MSM CONNECTIONS
For the week of 07/18
The Men’s Ministry e-mail newsletter of
Our mission: Our mission is to lead men to
Jesus Christ and provide opportunity for
Christian men to grow in their faith
and minister to others.
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MSM CONNECTIONS is the opt-in newsletter for the men of New Joy Divine Full Gospel Church. It's a periodic service that helps connect you with God and with other men at NJD. If you'd like its delivery to your email address stopped, scroll down and follow the instructions at the end of this message. Also let me know if you change your email address and want to keep subscribing to MSM CONNECTIONS.
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To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from old. Psalm 25:1, 6 (NIV)
CONSIDER
Online p*rnography is moral toxic waste and a spiritual terrorist assault on all Christian men and boys. The sooner we really believe that, the sooner we'll get serious about truly loving (and living for) God!
A GLIMPSE OF THE
ETERNAL
by Derek Elkins
"...One of the most impacting ways I have ever read eternity portrayed is in The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis. In it, Lewis describes, first, a bus stop on a central street of what can best be described as a "gray town." There is a line of individuals expecting a particular bus to arrive shortly, on a route it has seemingly run for a very long time. Amidst the line of potential riders there is quarreling and bickering, the likes of which you might find at one of any city's bus stops. As a result, one by one, potential riders move out of the line and away from the bus stop. When the awaited bus arrives, the line consists of only a handful of riders, composing one motley crew. At the end of the first chapter, the bus moves away from the bus stop and soars upwards, into the clouds, immediately transporting the riders and the reader into that land of the unknown....
"To anyone reading this fictional story from a Christian perspective, it quickly becomes clear that C.S. Lewis is portraying at least one idea of how eternity will play out. To put his story into Christian terms, souls would always have the opportunity to leave the hellish existence in the gray town and move toward a Heavenly reality. In fact, the only step necessary in this transportation is a conscious decision to move in the direction of the bus stop and to board. Knowing that the distance between the gray town and this "ultimate reality" is insurmountable to those confined to the gray town, there is a way provided out of the gray town and into reality...."
Read this article in full at
http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=776
<a href="http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=776"> Or click here</a>
C.S. LEWIS, THE SNEAKY
PAGAN
Colin Duriez is a frequent writer and speaker on topic related to C.S. Lewis and his Inkling friends. Duriez is author of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship, Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings, The C.S. Lewis Encyclopedia, and The J.R.R. Tolkien Handbook. Duriez lives in Leicester, England and was recently in the U.S.
Q: In order to write to a post-Christian culture, C.S. Lewis used pre-Christian, pagan ideas.
A: C.S. Lewis's ideas about returning to paganism before coming to Christian faith still apply today. He recognized that we live in a post-Christian world, and for him that was the most basic category when trying to understand present society. We talk about modernism and now postmodernism, but if Lewis was around I think he'd still be saying that the fact that we're post-Christian is more fundamental. Contemporary people have no background at all in Christian faith. They need to be brought to paganism to prepare the way to become Christians, which is rather a provocative idea. But it was also part of the way he tried to rehabilitate the old Christian West. The "Old West" is what he called it. He and J.R.R. Tolkien tried to rehabilitate the values and virtues of this vast period, which goes back to the Classical times.
Read this interview in full at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/126/12.0.html
<a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/126/12.0.html"> Or click here</a>
JULY HAPPENINGS
July 26-29 - Democratic National Convention (Boston, MA)
http://www.boston04.com/home.asp
<a href="http://www.boston04.com/home.asp"> Or click here</a>
July 26-31 - All-American Soap Box Derby (Derby Downs, Akron, OH)
http://www.allamericansoapboxderby.com/
<a href="http://www.allamericansoapboxderby.com/"> Or click here</a>
July 29-August 1 - British Women's Open golf tournament
(Sunningdale Golf Club, England)
http://www.ladieseuropeantour.com/
<a href="http://www.ladieseuropeantour.com/"> Or click here</a>
July 31 - Blue Moon (2nd full moon in July)
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bluemoon1.html
<a href="http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bluemoon1.html"> Or click here</a>
VERSE TO PONDER
"For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Matthew 23:12 (TNIV)
CONSIDER
"Just as darkness retreats before light, so all anger and bitterness disappear before the fragrance of humility." John Climacus
BUSINESS BY THE BOOK
by Michael Pink
"I wish I could forget what one customer said to me on a sales call: "The only reason I came down here was to tell you to your face to never set foot in our business again!" She complained how poorly my company's copier equipment had performed for the previous three years and that she was purchasing all new equipment from a competitor in the next 90 days. She also told me to tell my boss that she hated him!
"I later learned that our company really dropped the ball with this customer. So I determined to win her back. First, I realized that anyone who could yell at a total stranger with such passion needed to experience a fresh touch of the love of Jesus. I began to pray for that woman daily, that God would somehow let her know how much He loved her. I knew I had to win her trust, which required a practical demonstration of love in action...."
