Connecting man to man to God!

Week of July 16, 2006

"'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the Lord.'"  Leviticus 19:18

     CONSIDER

"What is it to serve God and to do His will?  Nothing else than to show mercy to our neighbor.  For it is our neighbor who needs our service; God in heaven needs it not."  Martin Luther (1483-1546)

     WARNING! PRIDE AHEAD

by Peter Wagner

Take it from me, the road to ungodly pride is a bad one.  If you see any of these FIVE SIGNPOSTS outlined here, turn around ... before it's too late.

First Peter 5:5 instructs us to be "clothed with humility."  The same verse goes on to say, "for 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble'" (NKJV).  The last thing any Christian leader would want is for God to resist or stand against us.  Therefore, we must, at all costs, avoid pride. 

The road to ungodly pride is a bad road.  If you find yourself following any of the five signposts outlined below, please turn around.  Renew your mind before it is too late.  God is characterized by tolerance and patience -- to a point.  But if you pass that point, He may well decide to step in and humble you.  If He ever does, it promises to be a very sad day!

The best way to avoid this is to recognize the symptoms of pride as soon as they begin to appear.  That is why it's essential to become familiar with these signposts of approaching pride.

YEARNING FOR PRAISE AND HUMAN ACCOLADES.  Being the object of praise does not necessarily cause pride.  But yearning for praise can very rapidly lead to pride.  One way to avoid this is to acknowledge praise but not to enjoy it too much.  It helps if we can develop a mind-set that will, at least initially, attribute most praise to either a formality of protocol or to a good-hearted effort on the part of someone to make you like them or to set you up for a favor...

Read this in full at

http://www.ministrytodaymag.com/display.php?id=7777

     THE HONEY OF LOVE

"Honor and glory are indeed due to God and to Him alone, but He will accept neither of them if they be not preserved in the honey of love.  Love is sufficient of itself; it pleases by itself and on its own account.  Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit.  It is its own fruit, its own enjoyment.  I love because I love; I love that I may love.  Love is a great thing provided it recurs to its beginning, returns to its origin, and draws always from that Fountain which is perpetually in flood.  Of all the feelings and affections of the soul, love is the only one by which the creature, though not on equal terms, is able to respond to the Creator and to repay what it has received from Him.  For when God loves us He desires nothing but to be loved.  He loves for no other reason, indeed, than that He may be loved, knowing that by their love itself those who love Him are blessed."  St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153)

     CHOOSE YOUR RUT CAREFULLY!

by Phil Callaway

"...I was reading all the wrong signs.  Signs like, "Give your kids the stuff you never had."  I was stuck in the rut of believing that an ultra-busy schedule equals a productive life.  Three liberating truths have freed me from that rut and turned our home into a place our family loves to be.  I think we should plant them as road signs along life's highway.

1. The fruit of the Spirit is not lemons.

In the midst of my burnout, my 4-year-old pounced on me and tickled me.  I didn't move. "Dad," he said, "you don't laugh so good anymore."  That night I made a conscious decision to change.  I began renting funny, wholesome movies.  I bought a few cartoon books and explained the jokes to the kids.  Within days, the difference in our home was noticeable.  God is a God of joy.  He has given us a built in escape hatch for the pressures of life.  It is our funnybone.  Laughter has no MSG, no fat grams or carbs.  Laughter is low in cholesterol and the government still doesn't tax it.  So let's fill our homes and our workplaces with laughter whenever we can...."

Read this in full at

http://www.philcallaway.ab.ca/Articles/Choose%20your%20rut%20article.htm

     THE MAASAI CREED

(The Maasai Creed is a creed composed in about 1960 by Western Christian missionaries for the Maasai, an indigenous African tribe of semi-nomadic people located primarily in Kenya and northern Tanzania.  The creed attempts to express the essentials of the Christian faith within the Maasai culture.)

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created man [and woman] and wanted [them] to be happy in the world.  God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth.  We have known this High God in the darkness, and now we know him in the light.  God promised in the book of his word, the Bible, that he would save the world and all nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and [humanity], showing that the meaning of religion is love.  He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died.  He was buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, he rose from that grave.  He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him.  All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love, and share the bread together in love, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again.  We are waiting for him.  He is alive.  He lives.  This we believe.  Amen.

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/pelikan/masai.shtml

     BRITISH OPEN GOLF TOURNAMENT

July 20-23, Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, England)

http://www.opengolf.com/

     BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION WEEKEND

July 28-31, Cooperstown, NY

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/events/hof/y2006/index.jsp

     QUESTIONABLE LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

For the chronically absent:

Ø       "A man like him is hard to find."

Ø       "It seemed his career was just taking off."

