How to Grow your Spiritual Life?

“Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both this life and the life to come.” – 1 Timothy 4:7b-8

Have you ever noticed that the things that matter most in life and benefit us the most don’t just happen – they cost us something! Think about it – losing weight, getting in shape, managing your debt and finances, growing in intimacy with your spouse, obtaining a college or post-college degree – require an investment of our time and energy. It must be a priority for true change to occur. We have to put some of our own skin in the game to get a return. The same is especially true in our spiritual walk with Christ. If we are going to grow spiritually this year, it is going to happen as we make room in our lives for our relationship with Christ.

This year we are looking at living an EPIC year. EPIC is defined as that which is not normal or ordinary. I want to encourage you in having an EPIC spiritual year with the following list of ways to improve your walk with Christ.

Top Ten Ways to have an EPIC Walk with God:

1. Read your Bible on a daily basis.
2. Start journaling what God is teaching you.
3. Enlist a friend that will walk the journey with you.
4. Share with others the stuff that God is teaching you.
5. Take your sin seriously – you don’t have to keep being defeated by the same stuff.
6. Schedule your time with God just like you would a workout, a business appointment, or a social event.
7. Develop a prayer life.
8. Take time to meditate and process your life.
9. Start spiritual conversations with those around you.
10. Get involved serving other people.

I am convinced that if we make the investment in our spiritual lives, this time next year will be noticeably different.  There is power in starting something – join me in igniting your walk with Christ!

Pastor Ernie

Why Join Central? The Benefits of Church Membership

“And let us consider how we may stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:24-25

It is very important for each of us to join a church. We live in a culture that minimalizes the value of commitment and joining something and prefers to shop around and keep one’s options open. There are some advantages to that philosophy of church in that you get a chance to enjoy the programs and benefits of a multitude of churches without boxing yourself in to one specific church. The downside of that approach is that you never truly own a church and a people as being your own. We are all in need of God’s grace – broken people who are trying to make life work – and we need one another. In times of both celebration and calamity, a church provides you with the spiritual and relational support of people who are truly there for you.

Let me give you four core benefits for joining Central Church:

• A Place to Grow in Your Relationship with Christ – We primarily grow in our relationship with God in three ways: through the Word of God, through our circumstances, and through interactions with one another. Central Church is committed to preaching the Word of God on Sundays and provides numerous Bible Studies and Small Groups to develop your intimacy with Christ.

• A Place to Connect with Others Who are on the Journey – In our technologically and privatized culture, we are all relationally starved. Central provides the caring relationships that come with being joined with others who are on the same journey.

• A Place to Influence the World Around Us – Christians have a mandate to engage the world for Christ. That can be a very daunting and fearful proposition. The Church provides the context for us to partner with others who are committed to reaching people for Christ.

• A Cause Bigger than Yourself – The Church is the hope of the world and it is much bigger than yourself. Christianity is truly a team sport and we need one another working together to accomplish all that God has for us.

If you are not a member of Central Church, I would encourage you to join Central today and come be a part of what God is doing in our midst.

Pastor Ernie

The Life of Abraham New Series: The Amazing Race of Faith

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for.” – Hebrews 11:1

Have you ever wanted to do something for God – felt Him nudging you to step out and take a risk – you know that you need to – but you don’t do anything because you are afraid?  Have you ever needed to make a change in life – you are at the crossroads and you cannot keep doing what you have been doing – the way is clear but you hesitate and do nothing because you lack the faith to obey what you know is right?  Have you ever failed at something and because you have been knocked down, seriously doubt your ability to ever get back up on your feet again?

These are real life scenarios that each of us face every day. What we all need is more faith in God – the unwavering and absolute assurance that if we obey God He will be faithful. It is encouraging to know that every person God has ever used greatly has had to cross the bridge of faith – exactly what the verse in Hebrews outlines above – “this is what the ancients were commended for.” It was true of Noah, Abraham, Daniel, Joseph, and Paul and it is also true of
you and me.

Beginning next Sunday, January 22, and continuing for ten weeks, I am starting a new series on the life of Abraham called The Amazing Race of Faith. Each week we are going to immerse ourselves in the life of Abraham and see his journey as he wrestled with faith and fear and the resulting triumph that God brought about in his life.

