Connecting
man to
man to God!
Week
of March 9,
2008
Issue
198
“‘My
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’
declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9
CONSIDER
“The
heart is a triangle which only the Trinity can fill.” Thomas
Watson
LENTEN
REFLECTIONS
Come my
Light and illumine my darkness.
Come my
Life and revive me from death.
Come my
Physician and heal my wounds.
Come
Flame of divine love, consume my sins,
kindling
my heart with the flame of your love.
Come my
King, enter my heart and reign there.
For you
alone are my salvation.
-- St.
Dimitri of Rostov
If God
incarnated himself in man,
died and
rose from the dead,
all
human endeavors deserve attention
only to
the degree that they depend on this,
i.e.,
acquire meaning thanks to this event.
We
should think of this by day and by night.
Every
day, for years, ever stronger and deeper.
And most
of all about how human history is holy,
and how
every deed of ours becomes a part of it,
is
written down for ever, and nothing is ever lost.
Because
our kind was so much elevated,
priesthood
should be our calling,
even if
we do not wear liturgical garments.
We
should publicly testify to the divine glory
with
words, music, dance and every sign.
--
Czeslaw Milosz
ASPIRE
“Many
saints are content to live like people in coal mines, who never see
the sun. Tears sadden their faces when they could be anointed with
heavenly oil. I am convinced that many believers suffer in a dungeon
when they could walk on a palace roof, viewing the lush landscape and
Lebanon. Wake up, believers, from your lowly condition! Throw away
your laziness, sluggishness, coldness, or whatever is interfering
with your pure love for Christ. Make Him the Source, the Center, and
the One who encompasses every delight of your soul. Refuse to be
satisfied any longer with your meager accomplishments. Aspire to a
higher, a nobler, and a fuller life.” L. B. Cowman, Stream in the
Desert
GIVING
AND LIVING THE GOSPEL
by
Charles R. Swindoll
One of
the most effective evangelists I have ever known was a fellow who ran
a service station on Arlington Avenue just outside Boston. He never
spent a day in seminary or took one course in a Bible institute, but
his Bible was well-worn and open near his cash register. He
regularly dealt with souls who came into his place of business.
He’s
now changed locations but, I’m sure, is still a faithful witness.
This man
doesn’t nitpick when he shares the gospel. He focuses on the life
of Christ, the hope of eternal life by faith in the Lord, and then he
lets the Lord do the work in bringing results. In marvelous wisdom
and love he presents the most attractive and encouraging message of
eternal life. Through the years, hundreds of people came to know
Christ on Arlington Avenue thanks to this consistent man who leaves
the results with God.
What a
relief it was the day God convinced me that He doesn’t hold me
responsible for how people respond to the gospel. He holds you and
me responsible for *giving* and *living* the gospel; what someone
does with it is His business.... Read this in full at
http://www.insight.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7863&news_iv_ctrl=2161
SPORTS
CALENDAR
Formula
One racing season begins, Melbourne, Australia, March 16
http://www.formula1.com/
Division
I Men’s Basketball Championship (March Madness) begins March 18
http://www.ncaasports.com/basketball/mens/schedules
Major
League Baseball opening day, March 30
http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp
Start of
NBA playoffs, April 19
http://www.nba.com
BE
WITH GOD
“To be
with God is really to be involved with some enormous, overwhelming
desire, and joy, and power which you cannot control, which controls
you. God is a means of liberation and not a means to control
others.” James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name
CIRCUMCISION:
CUTTING OUT THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT?
The
foundational symbol of God’s ancient covenant with his people is
getting a lot less common in the United States, but medical and
theological debates still rage about the propriety of circumcision.
Recent legal battles over whether parents can mandate circumcision
for their children and new medical findings regarding the relative
merits and risks of the practice have given parents reason to pause
when it comes to deciding the fate of their son’s most sensitive
organ. The debate, although originating in the religious realm, now
deals mainly with social mores and the latest scientific consensus.
At the
height of circumcision’s popularity in the mid-20th century, 90%
of
American males were circumcised. But the rate in the US has declined
steadily since the 1970s, according to the National Hospital
Discharge Survey and other health organizations. In 2005, roughly
80% of all US. males were circumcised. That percentage is likely to
decrease in the future, as recent annual statistics show that only
56% of male babies born in America are being circumcised.
