Connecting man to man to God!

Week of March 18, 2007

Support this free newsletter—visit our advertisers

"Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."  1 John 3:18

     CONSIDER

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."  Dolly Parton

     YOUR PRAYERS MATTER

by Alvin J. Vander Griend

"When Johnny Jones, living in a middle-class suburb in central California, made a commitment to pray five blessings on five neighbors for five minutes a day for five days a week for five weeks, surprising things began to happen.  One neighbor asked him how she could have a personal relationship with Christ.  When Johnny shared the gospel with her, she accepted Christ as her Savior.  A drug-dealing neighbor asked Johnny to pray for him and help him turn his life around and get out of the drug business.  A Buddhist couple from across the street asked if they could go to church with Johnny's family.  And a couple living next door asked him to start a Bible study for the neighborhood.  Johnny Jones' prayers mattered to God.  They provided God the opportunity He was looking for to work in the hearts and lives of Johnny's neighbors"....  Read this in full at

http://www.navpress.com/EPubs/DisplayArticle/1/1.111.2.html?aCode=NL80307

     FACE TO FACE WITH GOD

by Gary Klingsporn

The life of Moses offers a powerful encouragement.  The God who calls us is the God who empowers us.  God's power led Moses to live out his call with firm conviction and strength.  Biblical faith offers us the same assurance.  When challenges of daily work and relationships overwhelm us, God will help us to live out our calling with character and integrity.  And when we do, we make a difference in the lives of people around us....

http://www.christianitytoday.com/workplace/articles/relationships/facetoface.html

     BREATHE

"In the Bible, the word for 'breath' is the same word as the word for 'spirit.'  In the Hebrew language it's the word 'ruah,' in the Greek, it's the word 'pneuma.'  One Scripture says that when God takes away the 'ruah,' the breath of all living creatures, then they return to dust.  But when God sends the 'ruah,' they are created. Breath, Spirit, same word.  When you let God in, when you breathe, what happens is you become aware of all the things you need to leave behind, everything you need to let go of.  If you were to be totally honest about what's going on inside of you, is there anything you need right now to breathe out?"  Rob Bell, NOOMA - Breathe (DVD)

     URGENT CALL FOR MEN'S MINISTRIES TO MEET DISCIPLESHIP NEED

by Ken Walker

Based on figures from 2003, there were 103 million males in the U.S. 15 or older, but only 6 million involved in discipleship or personal formation, according to David Delk, president of Man in the Mirror (MIM) ministry.  That means just 1 in every 18 men are learning how to walk in Christ's footsteps, he says, comparing that to 18 men going to a baseball field but only one knowing how to play the game.  According to Delk, that deficit in men's discipleship is directly correlated to many societal ills....  Read this in full at

http://www.churchcentral.com/nw/s/id/24521/template/Article.html

     A JOURNEY INTO WHOLENESS

A Study for Lent

Compiled by Christine Sine at Mustard Seed Associates, this study is an invitation to journey with Jesus towards the Cross.  It's designed to challenge you to move beyond trivial sacrifices like giving up chocolate and use Lent to deepen your relationship with God by entering the brokenness of our world.  Encounter Christ as you reflect on all the aspects of your life and of our world that distort your ability to live effectively as Christ's disciple.  It's not just our relationship to God that's distorted and broken.  Our relationship to each other, our stewardship of the earth, and even inner being are all broken and distorted by sin.  This study encourages us to confront all these areas of brokenness and provides practical steps toward healing and wholeness. 

http://www.msainfo.org/clopcont.asp?id=614&subject=46

     A WAY OF SEEING

by Carol Zaleski

"...I stepped around the corner to an effulgence of golds, greens and blues so brilliant it bleached out the engines of modernism and lit up the floor.  The radiance was emanating from The Coronation of the Virgin, a newly acquired triptych altarpiece by the 16th-century German painter Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder, and housed in a room of its own with didactic panels on the walls recounting the coordinated campaigns of conservation, restoration and provenance research by which the treasure had been salvaged, as it were, from shipwreck.  It was the best distraction I could hope for.  I returned the next day, and the day after that.  After a week of such visits I realized I was embarked on an experiment.  How deeply could I come to know this magnificent work of art and devotion?  How much would my amateur eye and restless heart permit me to discern?..."  Read this in full at

http://www.christiancentury.org/dept_faith.lasso

See the triptych altarpiece at

http://www.smith.edu/newssmith/fall2006/museum.php

     MARCH MADNESS

http://www.ncaasports.com/basketball/mens

http://www.ncaasports.com/basketball/womens

     LOOKING AHEAD

Tax Day is April 17 this year.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=167195,00.html

     LEADERSHIP TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE)

"Leadership is the ability to put the plans into practice, and to accomplish the specified objectives through the skillful management of people, time, and tangible resources.  A good leader is one who is able to motivate people; one who is capable of making good decisions, even under pressure or in conditions of uncertainty; one who can guide people through actions as well as words."  George Barna, How to Find Your Church