This series is for every person who has ever wanted to attempt great things for God and needed the divine assurance that He will see us through to the other side!  You can begin the race by following the life of Abraham in the chronological Bible readings in Genesis.

In pursuit of an EPIC life,

Pastor Ernie

2012 Church-Wide Bible Reading Plan: “Reading God’s Word for All it’s Worth!”

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule’. . .God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over . . .” – Genesis 1:26, 28

We are one week into our church-wide chronological Bible reading plan. I am so excited to be a part of our entire congregation plowing through God’s Word together and having Him corporately shape our lives.  This week we have been in Genesis and we are encountering the majesty of a God who spoke the entire world into existence and who crafted man – his EPIC masterpiece – to co-rule the world with Him. That is too much for me to comprehend.

What we think about God is the most important thing about us! You can determine the outcome and the way of life of a person by what they think about God. Simply put: If God is big in a person’s life, then every aspect of their life will be shaped by this big God. If God is small, then people don’t make room in their lives for something so insignificant.

In reading chapters 1-2 of Genesis this week, I was struck again by the God that we have. Here are five things that I learned this week, again, about God.

Our God is. . .
• Creator and Creative – God took the initiative to create the world as He saw fit and according to His plan.

• Relational and Loves His Creation – Our relational God created us in His image, gave us the responsibility to rule with Him, personally placed us in the garden to work it, brings a spouse into our life for our own good, pursues us after we have sinned and done wrong, and extends grace to us. Wow!

• Moral – God made us with moral boundaries. He made us to freely choose within the guidelines that He has established and these guidelines are for our own good.

• Just – We are accountable to God and when we break His commands there are consequences to our actions.

• Redemptive and Gracious – One of the most amazing things about God is that He pursues us in the midst of our wrong choices. In the same way that He pursued Adam and Eve and clothed them, God pursues us and clothes us in the righteousness of Christ.

These truths about God are HUGE – they are game-changers for the way we understand God and our relationship with Him.

I want to encourage you this week to dig deep into the Word of God and mine the eternal and practical treasures that God has for you in your EPIC pursuit.

Pastor Ernie

2012 Church-Wide Bible Reading Plan: “Reading God’s Word for All it’s Worth!”

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule’. . .God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over . . .” – Genesis 1:26, 28

 
We are one week into our church-wide chronological Bible reading plan. I am so excited to be a part of our entire congregation plowing through God’s Word together and having Him corporately shape our lives.  This week we have been in Genesis and we are encountering the majesty of a God who spoke the entire world into existence and who crafted man – his EPIC masterpiece – to co-rule the world with Him. That is too much for me to comprehend.  What we think about God is the most important thing about us! You can determine the outcome and the way of life of a person by what they think about God. Simply put: If God is big in a person’s life, then every aspect of their life will be shaped by this big God. If God is small, then people don’t make room in their lives for something so insignificant.

 
In reading chapters 1-2 of Genesis this week, I was struck again by the God that we have. Here are five things that I learned this week, again, about God.

 
Our God is. . .

• Creator and Creative – God took the initiative to create the world as He saw fit and according to His plan.
• Relational and Loves His Creation – Our relational God created us in His image, gave us the responsibility to rule with Him, personally placed us in the garden to work it, brings a spouse into our life for our own good, pursues us after we have sinned and done wrong, and extends grace to us. Wow!
• Moral – God made us with moral boundaries. He made us to freely choose within the guidelines that He has established and these guidelines are for our own good.
• Just – We are accountable to God and when we break His commands there are consequences to our actions.
• Redemptive and Gracious – One of the most amazing things about God is that He pursues us in the midst of our wrong choices. In the same way that He pursued Adam and Eve and clothed them, God pursues us and clothes us in the righteousness of Christ.  These truths about God are HUGE – they are game-changers for the way we understand God and our relationship with Him.

 
I want to encourage you this week to dig deep into the Word of God and mine the eternal and practical treasures that God has for you in your EPIC pursuit.

