Our Mission 

To present Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to business and professional men and to develop Christian business and professional men to carry out the Great Commission.

Deuteronomy 17.19 describes, it is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord  his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes.

The king of Israel, after his appointment, was to write his own copy of God’s law from which he was to read daily so that he knew what it said in order to do what it said. Today all people everywhere have the possibility to access the Scriptures in a language they understand. Not all can read. Not all have legal access and not all have the Scriptures in their primary tongue but the Scriptures do exist in over half the world’s known languages.

In America we have no excuse for ignoring the word of God. Too many who call themselves Christians take no time to read the Scriptures. They think themselves good because they don’t do great crimes against humanity but they ignore their God in fellowship so do little to advance His kingdom on earth resulting in the committing of the greatest crime of all!

Christians call the only true God, Father, yet spend so little time with Him as children. Our time with God is not measured by the length of our church service but by the length of our time in His presence listening to His voice through His Word and praying our desire to do His will back to Him. This time should be daily, needs to be daily, if we are to be successful at deeply knowing our God and doing His will on earth as it is in heaven.

The poverty of our experience with God and the lack of effect for God we see on earth is in direct correlation to our lack of time with God and the doing of His will as He commands of us through His scriptures.

Our Opportunities

1. CBMC’s next special luncheon is June 19th. Our speaker will be MSU head strength and conditioning coach Ken Mannie. Please keep this event in your prayers.
    
2. Business Owners, are you looking for a private group of fellow business owners for encouragement, support, and advice? CBMC offers such a group.  Contact Mike at mwinter@cbmc.com for more information
   
   
3. You can support CBMC today. https://give.idonate.com/cbmc-inc/lansing 

CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917  / 517 481 5996 www.lansing.cbmc.com 

MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

June 17, 2019

Breaking the Shackles of Isolation

by Ken Korkow 

Years ago horse racing was very important in Nebraska at a track called AK-SAR-BEN (“Nebraska” spelled backwards). Prominent individuals emphasized the importance of these sporting events, creating “social elites” and a mythical “kingdom of royalty.” Today the track – and its mystique – are gone. Similarly, years ago service clubs and military veterans’ organizations were a big deal. In years past, church attendance was popular, almost mandatory for people that wanted to succeed in business. That is no longer the case. 

Today we have what we might term a “new normal,” a social environment that places diminishing value of genuine relationships. Instead, we have superficial relationships that have created a society of isolated and lonely people. We might know each other by name, and interact when necessary, but we spend little meaningful time with other people – to our mutual detriment. 

Recently I was reading a vivid description of the Bible of how relationships are intended to work, refusing to accept merely superficial contact. Here is that picture presented in Acts 2:42-47, describing how the early Church functioned: 

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” 

We might be tempted to respond, “Well, that only applies to religious gatherings.” But in reality, it talks about everyday living, the establishing of a community in which people share their lives and, whenever necessary, even material possessions. I do not see any reason these principles could not be applied in the business and professional world where many of us spend many hours each week. 

If you look around and observe this tendency toward isolation and superficiality, don’t wait for others to break this cycle. BREAK IT YOURSELF! Invite people into your home to share a meal. And be ready to ask questions; seek ways to understand their backgrounds, the influences that have molded them, how they think (and why), and what hopes and aspirations they have. Here are some questions I have found helpful in getting to know people, trying to go beneath the surface to build real friendships and relationships: 

1. Where were you born?
2. What kind of work did your parents or family members do while you were growing up?
3. Did you move often from one city to another?
4. What high school did you graduate from? What was it like?
5. After high school, then what did you do?
6. How close (first geographically – then relationally) are you to your family?
7. What do you enjoy about your job? What don’t you like about it?
8. What are your future plans? 

Relationships are simple. To have friends – you have to be one. The apostle Paul wrote, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well” (1 Thessalonians 2:8) 

Ken Korkow lives in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A., where he serves as an area director for CBMC. This is adapted from his “Fax of Life” column. Used with permission. 

CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996  lansing.cbmc.com

 MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

June 17, 2019 

Reflection/Discussion Questions 

1. What do you think about the state of relationships in our world today? Do you have many genuine, deep relationships, or are most of them superficial, as described in this “Monday Manna”? What are some of the factors that have contributed to this? 
   
   
2. Do you find yourself sometimes feeling isolated and lonely? If so, describe how you feel? 
    
3. How can we strive to overcome this trend toward isolation and loneliness? Do you think there are any helpful ideas presented in the passage cited, Acts 2:42-47? Explain your answer. 
    
4. Think of at least one person who has willingly and generously given from their life and invested in yours? Have you found that beneficial? If so, in what ways? How can we try to be a person like that for someone else?  

NOTE: If you have a Bible and would like to read more about this subject, consider the following passages: Proverbs 27:17; Ecclesiastes 4:8-12; 2 Timothy 2:2; Hebrews 10:23-25 

CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996  lansing.cbmc.com