Due to the 21 days of prayer and fasting, we will postpone our first Thursday of the month gathering at McAlisters until the first Thursday of February.
PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR PRAYER REQUESTS SO I CAN PRAY OVER THEM DURING THIS TIME OF FASTING/PRAYER. GOD DESIRES TO DO SOMETHING SUPERNATURAL IN YOUR LIFE THIS NEW YEAR.... REACH OUT....BE BOLD....LEARN GOD'S WORD AND TRUST HIM TO PERFORM IT IN YOUR LIFE. DON'T LET THIS OPPORTUNITY TO JOIN IN A CORPORATE FAST PASS YOU BY. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!!!
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We are also planning a HUGE PRE-SUPERBOWL PARTY at our home on the Friday evening prior to the Superbowl. Make your plans to attend. It was a BLAST last year!!!!!
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Reverence: Character and the Sacred
read pages 123-130 Character Matters by Mark Rutland
Discuss Truett Cathy's decision to close his Chick-fil-a restaurants on Sundays because of REVERENCE.
Any man's true character is known not so much by what he learns or earns or owns, but by what he reverences. If virtue is reverenced, virtue increases. If virtueless success or characterless talent is admired above all, character erodes. A dangerous step toward collapse of society is taken when blatant irreverence is touted as a virtue. Think about the athletic or Hollywood "stars" we admire. Modern American humor is frighteningly irreverent. What is sacred to God must not be funny to me.
In an interview, a certain TV performer on a popular comedy show explained that their success came from their determination that absolutely nothing was sacred.
A massive advertising campaign was used to promote a recent motion picutre and it was proclaimed as being "wildly irreverent, the 'must-see' picture of the summer." Has sin become a virtue, and virtue become a sin?
Reverence and Respect
As Rutland lectured in African classrooms, he discovered that his students stood beside their desks when their teachers entered the room. Is this a picture of America? Reverence/respect of authority?
We need an appreciation for true beauty/art/historic greatness. There is a danger in the loss of humility necessary to see that a thing is simply wonderful, that it is worthy of my taking notice. Reverence is directly related to humility.
Reverence and Awe
Our society has cultivated a deliberate boredom, a jaded resistance to being amazed, to wonder at anything. There is something arrogant about a person who refuses to be impressed with anything. We must teach the young a sense of wonder. (The Grand Canyon/great artwork/scenes of beauty, etc...)
REVERENCE is a verb, meaning to bow before. In the Old Testament the word is used to show repect, to accord some exalted or sacred status. Reverencing things outside myself helps me to take my eyes off my own importance. It cuts away at my natural tendency to make myself the center of all thing. It is crucial to emotional well-being.
Our author states: "A contributing factor to the increasing madness of Western culture is the decline of reverence. The loss of character in the West, particularly the loss of reverence , is a subtle madness. Man at the center of his own life, with all his neuroses and fears, unable to get his eyes off himself, is destined for emotional and spiritual collapse. Alone, man cannot stand the weight of himself."......what do you think?
Praying for you,
Becky
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