Connecting man to man to God!

Week of August 19, 2007

Issue 170

"Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding."  Romans 14:19

     CONSIDER

"Biblically speaking, to repent doesn't mean to feel sorry about, to regret.  It means to turn, to turn around 180 degrees.  It means to undergo a complete change of mind, heart, direction. Turn away from madness, cruelty, shallowness, blindness.  Turn toward the tolerance, compassion, sanity, hope, justice that we all have in us at our best."  Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons

     HYBELS-CARTER INTERVIEW FEATURED AMID CRITICISM

At the recently concluded Willow Creek Leadership Summit, Bill Hybels interviewed former president Jimmy Carter.  Hybels made it clear that all summit speakers he invites and interviews are "absolutely intentional," although they may be met with protest.  "I know some leaders who can only learn from leaders who are pretty much like them, think like them, pray like them, vote like them, see the world the way they do," he said.  "Whenever I see a leader like that, I feel sorry for the leader and even worse, for his or her followers because they're going to be cut off from a whole world of information, a world of powerful ideas that God could use to challenge that leader, to stretch them'....  Read this in full at

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070814/28900_Hybels-Carter_Interview_Featured_Amid_Criticism.htm

     EVANGELICAL GROUP SUPPORTS CONVERSION CODE OF CONDUCT

The World Evangelical Alliance is ready to join the World Council of Churches and the Vatican in supporting a code of conduct to guide activities seeking converts to Christianity.  WEA has a representative membership of some 420 million Christians worldwide....

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/15/europe/EU-REL-Christians-Conversion-Code.php

     BILLY GRAHAM, PASTOR IN CHIEF

Billy Graham radiates qualities a President seldom encounters during office hours: innocence, guilelessness, sincerity strong as paint stripper.  His critics called him gullible, naive to the point of self-delusion; his defenders, of which there were a great many more, called him trusting, always seeing the best in powerful people and frequently eliciting it as a result.  So when Graham was around, Presidents found themselves at ease, not on edge....  Read this in full at

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1651625,00.html

     OUR RESCUER

"Jesus came to save human beings, not from aliens or poverty or pollution or the Roman government, but from themselves -- from the evil that is in all of us.  We are "lost" because we have gone our own way, like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).  Jesus said that people are "evil" (John 3:19); he even told his own disciples that they were "evil" (Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13)!  The human heart, he warned, produces "evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander" (Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:22).  But Heaven is the realm of God, who, unlike us, is good (Matthew 19:17; Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19) and perfect (Matthew 5:48).  God holds us here on Earth to the standard met in Heaven, that of doing God's will (Matthew 6:10).  Although we all fail to meet that standard, God cares about us, and that is why he sent his Son into the world to save us from our corrupt natures."  Kenneth D. Boa & Robert M. Bowman Jr., Sense and Nonsense about Heaven and Hell

     COMMUNICATION & MARRIAGE :)

While attending a marriage seminar on communication, Tom and his wife Peg listened to the instructor declare, "It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other."  He looked at Tom and asked, "Can you describe your wife's favorite flower?"  Tom leaned over, touched his wife's arm gently, and whispered, "Pillsbury All-Purpose, isn't it?"  The rest of the story is not pleasant.

http://www.mikeysFunnies.com

     LEADERSHIP TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE)

"We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them."  Albert Einstein

     VERSE TO PONDER

"For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace."  James 3:16-18

     CONSIDER

"At our best, we become Sabbath for one another.  We are the emptiness, the day of rest.  We become space, that our loved ones, the lost and sorrowful, may find rest in us."  Wayne Muller

     THE GOSPEL & THE BIKER CULTURE

by Karen L. Willoughby

"I could see it in his eyes," said Russell Evitt, a deacon at First Baptist Church in Williston, N.D.  "He got it."  What Daniel Buie, a biker from Gardner, Kan., got was a heart-level understanding of a loving God who desires to have a relationship with him.  Buie got that because Evitt gave a few days out of his life in early August to share his testimony at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.

"Russell didn't tell me anything new," Buie said, tears streaming down his cheeks.  "Others have told me about the same thing, but today -- today -- He got to me; He connected with me.  Today, I got it!"  "It" is a life-changing faith in God.

Evitt was one of about 150 volunteers from across the nation to participate in the second annual Sturgis intentional evangelism event.  Buie was one of 870 people to make a profession of faith in God as a result of the volunteers simply sharing, for three minutes each time, their personal stories of the difference God had made in their lives....  Read this in full at

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=26248

     HARMONIZING MIND, BODY AND SOUL

Harmony… What is there to know?....

Harmonizing Mind Body and Soul?

Why..........what for?

Kool Brother, Pleeeeaze tell me more!

Break it down! Make it apply directly to my situations!

