Denzel Washington to College Grads: 'Put God First'

 /> By Michael W. Chapman | May 11, 2015 |

 In delivering the commencement speech at Dillard University on Sunday, Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington told the college graduates to "put God first" in everything they do, adding that everything he has accomplished in this life was due to "the grace of God."

 "I’m going to keep it short," said Washington, who received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters at the ceremony. "Number one: Put God first," he said. "Put God first in everything you do." "Everything you think you see in me, everything I have accomplished, everything you think I have – and I have a few things," said Washington. "Everything that I have is by the grace of God. Understand that. It’s a gift."

 In leading up to those remarks, the star of such films as Malcolm X, Training Day, Glory, The Book of Eli, and The Equalizer, said, “When I was young and started really making it as an actor, I came and talked to my mother and said, ‘Mom, did you think this was going to happen? I’d be so big and I’ll be able to take care of everybody and I can do this and I can do that.’" "She said, ‘Boy, stop it right there, stop it right there, stop it right there!" he continued. "She said, ‘If you only knew how many people been praying for you.’ How many prayer groups she put together, how many prayer talks she gave, how many times she splashed me with holy water to save my sorry behind." "She said, ‘Oh, you did it all by yourself,'" recounted Washington. "'I’ll tell you what you can do by yourself: Go outside and get a mop and bucket and clean these windows – you can do that by yourself, superstar.’"

 "So, I’m saying that because I want to congratulate all the parents and friends and family and aunties and uncles and grandmother and grandfathers, all the people that helped you get to where you are today," Washington told the graduates. "I’m going to tell you about three stories. I’m going to keep it short. I remember my graduation speaker, got up there and went on forever, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." "I’m going to keep it short," he said, and then made his point about God and putting Him first in our lives. 

"Number one: Put God first. Put God first in everything you do. Everything you think you see in me. Everything I have accomplished, everything thing you think I have – and I have a few things. Everything that I have is by the grace of God. Understand that. It’s a gift." 

Towards the end of his speech, Washington repeated some of the comments he has made over the years about reliance on God. He reminded that crowd that no matter how much you attain in material goods, "you will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse." He also told the graduates of the small, private, historically black college in New Orleans, "I pray that you put your slippers under your bed tonight, so that when you wake up in the morning you have to get on your knees to reach them." “And while you’re down there, say thank you," he said. "Thank you for grace, thank you for mercy, thank you for understanding, thank you for wisdom, thank you for parents. ... True desire in the heart for anything good is God’s proof to you, sent beforehand, to indicate that it’s yours already."

 In addition to his movie work, Denzel Washington has acted in the theater, in productions of Richard III, Julius Caesar, and A Raisin in the Sun. He won an Academy Award for best actor in the 2001 film Training Day, and a best supporting actor Academy Award for the 1989 film Glory. In a January 2008 interview with Oprah Winfrey, she asked Washington, “What makes you the most proud?” He said, “I'm careful about the word ‘proud.’ I'm happy to have read the Bible from cover to cover. I'm on my second go-round—I read one chapter a day. Right now I'm digging John. He just had dinner with Mary, and things are about to take a turn for the worse.” Denzel Washington, 60, is married, has five children and is a Pentecostal Christian.

To see original article go here.

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Christians lose ground, ‘nones’ soar in new portrait of U.S. religion

Cathy Lynn Grossman, Religion News Service, May 12, 2015

WASHINGTON (RNS) The United States is a significantly less Christian country than it was seven years ago.

That’s the top finding–one that will ricochet through American faith, culture and politics–in the Pew Research Center’s newest report, “America’s Changing Religious Landscape,” released Tuesday (May 12).

This trend “is big, it’s broad and it’s everywhere,” said Alan Cooperman, Pew’s director of religion research.

Christianity still dominates American religious identity (70 percent), but the survey shows dramatic shifts as more people move out the doors of denominations, shedding spiritual connections along the way.

Atheists and agnostics have nearly doubled their share of the religious marketplace, and overall indifference to religion of any sort is rising as well. Only the historically black Protestant churches have held a steady grip through the years of change.

Remember the familiar map of American religion? The South: A bastion of white evangelicals. The Northeast: Cradle of Catholics. The Midwest: Nest of Mainline Protestants. The West: Incubator of “nones”–people who claim no religious brand label.