 
Pastor Ernie

New Year’s Resolutions: Living an EPIC Life

“I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.” – John 10:10

 Happy New Year! We are standing on the threshold of a whole new year; a brand new experience in living that has the capacity to alter and change our future as well as the future of people around us. You might be skeptical and cynical and believe the previous sentence is pure pastoral optimism and destined for extinction. Before you push the delete button of your heart and mind, let me challenge you with the biblical promise of Jesus that He has come to make all things new. Following Jesus is an adrenaline-filled faith experience of living beyond our human capacity and encountering the supernatural dimension. God has placed on my heart the concept of living an EPIC life. Epic is defined as “extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope.” What an amazing description of the life that Jesus came to bring! The EPIC life of Jesus means living beyond the ordinary existence of what our contemporary American culture has to offer. I believe that everyone is truly aching and longing to be and do something EPIC.

The well-known contemporary author, speaker, and blogger Leonard Sweet has described EPIC with the following acrostic:

E – Experiential – We want to personally encounter God and His world.

P – Participatory – We want to actively engage and not be spectators.

I – Image – We are living in an image-based culture where what we see has become the new reality.

C – Connected – We don’t want to do it alone but with other people.

What a description of the EPIC life that Christ has come to bring to His counter-cultural people known as the Church. I believe that this year is going to be one of the most EPIC filled years atCentralChurchas we personally and corporately live beyond our comfort zone. As you are in the process of evaluating the highs and lows of 2011 and cast your gaze upon the New Year, I would encourage you to think through some of the following EPIC categories – domains of thought that go beyond the ordinary and usual.

 

• EPIC Dreams – What are the God-sized dreams and accomplishments that He has placed on your heart that only He can fulfill in you?
• EPIC Love – How is the agape unconditional love of Jesus going to be expressed this year in your life?
• EPIC Pursuit – We all will follow and give ourselves to something and someone this year. What is going to be epically different about your pursuit of Christ this year?
•  EPIC Service – One of the missing links in our Christianity is serving the least of these. Who are you going to serve this year that are currently not being valued by the Church?
• EPIC Humility – Life is not about you – it is about Christ. How are you going to move yourself out of the way this year so that Christ might get more of your life?

We could go on and on. Christ has come so that we might live life to the full – what a description of an EPIC life!  May we plan for and pursue Christ this year,

 Pastor Ernie

A Christmas Message from the Chairman of Central’s Board of Elders

Take Time to Make Time

This is the time of year when we find ourselves reflecting on those things that have impacted our lives and that fill us with thoughts and emotions that, at times, seem overwhelming. It is also a time when activities, functions, and responsibilities can overwhelm us to the point that we lose sight of the One Thing, the One Person who has had the greatest impact on our lives: Jesus Christ. The meaning of Christmas, the meaning of this time of year, is and should be the celebration of the birth of our Savior.

During the Christmas Season, time becomes the great factor that weighs heavily in our choices. The hustle and bustle of the world around us is ever present distracting us from the real Reason for the Season. We need to Make Time to Take Time to again remember, reflect, and respond to the true meaning of Christmas.

A resounding verse, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) instructs us to take time to know and relate to God as we celebrate the birth of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Make Time to Take Time to:

• Remember: The true meaning of Christmas.
• Reflect: Upon what Christ has done for us and how that has impacted our lives and the lives of those around us.
• Respond: In worship and thanksgiving, rejoicing in the joy that Christ has placed in our hearts.

May God richly bless you and yours over the Christmas Holidays and may God use each of us to truly be a blessing to those around us!

Steve Strong

A Year of Reading the Bible

This is a time of year when many of us reflect on the past twelve months and anticipate what lies ahead in 2012. For our family it has been a year of much change; empty nesting, the wedding of our daughter, a new city, and a new church family – just to name a few. However, I have learned that the way I respond to change will determine how I am changed. Cheryl and I feel so blessed to have shared in the great things that God has done here at Central in 2011. There have been many decisions for Christ, many baptized in water, and a number of testimonies of God’s healing and restoration. We should celebrate all that God has done in 2011.

But what about 2012? What does God have in store for you this year? What is God’s heart for Central Church this year? How do we unify our hearts around His vision for us, individually and collectively? It is really not that complicated. His plans and purposes for you and for our church are easily found in His Word. That is why it is critical for us as individual believers to READ THE WORD EVERY DAY.