Read this article in full at
http://www.newmanmag.com/article.php?sid=544&mode=thread&order=0
<a href="http://www.newmanmag.com/article.php?sid=544&mode=thread&order=0"> Or click here</a>
THE ETERNAL YOUTH OF
GOD
"A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough... It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again," to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again," to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we." G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), Orthodoxy [1909]
NPR SERIES ON RELIGION AND BUSINESS:
* Firms turn to religion to keep workers happy. Some companies are embracing the belief that a faith-friendly workplace will create higher profits -- or at least happier workers. At Atlanta-based HomeBanc Mortgage Corp., employees can take part in prayer groups or speak with corporate chaplains.
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3021153
<a href="http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3021153"> Or click here</a>
* Religious initiatives make workplace hostile for some. As corporate America becomes more religious, some employees say they feel excluded or coerced into sharing in their company's religion. Employers' emphasis on religion can create a hostile work environment for those who consider themselves non-believers.
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3025028
<a href="http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3025028"> Or click here</a>
* When faith clashes with corporate policy. For years, courts have refereed disputes over accommodating religion in the workplace. But what happens when an employee's religious beliefs collide with the company's secular vision? NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports in the conclusion to a three-part series on religion in the workplace.
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3046047
<a href="http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3046047"> Or click here</a>
* Invite your family and friends to join us on July 25, 2004. Awards and prizes for such activities as: Most Family Members Present, Family Member Present That Traveled The Farthest, Family With The Most Guests Present, etc… Come join the fun and get the Word “to boot.”
WHAT TO SAY ABOUT GOD'S
EXISTENCE
A man is in a barbershop having his hair cut and his beard trimmed. During their conversation, the barber suddenly says, "I don't believe that God exists. You just have to go out in the street to realize it. If God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? Would there be suffering or pain? I can't imagine a loving a God who would allow all of these things."
The man left the shop pondering these questions when he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back, re-entered the barber shop, and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers don't exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I'm here, and I'm a barber. And I just worked on you!" "No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."
"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens, is, people don't come to me." "Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."
VERSE TO PONDER
I will always obey Your law, forever and ever. I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out Your precepts. I will speak of Your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame for I delight in Your commands because I love them. Psalm 119:44-46 (NIV)
CONSIDER
"[God] loveth the church, which He died to purchase, His own Body, and all the members of the Body, better than we can; He loveth us better and more wisely than we ourselves; He who made us loveth us better than we who unmade ourselves; He who died for us, better than we who destroy ourselves: He who would sanctify us for a Holy Temple unto Himself, better than we who have defiled what He has hallowed. Fear we not, therefore, anything which threateneth, shrink we not back from anything which falleth on us. Rather let us, though with trembling, hold up our hearts to Him, to make them His Own, in what way He willeth." Edward B. Pusey (1800-1882)
STRANGE BUT TRUE
GEORGE BUSH: When you rearrange the letters:
HE BUGS GORE
DORMITORY: When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN: When you rearrange the letters:
BEST IN PRAYER
DESPERATION: When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT
THE MORSE CODE: When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES: When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY: When you rearrange the letters:
IS NO AMITY
SNOOZE ALARMS: When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE Zs
A DECIMAL POINT: When you rearrange the letters:
I'M A DOT IN PLACE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO: When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE
CONSIDER
"When everything we receive from him is received and prized as fruit and pledge of his covenant love, then his bounties, instead of being set up as rivals and idols to draw our heart from him, awaken us to fresh exercises of gratitude and furnish us with fresh motives of cheerful obedience every hour." John Newton (1725-1807)
VERSE TO PONDER
"Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other's nerves you don't snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out." 1 Thess. 5:14b-15 (Msg)
Mark your calendars for the weekend of August 27-29, 2004 at the Hickory Ridge Marriott Conference Hotel in Lisle Illinois where we will have our annual Men’s Conference. Theme: “The Fruit Of The Spirit.” Come and be blessed during this time of fellowship and ministry. Contact Minister Maurice Collier or Minister Frank Coleman. Visit the church’s web site: www.newjoydivine.org, go to the Men’s ministry page [>>Ministries>>Men Servants Ministry (MSM)] for details or download a registration form <here>.
THIS WEEK'S HYMN: I AM
PRAYING FOR YOU
Words: Samuel O. Cluff, 1860.
Music: Ira D. Sankey, 1874.
I have a Savior, He's pleading in glory,
A dear, loving Savior though earth friends be few;
And now He is watching in tenderness o'er me;
And oh, that my Savior were your Savior, too.
Refrain
For you I am praying,
For you I am praying,
For you I am praying,
I'm praying for you.
I have a Father; to me He has given
A hope for eternity, blessèd and true;
And soon He will call me to meet Him in heaven,
But, oh, that He'd let me bring you with me, too!
Refrain
I have a robe; 'tis resplendent in whiteness,
Awaiting in glory my wondering view;
Oh, when I receive it all shining in brightness,
Dear friend, could I see you receiving one, too!