Well, scratch all that in the new topography.

The shrinking numbers of Christians and their loss of market share is the most significant change since 2007 (when Pew did its first U.S. Religious Landscape survey) and the new, equally massive survey of 35,000 U.S. adults.

The percentage of people who describe themselves as Christians fell about 8 points–from 78.4 to 70.6. This includes people in virtually all demographic groups, whether they are “nearing retirement or just entering adulthood, married or single, living in the West or the Bible Belt,” according to the survey report.

Christian faiths are troubled by generational change–each successive group is less connected than their parents–and by “switching” at all ages, the report shows. While nearly 86 percent of Americans say they grew up as Christians, nearly one in five (19 percent) say they aren’t so any more.

“Overall, there are more than four former Christians for every convert to Christianity,” said Cooperman.

Although evangelicals are part of the decline, their slide has been less steep. They benefit from more people joining evangelical traditions, but they’re hurt by generational change and by America’s increased diversity.

According to the survey, white “born-again or evangelical” Protestants–closely watched for their political clout within the GOP–now account for 19 percent of American adults, down slightly from 21 percent in 2007.

Politicians should take note, said Mike Hout, a sociologist and demographer at New York University who is also a co-director of the General Social Survey.

“Traditionally, we thought religion was the mover and politics were the consequence,” he said. Today, it’s the opposite.

Many of today’s formerly faithful left conservative evangelical or Catholic denominations because “they saw them align with a conservative political agenda and they don’t want to be identified with that,” Hout said.

Catholics dropped both in market share and in real numbers. Despite their high retention rate for people reared in the faith, they have a low conversion rate. Today, Cooperman said, 13 percent of U.S. adults are former Catholics, up from 10 percent in 2007.

Generational shifts are also hurting Catholic numbers. Greg Smith, Pew’s associate director of research, said “just 16 percent of the 18-to-24-year-olds today are Catholic, and that is not enough to offset the numbers lost to the aging and switching.”

Where are they going? To religious nowhere.

The “nones”–Americans who are unaffiliated with brand-name religion–are the new major force in American faith. And they are more secular in outlook–and “more comfortable admitting it” than ever before, said John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron.

Their growth spans the generations, as well as racial and ethnic groups, said Green, a senior fellow in religion and American politics for the Pew Research Center.

“Nones,” at 22.8 percent of the U.S. (up from 16 just eight years ago) run second only to evangelicals (25.4 percent) and ahead of Catholics (20.8 percent) in religious market share.

The “nones” numbers are now big enough to show noteworthy diversity:

Atheists rose from 1.6 to 3.1 percent, and agnostics from 2.4 to 4 percent. Combined, there are more “nones” than Evangelical Lutherans, United Methodists and Episcopalians all together.

The bulk of the “nones” (15.8 percent, up from 12.1 percent in 2007) don’t even commit to any view on God. Instead, they say they believe “nothing in particular.”

But among the “nothings, “ there’s a distinct split between “spiritual” and totally indifferent “nones.”

Thirty percent of all “nones” still showed “a sort of religious pulse” by saying that religion is still at least somewhat important to them, said Cooperman.

However, the bulk of this group (39 percent) are not agnostic, atheist or vaguely spiritual–they’re just not interested. Religion is not even somewhat important to them.

That same level of disinterest cuts into their social and political clout, said Hout.

The nothing-in-particular folks “don’t vote, don’t marry and don’t have kids,” at the same rate as other Americans, said Hout. “They are allergic to large, organized institutions–mass media, religions, big corporations, and political parties.”

Other trends of note:

Intermarriage is rising with each generation. Among Americans who have gotten married since 2010, nearly four-in-ten (39 percent) report that they are in religiously mixed marriages, compared with 19 percent among those who got married before 1960, according to the report.

There’s an identity gender gap. Most Christians are women (55 percent) and most “nones” are men (57 percent). However, women’s unbelief numbers are growing: nearly one in five (19 percent) now say they have no religious identity.

Diversity makes a difference. Racial and ethnic minorities now make up 41 percent of Catholics (up from 35 percent in 2007), 24 percent of evangelicals (up from 19 percent) and 14 percent of mainline Protestants (up from 9 percent). “The share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7 percent in 2007 to 5.9 percent in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus,” the report said.