Only 30%
of males worldwide are circumcised, according to the World Health
Organization. The procedure is most prevalent in Muslim countries,
Israel, the USA, the Philippines, and South Korea. Various tribes in
Africa also use the practice.... Read this in full at
http://www.abpnews.com/www/3059.article
LEADERSHIP
TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE)
Coaching:
A Christian Overview and Response
by Gary
R. Collins
At its
core, coaching is the practice of guiding a person or group to get
from where they are to where they want to be. Coaching helps people
expand their visions, build their confidence, increase their skills,
and take practical steps toward their goals. Unlike counseling or
therapy, coaching is less threatening, less concerned about problem
solving, and more about helping people reach their potentials. Coaching
is not for those who need therapy to overcome disruptive
painful influences from the past. It’s not about healing.
Coaching
is about growing. It focuses less on overcoming weaknesses and more
on building skills and strengths. Usually coaching is less formal
than the therapist-patient relationship and more of a partnership
between two equals, one of whom has experiences, perspectives, or
knowledge that can be useful to the other.... Read this in full at
http://www.garyrcollins.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=17
VERSE
TO PONDER
“Have
not I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified;
do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you
wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
CONSIDER
“Gratitude
unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and
more. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a
stranger into a friend.” Melody Beattie
TO
TITHE OR NOT TO TITHE?
Giving
is central to most religions, a principle of faith. Americans donate
$295 billion a year to charity, with just under a third of it - $97
billion - to religious organizations. On average, Christians are
giving about 2.5% of their income to churches, not 10%, and no matter
how much good it does, tithing is controversial.... View this CBS
News report in full at
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/01/sunday/main3896728.shtml
REVIEW:
A VERY GROWN-UP CHILDREN'S BIBLE
‘The
Jesus Storybook Bible’ is as theological as it is charming. This
is artistic license at its best, throughout this wonderful book. But
Lloyd-Jones's writing isn't cutesy. She has a grasp of the profound.
How does one explain to a child the agony of Jesus in Gethsemane,
and his prayer of surrender to his Father? Lloyd-Jones does it as
well as any biblical commentator.... Read this review in full at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/marchweb-only/110-22.0.html
EXCHANGING
IDENTITIES
by
Charles Colson and Harold Fickett
“To
live as Christians, we must first understand exactly what occurred on
the cross when the good thief expressed faith in Christ and Christ
promised him eternity. It was an exchange of identities. Christ
comes to the cross to die, giving His righteous life for us; we in
turn come to the cross to die, surrendering our old sinful life for
Him. Thereafter Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20). This is the
heart of Christian conversion. It is what we mean by the term
salvation, or what Christians frequently speak of as being saved or
born again. Our past sins are not only forgiven, but we are
transformed to live a new life with God’s power and
grace”.... Read this in full at
http://zondervan.typepad.com/zondervaninspire/2008/02/exchanging-iden.html
THE
REALITY OF FORGIVENESS
“Many
find Jesus’ teaching on enemy love and forgiveness a stumbling
block to faith. Because we find it too difficult to practice, we
dismiss it as unrealistic and utopian. We should think again, and we
should pray that it is not unrealistic, because this congruence of
Jesus -- the consistency between his teaching on forgiveness and his
action on the cross -- is really our only hope. It is all that
stands between us and the consequences of our monumental frailty. Thank
God today that Jesus died as he lived, because with those
words, ‘"Father, forgive...’ he forgives us all, and he
forgives us still.” Peter Storey, Listening at Golgotha:
Jesus’
Words from the Cross
THE
8 MARKS OF A ROBUST GOSPEL
Scot
McKnight: "Do we have a gospel big enough for our problems? Do
we have the confidence to declare that these robust problems, all of
which begin with sin against God and then creep into the world like
cancer, have been conquered by a robust gospel? When I read the
Gospels, I see a Lion of Judah who roared with a kingdom gospel that
challenged both Israel's and Rome's mighty men, gathered up the sick
and dying and made them whole, and united the purity-obsessed 'clean'
and the shame-laden 'unclean' around one table....First, the robust
gospel is a story".... Read this in full at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/march/13.36.html
DARE
An
honest reading of the Bible reveals a God who does not shy away from
awkward questions. In fact, he almost seems to welcome them. The
ruined lives of Job and Naomi pose disturbing questions about God
without censorship -- a surprising indication that the disconcerting
questions journalists are asking about God are not off-limits for us
either. An honest reading also reveals a God who doesn't explain
himself. He didn't tell Job about his earlier conversation with
Satan (Job 1:6-12) and he didn't give Naomi three good reasons why
