Connecting
man to man to God
For week of June 08, 2008
Issue
211
“Watch
and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is
willing, but the body is weak.” Mark 14:38 (NIV)
CONSIDER
“There
are few stronger indications of ignorance of the power and evil of
sin than the confident assertion of our ability to resist and
subdue it.” Charles Hedge
GET
UP AND DANCE EVERYBODY! HEAR THE SONG!
The
book SoulSalsa: 17 Surprising Steps for Godly Living in the 21st
Century by Leonard Sweet shows the ins and outs of living an
old-fashioned faith in the 21st century. The audio version of
SoulSalsa is a multi-layered sonic experience. Zondervan
commissioned the creation of a song to accompany Leonard's book
and audio. Listen to this 5-minute musical
rendition....
http://zondervan.typepad.com/zondervan/2008/05/get-up-and-danc.html
INTERCHANGEABLE
PARTS, IRREPLACEABLE FATHERS
by
Rich Wagner
My brother-in-law Mark lost his job last week. Like
any other weekday, he arrived at his office at 8:25am, likely
scanning his Blackberry on his walk across the parking lot to see
what his busy schedule held for him. But instead of a day filled
with meetings and customer calls, he was promptly ushered into a
conference room, sat down by an HR rep, and summarily laid off.
Thanks much, but we just don't need you anymore. To Mark, the
sudden loss was devastating-and not just for economic reasons. He
loved that job. His view of who he is as a man was largely defined
by that role-a vision scratched out forever by an accountant's
pen.... Read this in full
at
http://zondervan.typepad.com/zondervan/2008/06/fathers-day-ess.html
POSTER
COUPLE FOR GLOBAL CHANGE
Pastor
Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, and his wife Kay,
author of Dangerous Surrender, appeared jointly at Gordon College,
Wenham, Mass., near Boston, where Rick delivered the graduation
commencement address. Gordon President Jud Carlburg and his wife
Jan separately video-interviewed Rick and Kay respectively. During
his message, Warren said students should invest their lives in
things that will last, such as God's Word and human relationships.
"It's not the duration of your life that matters, it's the
donation"....
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2008/06/poster_couple_f_2.html
HUNT
HEIRESS ENVISIONS AN EVANGELICAL EDIFICE IN PLANO
Dallas
oil heiress and Christian radio star June Hunt has announced plans
for a $46 million Hope Center in Plano, TX to house her own and 13
other evangelical ministries.... Read this in full
at
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-hunt_20met.ART.State.Edition1.4636588.html
LOVE
OF COUNTRY
“Too
many people fail to observe the difference between love of country
and slavish agreement with or obedience to the state and
government. Nationalism often appears as conservative
traditionalism and resistance to any sweeping or radical changes
in society. And it rears its ugliest head in hatred aimed at
noncitizens beyond the nation's borders or within them. But, at
its best, nationalism is simply worship of country even if
‘country’ signifies an ideal such as ‘the
American way.’" Roger E. Olson, How to Be Evangelical
without Being Conservative
MCCAIN
& OBAMA: HOW THEY DIFFER ON CERTAIN ISSUES
Barack
Obama clinched the Democratic nomination June 3, and in doing so
set up a general election contest with Republican John McCain that
will offer social conservative voters two very different choices
on a host of cultural issues. A senator from Illinois, Obama is
the first African-American to lead a major political party, and if
elected would serve during the 150th anniversary of both the
Emancipation Proclamation and the beginning of the Civil War, the
war that freed the slaves.
"I think we should pause to
give our country a round of applause for having nominated the
first African-American candidate for president," Richard
Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious
Commission, told Baptist Press. "Whether or not we can
support this particular African-American candidate, I think it
says something pretty great about our country, that we have
nominated someone who at least on his father's side is represented
by about 13% of the population and a percentage of the population
that has been sadly and tragically the object of a great deal of
prejudice and hostility and violence."
Martin Luther
King Jr., Land said, "is smiling today."
"Among
other things, this is what his dream looked like. I'm very pleased
that we have done this, even if I am not particularly happy with
this particular candidate," he added. "I think it says
something really good and strong and fine about our
country."
Obama and McCain will present voters with
two drastically different visions for the country, Land said. "The
American people will be faced with a clear choice on areas like
national security and the role the government should play in the
life of individuals and families in terms of income and in terms
of health care. And of course, the life issue and the marriage
issue. There's a pretty stark contrast there. Americans certainly
can't say that the system has not produced a very, very clear and
contrasting choice."
Following is a list of 5 issues
and where Obama and McCain
stand....