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Sair da Sua Zona de Conforto

http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/sair-da-sua-zona-de-conforto/

Compilação

Uma coisa faço: esquecendo-me das coisas que ficaram para trás e avançando para as que estão adiante, prossigo para o alvo, a fim de ganhar o prêmio do chamado celestial de Deus em Cristo Jesus. Todos nós que alcançamos a maturidade devemos ver as coisas dessa forma...—Filipenses 3:13–15[1]

*

Depois que começa a sair da sua zona de conforto, dar o salto se torna menos intimidador e mais fácil. Você se acostuma com o que pesquisadores denominam “desconforto produtivo”. Munido da nova relação com o desconfortável e não familiar, você se sentirá cada vez mais disposto e tranquilo com a possibilidade de avançar e alcançar novas alturas.

Nós sempre enfrentamos situações que exigem que saiamos de nossas bolhas. Quer seja decidir parar de consumir refrigerante e açúcar para perder peso, quer frequentar a academia regularmente, deixar um emprego que detestamos ou começar um trabalho que adoramos, quer seja participar de um estudo bíblico, e eu ouso dizer com estranhos, nós constantemente chegamos a poucos centímetros do limite das nossas zonas de conforto — mas hesitamos. Voltamos atrás porque sentimos medo, porque nos falta fé para avançar.

Certo dia, Jesus ensinava no mar da Galileia, quando decidiu embarcar em um barco de pesca e usá-lo como púlpito. Talvez tivesse notado que não havia peixes ali, porque, depois do sermão à beira-mar, Ele disse a Simão, o pescador, para deslocar a embarcação até uma parte mais funda do lago e lançar as redes. Apesar da falta de sorte o dia inteiro, Simão respondeu, com respeito, mas relutante:

“Mestre, esforçamo-nos a noite inteira e não pegamos nada. Mas, porque és tu quem está dizendo isto, vou lançar as redes".[2]

O que você acha que aconteceu com os pescadores que nada haviam pescado? O versículo seguinte nos diz:

“Quando o fizeram, pegaram tal quantidade de peixe que as redes começaram a rasgar-se.”[3]

Não só as redes começaram a rasgar, mas um outro barco se aproximou para ajudar, e ambos começaram a afundar — e talvez feder — com o cheiro de peixe!

Esse curto trecho das Escrituras pode ser relacionado às ocasiões quando nós nos sentimos frustrados e sozinhos, no entanto, dispostos a nos deslocarmos para além das nossas zonas de conforto em direção a águas mais profundas e promissoras. É como se fôssemos pescadores sentados ociosos em um barco vazio, e, assim como Simão, Tiago e João, já tivéssemos feito tudo com os talentos, tempo e ferramentas disponíveis. Acordamos ao raiar do dia, largamos as velas, lançamos a redes, vemos a lua e as estrelas surgirem no céu, e voltamos para casa “sem pescar nada”.

O que fazemos então? Para ser honesto, quando não pescamos nada, por assim dizer, depois de horas no mar e muito esforço, o meu impulso é voltar para o cais e trocar de profissão. A última coisa que desejo é ir para águas profundas e tentar novamente. Eu gosto demais da minha zona de conforto! Mas é exatamente o que Jesus pediu a Simão e aos outros pescadores para fazerem. Mesmo que relutante, Simão confiou e obedeceu a esse “Mestre” tão cativante — e foi ricamente abençoado com uma quantidade enorme de peixes.

O Senhor quer fazer o impossível em nossas vidas. Mas pede que tenhamos total confiança nEle e obedeçamos à Sua Palavra incondicionalmente e sem queixas.—Diana Anderson-Tyler

Assumir riscos

Poderá acontecer do Senhor fazer algo diferente ou lhe dar uma ideia que, para você, pareça radical. A sua reação natural pode ser entrar em “modo de segurança” e se esquivar, ou hesitar em aproveitar a oportunidade por ser algo novo, não experimentado e aparentemente arriscado. Mas o Senhor talvez queira que você aproveite a oportunidade! Pois se esperar demais, ou fizer outros esperarem enquanto tenta se sentir totalmente “seguro”, ou criar um monte de procedimentos burocráticos a serem realizados por você ou outros, poderá perder a oportunidade ou a porta que o Senhor abriu.

