We all have a part to play

My thoughts on a blog post by Pete Scazzero

Thinking Evangelicalism has the answers to societal problems is the problem. If we taught more people to be disciples and read the Bible there would be more strong and dedicated Christians. We're in a losing battle until the end but we should be doing what Christ told us to do as long as we are on earth - make disciples, baptize them and teach them to obey what Christ commanded (my abbreviated interpretation of Matthew 28:19-20). Anything less makes weak Christians subject to worldly temptations and ineffectiveness for Christ.

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Scazzero was responding to a question uttered by Gordon MacDonald during a recent leadership meeting at New Life. –‘Is Evangelicalism Exhausted?’ It has caused me to wonder also: “Might it be true

Scazzero stated that MacDonald noted three things:

1. Society is unraveling and evangelicalism has few answers.
2. Research studies, like Reveal, seem to confirm that mega-churches do no grow deep Christians. Those who do go “deeper” with Christ often leave.
3. 80% of the quotes in evangelical books are from outside our tradition, i.e. from Roman Catholics and the Orthodox believers.

See Scazzero’s blog for the remainder of his post

http://www.petescazzero.com/discipleshipformation/is-evangelicalism-exhausted/

 

 

Confident Assurance

Joyce Meyer, who is one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers, according to her book, and author of almost 100 books, is writing about the topic of indecision in the section titled ‘The Misery of Indecision’ in chapter 3 of her book ‘Making Good Habits, Breaking Bad Habits’.

I found the section in italics that is pasted at the very bottom of this piece interesting and I pulled out some of the key points and show them immediately below. These are things that God is teaching us in the book of James.

·         We should ask God for what we need, wisdom for example

·         Ask in faith with no wavering

·         If we waver in our faith we don’t get what we ask from God

·         The indecisive person will be miserable, confused and unable to get God’s help

·         We should approach God in faith and be ready to take action

·         God may not provide direction so he is giving us the freedom to make our own choice

The ideas of faith, decisiveness and confidence were reinforced for me this past weekend. A number of us attended a fund raiser held at a church my wife and I previously attended and was held for a local ministry. The pastor of the church who is now 20 years older than when we attended did not speak until the end of the program when he offered the closing prayer.

This pastor’s heart for people, which has always been visible, was in evidence when I heard him pray at the end of the program and ask for God’s blessing on the ministry, the people aided by the ministry and the supporters and volunteers. I was struck by his calmness and confidence that God would answer his prayer. It was reassuring and comforting. It is evident that he serves God and depends on God to bless his church and this ministry.

I have learned much about being a Christ follower from those whose words match their actions, like this pastor, and especially when those words are Biblically inspired and used to glorify God.

If you haven’t yet, then learn to learn from those who have a strong personal relationship with God and are committed to helping and teaching you and others as well as building God’s kingdom. They model what Christ modeled and that is what we should do.

Excerpt from the book

‘The apostle James, being directed by the Holy Spirit, teaches that if we need wisdom we are to ask for it, and God will give it. Only it must be in faith that we ask with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). If we do waver, hesitate or doubt we become unstable and unreliable in all of our ways and we are unable to receive from the Lord anything we ask for (James 1:5-8). These Scriptures make the position of the indecisive person quite clear. He is going to be miserable, confused, and unable to get help from God. We must approach God in faith, ready to take action when we have assurance in our heart of some direction. If after prayer and waiting we still feel that we have no direction, then it may mean that God is simply giving us the freedom to make our own choice’.

 

It's Alabama all the way

The big NCAA football game today is Alabama at Texas A & M at least based on the media blitz. Don't forget that the media's job is to create the hype that gets you to pay attention and buy into it so you will watch the game.

A&M beat Alabama last year in a kind of coming out event for Johnny Football Manziel who went on to win the Heisman Trophy.

You may be caught up in all this but I think that Alabama was surprised last year by A&M and I don't think it is going to happen this year.

I don't know what the score will be but I don't think Johnny Football will be as successful this year because Nick Saban and Alabama have had the whole off season to prepare.

Take Alabama.

Pompous is as Pompous does

I borrowed this style from the movie character Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks) who popularized the phrase ‘stupid is as stupid does’ in the movie of the same name, Forrest Gump.

