Good News

Margaret M. Samuel, Chief Investment Officer, Quadrexx Asset Management, and Director, The Empire Club of Canada; Carole Inman, Director, AnGeL Ministries; Alana Walker Carpenter, CEO, Intriciti; Dr. Ken Gamble, Executive Director, Missionary Health Institute, and Dr. Billy Graham's Physician; Edwin Barkey, President, Edwin Barkey Construction Ltd.; Howard Moore, Director, Greater Europe Missions in Canada; Lorna Dueck, Executive Producer, Media Voice Generation, and Host, ListenUp TV; Don Morrison, COO, Research In Motion; Jonathan Wellum, Chief Investment Officer, AIC Investment Services Inc.; David Fleck, Executive Managing Director, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.; Fraser M. Fell, Counsel, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP; Dr. Brian C. Stiller, President, Tyndale University College and Seminary; William F. White, President, IBK Capital Corp., and Director, The Empire Club of Canada; Cathie Ostapchuk, Co-Chair, Just Give Me Jesus, Toronto; Graham F. Alloway, Managing Partner, Alloway & Associates; Thomas S. Caldwell, Chairman, Caldwell Securities; Arnold Heron, Founder, Timbren Industries Ltd.; Gerry O'Mahoney, COO, TD Waterhouse; Donald Simmonds, President, Air IQ; Reverend Bruce Smith, Chaplain, King-Bay Chaplaincy; and Morrow Reitmeier, Anne Graham Lotz's Daughter.

Introduction by John Niles

Benjamin B. Warfield, who was perhaps one of the most famous professors in the history of Princeton University, researched the life of Jonathan Edwards and Max Jukes. He analyzed 1,394 descendants of Jonathan Edwards and 1,200 descendents of Max Jukes.

Jonathan Edwards, who had been perhaps the greatest philosopher, theologian, and revival preacher the world has ever known, became president of Princeton University in 1758.

Warfield discovered that of the over 1,300 descendants of Edwards, 13 became college presidents, 65 became college professors, 30 became judges, 100 became lawyers, 60 became physicians, three became United States senators and 80 became public servants in various capacities.

Warfield found in contrast that Max Jukes, who had been an atheist and criminal, found that he had 300 descendants who died as paupers, 150 were criminals (including seven murderers), 100 were alcoholics, 50 per cent of the female descendants became prostitutes and 540 cost the state $1.25 million.

Like Jonathan Edwards, Dr. Billy Graham not only had an incredible ministry that transformed millions of lives, but he created a family dynasty that has continued his legacy with everyone of his children giving leadership in profound ways throughout the world.

Her father, Dr. Graham, has called her "the best preacher in the family."

Anne Graham Lotz is the second daughter of Billy and Ruth Graham, and President of AnGeL Ministries, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Anne Graham Lotz has passionately proclaimed God's Word to people around the world for over 30 years. Her gripping narratives and heart-touching teachings have inspired listeners in arenas and prison cells, stadiums and Bible studies, sanctuaries and seminaries, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and Amsterdam 2000.

In the year 2000, Anne launched "Just Give Me Jesus," life-changing revivals for women, which have been held in over 20 cities around the world, including Seoul, South Korea, London, England, Cardiff, Wales, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Asuncion, Paraguay, and Kiev, Ukraine. This year she has brought the event to Panama City, Panama, New Orleans, Louisiana and the week of her Empire Club appearance "Just Give Me Jesus" comes to Toronto's Air Canada Centre. The events are offered free of charge, so all may attend. "Just Give Me Jesus Toronto" is being hosted by a vast, volunteer organizing committee comprised of Christian women from throughout Greater Toronto.

Beyond her vast speaking appearances that have taken her to every continent except Antarctica, Lotz was the only woman to be a plenary speaker at the International Congress of Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983, 1986 and 2000 and at the School of Evangelism in Moscow in 1991. She has received five honorary doctorates. She presently serves on the Board of Directors for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the Board of Trustees for the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the Board of Regents for Baylor University, having previously served on the Board of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability.

Anne is an award-winning and best-selling author. Her nine books include her signature book "Just Give Me Jesus" and her most recent release "I Saw The LORD." Each day, her daily radio program is heard on more than 500 outlets in the U.S. and Canada.

Anne's aim is clear: it is to bring revival to the hearts of God's people. And her message is consistent; she calls people to a personal relationship with God through His Word.

Anne Graham Lotz

GOOD NEWS!

There has been a lot of bad news lately, hasn't there? In the past two weeks, the Toronto Star has carried the following headlines:

Woman, gunman dead in Montreal school rampage;
1.5 million Canadians living in poverty;
Windsor hit the hardest: Ford Motor Company to cut another 1,000 jobs in southern Ontario; and
Harper admits: "Canada engaged in a war."

