Connecting man to man to God!

Week of July 29, 2007

Issue 167

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen."  Ephesians 3:20-21

     CONSIDER

"Wisdom is the right use of knowledge.  To know is not to be wise.  Many men know a great deal and are all the greater fools for it.  There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool.  But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom."  Charles Spurgeon

     JOHN STOTT ENDS PUBLIC MINISTRY

The Rev. Dr. John Stott, 87, concluded his final public engagement recently, asking evangelical Christians in England, "What is God's purpose for his people?"  Giving his last major address before retiring from public ministry, the man whom many regard as one of the most celebrated evangelists of the modern era told the crowd at this year's annual convention in Keswick, England: "I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth.  God wants His people to become like Christ," Stott said, as he was greeted with a standing ovation.  "Christ-likeness is the will of God for the people of God"....  Read this in full at

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070722/28528.htm

     CANCER'S UNEXPECTED BLESSINGS

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow: "I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care.  It is what it is -- a plain and indisputable fact.  Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape.  Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen.  We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.  But despite this -- because of it -- God offers the possibility of salvation and grace.  We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face"....  Read this in full at

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/july/25.30.html

     IN EUROPE, GOD IS (NOT) DEAD

Christian groups are growing, faith is more public.  Is supply-side economics the explanation?  As centuries-old churches long favored by the state lose their monopoly grip, Europe's highly regulated market for religion is opening up to leaner, more-aggressive religious 'firms.'  The result, [the scholars] say, is a supply-side stimulus to faith.  The enemy of faith, say the supply-siders, is not modernity but state-regulated markets that shield big, established churches from competition....  Read this in full at

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118434936941966055.html?mod=hpp_us_pageone

     YOU'RE UNIQUE

"The often-heard comment "a face only a mother could love" reflects more fact than cynicism.  God loves you as one who loves his own offspring.  Your face is unique because your DNA is unique.  When you finally meet the One who made you and examine the lifelines he has sent you along the way, you will at last understand how every detail made sense in the swirling reality of life's blessings and threats.  They will speak of God's transcending love for you."  Ravi Zacharias, The Grand Weaver

     RELIGIOUS BONDS DIVIDE SOME PARENTS, KIDS

Though Gallup polls dating to the '50s say young adults are less likely to attend services or say religion is very important in their lives, clergy of all stripes say they're seeing a small wave of young adults who are more pious than their parents.  And they're getting an earful from boomer moms and dads who range from shocked to delighted....  Read this in full

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-07-08-kids-parents-religion_N.htm

     SCOUTS FROM AROUND WORLD GATHER FOR CENTENARY JAMBOREE

The 21st World Scout Jamboree in Chelmsford, 30 miles from London, is bringing together tens of thousands of Scouts from around the world from now until August 8 to mark the official centenary of scouting.  August 1 marks the day 100 years before when Scouting founder Robert Baden Powell blew a kudu horn to open an experimental scounting camp for 20 boys from a variety of social backgrounds on Brownsea Island in England.  The movement now boasts 28 million Scouts worldwide from 216 countries.

http://www.scout.org/

     LEADERSHIP TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE)

"Strategies and goals have their place.  But they don't define leadership. Leaders see and seize opportunities.  And in most cases, the opportunities take them by surprise."  Andy Stanley, Next Generation Leader

     VERSE TO PONDER

"I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word."  Psalm 138:2

     CONSIDER

"It is no great matter to associate with the good and gentle; for this is a naturally pleasing to all, and everyone willingly enjoyeth peace, and loveth those best that agree with him. But to be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary to us, is a great grace, and a most commendable thing."  Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ, II.iii. [1418]

     CONSUMER GROUP CRITICIZES WEBSITES THAT OFFER "FREE" CREDIT REPORTS

A new study published in Consumer Reports examines Web sites that offer paid access to consumer credit data in combination with credit scores, credit monitoring, and identity theft insurance.  Consumer WebWatch concludes most of these sites offer expensive services that consumers either don't need or can get for free at AnnualCreditReport.com (which credit bureaus were forced to create as the result of a 2003 law giving consumers free access to their credit reports).

http://consumerwebwatch.org/dynamic/financial-reports-creditsites.cfm

also see the July 16 posting at

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/

     WILD JESUS AND THE SECRET OF TIME

by Ellen Vaughn

"It's nothing new to note the 21st-century pressure cooker that makes many of us sweat.  In a culture marked by "hurry sickness," how then do we live?  Are we stressed and obsessed by time? Or are we at peace?  Is there a distinctive that believers can really employ and enjoy in our relationship with time?