I think the first time I heard the phrase ‘pompous ass’ used was when I was in high school. If so, it was in freshmen English class when we were reading something by Shakespeare. Not my favorite author by any means. I have no idea who Shakespeare was calling a pompous ass nor do I care but I know that I got the meaning of that phrase.

In fact most of the stuff we read or attempted to read that year was not my favorite and was not of interest to me at all. Until I and some others who were in the same position heard the phrase ‘pompous ass’ we were bored. When we heard the words we looked at each other and smiled and realized that Willie S was an ok guy even if we couldn’t understand anything else he wrote.

You might wonder why I bring up pompous ass now.

If you have been following the situation in Syria I think President Obama is putting himself in the position of being a pompous ass.

Originally I think he believed he had the upper hand in Syria regarding chemical weapons and decided to go to Congress for support to attack. His motivation, I believe, was to stick it to the Republicans by requesting Congress to take a vote. He was cruising to what, in his mind, was another victory and he wasn’t going to let the Republicans or the rest of us forget it.

He even sent Secretary of State John Kerry to try to drum up some support (which turned out to be potentially limited) from other countries, mainly our allies, even though the majority weren’t interested in assisting the US in an attack on one side or the other or both. I’m still not sure which it is?

Ultimately Vladimir Putin, Russian President, played Obama by offering a way out for Obama but by keeping Syrian President Assad in power and not allowing the US to do anything in Syria. But hundreds and thousands of Syrians continue to die daily on each side whether by conventional or chemical weapons.

The results to this point: no changes in Syria (Assad is still in power and Islamists are still fighting on the other side and one or both sides have chemical weapons) and the reputation and credibility of both the US and Obama have been reduced drastically. How about Putin and Russia? Their image and credibility have been greatly enhanced and their effectiveness in the entire Middle East has been and will be significantly improved if Obama and the US don’t get their act together.

I don’t know about you but I grew up during the period called the ‘cold war’ and there was an amount of insecurity to life every day during that time. We weren’t sure if we were on track to go to war with Russia (Russia at that time was much larger and stronger than today as it had taken over many Eastern European countries after World War II and was referred to as the USSR) or if we would be attacked or whether we would live another day. In school we even used to have air raid drills where we would hide under our desks or go down to basement hallway thinking we would be protected in the event of a conventional or nuclear attack.

I haven’t had those feelings of insecurity in a long time. But I have them now. With Obama at the helm and his lack of leadership and resolve I do wonder much more about what is going to happen.

A weak leader puts his nation and his people at significant risk. Obama’s pomposity, thinking he is smarter than all of us and can talk his way out of this, puts us all in jeopardy.
 

For more see: Obama Is Lost in the Mideast Bazaar, by Fouad Ajami

Mr. Ajami, a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, is the author, most recently, of "The Syrian Rebellion" (Hoover Press, 2012).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324549004579070802007714622.html

 

 

 

Men’s LEADERSHIP TRAINING (in the Philadelphia, PA Area)

‘No Man Left Behind’

Trainer David Delk

David Delk is President of Man in the Mirror and

Co-Author of the book No Man Left Behind

Oct 18, 2013 -Oct 19, 2013

Biblical Seminary - Greater Philadelphia North , 200 N. Main St., Hatfield, PA 19440 (US)

Details for this session

http://www.maninthemirror.org/event/125/nmlb-essentials-greater-philadelphia-north-area

To see Brochure

http://www.maninthemirror.org/images/ltc/Greater%20Philadelphia%20North%20NMLBE%20Flyer.pdf

 More info on Man in the Mirror

http://www.maninthemirror.org/ministry-overview/

 

 

Faking Injuries

One current problem in the National Football League is faking of injuries by a player or players on the defensive team to slow down play by an offensive team that has momentum and is driving for a score.

One way to deal with this is to require the injured player to sit out at least the remainder of the current series or the current series plus an additional series and possibly until the opposing team scores or the ball changes hands. If the player is truly hurt this is in the player's best interest. If the player is not hurt then the team and the player are both being penalized for faking injuries.

The 'injured' player could be placed in an area on the sidelines to receive treatment similar to a penalty box in hockey.The replay official or someone else in the replay box can keep track of the participation by the 'injured' player whether he is in a specified area or not. Not a lot of work will be required to track this..