In 2012, we are asking everyone at Central to unify their hearts around the Word of God by reading through the entire Bible as a congregation. Cheryl and I began reading through the Bible a few years ago. In recent years we read through the Bible in chronological order. It has been a life-changing experience for us! So many things came together in the Word when we read it in chronological context. 

We have made available to you this Chronological Bible Reading Plan in a number of different ways. There will be hard copies available at the information desk, as well as copies on our website throughout the year. For you “smart phone” users, there is a fee app on youversion.com (the link can be found on our website as well).

I want to challenge you to start on January 1 with us. If you miss a day, don’t worry about it.  Pick it up where you left off. I guarantee that if you commit to 15 minutes a day to read through the Bible this year, your life will be different this time next year.  Will you join me and the leadership as we go after God this year through a unified focus on His Word? Let’s take the journey together. Who knows what God will do in 2012? All I know is that I want to be a part of it. How about you?

In His grip,

J.P.

SURVEY OF CHURCH POTENTIAL: Identifying Central’s Uniqueness

“Men of Issachar who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” – 1 Chronicles 12:32

Each church is unique! Just like there is no human being who shares the same thumbprint, there are no churches that have the same thumbprints either! There are 53 churches in Collierville, over 2,000 in Memphis, and over 500,000 in the US, and not one of them is exactly alike – we are all unique. Though we all share the same biblical mandate from Jesus to make disciples of all nations, each church will look and act differently according to its unique gifts, skills, and design.

The leadership of Central Church is in the process of discerning the Lord’s unique vision for our church. A big part of formulating the vision is determining what potential we have as a church collectively. This is where each one of you comes in. You have a perspective on our potential and unique make-up that we want and need to know. Over the next three weeks, we are asking you to fill out the following survey on-line at www.centralchurch.com and click on the Survey of Church Potential. There are also copies of the survey available at the information desk. We want as many surveys as possible, therefore we would encourage you to fill this out individually, not as a couple or a family.

Here are the actual survey questions for you to begin thinking about:

1. What one thing does Central do well that makes us unique from other churches?
2. What is Central’s greatest strength?
3. Given this greatest strength, what is the one most significant thing that Central could do in each of the following areas:
In our Church?
In our local community?In the world?
4. What is the one thing that needs to change at Central for our church to reach its potential?
5. How old are you?
6. How long have you attended Central Church?
7. How involved are you at Central?

I am really excited about what God has in store for us and I want you to know how important you are to the process. Please fill out this survey and let your voice be heard.

Looking and pressing into our collective future as a church,
Pastor Ernie

‘Tis the Season for. . .Large-Hearted Generosity

“Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” – 2 Corinthians 8:2

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” – 2 Corinthians 8:9

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” – 2 Corinthians 9:6

With the celebration of Thanksgiving this past week comes the realization that the Holiday Season is upon us. If it has not already taken place in your life, we will all soon be caught up in the frantic pace leading up to Christ’s birth and Christmas.  I want very much this year for our lives to be marked by the generosity of Jesus Christ.  I do not like the “Bah Humbug” attitude that restricts my spirit from generously blessing those around me; thoughts like, “Hang on to what you have because the times are tough.” Webster’s defines generosity as “marked by abundance or ample proportions.”  What I have in my own life that releases my generous spirit is gratitude and being thankful for who Christ is and what He has done for me.  In light of that, I am thankful and grateful; it is easy for me to become more generous.

I have found this principle in me that so goes my gratefulness, so goes my generosity. I want this Holiday Season to be marked by large-hearted generosity.  Here are some practical ideas to increase the generosity quotient in your life:

1. Prepare yourself ahead of time to be generous. Plan it into your calendar and wallet.
2. Remind yourself of your many blessings; count them and name them one-by-one.
3. Utilize the big three – Time, Talent, and Treasure – in your generosity.
4. Get your whole family involved in blessing others.
5. Be excessive in your generosity; go over and above what you think is appropriate.
6. Personalize your generosity by putting faces and names as the recipients of your generosity.
7. Ask God to lead you in the process of generosity. He will not let you down if you approach Him with an open and available heart and wallet.

We all will be surprised by the impact that generosity has both on us, as well as the others we bless. The way out of ourselves, is by investing into the lives of others.  Take advantage of the opportunities to be generous this Holiday Season.  May our generosity be gauged by the degree of Christ’s generosity to us!

Pastor Ernie