There is bad news at present, and there has been bad news in the past.

Two thousand years ago, at the beginning of the first century, there was also a lot of bad news. The world was dominated by the Roman Empire that ruled with an iron fist; non-Romans were oppressed and enslaved; disease and poverty were widespread; political and religious corruption poisoned the society.

Against that backdrop of bad news, Jesus Christ walked into the local synagogue, picked up a copy of the Scriptures, turned to the book of Isaiah, and read aloud the following words:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."

Jesus Christ announced good news to the world of His day.

And I've come to announce the same good news to you: The good news that Jesus offers you forgiveness of sin, freedom from suffering and oppression, and favour with God.

Have you ever wondered: What's wrong with us?

Didn't you wonder what was wrong when Kimveer Gill stormed into the Dawson College lunchroom and opened fire with an automatic weapon?

And do you remember all the high hope of New Year's Eve 1999, when we were on the brink of the new millennium? Within 18 months, when our hope was shattered by terrorism and war, did you wonder, what's wrong with us?

When we take the golden opportunity for prosperity in the Middle East and blow it up through sectarian violence and tribal hatred...

When we take the brilliant medium of video conferencing, which can train medical surgeons in 3rd world countries and use it for pornography...

When we take lifesaving drugs and turn them into life-enslaving addictions...

What's wrong?

There seems to be a dark side to the human race, doesn't there? For every good thing, there seems to be an evil counterfeit. We can probe the deepest secrets of the universe and push back the frontiers of technology, but we can't get along with other people, even within our own families. We can't break self-destructive habits. And our whole world is filled with racism, injustice, hatred, violence, heartache, and death.

What's wrong? Is it ignorance? Do we just need more education?

Or poverty? Do we just need more money?

Or some kind of psychological dysfunction? Do we need more therapy?

The Bible says there is something wrong with us--we have a heart problem. Jesus said that out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

That which is wrong with our hearts is called sin.

And the Bible says all of us are sinners; we were born that way. And sin eats away at us like spiritual cancer. It separates us from God, it destroys our life's purpose, it deforms our character, it divides us from each other, and in the end, it condemns us to hell.

Which is why Jesus came. He came to announce the good news that He can fix the human heart!

Jesus said He alone had the authority on earth to forgive sin.

The Bible says He is the only God and Saviour. There is none other.

He can give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. He died on the Cross, as God's sacrifice for your sin, then rose up from the dead to give you eternal life.

There is good news:

Today, through His shed blood, you can have a new heart--one that is cleansed and forgiven of any sin, of all sin, of large sins, of small sins, of past or present or future sins.

Jesus has come to offer you forgiveness of sin.

Secondly, Jesus has come to offer us good news of freedom from suffering.

Why do we suffer? I don't know...

We seem to fix one social problem, only to have a worse one pop up in its place. We have poverty, famine, pollution, disease, racism, war, genocide, murder, ethnic cleansing, child abuse, pornography, and the list goes on.

I don't know why God allows bad things to happen to good people, to innocent people, to helpless people, to defenceless people, to children, to you and me. Why do the young die? Why do the godly perish? Why do the wicked prosper? I don't know!

BUT...I do know that God did not intend the world to be this way.

I do know that the Bible says God will set it all right and create a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no more crying or pain or suffering or death.

In the meantime, before we get to that new heaven and earth, we all have problems and we all suffer to one degree or another.

Here in Toronto, home to the Canadian stock exchange, the most multicultural city in the world with a free society and robust economy, people suffer and have problems.

I've actually never met a person, Canadian or otherwise, no matter how successful, who doesn't have problems.

The trouble is that we try to escape our problems through...taking drugs, or drinking alcohol, or committing suicide, or engaging in criminal activity, or just running away through pursuing pleasure, or success, or fame. Or we try to buy our way out of our problems. Or lie our way out. But often our ways of escape just lead to a more complicated set of problems and actually can increase our suffering.

Today, there is good news.

Jesus offers freedom from suffering. Not physical suffering, but the suffering of the human spirit. Suffering that we label boredom, guilt, shame, bitterness, loneliness, emptiness, hopelessness, and fearfulness.

The Bible says that Jesus understands the feelings of our suffering. He feels our pain. He knows what it feels like to hurt physically and emotionally and spiritually and mentally.

The Bible says that Jesus has come to bind up those who have... broken hearts... and broken homes... and broken hopes... and broken dreams... and broken lives.

Jesus has come to set the captive free.

You can find Him in the midst of your suffering if you truly seek Him because He loves you and longs to help you.

Jesus alone can give you...

His peace in the midst of your storm,
His hope in the midst of your despair,
His comfort in the midst of your grief,
His strength in the midst of your weakness,
His wisdom in the midst of your confusion,
His presence in the midst of your loneliness, and<
His joy in the midst of your pain.

