples; or
sometimes with beard and long hair, looking like sculptured philosopher
portraits of the day; or like Jupiter or Mithras (a
Persian sun deity) or Asclepius (son of Apollo and
the god of healing) -- all rivals whose iconography waged Roman and Byzantine
culture wars".... Read this in
full at http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/sightings/archive_2006/0309.shtml
LOVING CHRIST WHILE I CHEER FOR THE YANKEES by Peter Enns "I'm a rabid baseball fan. I'm passionate about the New York
Yankees. My wife even sent me to a
Yankees fantasy camp for my 40th birthday.
But here's the rub. I am a
Christian, and I sometimes have a hard time reconciling my devotion to
sports, especially baseball and the Yankees in particular, and my devotion to
Christ".... Read this in full at
TAKING SPORTS CAPTIVE FOR CHRIST by Tim Ellsworth My spirits always tend to rise a little
at this time of year. Spring training
is upon us. Baseball season is close. Spring is near. Life is good. Many of you can relate -- if not to
baseball, then to your favorite sport.
Maybe you get a little antsy near the start of football season. Maybe the thought of stepping onto the
links for the first time each year gets your blood pumping a little more than
usual. But like everything else in
creation that's good, sports can be subject to abuse. How do we know we've gone too far in our devotion
to sports?".... Read this in full
at http://www.bpnews.net/bpcolumn.asp?ID=2170
QUOTES ABOUT SMALL GROUPS "[Small groups] are not just
culturally relevant for the post-modern world of reality and experienced
truth. They're not just a way to be
like the 'cool' churches. They're not
just for the 'hurting' people. And
they're not just an add-on program.
They're a valid expression of what the Body of Christ is supposed to
be doing on the earth. They're a
structured expression of the doctrines of the church. They're a big part of what the New
Testament dictates as preaching and teaching." Henry Cloud & John Townsend, Making
Small Groups Work "When small groups become the
vehicle for care-giving, the whole church gets involved in sharing one
another's burdens a much more personal approach than relegating the task to a
committee. The whole congregation
should be making hospital visits, taking meals to people when they're sick or
something's happened, doing child care when someone's in crisis and giving
money when someone's lost a job."
Brett Eastman, Life Together Ministries
TODAY'S STOCK MARKET REPORT: Helium was up. Feathers were down. Paper was stationary. Fluorescent tubing was dimmed in light
trading. Knives were up sharply. Cows steered into a bull market. Pencils lost a few points. Hiking equipment was trailing. Elevators rose, while escalators
continued their slow decline. Weights were up in heavy trading. Light switches were off. Mining equipment hit rock bottom. Diapers remain unchanged. Shipping lines stayed at an even keel. The market for raisins dried up. Coca Cola fizzled. Caterpillar stock inched up a bit. Sun peaked at Balloon prices were inflated. Scott Tissue touched a new bottom. And batteries exploded in an attempt to
recharge the market. Kite sales hit an all-time high. Fish sales were floundering. Yoyos were going up and down. Yachts were all wet. Playground equipment went on a slide. Ice machines were frozen solid. Paper shredders were tearing up the
market. Fencing was having a field day. Windows were breaking all records. Javelin sales had missed the mark. Hunting equipment is being scoped out. Gravel futures are bumping along. Airplanes have gone sky high. Parachutes seem to be drifting. Frog legs took a jump. Medical supplies increased
microscopically. Jazz sales are swinging right along.
VERSE TO PONDER "How wonderful it is, how pleasant,
for God's people to live together in harmony!" Ps. 133:1 (TEV)
CONSIDER "The one mark of a saint is the
moral originality which springs from abandonment to Jesus Christ." Oswald Chambers
6.5 BILLION PEOPLE: EACH ONE NEEDS TO HEAR by Erich Bridges It came and went quietly, but the human
race just passed a significant milestone:
On Feb. 25, at 7:16 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the world's
population reached 6.5 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It happened less than 7 years after the
number of people worldwide reached 6 billion.
That total, in turn, was reached only 12 years after the 5-billion
mark was surpassed. The new count of
6.5 billion is more than twice the size of the population in 1960 -- and 4
times the number of humans alive at the beginning of the 20th century. Global population is not speeding toward
the huge, unsustainable masses some demographic doomsayers have long
predicted. But it continues to
grow. The 7-billion mark will be reached
in 2012, according to forecasters.
More than 9 billion people will walk the earth by 2050, they estimate,
before the global total begins to level off.
