Friendly reminder: This Sat 7/5 Breakfast meeting 8am-9:30am

[Lawrence Chow]

Dear brothers,

Greetings on behalf of the Men's ministry.

Just a friendly reminder of the monthly breakfast meeting
this coming Sat Jul 5, 8:00-9:30am at SVAC orange room.

Please join our breakfast group for a warm sharing with other men.
Feel free to bring some food to share, and bring a friend too.

Topic for the month is "Leading an Unexamined Life"

Here's an overview:

- The number one shortcoming of man today is that we lead unexamined lives.
  Instead, we rush from task to busy task, but we don't call enough time-outs
  to reflect on life's larger meaning and purpose.

  Our lives are consumed in action as we react to the seemingly endless menu
  of options which vie for our attention, time, and money.

  We show up on Sunday mornings, but the message we come away with doesn't
  do for us what it does for some of the other members. We speed off to
  the next busy task, and by Monday afternoon, the memory of Sunday is
  as distant as the memory of last year's vacation.

- There are two predominant life views in America today.
  The secular life view, believes man is the central figure in shaping events.
  The Christian life view, believes God is sovereign and active in everyday life.

  The secular and Christian life view necessarily and inevitably produce
  opposite results. The choice between a Christian life view and a secular
  life view is a choice between God's race and the rat race.
  Rat race is an unwinnable race in the pursue of a beautiful and wrinkle-free life.

- Fifty years of consumerism and media influence have caused a basic shift
  in values. Overall, we live in a culture dominated by the secular life view.
  Like an unsuspecting frog in a cold pot, our values have been slowly
  cooked over the past few decades.

- Because we lead unexamined lives, many good men, Christian men, have been
  taken captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, that many of us
  are Christians in our spirit, but secular in our practice. We have
  become a generation of cultural Christian.

Questions:

- As a lawyer, engineer or accountant is no better than the effort he puts into
  keeping up with his profession, so is the Christian no better than the
  effort he puts into self-examination of life's big questions.
  Do you agree/disagree with the above statement?

- Of the two life views, the Christian life view and the secular life view,
  what percentage of each are you? 
  Example: 60 percent Christian life view, 40 percent secular life view.
  Describe the thinking that brought you to your answer.

- The man in the mirror will never change until he is willing to see himself as
  he really is. What kind of commitment would you be willing to make to
  self-examination in terms of time and effort?

Bible verses:

- You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.'
  But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
  (Revelation 3:17)

- Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man
  who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away
  and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently
  into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not
  forgetting what he has heard, but doing ithe will be blessed in what he does.
  (James 1:23-25)

- Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
  (Lamentations 3:40)

Reference:

The Man in the Mirror, chapter 2:  Leading an Unexamined Life