Refrain
When Jesus has found you, tell others the story,
That my loving Savior is your Savior, too;
Then pray that your Savior may bring them to glory,
And prayer will be answered-'twas answered for you!
Refrain
Speak of that Savior, that Father in heaven,
That harp, crown, and robe which are waiting for you-
That peace you possess, and that rest to be given,
Still praying that Jesus may save them with you.
Refrain
>from CyberHymnal at
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/a/iampray.htm
<a href=" http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/a/iampray.htm"> Or click here</a>
THE GEM CAR
It "looks one part Volkswagen Beetle, one part iMac and one part golf cart." It is DaimlerChrysler's Global Electric Motorcar -- or GEM -- "a tiny insect-like electric with a surprisingly tall body on which even the doors are optional ... like an outsized Happy Meal toy," as described by Chris Dixon in The New York Times. "I have dogs bark at me because they've never seen a car like this," says GEM-owner John Trevino of Laguna Beach, Calif. Relatively few people have seen a car like this, either, "all 5 horsepower and 48 volts of it." And even though it doesn't have heavy-duty bumpers or airbags and can't run much faster than about 25 miles per hour, it's street legal in 30 states. 28,000 have been sold. See it at
<a href="http://www.gemcar.com"> Or click here</a>
ON PRAYER
"Go to bed seasonably, and rise early. Redeem your precious time: pick up the fragments of it, that not one moment of it may be lost. Be much in secret prayer. Converse less with man, and more with God." George Whitefield, Colonial era revivalist
CRITICAL PRAYER
REQUESTS FOR STRATEGIC NATIONS
We're praying for our fellow believers in a different nation each week.
Please pray for...JAPAN
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ja.html
<a href="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ja.html"> Or click here</a>
The Church in Japan experienced good growth between 1945 and 1960, but both Catholic and Protestant percentages have only marginally increased since then, with conversions only just exceeding backslidings. The decisive breakthrough has yet to come, so pray for:
a) The United Church - the name given to the union of all Protestant churches formed under duress during World War II. Almost all churches in the union compromised with Shinto and emperor worship, resulting in total loss of spiritual life. After the war, many denominational groups pulled out to form their own denominations. Many see the key to future blessing and growth is repentance by the whole Christian Church in Japan for this black period in its history.
b) The growing evangelical witness. In 1950 Evangelicals were 40% of Protestants and Independents, but by 2000 they were over 60%. Yet the denominational fragmentation, theological divides and lack of nation-wide cooperation have hampered progress and increased attrition rates. The Japan Evangelical Association is one major coordinating body for many denominations and has sponsored 4 national congresses on Evangelism (1974, 1982, 1991, 2000) and other large evangelistic efforts.
c) Quasi-Christian groups such as the Moonies, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons have grown far faster than Evangelicals or Catholics and become the largest and most visible 'Christian' presence in many areas. Yet they remain ensnared in the enemy's power and still need spiritual release and freedom. Nearly one million Japanese are linked to these deviant groups. Little literature or specific ministry is directed to bringing the gospel to them. There are three agencies committed to helping JWs to faith in Christ.
http://www.gmi.org/ow/index.html
<a href="http://www.gmi.org/ow/index.html"> Or click here</a>
PRAY
* CME / Singles Get Away participants as they travel
* Pastor Watson
* Bro. Edward Corey Phillips
* Minister Timothy Pulliam
* Bro. Damien Robinson
* Bro. Fred Simms
[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.
Desiring God Ministries
<a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/"> Or click here</a>
Take Action To Restore Constitutional Government
http://www.conservativeusa.org/action.htm
<a href="http://www.conservativeusa.org/action.htm">
Or click here</a>
National Consumer League
<a href="http://www.fraud.org"> Or click here</a>
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.)
Be holy as God is holy.
Min. Frank Coleman, Editor
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MSM CONNECTIONS is a periodic newsletter of announcements, news, recommendations, articles, and other information helpful to men in our spiritual growth. Thanks for welcoming MSM CONNECTIONS into your in-box!
Who to contact:
Minister Frank Coleman, Men Servants Ministry Chairman, 773-410-1483,
Minister Arnold Whitehead, Men Servants Ministry Vice-Chairman, 773-846-6090
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The mission of New Joy Divine Full Gospel Church is to be a Christ-centered, Bible based, Spirit guided church meeting the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of its members and the community it serves.
The Men Servants Ministry (MSM) Team offers a variety of activities for men to interact with other men on our journey of faith in Christ together. Large group, small group, and one-to-one events encourage relationship building and spiritual strengthening that result in maximizing the potential we all have in Christ. Contact Min. Frank Coleman, 773-410-1483, [email protected] if you'd like to participate in a men's discipleship program.
New Joy Divine Full Gospel Church is located at 7625 S. Halsted St. Chicago, IL 60620.
Tel: 773-224-5683. Founded & Pastored by Apostle Aaron L. Royster & Prophetess Mable L. Royster.
Visit our website at www.newjoydivine.org
<a href="http://www.newjoydivine.org"> AOL users click here</a>
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