What Can the Gospel Do?

Sometimes I think I have had a very limited grasp of what the gospel can do in a life. Part of my problem has been that I have thought to little of heaven. As an eight year old, I can remember thinking that I did not want to accepted the Lord Jesus because that would mean that I would go to heaven, and heaven is for eternity, and I was certain that I would get bored. I clearly needed help with my thinking. Hell is also lasts for eternity, and though as an eight year old, I did sometimes get bored at church, that was in part because I did not know the Lord Jesus.  He does not bored me anymore.

The gospel is not just about eternal destinations. It is also about life transformation right now.  Please read the attached article. It struck me of how amazing and transformational the gospel is. The good news of the Lord Jesus changes everything.

How two cold-war foes became pastoral-friends

the Most Dangerous Words in the World

What are the most dangerous words in the world? According to a new documentary a good candidate is  the phrase, "It is a girl!" As a dad of a precious girl, the uncle of five nieces, and having our son get engaged, adding another young woman to our family, I am horrified by that statement. Please watch the video trailer below. We need to honor and value each life.

It's a Girl?

Prayer Resources

On Sunday, January 1, we will be looking at 1 Timothy 4:7. A major command of the verse is that we need to train ourselves for godliness. One of the ways to do that is to follow the example of Jesus in Luke 5:16, and develop the habit of prayer. To help encourage you in prayer, here are some links to some prayer resources.Please check them out, use them, and share them with friends.

Operation World
If you would like to pray for different countries around the world, this site will provide you with information to guide your prayers.

Help Articles from Operation World on Prayer

Central's Missionaries
If you would like to pray for Central's Missionaries, here is a listing of our Missionaries.

Article on Prayer Walking by Donald Whitney

Bible Reading Plans

On Sunday, January 1, we will be looking at 1 Timothy 4:7. A major command of the verse is that we need to train ourselves for godliness. One of the ways to do that is to invest yourself in the Bible. To help encourage you to get into the Bible, here are links to a number of Bible reading plans. Please check them out, use them, and share them with friends.

Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers

Donald Whitney's Bible Record Reading Plan

One Year Chronological Reading Plan

Ten Reading Plans from the ESV
The ten plans from the ESV provide you with RSS, iCal, Mobile, Print, and Email options.

Two Year Bible Reading Plan

Children Deserve Better

My doctoral supervisor, Dr. J. D. Payne had a post on Facebook today that is bothering me greatly. He shared  a statistic that I wish was not true, but it is true. Every 5 hours a child dies in the US from abuse or neglect. I can not read those words and not think how horrible, evil, and wrong that is. In Mark 10:14, it reads, "But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.'"

Psalm 127:3 states, "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward." Children a gift from God. Abuse and neglect should not be words that are ever used in the same sentence with a child's name. Our society is in desperate need of a revival. Below is a link to a video clip from BBC concerning this issue.

Children Deserve Better

Sad, Sorry and Sick

I was born in Canada. To be more exact, and in a sense to be more Canadian, I grew up seeing myself as an Albertan. For those of you not familiar with Canada, that means I was born in the Canadian province of Alberta. I suppose like most people, I hold a measure of pride toward my birth place. Today though, I am feeling sad, sorry and even more so, sick about the province of my birth. Attached below is a link to an article that describes how a Court of Queen's Bench judge in Alberta gave a woman in Alberta a three year suspended sentence for killing her own child. The woman will not face any jail time for taking the life of her child, though the article points out, she might have to serve 16 days for through the child's body over the fence into the neighbor's yard. Writing those words makes me sick to my stomach. The legal system in the place of my birth is seemingly displaying a higher level of concern over littering than over life. As the article displays, the judge's logic is that since abortion is okay, then we need to be understanding of an unsupported mother after the baby is born.

I have some many struggles and issues with that logic. First, I still do not see how abortion is right or good. Second, why is a province that is so progressive and affluent, is there reason for a mother to be unsupported. Why do we need to be understanding of an unsupported mother? Why are we not supporting the mother? Why  are we not heart broken over the life of a baby being taken? I am sad, sorry and sick today.

Baby Thrown over the Fence

9-11

September 11, 2001 is a day that probably any born in 1994 or earlier can not and will not forget. Living on the West Coast on that day meant that many of the events of that day were already happening before we were awake. My first memory of that day was the clock radio alarm going off and the voice of the morning radio host saying, "The FAA has just closed all American airs space." Trying to wake up, I was confused. It was not April Fool's day, so the host was not making some kind of odd joke. I quickly ran down stairs and turned on the television and began to have some sense of the horror of the day.

A bit later in the morning I received two phone calls that underlined for me the seriousness and impact the hijacking of those four planes would have. The first call came from a friend who worked for Morgan Stanley. On a normal day, Morgan Stanley had 2700 employees working in one of the towers of the World Trade Center complex. My friend quickly told me that she had been sent home from a local Morgan Stanley office. She then told me words that felt like a baseball to the stomach. She said, "Lloyd, I talk to those people every day." Though I lived thousands of miles from New York, the terrorist attacks felt very close.

Not much later I received another phone call. A male voice asked me, a pastor, to give him at least one good reason why he should take out every Muslim he saw that day. His anger was real and intense. The events of 9-11 were creating reactions of fear, sorrow, and anger. That night a mosque 20 miles from our home was vandalized.

Ten years later, I still find myself feeling emotions when I see video clips or read accounts of the events. 9-11 is what historian call a generational marker. It is an event that leaves an imprint in the lives of many. Yesterday I was directed to a video clip of a man whose was to have been the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 that day. Flight 11 was the first plane to hit the World Trade Center. Though the clip is 15 minutes long, I think it is worth the investment of your time.


In My Seat