"The biblical distinctive is a mindset called stewardship.  Its core presupposition is the fact that the money, stuff, talents, and time that believers have at our disposal are not really ours.  They belong to God.  We're stewards of His assets. He has left them to us for a while to manage. We don't know just how long that while is...but we are to use everything we've been given for God's eternal purposes, not our temporal ones.  Time is the medium, in this life, in which we give glory to God by doing His will"....  Read this in full at

http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/Book/Articles/Wild+Jesus+and+the+Secret+of+Time.htm

     BREAKING THE 'HOLY HUSH'

by Gail Martin

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that about 1.5 million women in the United States are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner every year.  Nearly one-third of American women report having experienced physical or sexual abuse by a husband or boyfriend at some point during their lives, according to the Commonwealth Fund's 1998 Survey of Women's Health.  Christians are no exception to these alarming statistics.  "The rate of abuse in Christian homes is exactly the same as in the general population," says Catherine Clark Kroeger, co-founder of Peace and Safety in the Christian Home (PASCH). "If we could tear off the secrecy and then allow God's grace to work, that would be the greatest gift."  Kroeger, an adjunct associate professor of classical and ministry studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, has written, co-written, or contributed to 8 books about women and domestic violence from a Christian perspective....  Read this in full at

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0701&article=070121

     ON PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN

The IvyJungle.org Campus Update newsletter reports: Young people under the age of 25 (Generation Y) have significantly different views from their Baby Boomer parents.  A national survey of 18-25 year olds on politics, social attitudes, and life goals show that while they are more tolerant of immigration and gay marriage, their life goals are much more superficial. Becoming rich (81%) and famous (51%) are top life goals.  By contrast, in 1967 85% of college freshmen wanted to develop "a meaningful philosophy of life" and only 41% though it important to be "well off financially."  Other findings indicate that roughly one-third of these young adults attend church once a week (just slightly less than the number who have at least one tattoo).  84% say their life is at least pretty good. (USA Today 2/5/07)

     CONSIDER

"Faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse."  Philip Yancey

     COFFEE DRINKING

While no one has yet studied coffee drinking among children under 18, daily coffee consumption for people between the ages of 18 and 24 has doubled since 2003, from 16% to 31%.  High schooler Nicole Rivera, who just finished 9th grade and who already indulges a 4-cup-a-day habit, may well have been speaking for many of her peers when she said, "Without coffee, I'm dead to the world." [washingtonpost.com, 7/17/07 stats]

http://www.pluggedinonline.com/cultureclips2/a0003313.cfm

     PARENTHOOD EQUALS ABOUT $200,000 COST PER CHILD

A middle-income family with a child born in 2006 will spend, on average, $197,700 to raise him or her from birth through age 17, according to U.S. government data.  That figure doesn't include the soaring cost of college....  Read this in full at

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/basics/2007-07-19-cost-of-kids_N.htm

     WHAT ARE OUR PRIORITIES?

"I wonder about the enormous energy being devoted these days to restoring morality to the United States.  Are we concentrating more on the kingdom of this world than on the kingdom that is not of this world?  The public image of the evangelical church today is practically defined by an emphasis on two issues that Jesus did not even mention.  How will we feel if historians of the future look back on the evangelical church and declare, "They fought bravely on the moral fronts of abortion and homosexual rights," while at the same time reporting that we did little to fulfill the Great Commission, and we did little to spread the aroma of grace in the world?"  Philip Yancey, What's So Amazing About Grace?