A few trends and specifics:.... Read this in full at http://www.bpnews.net/bpcolumn.asp?ID=2177
FROM ACE TO THE ALMIGHTY Director Tom Shadyac,
a Christian best known for his mega-hit Bruce Almighty, has come a long way
since Ace Ventura. The following
article takes a look at Shadyac's faith and films. http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/commentaries/fof_shadyac.html
2006 IX PARALYMPIC GAMES March 10-19, Following World War II, the traditional methods
of rehabilitation were no longer sufficient for the medical and psychological
needs of civilians and soldiers with a disability. In 1944, upon the request of the British
Government, Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a neurologist and brain surgeon from Over time, sport events for people with
a disability occurred, giving birth to the Paralympic
Games, the first in
IDITAROD A field
of 83 teams are running in this year's 1,100-mile
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race race that began last
week in The Iditarod, in its 34th year, passes a
string of 24 checkpoints located in towns, villages, and wilderness
cabins. The race commemorates a
dogsled relay in 1925 that carried serum 674 miles from Nenana
to
GOD, FAITH & THE FLU by Kevin Ferguson "Tamiflu,
the drug considered "The U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, spearheading national plans to battle the deadly avian flu,
is encouraging state and local officials to enlist faith-based groups to
reduce fatalities and ease suffering. But exactly how faith-based groups
could be used in a new pandemic is unclear. "And that lack of clarity could be
costly. The avian flu, which has claimed more than 80 lives
worldwide, could kill 209,000 to 1.9 million Americans, the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention estimates.
The actual number will depend, in part, on how well public and private
sectors work together. "That's where faith-based groups
come in. Or don't. HHS officials, in a 396-page HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan
released in November, suggest faith-based groups be used in support roles, such
as grief counseling and education, rather than dispensing vaccinations or
anti-viral medications. Most states,
however, fail to mention faith-based groups in their pandemic flu plans --
Rhode Island, Tennessee, Arkansas and Wyoming are among the exceptions".... Read this in full at http://www.stnews.org/News-2669.htm
CONSIDER "It is not how much we have, but
how much we enjoy, that makes happiness." Charles Spurgeon
VERSE TO PONDER "God did not give us a spirit of
timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)
THIS WEEK'S HYMN: JESU, OUR LENTEN FAST OF THEE Words: Unknown author, pre-13th century;
translated from Latin to English by John W. Hewett,
1859 Music: Christopher Tye,
1533 Jesu, our Lenten fast of Thee We duteous learn to keep, A healing time, by Thy decree, For all Thy wounded sheep. A time in which towards paradise, Once lost by carnal sense, The souls redeemed by Thee may rise Through chastening abstinence. Now with Thy Church be present, Lord, In all Thy saving grace, And hear us as with one accord Mourning, we seek Thy face. Most Merciful, forgive the past, The sins which we deplore; Thy sheltering arms around us cast, That we may sin no more. To Thee our sacrifice we bring Of Lenten fast and prayer, Till, cleansed by Thee, our God and
King, Thy Paschal joy we share. Grant this, O Father, through Thy Son, And through the Spirit blest, Who art with Them forever One, Eternally confessed. >from CyberHymnal at
GOD FAQ Question 63: What are the special
privileges of the visible church? Answer: The visible church has the
privilege of being under God's special care and government; of being
protected and preserved in all ages, not withstanding the opposition of all
enemies; and of enjoying the communion of saints, the ordinary means of
salvation, and offers of grace by Christ to all the members of it in the
ministry of the gospel, testifying, that whosoever believes in him shall be
saved, and excluding none that will come unto him. http://www.shortercatechism.com/
ON PRAYER "Remember that you can pray any
time, anywhere. Washing dishes, digging ditches, working
in the office, in the shop, on the athletic field, even in prison -- you can
pray and know God hears!" Rev.
Billy Graham PRAY FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS TODAY http://christiansincrisis.net/ PRAY FOR A COUNTRY TODAY http://www.gmi.org/ow/index.html 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.] Are you
looking for something or do you have something to sell? Let me know and I'll put it in this
newsletter. Bookstore Entrepreneur Wanted Top income potential, flexible hours, Christian oriented, online required. 1-866-439-1617 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. Visit us 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://christianconnectionbooks.spreadtheword.com
SHARE YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITES Tell us what sites you find enjoyable
and why. BirthdayAlarm.com The 'Christian Oscars' http://www.movieguide.org/index.php?s=news&id=151 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.) Stop global whining.
===== /\ ===== 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 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
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