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=28183
LEADERSHIP
TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE)
"Before
you become a leader, success is all about growing yourself. After
you become a leader, success is about growing others." Jack
Welch
VERSES
TO PONDER
“We
know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who
was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is
under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of
God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know
him who is true. And we are in him who is true--even in his Son
Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” 1 John
5:18-20 (NIV)
CONSIDER
“The
life of holiness is the life of faith in which the believer, with
a deepening knowledge of his own sin and helplessness apart from
Christ, increasingly casts himself upon the Lord, and seeks the
power of the Spirit and the wisdom and comfort of the Bible to
battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.” Edmund
P. Clowney (b.1917), "The Church"
GUM,
GECKOS, AND GOD
by
James S. Spiegel
My kids have given me insights about God,
Jesus, and the Christian life that I never would have had without
them. They've shown me how our lives are filled with tools for
better understanding the Christian worldview-from chewing gum and
bicycles to trees and animals like our pet lizard. And I've found
that it is possible for a 5-year-old to declare about biblical
truths what I thought he would only say about dinosaurs or Star
Wars: "Dude, that is so cool!" .... Read this in full
at
http://zondervan.typepad.com/zondervan/2008/06/fathers-day-e-1.html
SOUTHERN
BAPTIST CHURCHES DECLINING
Outgoing
Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page had a sobering
message for his fellow Southern Baptists: change or die. Page said
unless the church changes its methodology more than half of
Southern Baptist churches will disappear in the near future. “If
we don't start paying attention to the realities by the year 2030,
we will be proud to have 20,000 rather than 44,000 Southern
Baptist churches.” To avoid a decline Page recommends that
the church reach out to ethnic minorities and young people. Page
described the convention as consisting largely of “older
white people holding on till they die.” [Tennessean,
6/1/08]
BELIEF
IN GOD SEEMS TO BE WANING IN CANADA
A
new survey says nearly 1/4 of Canadians (23%) do not believe in a
god. Seventy-two percent of respondents say they believed in a
god. The Harris-Decima poll shows Canadians are more secular than
Americans. A 2007 Harris-Decima survey shows only 8% of the
population in the USA consists of nonbelievers. “Religion in
Canada today is not a particularly divisive subject and tolerance
levels for different beliefs are high,” says Harris-Decima
President Bruce Anderson. “This is evident in the fact that
1 in 4 people feel comfortable saying they do not believe in a
god.”
[canadianpress.google.com, 5/30/08]
THE
‘STIGMA’ OF EVANGELICAL
“Evangelicalism
is becoming somewhat less coherent as a movement or as an
identity. Younger people don’t even want the label anymore.
They don’t believe the main goal of the church is to be
political.” -- Christian Smith, a sociology professor at the
University of Notre Dame, commenting on young evangelicals. About
17% of America’s 55 million adult evangelicals are between
the ages of 18 and 29. A January 2007 Barna survey of 1,000 young
people found that 47 percent of born-again Christians ages 40 and
under believe “the political efforts of conservative
Christians” pose a problem for America. [nytimes.com,
6/1/08]
THE
VALUE OF A HUMAN LIFE: $129,000
In
theory, a year of human life is priceless. In reality, it's worth
$50,000. That's the international standard most private and
government-run health insurance plans worldwide use to determine
whether to cover a new medical procedure. More simply, insurance
companies calculate that to make a treatment worth its cost, it
must guarantee one year of "quality life" for $50,000 or
less. New research, however, would argue that that figure is far
too low. Stanford economists have demonstrated that the average
value of a year of quality human life is actually closer to about
$129,000.... Read this in full
at
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1808049,00.html
SLIM
TITHING
A
recent Barna poll shows that only 5% of Americans say they tithe,
or give at least 10% of their income to religious or charitable
groups. And church giving on the whole is in decline. Congregants
give an average of 2.58% of their income to their churches -- down
from 3.11% of their income in 1968, according to studies published
by Empty Tomb, a ministry that studies church finances. “Tithing
is in decline,” says the Rev. William Hull, a research
professor at Samford University and a Baptist minister. “The
older generation was taught to tithe. It's not being taught very
much any more.” [usatoday.com 5/31/08]
'FOX
ON FAITH' PODCAST AVAILABLE
A
new podcast from FOX News Radio provides in-depth coverage of
religious stories that have not necessarily been addressed by the
network's mainstream reporting.
"FOX on Faith"
launched in April and is updated every other week at
foxnewsradio.com. The goal of the podcast, which offers a free
subscription, is to explore how faith intersects the public
arena.