There is Good News! Today you can be set free from spiritual oppression. Jesus has come to offer you freedom from the suffering of the human spirit.

Thirdly, Jesus has come to offer us the Good News of favour with God.

It's been said that death is the forbidden subject of our generation. The average person lives as though they were never going to die. Violence on TV, violence in the movies, violence in video games, and violence in the news has made us numb to death. On the other hand, modern medicine and attention to health issues have prolonged human life until death seems to be, at the worst, a remote possibility.

Yet the Bible says that it's appointed unto man once to die and then to face the judgment of God.

C.S. Lewis said that war doesn't increase death, because death is total in every generation.

King Solomon said there is a "season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die."

At some point in time, you and I are going to die. Do you ever think about your death? And when you do, are you filled with fear because of what comes next? Are you afraid to stand before God? Afraid He won't accept you?

The Bible says that God will accept you according to the good pleasure of His will when you place your faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation. Right now. September 26, 2006.

Today could be the day of your salvation. You can go to sleep tonight, with peace in your heart, assured that if you died before morning, there is nothing to fear because you are right with God.

The choice is yours.

God's acceptance of you when you die is determined by your acceptance of His Son while you live. Let me repeat that: God's acceptance of you when you die is determined by your acceptance of His Son while you live.

There is a true story that took place years ago in London, England. A little boy heard that the great American evangelist, Dr. D.L. Moody, would be preaching in a local church. The little boy wanted to hear Dr. Moody, and so he went to the church. But when he arrived at the front door, and reached out to open it, the doorkeeper grabbed him, spun him around, and asked, "Where do you think you're going?" The little boy replied, "I'm going inside. I've come to hear Dr. Moody."

The doorkeeper looked at the dirty little boy, and said, "Not you. You're too dirty to go inside the church." And he refused to let the boy inside. The little boy looked for another way in, but there wasn't one. So he sat down on the front steps and began to cry. Just then a very distinguished looking gentleman walked up the steps, stopped, and asked why he was crying. The little boy explained he had come to hear Dr. Moody, but was told he was too dirty to go inside the church. The gentleman held out his hand, and offered, "Then take my hand." The little boy did.

Hand in hand, the well-dressed gentleman and the dirty little boy walked up the front steps. When they came to the door that had been closed, it was now flung wide open. Hand in hand they walked down the centre aisle of the church. When they came to the front row, the gentleman placed the boy in a seat, then walked up onto the platform, stood in the pulpit, and began to preach. The gentleman was Dr. D.L. Moody.

The little boy was too dirty to get into that church on his own. The only reason he was admitted was because he was holding the hand of Dr. Moody.

You and I are too dirty in our sin to get into heaven. It makes no difference if you are Pope Benedict or Billy Graham or Mother Teresa or one of the luncheon servers today or the CEO of the largest corporation in Canada or the homeless man I saw on a bench beside the harbour this morning. The only way anyone ever gets into heaven is because he or she is holding the hand of Jesus.

And Jesus extends His hand to you at the Cross. You must place your hand of faith in His as you confess you're a sinner, turn away from your sin, and claim Him as your personal Saviour and Lord, surrendering your life to Him.

When you do, He walks with you, hand in hand, through life. When it comes time for you to step into eternity, the door of heaven that would have been closed to you will be flung wide open, and you will walk right into your heavenly home. You will be as welcomed and accepted in heaven as Jesus is.

There is Good News! Today, when you place your hand of faith in His, you can know for sure that when you die, you will be accepted by God and welcomed into His heavenly home.

Jesus has come to offer you favour with God.

In one of his plays, Alexander Solzhenitsyn has as one of his central characters a man who has lived only for the moment and only for his own pleasure. Now he is dying, and as he looks over his life he realizes just how empty it has been, and how unprepared he is for eternity. Then he says to those gathered around his bed, "...the moment when it's terrible to feel regret is when one is dying..."

How should one live in order not to feel regret when one is dying?

Five minutes before you die, what will you wish you had done differently?

Is it possible to live without regret? To die without regret?

Yes, when we accept God's offer of Good News in Jesus Christ.

God has a plan for you, and life's greatest joy is in fulfilling that plan, and getting to know Him in the process.

After Jesus had read the words of Isaiah the prophet in the synagogue...

After He had announced the Good News, the Bible says, "He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He said to them, "'Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'"

In other words, Jesus didn't just come to bring good news, He is the Good News.

Through faith in Jesus, you can have forgiveness of sin, freedom from spiritual suffering and oppression, and the favour of God.

Today, Jesus is offering you Himself.

Would you take Him up on His offer?

The appreciation of the meeting was expressed by William F. White, President, IBK Capital Corp., and Director, The Empire Club of Canada.