her world fell apart (Ruth 1:1-5). Both sufferers went to their
graves with their whys unanswered and the ache of their losses still
intact. But somehow, because they met God in their pain, both also
gained a deeper kind of trust in him that weathers adversity and
refuses to let go of God. Their stories coax us to get down to the
business of wrestling with God instead of chasing rainbows and to
employ the same kind of brutal honesty that they did, if we
dare.” Carolyn Custis James, The Gospel of Ruth
NEW
STATISTICS ON CHURCH ATTENDANCE AND AVOIDANCE
With
Americans pursuing a growing number of "church" options,
some of the traditional measures of church health are being
redefined. According to a new study released by The Barna Group,
which has been studying church participation patterns since 1984,
popular measures such as the percentage of people who are
"unchurched" -- based on attendance at a conventional
church service -- are out of date. Various new forms of faith
community and experience, such as house churches, marketplace
ministries, and cyberchurches, must be figured into the mix -- and
make calculating the percentage of Americans who can be counted as
"unchurched" more complicated. The fact that millions of
people are now involved in multiple faith communities -- for
instance, attending a conventional church one week, a house church
the next, and interacting with an online faith community in-between
-- has rendered the standard measures of "churched" and
"unchurched" much less precise.... Read this in full at
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrowPreview&BarnaUpdateID=293
THE
DANGERS OF TRYING TO HELP
An
efficiency expert was delivering a seminar on time management for a
company's junior executives. He concluded the session with a
disclaimer: "Don't attempt these task-organizing tips at home,"
he said.
"Why
not?" he was asked.
"Well,
I did a study of my wife's routine of fixing breakfast," he
replied, a little embarrassed. "I noticed she made a lot of
trips between the refrigerator and the stove, the table, and the
cabinets, each time carrying only one item. So I said to her,
'Honey, I notice that you make a lot of trips back and forth carrying
one item at a time. If you would try carrying several things at once
you would be much more efficient.'" He paused. "Did that
save time?" one of the executives asked. "Actually, yes,"
the expert answered, "It used to take her 20 minutes to fix my
breakfast. Now I get my own in 7 minutes."
FAMILIES
UNITE BEHIND STATEMENTS OF GOALS, VALUES
Family
decisions today about whether to allow a coed sleepover or to
volunteer for charity are increasingly being guided by a piece of
paper. Mission statements -- those company declarations that provide
focus and goals -- are spreading beyond corporations. Financial
planners, psychologists and self-help gurus say it's becoming the
vogue for families to adopt mission statements to define themselves
and guide their daily decisions.... Read this in full at
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0303mission0303.html
Also see
http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/parenting/family_mission_statement.htm
WHEN
CREDIT CARDS PUT YOU IN JEOPARDY
Americans
are drowning in debt. Consumers have racked up more than $2.2
trillion in purchases and cash advances on major credit cards in just
the last year. And it's become a habit for them to spend more than
they have. The overall credit card debt grew by 315% from 1989 to
2006. To compound the problem, fewer people are paying their credit
cards bills on time. The percentage of people delinquent on their
credit cards is the highest it's been in 3 years.... Read this in
full at
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/02/22/financial.security/index.html
CONSIDER
“The
right manner of growth is to grow less in one’s own eyes.”
Thomas Watson
VERSE
TO PONDER
“Whom
have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides
you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25-26
THIS
WEEK'S HYMN: RIGHTEOUS FATHER, WE HAVE WRONGED THEE
Words:
William H. Draper, 1916
Music:
William Boyce, 1765
Righteous
Father, we have wronged Thee,
Underfoot
Thy laws have cast:
Now we
fain would serve Thee better,
O
forgive us what is past.
Loving
Jesus, we have hurt Thee,
Yielded
to temptation’s blast:
Now we
long to stand more firmly,
O
forgive us what is past.
Holy
Spirit, we have grieved Thee,
Sin and
death have held us fast:
Now we
yearn for life and freedom,
O
forgive us what is past.
Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit,
God
eternal, first and last,
Penitent
we kneel before Thee,
O
forgive us all the past.
>from
CyberHymnal at
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/r/f/w/rfwhwthe.htm
ON PRAYER
“Some
people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God.”
Andrew
Murray
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.
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SHARE
YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITES
Tell
us what sites you find enjoyable and why.
72 Optical Illusions
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/
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links to websites are provided as a service, and do not imply
endorsement by our church.
(BTW: whenever the URLs in this
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and hit enter.)
Everyone
smiles in the same language.
Min.
Frank Coleman, Editor
frank@newjoydivine.org
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