Well, Webster's definition of harmony is: agreement; accord; harmonious relations

A consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement of parts; congruity

I say, to be harmonious, it takes ingenuity

To take your mind and choose thoughts that are positive and true

To believe and trust the God that is in you

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world, says John 4:4

To use this greatness, you must know the score

Let your mind concentrate and meditate....That is the best choice

Listen and adhere to the still small voice

The voice of your God, providing truth and clarity

To a situation that seems to be a calamity

Heed that voice that triggers cognitive stimulation

The voice that produces a vision and ignites your imagination

OK...now you've got your mind and soul under control

It is time to get your body in the act

Too often we segregate it.... and that is a sad fact.

The reality is that your body is a tool for God's will to be done

It is your thoughts, articulated by your tongue

Our body is our touch, to show we care

It is the physical manifestation that we are here

Present in the here and now

Let's get it in harmony, let me show you how

Do exercises you enjoy, not ones that you dread

Eat right, as though you were a champion thoroughbred

Continually strengthen your mind, body and soul, never cease!

You are building a solid foundation of joy and peace

All of your friends and fam will wonder, hmmm, they will all want to know

You tell them proudly, I did it by harmonizing my mind, body and soul!

A poem by the Kool Brother

Read more at:

http://www.myspace.com/kool_brother

     RICHES HAVE MADE US RUDER

Columnist Peggy Noonan, a speechwriter for former President Ronald Reagan, says America is experiencing "the second great Gilded Age, a time of startling personal wealth" in which what the "superrich do for a living now seems utterly incomprehensible."  But one thing Americans are losing is an appreciation for the manners they show each other on the street.

"I think riches, or the pursuit of riches, has made us ruder.  You'd think broad comfort would assuage certain hungers.  It has not.  It has sharpened them," Noonan wrote July 27 in The Wall Street Journal.

"In a time of relative wealth, you'd think they might be less aggressive," she wrote.  "But the opposite seems true. ... Many things thrive in the age of everything, including bad manners."...  Read this in full at

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010385

     CYBER DIVIDE WIDENS: KIDS OUTSMARTING THEIR PARENTS

The gap is widening between what kids do online and what their parents think they do.  A new study shows that children are online twice as much as their parents think they are and nearly 1/4 are getting away with forbidden online activities, according to security company Symantec, which commissioned Harris Interactive to do the poll.  Also, 23% of children have had an encounter with a stranger on the Internet and 7% report having met someone in the real world from the Internet.  21% of kids say they've experienced "inappropriate" material online that made them feel uncomfortable.  18% have had an experience with cyber bullying or cyber pranks, and 20% said they wished their parents were more interested in using the Internet.  Read this in full at

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201400137

     GODLY INTIMACY

"What landed Jesus on the cross was the preposterous idea that common, ordinary, broken, screwed-up people could be godly!  What drove Jesus' enemies crazy were his criticisms of the "perfect" religious people and his acceptance of the imperfect nonreligious people.  The shocking implication of Jesus' ministry is that anyone can be spiritual.  Spirituality is not a formula; it is not a test.  It is a relationship.  Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy.  Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection.  The way of the spiritual life begins where we are now in the mess of our lives.  Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws but because we let go of seeking perfection and, instead, seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives."  Michael Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality

     CULTURE TAKES AWAY GIRLS' INNOCENCE

Dolls dressed in fishnet stockings, miniskirts and stomach-flaunting tank tops, Care Bear thongs and push-up bras are just some of the items being marketed to girls younger than 12 these days, according to a book by Wendy Shalit promoting a return to modesty in an overtly sexual age.

"American popular culture seems determined to obliterate innocence -- even in the crib!" syndicated columnist Mona Charen wrote in reference to Shalit's book, "Girls Gone Mild."

Magazines like Cosmo and Seventeen advise girls to "keep your heart under wraps," Charen said, because, as the magazines contend, the worst thing a woman can do is express desire for commitment from her sexual partner.  Such behavior is "boring and clingy," the periodical tells young girls.

A magazine called Scarleteen offers a "sex readiness checklist" for girls, Charen wrote, that includes "I have a birth control budget of $50 per month" and "I can separate love from sex."

A report released this year by the American Psychological Association coined the term the "sexualization of girls" based on the blaring messages coming from "role models" such as Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan as well as music videos, movies, television and the Internet.

As a result of an over-sexed society, the report said, young girls are fighting the following mental health issues as reported by FoxNews.com:

-- Cognitive and emotional consequences: Sexualization and objectification undermine a person's confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety.

-- Mental and physical health: Research links sexualization with three of the most common mental health problems diagnosed in girls and women

-- eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression or depressed mood.

-- Sexual development: Research suggests that the sexualization of girls has negative consequences on girls' ability to develop a healthy sexual self-image.

"As a society, we need to replace all of these sexualized images with ones showing girls in positive settings -- ones that show the uniqueness and competence of girls," Eileen Zurbriggen, chairwoman of the APA Task Force, said. "The goal should be to deliver messages to all adolescents -- boys and girls -- that lead to healthy sexual development."

Shalit's book is about young women reclaiming self-respect and finding "it's not bad to be good," and she reports on a small but growing backlash against the culture that is underway among girls who are standing up to objectification.