Se não seguir a maneira como o Senhor está guiando, às vezes corre o risco de perder a oportunidade de ouro que pode lançá-lo adiante de uma maneira significativa. Isso salienta a importância de estar disposto a assumir riscos quando necessário. Em outras palavras, não apenas estar disposto a assumir riscos genéricos, porque algumas pessoas são temerárias por natureza, mas arriscar quando preciso. Isso se chama risco calculado, um risco que você toma depois de pesar os pros e os contras e colocar um projeto nas mãos do Senhor. Por exemplo, talvez esteja assumindo um risco calculado ao decidir aproveitar uma nova porta de oportunidade, ou embarcar em um projeto de longo prazo, ou mudar de país, ou começar uma nova carreira, ou experimentar um novo método na testificação.

Quando falamos em correr riscos, é preciso avaliar a situação. Vale a pena tomar um tempo (mesmo que a oportunidade seja algo bem simples), para orar, discutir objetivamente os prós e os contras, se aconselhar com outros, e ouvir o Senhor. Se o Senhor lhe der sinal verde, pode ter a fé de pular, com sabedoria, fervor, oração, e bom senso, e confiar no Senhor quanto ao resultado.

Nós queremos preservar as coisas boas na nossa vida e o que o Senhor nos orientou a construir. Mas precisamos tomar cuidado para não nos apegarmos às coisas antigas só pelo costume. Se tivermos essa mentalidade, podemos acabar solidificando e morrendo, ou restringindo o Espírito e sua capacidade de se movimentar em nós e realizar coisas inovadoras. Precisamos estar dispostos a sair da nossa zona de conforto e experimentar coisas novas, trocar nossos odres velhos por odres novos.

É difícil quando temos que assumir grandes riscos, em outras palavras, tomar uma decisão ou fazer algo potencialmente arriscado, mas que pode gerar um grande resultado. Vai ter que chegar a esse ponto. Mas é a nossa principal garantia de tudo na vida, não é? Trata-se do “fator Deus”. Se confiarmos em Deus e seguirmos o que Ele nos mostrar, tudo vai dar certo.

Nós precisamos estar prontos para aproveitar as oportunidades que o Senhor nos apresentar quando o Seu Espírito está se movendo livremente e são muitas as portas abertas. Não podemos perder essas portas nem os ônibus de oportunidades de ouro que passarem. Como David nos ensinou, não é que o Senhor nunca dê uma segunda chance, mas nós queremos, o máximo possível, fazer o que Ele considera o melhor, usando ao máximo e imediatamente as oportunidades que Ele nos der.

Precisamos ter sabedoria, estar em oração e considerarmos os diferentes fatores e opções. Mas também aproveitarmos a ocasião e apoiarmos quem estiver na mesma situação. Não podemos esperar até tudo estar perfeitinho e sem riscos, senão vamos demorar tanto para nos mexer que acabaremos perdendo as oportunidades que o Senhor nos der.—Peter Amsterdam[4]

*

A próxima vez que hesitar em pedir mais, pergunte-se: “Qual a pior coisa que poderia acontecer se eu pedisse isso? Acredito que temos medo de recebermos um “não”, tanto na vida pessoal como profissional. Consequentemente, permanecemos na nossa “zona de conforto” em vez de superarmos nossos temores com fé. Pense no seguinte: Quantas vezes você já ficou em um lugar sabendo que Deus o estava direcionando para outro local, simplesmente porque tinha medo do desconhecido, dos seus críticos, ou de desapontar alguém?

Se tiver a mentalidade de que não merece mais, jamais receberá mais. E não vai receber o que merece, o que poderia pedir. Por isso, não tenha medo de pedir. Morgan Canclini

*

A jornada espiritual exige que se deixe a zona de conforto para ingressar em um mundo de realidades desconhecidas. ...Esta questão está retratada nas sagas no Antigo Testamento. Abraão, Jacó, Moisés, José e Josué, todos tiveram que dar um passo de fé e deixar a vida antiga para seguir a promessa de Deus. Até mesmo Jesus teve que deixar o conforto do Céu para viver entre nós, sem dúvida a mais ponderosa história de todos os tempos, um mito verdadeiro.—Dwight Longenecker