     RELIGION NEWSBEAT BECAME A TEST OF FAITH

"I've covered a lot of non-religious stories, but I traditionally never got more vicious hate mail than from people of the faith -- probably because they believe so much is at stake.  This is a phenomeon attested to by religion writers across the country.  But for whatever reason, this story provoked a different response.  It was almost entirely loving and caring and gentle, whether from Christians, Jews, Muslims, agnostics, or atheists."  -- Bill Lobdell, former Los Angeles Times religion reporter, during an online chat about his front-page article on how he lost his faith on the religion beat....  Read the article in full at

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-lostfaith21jul21,0,2152302.story?coll=la-tot-topstories&track=ntottext

     TOP 20 QUESTIONS CHILDREN ASK ABOUT LIFE AND GOD

1. Does God exist?  2. Has God got a beard?  3. Is there life after death?  4. If God made us who made God?  5. What does God look like?  6. Why is the world here?  7. Who created God?  8. Why are people bad to each other?....  Read this in full at

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2097654.ece

also see

Who Made God?: And Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith, Ravi Zacharias &, Norman L. Geisler, general editors

http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/ProductDetail.htm?ProdID=com.zondervan.9780310247104

     OVERDRAFT AND BOUNCED CHECK FEES

Sure, the overdraft protection you decided to purchase for your bank account is helpful -- who wouldn't want to protect themselves from returned check fees?  But is that protection really worth the money you're paying?  You could end up spending far more on the service than you would if you only bounced a few checks a year.  Learn how to manage your account so you don't use money you don't have with Protecting Yourself from Overdraft and Bounced-Check Fees....

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/money/protect_overdraft/bounce.htm

     PONDER THE IMPONDERABLE

·        Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

·        If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

·        When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts," and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?

·        Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

·        Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It's just stale bread to begin with.

·        When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

·        Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?

·        Why isn't 11 pronounced onety-one?

·        If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed?

·        Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"?

·        Why is it that if someone tells you that there are 1 billion stars in the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet paint you will have to touch it to be sure?

     CONSIDER

"Christ came, not so much to preach the Gospel, as that there might be a Gospel to preach."  R. W. Dale (1829-1895)

     VERSE TO PONDER

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless.  He is a shield for all who take refuge in him."  Psalm 18:30

     THIS WEEK'S HYMN: THE GOSPEL SHOWS THE FATHER'S GRACE

Words: Matthias Loy, 1863

The Gospel shows the Father's grace,

Who sent his Son to save our race,

Proclaims how Jesus lived and died

That man might thus be justified.

It sets the Lamb before our eyes,

Who made th'atoning sacrifice,

And calls the souls with guilt oppressed

To come and find eternal rest.

It brings the Savior's righteousness

Our souls to robe in royal dress;

From all our guilt it brings release

And gives the troubled conscience peace.

It is the power of God to save

From sin and Satan and the grave;

It works the faith, which firmly clings

To all the treasures which it brings.

It bears to all the tidings glad

And bids their hearts no more be sad;

The heavy laden souls it cheers

And banishes their guilty fears.

May we in faith its tidings learn

Nor thanklessly its blessings spurn;

May we in faith its truth confess

And praise the Lord our Righteousness!

>from CyberHymnal at

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/s/f/gsfgrace.htm

     ON PRAYER

"Prayer is the movement of trust, of gratitude, of adoration, or of sorrow, that places us before God, seeing both Him and ourselves in the light of His infinite truth, and moves us to ask Him for the mercy, the spiritual strength, the material help, that we all need.  The man whose prayer is so pure that he never asks God for anything does not know who God is, and does not know who he is himself: for he does not know his own need of God.  All true prayer somehow confesses our absolute dependence on the Lord of life and death.  It is, therefore, a deep and vital contact with Him whom we know not only as Lord but as Father.  It is when we pray truly that we really are. Our being is brought to a high perfection by this."  Thomas Merton (1915-1968), No Man Is an Island [1955]

     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.

Air Quality Check

http://airnow.gov/

Can you tell the difference between a genuine site and a fake?

http://www.siteadvisor.com/quizzes/phishing_0707/

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.)

It is the daily grind that gives a person polish.

Min. Frank Coleman, Editor

[email protected]

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