For the office drunk:

Ø       "I feel his real talent is wasted here."

Ø       "We generally found him loaded with work to do."

For an employee with no ambition:

Ø       "He could not care less about the number of hours he had to put in."

Ø       "You would indeed be fortunate to get this person to work for you."

Ø       "He consistently achieves the standards he sets for himself."

For an employee who is so unproductive that the job is better left unfilled:

Ø       "I can assure you that no person would be better for the job."

For an employee who is not worth further consideration as a job candidate:

Ø       "I would urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment."

Ø       "All in all, I cannot say enough good things about this candidate or recommend him too highly."

     LEADERSHIP TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE)

by Dr. John C. Maxwell

The improbable success of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's Corps of Discovery was due to more than their on-the-spot genius.  Preparation preceded their expedition and paved their way to greatness.  In this edition, we'll examine Lewis' preparation under the tutelage of President Thomas Jefferson to find tried and true principles to aid our leadership journeys:

Ø       Preparation should begin with the dream, not with the reality.

Ø       The first responsibility of the mentor is to prepare others for their future.

Ø       Preparation consists of many exercises.

Ø       Preparation provides confidence when facing the unknown.

Read these in detail at

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060629/19529.htm

     VERSE TO PONDER

"God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins.  Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us!"  2 Corinthians 5:21 (LB)

     CONSIDER

"Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and he is instantly free... If we understand our first and sole duty to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even our enemies, for God's dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual tranquility under every circumstance."  A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]

     AWAY FROM FOOTBALL, OSU'S PENTON FINDS HIS CALLING IN THE MINISTRY

Joel Penton stood onstage, looking down at hundreds of college students gathered outdoors for a recent Campus Crusade for Christ meeting.  At 6 feet 5 and 290 pounds, sporting a dark goatee, the Ohio State defensive tackle cut an imposing figure, almost menacing.  One could easily picture a thundering voice and fire-and-brimstone speech.  But his first act was to come forward, down several steps, closer to his audience.

"Society teaches us to forget consequences, to live in the here and now," Penton said.  "But Christians believe there's more than that.  I guarantee you, 100 years from today, the question of whether you have an eternal soul not only will be an important issue, it will be the only issue."

Read more at

http://tinyurl.com/mkgfg

     RICK WARREN CONFIRMS VISIT TO NORTH KOREA

Rick Warren confirmed plans to visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on July 17 to meet with church and business leaders, despite the current standoff over recent missile firings by the isolated communist country.  "Regardless of politics, I will go anywhere I am invited to preach the Gospel," says Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church in California and bestselling author of "The Purpose Driven Life" and "The Purpose Driven Church."

Contrary to recent media reports, Warren's visit to North Korea is to meet with leadership in preparation for his return to preach in March 2007, in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the Pyongyang Revival in what is now the capital city.

Read more at

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060709/22811.htm

See Rick's blog at

http://www.rickwarren.com

     THE COST OF NON-DISCIPLESHIP

by Andy Crouch

"When I tell my grandchildren about America at the turn of the century, I will tell them about houses and wars.  I will tell them about houses in places like Wheaton, Illinois, a one-time center of mild, middle-class, Midwestern evangelical Christianity, where grand teardown mansions loom where bungalows once stood.  I will tell them about the heady days of option ARMS, cash-out refinancing, and homebuilders whose stock prices made the front page.  I will tell them about our wars, fought with blustering confidence and dubious competence, ambitious and precarious, like a teardown on a tiny lot.  Then I will tell them two of Jesus' most misinterpreted parables...."  Read more at

http://www.culture-makers.com/articles/learning_from_fools

     THE STATE OF MOVIES

by Phil Boatwright (editor and film reviewer for previewonline.org)

Jolting visceral imagery and prolific use of profane language once considered offensive are now accepted realities of movie going.  The search for uncontaminated films has been revised by moral realists to the searching out of films with the least amount of offense -- "I'll accept this, but not that."  But it's not just content that has changed since the cinema's inception.  Movie genres themselves have changed.  The western, the horror film, the comedy, and the crime drama -- they aren't your granddad's movie genres anymore.

The western was most successful in the hands of filmmakers who were perhaps not so concerned with the historic big picture of the Old West, as with individual stories of white-hat guys vs. black-hat guys ("Stagecoach," "Rio Bravo," "Ride the High Country").  When the western became a vehicle for filmmakers determined to preach social reform ("Little Big Man," "Buffalo Bill and the Indians," "Brokeback Mountain"), the genre as we knew it rode off into the sunset....