Here are some other options (the fine has to be significant - maybe the player's salary for a game or $250K as an example):
Fine the team owner for every injury, and/ or
Fine the team head coach for every injury, and / or
Fine the individual player for every injury
Or something similar

If the player can't return to the game, assuming the 'injury' doesn't occur near the end of the game, or misses the following game then the fine is refunded.

One thing that will become clear quickly is that the team won't want to fake injuries because it is making it easier for the other team to score and possibly win the game plus it can get expensive. Thus the team faking the injuries may be eliminated from playoff contention and lose additional monies.

Complicated? Yea, maybe a little bit. But the coaches and players are forcing the league to do something to deal with this situation. If you don't like that something will have to be done then blame the coaches and or the players and pressure them to stop it now.

The league should immediately develop a plan with penalties and fines and implement it quickly. It appears that more teams are moving to speedier play and as a result there will be more injuries both legitimate and fake.

Mr. Obama, You’re No George Washington!

After reading an opinion piece in the September 7, 2013, Wall Street Journal by Peggy Noonan I thought that a particular portion of that piece, that I have pasted below, should be titled ‘Mr. Obama you’re no George Washington’.

This idea is adapted from the 1968 Vice Presidential debate where Democratic candidate Senator Lloyd Bentsen said to the Republican challenger, Senator Dan Quayle, ‘…I knew Jack Kennedy (35^th US President) and Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy’.

Obviously I didn’t know General Washington but I do know President Obama through his speeches, press conferences and various press reports and I am comfortable stating that President Obama is no General Washington - Unfortunately not only for America but also for the world.

Obama is proving that he is not a strong leader; neither strong in character nor strong in conviction. What makes him most scary is his poor judgment and lack of experience. He is like a five year old playing with a loaded gun. It may be interesting and kind of cool to handle it because you have seen the big boys play with it but you don’t know what to do with it and there is a good chance that that gun will fire and someone will get hurt or killed and many lives will be harmed.

Take the time to go to the piece and read the entire article.

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‘Finally, this president showed determination and guts in getting Osama bin Laden. But a Syria strike may become full-scale war. Is Barack Obama a war president? On Syria he has done nothing to inspire confidence. Up to the moment of decision, and even past it, he has seemed ambivalent, confused, unaware of the implications of his words and stands. From the "red line" comment to the "shot across the bow," from the White House leaks about the nature and limits of a planned strike to the president's recent, desperate inclusion of Congress, he has seemed consistently over his head. I have been thinking of the iconic image of American military leadership, Emanuel Leutze's painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware." There Washington stands, sturdy and resolute, looking toward the enemy on the opposite shore. If you imagine Mr. Obama in that moment he is turned, gesturing toward those in the back. "It's not my fault we're in this boat!" That's what "I didn't set a red line" and "My credibility is not at stake" sounded like.’

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Noonan: Why America Is Saying 'No'

Syria and Obama: Wrong time, wrong place, wrong plan, wrong man.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324577304579057420154706690.html?KEYWORDS=peggy+noonan

 

Basics, Basics, Basics

Life is all about the basics and this story below related by Dr Benjamin Carson shows that by learning the basics as soon as or as early as you can will make a big a difference in your life. Even if you didn’t learn the basics as early as Dr Carson did you still can benefit from learning and implementing the basics in your life. Why wait longer? Get started now.

And most importantly help your children learn and implement the basics.

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‘One of the steps Carson’s mother took was regularly taking her children to the library, having recognized that people who read a lot “had the ability to change the direction of their lives,” Carson said.

In Carson’s estimation, the importance of knowledge and education cannot be underestimated both in terms of preserving our liberties, and as a factor in shaping the course of one’s life.

The average person lives to be about 80 years old, he said, and they can either spend the first 20-25 years of it preparing, or choosing not to.

“If you prepare yourself, you have sixty years to reap the benefits.  If you fail to prepare yourself, you have sixty years to suffer the consequences,” he said.  “You get to make that choice. Each person gets to make that choice, how they want to program that incredible computer, the brain that God gave us.”’

Dr. Benjamin Carson Reveals Unexpected Childhood Hobby That Helped Lift Him Out of Poverty

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/04/dr-benjamin-carson-reveals-unexpected-childhood-hobby-that-helped-lift-him-out-of-poverty/