     D'OH! -- THE SIMPSON'S RELIGION QUIZ

Questions:

1.  In a dream Homer once had, how does he describe God?

2.  What personalized license plate does Ned Flanders have on his Geo station wagon?

3.  What Sunday night radio call-in show does Reverend Timothy Lovejoy co-host with a rabbi and priest?

Answers:

1.  "Perfect teeth.  Nice smell.  A class act, all the way."

2.  JHN 143 (John 1:43, in which Jesus says to Philip, "Follow me").  Ned's Bible collection includes the Aramaic Septuagint, the Vulgate of St. Jerome, the Living Bible and the Thump-Proof Bible.

3.  Gabbin' about God, sponsored by Ace Religious Supply, whose motto is, "If we don't got it, it ain't holy."

See more at

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07080035.htm

     TIME TO OVERSEED THE LAWN

Late summer and early fall is a great time to rejuvenate a tired-looking lawn by overseeding.  This is the process of planting a new lawn without digging up the old one.  If it's at least 50% in good shape, you can overseed.  Just follow these steps

1.  Scalp the lawn so the grass is 1/2 to 1 inch tall.

2.  Rake up all debris.

3.  Core-aerate and sow good-quality seed; or use a slit seeder. Don't remove the plugs of thatch and soil that result from the aeration process. They'll break down in a few days, and they contain beneficial microbes and nutrients. Apply seed heavier than normal (up to 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet for annual ryegrass).

4.  Topdress (add a thin layer of mulch), water, and fertilize. Water heavily immediately after you sow the seed so you wash the seed down into the cores or slits. Then, water lightly every day until germination -- about 3 weeks.

5.  When the new grass becomes established, mow it at the proper height.

If your lawn is in really bad shape, you may need to completely overhaul it by killing all the remaining grass, amending the soil, and resodding or reseeding.

http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTip/id-4747.html

     SIMPLE STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING YOUR MONEY

Have you checked your money management IQ recently?  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has put together a useful guide, Simple Strategies for Managing Your Money.  It features helpful hints about how to give your finances a check-up, avoid bad deals and scams, complain effectively, and much more....

http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnwin0607/index.html

     CONSIDER

"Have you stopped seeing great things happen in your life?  Perhaps you have stopped believing that God can work in a mighty way even in our generation."  Luis Palau

     VERSE TO PONDER

"These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace, do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath; for all these are things that I hate, says the Lord."  Zechariah 8:16-17

     THIS WEEK'S HYMN: O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING

Words: Charles Wesley, 1739

Music: Carl G. Gläser, 1828

O for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer's praise,

The glories of my God and King,

The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,

Assist me to proclaim,

To spread through all the earth abroad

The honors of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,

That bids our sorrows cease;

'Tis music in the sinner's ears,

'Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,

He sets the prisoner free;

His blood can make the foulest clean,

His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and, listening to His voice,

New life the dead receive,

The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,

The humble poor believe.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,

Your loosened tongues employ;

Ye blind, behold your Savior come,

And leap, ye lame, for joy.

In Christ your Head, you then shall know,

Shall feel your sins forgiven;

Anticipate your heaven below,

And own that love is heaven.

Glory to God, and praise and love

Be ever, ever given,

By saints below and saints above,

The church in earth and heaven.

On this glad day the glorious Sun

Of Righteousness arose;

On my benighted soul He shone

And filled it with repose.

Sudden expired the legal strife,

'Twas then I ceased to grieve;

My second, real, living life

I then began to live.

Then with my heart I first believed,

Believed with faith divine,

Power with the Holy Ghost received

To call the Savior mine.

I felt my Lord's atoning blood

Close to my soul applied;

Me, me He loved, the Son of God,

For me, for me He died!

I found and owned His promise true,

Ascertained of my part,

My pardon passed in heaven I knew

When written on my heart.

Look unto Him, ye nations, own

Your God, ye fallen race;

Look, and be saved through faith alone,

Be justified by grace.

See all your sins on Jesus laid:

The Lamb of God was slain,

His soul was once an offering made

For every soul of man.

Awake from guilty nature's sleep,

And Christ shall give you light,

Cast all your sins into the deep,

And wash the Æthiop white.

Harlots and publicans and thieves

In holy triumph join!

Saved is the sinner that believes

From crimes as great as mine.

Murderers and all ye hellish crew

In holy triumph join!

Believe the Savior died for you;

For me the Savior died.

With me, your chief, ye then shall know,

Shall feel your sins forgiven;

Anticipate your heaven below,

And own that love is heaven.

>from CyberHymnal at

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/f/o/ofor1000.htm

     ON PRAYER
"The function of prayer is not to establish a routine; it is to establish a relationship with God who is in relationship with us always.... The function of prayer is to bring us into touch with ourselves, as well.  To the ancients, "tears of compunction" were the sign of a soul that knew its limits, faced its sins, accepted its needs, and lived in hope."  Joan Chittister

     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.

Countering posters to last week's posters

http://emerginggrace.blogspot.com/2007/07/more-generous-view.html

Assess-Yourself.org

http://www.assess-yourself.org/

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.)


Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

Min. Frank Coleman, Editor

[email protected]

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