     VERSE TO PONDER

"You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."  Leviticus 19:18-18

     CONSIDER

"It is right to be contented with what we have, but never with what we are."  James Mackintosh

     CHRIST'S INFLUENCE ON HISTORY

"When in Rome," goes the old saying, "do as the Romans do."  But early Christians did just the opposite.  Life was cheap in ancient Rome, but Jesus Christ elevated the sanctity of human life to new heights.  Women, slaves, the unborn -- all were impacted by Christ's teachings.  Listen to this Focus on the Family program as Alvin Schmidt, author of HOW CHRISTIANITY CHANGED THE WORLD, describes how Christians, from caring for the sick to rescuing abandoned children, redefined the values that shaped civilization.

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/archives.asp?bcd=2007-3-12

     AMERICANS GET AN 'F' IN RELIGION

Sixty percent of Americans can't name five of the Ten Commandments, and 50% of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married.  Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University, isn't laughing.  Americans' deep ignorance of world religions -- their own, their neighbors' or the combatants in Iraq, Darfur, or Kashmir -- is dangerous, he says.  He argues that everyone needs to grasp Bible basics, as well as the core beliefs, stories, symbols, and heroes of other faiths. Belief is not his business, says Prothero, who grew up Episcopalian and now says he's a spiritually "confused Christian."  He says his argument is for empowered citizenship....

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-03-07-teaching-religion-cover_N.htm

     EINSTEIN AND THE MIND OF GOD

Speaking of Faith, public radio's conversation about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas, tackles "Einstein's God," using Einstein's science as a starting point for exploring the great physicist's perspective on ideas such as mystery, eternity, and the mind of God.  Einstein didn't believe in a personal God who would interfere with the laws of physics.  But he was fascinated with the ingenuity of those laws and expressed awe at the very fact of their existence.  He was more than content with what he called a "cosmic religious sense" -- animated by "inklings" and "wondering," rather than answers and conclusions....

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/einstein/index.shtml

     RUMORS OF ANOTHER WORLD

"To me, the great divide separating belief and unbelief reduces down to one simple question: Is the visible world around us all there is?  Those unsure of the answer to that question -- whether they approach it from the regions of belief or unbelief -- live in the borderlands.  They wonder whether faith in an unseen world is wishful thinking.  Does faith delude us into seeing a world that doesn't exist, or does it reveal the existence of a world we cannot see without it?...

"Søren Kierkegaard told a parable about a rich man riding in a lighted carriage driven by a peasant who sat behind the horse in the cold and dark outside.  Precisely because he sat near the artificial light inside, the rich man missed the panorama of stars outside, a view gloriously manifest to the peasant.  In modern times, it seems, as science casts more light on the created world, its shadows further obscure the invisible world beyond...."  Philip Yancey, Rumors of Another World

     BONES OF CONTENTION

"...Could Christianity be archaeologically falsified?  Would the discovery of the bones of Jesus mean that Christianity must close up shop?  In pondering the resurrection, Christians distinguish between resurrection and resuscitation. Jesus' rising from the dead can't simply mean that he had his mortal body back -- in that case he'd have to die a second time.  Jesus' raised body was an unusual kind of body -- he walked through walls, for example.  Paul talked about the resurrected body as a "spiritual body," whatever that means.  Could something be left behind after a resurrection?..."  Read this in full at

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=3086

     WHILE THE BOSS IS AWAY

by Chuck Swindoll

"Let's play 'Let's Pretend.'  Let's pretend that you work for me.  In fact, you are my executive assistant in a company that is growing rapidly.  I'm the owner and I'm interested in expanding overseas.  To pull this off, I make plans to travel abroad and stay there until a new branch office gets established.  I make all the arrangements to take my family and move to Europe for six to eight months.  And I leave you in charge of the busy stateside organization.  I tell you that I will write you regularly and give you directions and instructions.  I leave, and you stay.  Months pass.  A flow of letters are mailed from Europe and received by you at the national headquarters.  I spell out all my expectations.

"Finally, I return.  Soon after my arrival, I drive down to the office and I am stunned.  Grass and weeds have grown up high.  A few windows along the street are broken.  I walk into the receptionist's room.  She is doing her nails, chewing gum and listening to her favorite disco station.  I look around and notice the wastebaskets are overflowing.  The carpet hasn't been vacuumed for weeks, and nobody seems concerned that the owner has returned.  I asked about your whereabouts and someone in the crowded lounge area points down the hall and yells, "I think he's down there."  Disturbed, I move in that direction and bump into you as you are finishing a chess game with our sales manager.  I ask you to step into my office, which has been temporarily turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas.  "What in the world is going on, man?"  "What do you mean?" you reply.