*

Até Paulo tinha a sua zona de conforto. Quando você e eu saímos das nossas zonas de conforto para compartilhar a mensagem... da salvação, ficamos um pouco ansiosos. Paulo inclusive compartilhou essa conexão emocional conosco. Em um sentido, esta declaração por parte do super apóstolo pode nos chocar. Esperamos ouvir que Paulo, por um lado, caiu em cima dos pecadores, e por outro eloquentemente incentivou os crentes. Aquele judeu culto, cuja vida foi transformada por Cristo, que sempre apresentou o evangelho com poder, admite que, muitas vezes, falava “com fraqueza, temor e com muito tremor.”[5] Ele possivelmente entendia a declaração feita em Zacarias 4:6, “‘Não pela força nem pelo poder, mas pelo meu Espírito, diz o Senhor dos exércitos.”—Ed Stetzer

Publicado no Âncora em maio de 2015.


[1] NVI.
[2] Lucas 5:5 NVI.
[3] Lucas 5:6 NVI.
[4] Publicado originalmente em dezembro de 2008, adaptado.
[5] 1 Coríntios 2:3.

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You Need a More Ordinary Jesus

By Kevin P. Emmert --

I was in youth group when I first heard that God had an extraordinary plan for my life. This plan would include seeing revival, winning converts, helping the poor, and traveling overseas to preach the gospel, dig wells, and serve orphans. I attended youth conferences like Acquire the Fire where I learned what it meant to be an “on-fire-for-God” Christian …

As Christians, our lives should take on the same quality as Jesus’, right? Right. But could it be that the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus of history, is less extraordinary than the Jesus of Christian conferences and our guilty consciences?

(Read the full article here.)

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Announcement from Christian Professionals Worldwide-We Need To Help Our Youth "Guard" Their Hearts!

Darrell "Coach D" Andrews, CSP

Motivational Strategist, Accountability Coach, Speaker

I have been blessed as a former youth pastor and now as a speaker to interact with hundreds of thousands of youth worldwide. I have had the privilege of engaging youth from all walks of life, races and socioeconomic situation. With all this being said, I was recently telling my wife that over the years I noticed a pattern. This pattern is deeply concerning to me. The looks in the eyes of many of our youth are getting darker and their care for others is diminishing. It seems like the influence of this world, with all of its gadgets, negative music, movement away from Godly things, and demise of family structure, is being very effective at winning the hearts of kids, Christians and non-Christians. The bible is very clear in its realization that it is our responsibility to protect our children. The scriptures are very clear on this subject:

1. Genesis 18:19 "For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”
2. Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."
3. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Besides youth, I speak to parents globally. I find that many Christian parents and caretakers’ parents allow their kids to:

• Play on video games all day long
• Overly engage in social media
• Watch a plethora of TV shows that lack biblical character
• Attend secular event that promote anti-God nature
• Many others

You cannot expect good morals to come from this. The word of God tells us to “Guard our hearts with all diligence, for out of it flows the issues of life.” You can equate the heart in this scripture to the mind. It is telling us that we need to help our children “guard their minds” for if not, they will fall to the trappings sand expectations of the world. My wife and I see training our children as our responsibility, but this is not just the responsibility of parents. We all have a part to play. We as followers of Christ can be a major example and role model to our youth by:

• Sharing an encouraging word with them every opportunity we get
• Letting them know how God has been a blessing in your lives
• Listening to them instead of lecturing them
• Encouraging them to be careful of what they watch and listen to
• Helping them find activities that are healthy and spirit lifting
• Keeping their electronic gadget time at a minimum
• Upholding the scriptures in our own lives. Living for Christ and not imitating the world.

Our children need for us to stand for them. We are losing way to many of them to the world. Even today, way too many saints are straddling the fence. Some are mistaking acceptance of worldly standards and expectations with the truth of God’s word. They are unfortunately “twisting” the scriptures. We have to be diligent in upholding the truth of God’s word or it will be watered down to nothing. Many in the world want it this way. This sends a mixed message to our youth, and many others. Our kids need to see our Godly love for them and their future. If not, the future will be shaped for them by the world and this will not include God.

We will truly become a remnant in our generation if this happens.

Stand strong and be encouraged. God is for us and since he is, we know the end in beginning.

Your brother in Christ
Darrell “Coach D” Andrews

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