This is not to suggest that filmmakers of long ago were necessarily more conscientious or conservative, but they were governed by the Motion Picture Production Code, which forbade much of what is now routine in movies.  Ironically, the restrictions of the code caused moviemakers to address their subject matter with creativity.  They had to suggest and imply rather than bombard. Often despite the filmmakers' desires, the Code's restraint caused their plots to reflect more optimistic themes. Films were about possibilities; they showed not just what we were, but what we could become.  Alas, the Motion Picture Code is long gone, a distant memory to movie buffs of a certain age, and completely unheard of by younger generations....

Read this in full at

http://www.bpnews.net/bpcolumn.asp?ID=2308

     GRILLING 101

9 basics that every grill master needs to know:

1.      If you're using a charcoal grill, light the coals 30 minutes prior to cooking. Coals need time to settle.  The coals are ready when you can hold your hand over the fire for two to three seconds (very hot) or three to four seconds (medium hot).

2.      Light the coals using a chimney -- a tall, cylindrical device in which you stack the charcoal. A chimney ensures an easy and even burn without the use of taste-altering lighter fluids.

3.      When cooking skewered meat or vegetables, cut your food into equal-sized pieces to ensure even cooking.  It's also helpful to make sure that the pieces are too big to fall through the cracks in the grill.

4.      If you choose to marinate your meat, do so for at least three hours prior to cooking.  Marinating tenderizes the meat and reduces cooking time.

5.      Brush sauces onto the food only during the last 20 minutes of grilling. Applying sauces earlier can lead to overbrowning or burning.

6.      Don't put cooked meat on the same plate used to carry raw meat.  This can cause bacterial contamination.  The same rule applies to cooking utensils -- use one set of tongs to pick up raw meat and a separate set of tongs to pick up cooked meat.

7.      Clean your grill while it's still warm, using a stiff wire brush.  The food you brush away will burn up in the coals.

8.      Never add lighter fluid to a burning fire.  The fuel can ignite as it pours and cause serious burns.

9.      Avoid a potentially hazardous situation by keeping your grill away from buildings and trees when cooking.

http://www.southbeachdiet.com/public/dailydish/dd_20060526.asp

     CONSIDER

"Courage doesn't always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says...I'll try again tomorrow."  Unknown

     VERSE TO PONDER

"Open my eyes, so that I may see the wonderful truths in your Word."  Psalm 119:18 (TEV)

     THIS WEEK'S HYMN: AMBASSADORS OF GOD

Words: Charles Wesley, Hymns on the Trinity, 1767.

Music: "Brookfield," Thomas B. Southgate, 1855

God, the offended God most high,

Ambassadors to rebels sends;

His messengers His place supply,

And Jesus begs us to be friends.

Us, in the stead of Christ, they pray,

Us, in the stead of God, entreat,

To cast our arms, our sins, away,

And find forgiveness at His feet.

Our God in Christ! Thine embassy,

And proffered mercy, we embrace;

And gladly reconciled to Thee,

Thy condescending goodness praise.

Poor debtors, by our Lord's request

A full acquittance we receive!

And criminals, with pardon blessed,

We, at our Judge's instance, live!

>from CyberHymnal at

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/m/ambassog.htm

     GOD FAQ

Question 81: Are all true believers at all times assured of their present being in the estate of grace, and that they shall be saved?

Answer: Assurance of grace and salvation not being of the essence of faith, true believers may wait long before they obtain it; and, after the enjoyment thereof, may have it weakened and intermitted, through manifold distempers, sins, temptations, and desertions; yet are they never left without such a presence and support of the Spirit of God as keeps them from sinking into utter despair.

http://www.shortercatechism.com/

     SPIRITUAL WINGS

Receive daily meditational ponderments capsulized as simple one-liners in your e-mailbox as yet another path to spark the soul in thought. Includes a daily spiritual acronym; a weekly spiritual affirmation, a weekly spiritually oriented artwork, a weekly spiritual sharing, a weekly spiritual prayer, a weekly spiritual poem, a weekly spiritually oriented joke, and a weekly spiritually oriented cartoon. Ecumenical, nondenominational.

-"May the road always lead, where you need to be."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SpiritualWings/

     ON PRAYER

"O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart.  Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams."  St. Augustine

     PRAY FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS TODAY
http://christiansin crisis.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
Business Growth

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.

WANTED:
Honest contractor to offer professional advice on a problem with water seepage in the basement.
Options needed.
Contact: Frank Coleman @ frankcoleman @yahoo.com or 773-410-1483

     SHARE YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITES

Tell us what sites you find enjoyable and why.

Light a Candle and Reflect

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng

Church Sign Generator

http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/

Jump Over Blobs (game)

http://www.addictinggames.com/blobs.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.)

Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Min. Frank Coleman, Editor

[email protected]

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