The segments, ranging from 5 to 10 minutes, move
along quickly from topic to topic and include extended
interviews.
http://www.foxnewsradio.com/podcasts/index.php
MOSQUITO
NETS ARE MAKING CHARITY COOL
Donating
$10 to buy a mosquito net to save the life of an African child has
become the hip way to show concern, especially for American
teenagers. The movement is like a modern version of the March of
Dimes, created in 1938 to defeat polio, or like collecting pennies
for UNICEF on Halloween. The passion for nets, which prevent
malaria, has brought together unusual allies, like the Methodist
and Lutheran Churches, the National Basketball Association, and
the United Nations Foundation. It's an appeal that clearly
resonates with young
people....
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/01/america/malaria.php
HONK
IF YOU LOVE JESUS
The
other day I went up to a local Christian bookstore and saw a "Honk
if you love Jesus" bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly
sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir
performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting, so I bought
the sticker and put it on my bumper. Boy, I'm glad I did! What an
uplifting experience that followed!
I was stopped at a red
light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord
and how good He is... and I didn't notice that the light had
changed. It’s a good thing someone else loves Jesus because
if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed!
I found that
LOTS of people love Jesus! Why, while I was sitting there, the guy
behind started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his
window and screamed, "For the love of GOD! GO! GO! Jesus
Christ, GO!" What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus!
Everyone started honking!
I just leaned out of my window
and started waving and smiling at all these loving people. I even
honked my horn a few times to share in the love! There must have
been a man eating yogurt back there because I heard him yelling
something about "custard"...
I saw another guy
waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the
air. I asked my teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant.
He said it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something.
Well, I've never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the
window and gave him the good luck sign back. My grandson burst out
laughing...why, even he was enjoying this religious experience!
A
couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment
that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I
bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is
when I noticed the light had changed. So, I waved to all my
brothers and sisters grinning, and drove on through the
intersection. I noticed I was the only car that got through the
intersection before the light changed again and I felt kind of sad
that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared, so I
slowed the car down, leaned out of the window and gave them all
the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away. Praise
the Lord for such wonderful
folks!
Grandpa
http://www.mikeysFunnies.com
CONSIDER
“You
meet a thousand times in life with those who, in dealing with any
religious question, make at once their appeal to reason, and
insist on forthwith rejecting aught that lies beyond its sphere --
without, however, being able to render any clear account of the
nature and proper limits of the knowledge thus derived, or of the
relation in which such knowledge stands to the religious needs of
men. I would invite you, therefore, to inquire seriously whether
such persons are not really bowing down before an idol of the
mind, which, while itself of very questionable worth, demands as
much implicit faith from its worshipers as divine revelation
itself.” Theodor Christlieb (1833-1889)
VERSE
TO PONDER
“Where
is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of
this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For
since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not
know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was
preached to save those who believe.” 1 Corinthians 1:20,21
(NIV)
THIS
WEEK'S HYMN: DO NOT WORRY
Words:
Susan H. Peterson, 1998
Music: Have You Any Room for Jesus, C.
C. Williams (?-1882)
Do not worry for your life,
What
you’ll eat or drink or wear;
Is not life much more
important
Than these things that cause you care?
See the
birds—they sow and reap not,
Nor in barns do store
away.
Yet your heav’nly Father feeds them;
Have you
not more worth than they?
And why worry about clothing?
See
the lilies’ glad array;
Solomon in all his splendor
Never
dressed as fine as they.
This is how God clothes the
grasses,
Though their life is but a day.
Will He not much
more meet your needs?
Let your faith not fade away.
So I
tell you, do not worry,
Asking what you’ll eat or
drink.
Nor be anxious about clothing—
These are things
that all men seek.
And your Father knows you need them;
Worry
won’t command His power.
Which of you by constant
fretting
Adds to life a single hour?
Seek first, then,
your Father’s kingdom
And His righteousness on high.
All
these things will then be given;
God will not neglect your
cry.
So fret not about tomorrow;
God directs the future,
too.
Though each day will bring its troubles,
Trust in Him
-- He’ll see you through.
>from CyberHymnal
at
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/d/o/n/donworry.htm
ON
PRAYER
“D.
L. Moody used to say, "In our prayers we talk to God, in our
Bible study, God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of
the talking." We certainly ought to spend more time every day
listening to what God has to say to us in His Word than we require
Him to spend in listening to what we have to say to Him in our
prayers.” R. A. Torrey
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
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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.
Online graphical
dictionary
http://www.visuwords.com/
Schedule
of US Economic Stimulus Check
Payments
http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=180250,00.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.)
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
Min.
Frank Coleman, Editor
[email protected]
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