"Well, look at this place!  Didn't you get any of my letters?"  "Letters?  Oh yes!  Sure!  I got every one of them.  As a matter of fact, we have had a letter study every Friday since you left.  We have even divided the personnel into small groups to discuss many of the things you wrote.  Some of the things were really interesting.  You will be pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed to memory some of your sentences and paragraphs.  One or two memorized an entire letter-or-two: Great stuff in those letters."

"OK.  You got my letters.  You studied them and meditated on them, discussed and even memorized them.  But what did you do about them?"  "Do?  We didn't do anything about them."

(SOURCE:  Improving Your Serve)

     NUMBERS DROP FOR THE MARRIED WITH CHILDREN

Punctuating a fundamental change in American family life, married couples with children now occupy fewer than 1 in every 4 households -- a share that's been slashed in 1/2 since 1960 and is the lowest ever recorded by the census.  As marriage with children becomes an exception rather than the norm, social scientists say it is also becoming the self-selected province of the college-educated and the affluent.  The working class and the poor, meanwhile, increasingly steer away from marriage, while living together and bearing children out of wedlock....  Read this in full at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/03/AR2007030300841.html

     MORE PRAYER NEEDED IN WORSHIP SERVICES

Many churches in America do not give ample time to pray during their Sunday services.  And a lot of churchgoers don't believe God answers prayer. So says Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York.  He spoke at the Assemblies of God Prayer Summit.  Cymbala, whose church draws 2,000 people to its prayer meetings, suggests prolonged times of prayer during Sunday services to break the reluctance many people have toward prayer....

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070310/26233.htm

and

Prayer Summit

http://ag.org/top/Events/2007_Prayer_Summit/index.cfm

     WANT TO RUN FOR U.S. PRESIDENT? :)

All you have to do is file a Statement of Organization with the Federal Election Commission to start a Presidential Exploratory Committee.  Here's the link.  Just file the form and you can start raising money, sounding significant, and calling yourself a potential presidential nominee.

http://www.fec.gov/pdf/forms/fecfrm1.pdf

     CONSIDER

"God in His providence has not allowed the survival of actual physical objects.  But we have infinitely more than this, for instead of dead relics, however "authentic" and well preserved, we have a living life-line, stretching unbroken to Christ Himself.  We have all the comfort and security that comes from historic tradition, but instead of being given the sad nostalgia of looking at an object and saying, "Look, how wonderful!  This is what He touched then," we are given an evergreen memorial [in communion] which says, "This is what He touches now."  J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Appointment with God [1956]

     VERSE TO PONDER

"Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.  As it is written, 'He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.'"  2 Corinthians 9:7-9

     THIS WEEK'S HYMN: THE GLORY OF THESE FORTY DAYS

Words: Gregory I, 6th Century

Music: Joseph Klug, 1543

The glory of these forty days

We celebrate with songs of praise;

For Christ, by Whom all things were made,

Himself has fasted and has prayed.

Alone and fasting Moses saw

The loving God Who gave the law;

And to Elijah, fasting, came

The steeds and chariots of flame.

So Daniel trained his mystic sight,

Delivered from the lions' might;

And John, the Bridegroom's friend, became

The herald of Messiah's Name.

Then grant us, Lord, like them to be

Full oft in fast and prayer with Thee;

Our spirits strengthen with Thy grace,

And give us joy to see Thy face.

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,

To thee be every prayer addressed,

Who art in threefold Name adored,

From age to age, the only Lord.

>from CyberHymnal at

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/l/gloryt40.htm

     GOD FAQ

Question 116: What is required in the fourth commandment?

Answer: The fourth commandment requires of all men the sanctifying or keeping holy to God such set times as he has appointed in his Word, expressly one whole day in seven; which was the seventh from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week ever since, and so to continue to the end of the world; which is the Christian sabbath, and in the New Testament called the Lord's day.

http://www.shortercatechism.com/

     ON PRAYER

"Prayer that focuses on God, meditative prayer, can serve as a kind of self-forgetfulness.  Some have called it a "useless" act because we do it not for the sake of getting something out of it, but spontaneously, as uselessly as a child at play.  After an extended time with God, my urgent requests, which had seemed so significant, took on a new light.  I began to ask them for God's sake, not my own.  Though my needs may drive me to prayer, there I come face-to-face with my greatest need: an encounter with God's own self."  Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?

     PRAY FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS TODAY

http://christiansincrisis.net/

     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.

     SHARE YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITES

Tell us what sites you find enjoyable and why.

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.)

To forgive is to set the prisoner free...and then discover the prisoner was you.

Min. Frank Coleman, Editor

[email protected]

Thanks for welcoming CONNECTIONS into your in-box!

Quick Links...

·  Start Your Domain Name Search Here

·  Download & Share Your Favorite Music

·  Visit my blog - comment & share your thoughts

email: [email protected]

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