The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.” ~Romans 12:1

Think very carefully about the times you have completely abandoned yourself into some act of service for others in the name of Jesus. Think about the times you’ve totally given yourself to God and to others in some act of kindness or mercy.

Recall the joy you feel as you walk a family of five through Give-Away-Day, the way you experience the mercy of God as you hand a brand new toy to a seven-year-old girl who’s never had one. Think about the new life you feel as you pray with your brothers during the 24 Hours of Prayer, the way you bond with your Lord and your Christian friends and the ones for whom you pray. Think about sacking groceries in the church pantry, visiting a sister about to go into surgery at the hospital, delivering a casserole to the family who just lost a loved one. Remember the fullness of life you discovered in that offering. Remember how it feels to put to death your own needs and fears and find a source of peaceful and joyful existence in God. It’s unexplainable.

Scripture calls us to remember those times and to be even more willing to make that total offering, that holy sacrifice, over and over again. That is our act of worship. It’s our act of service that, by the grace of God, he makes holy and pleasing.

Think about those times. Remember and repeat. And find real peace and joy in your Lord.

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A couple of entries in the Legacy “Caps for Tags” contest. Click here for the full scoop.

Keep those pictures coming in. Email them to astanglin@legacychurchofchrist.org

Peace,

Allan

When a Christian yells or screams at somebody or bosses somebody or gossips or uses foul language or acts in other un-Christ-like ways, we can’t ever say, “Well, that’s just the way she is” or “he’ll never change.”

Wait a second! He’s been baptized! That’s NOT the way he is! She has to change!

The whole point of submitting to Christ, to having your life hidden with Christ, is to be changed. Radically changed. Dramatically changed. It’s never, “He’s always been that way, he can’t change.” Instead, it’s always, “Wow! Remember when he used to be that way? Now, he’s a brand new person. It’s not even him anymore. He’s so different.”

Sometimes we act like that, when we become Christians, God walks into our house and begins rearranging things. God comes in and looks around and starts making changes. You know, he starts cleaning up. Let’s get rid of these magazines. Let’s move this couch. We need to throw out that table. These three walls need to be repaired and painted. You think that’s what’s happening.

But just look out your window. Look out there. God has this huge wrecking ball out there poised to demolish the whole thing. The reality is that God believes your whole foundation is shot and you need to start over from scratch. Everything needs to be destroyed. New creation. New order. New self. New nature. New everything.

When we submit to Jesus, when we’re baptized, our old nature is not renewed or reformed. Our old nature, our old self, is not restored or fixed. It’s not even saved. It’s destroyed. It’s gone. It’s dead and buried. Baptism is never an overhaul of our sinful personalities. We don’t add Christian values and practices into our old worldly values and practices and then get really good at acting better and better. We don’t put our new clothes on over our old clothes. The old clothes are stripped off and burned!

Baptism’s never a minor adjustment or a legal formality. It’s death. The key element to living in Christ is, first and foremost, dying with Christ. It’s submitting to that wrecking ball. Come and demolish all of this. Create in me something brand new.

Scripture always focuses on what a believer is instead of what a believer does. And what a believer is, is a brand new creature.

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I told our church Sunday that every single person in the pews could get up and preach the morning’s sermon, based solely on our experiences together at Give Away Day. At the very least, we each had brought with us our own sermon illustrations. Steve Prescott emailed his sermon to me yesterday:

“As I collapsed exhausted into my recliner after Give Away Day, my three-year-old granddaughter asked, ‘Where have you been all day, Papa?’ I replied, ‘I’ve been working at church all day.’ She said, ‘No, Papa, church is tomorrow.’

It occured to me that Saturday we were being the church as we served others. On Sundays, we often are just doing church instead of really being church seven days a week. I am resolved to do better.”

Amen, Steve. Me, too.

Peace,

Allan

“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” ~Colossians 4:5

Our God brought 571 families through the doors here at Legacy Saturday during our 23rd annual Give Away Day. 3,228 men, women, and children were given clothes and socks and shoes and blankets and diapers and groceries and coats and toys. They came from all over. The Lord brought them here from Bedford and south Fort Worth, from Haltom City and Watauga, from right here in our neighborhood and from as far away as Irving. People without jobs. People without money. People without hope.

We did what we can. And we trust our God to do the rest.

We prayed in the parking lots with all of them. We prayed for broken families and broken dreams. We prayed for lost jobs and lost children. We prayed for spouses and cars and houses. We prayed for healing. We prayed for forgiveness and comfort and peace. We pointed people to Siempre Familia at Rosemont. We invited people to become a part of Legacy. We hugged. We shook hands. We cooked and served hot dogs and drinks. We laughed. And a few of us cried.

We did what we can. And we trust our God to do the rest.

We planted the seed. And our God promises to provide the growth. Even now he is working in the lives of Sofia and Gabby and Jorge and Maria and Axle. Even now he is comforting Loretta and Kimberly and Brian. Even now he is drawing these people to himself because Christ was lifted up to them.

The Legacy church family is to be commended for all the time and energy and money and hard work that went into yet another glorious Give Away Day. But above all, our God is to be glorified. He alone is to be praised for giving us the great privilege of joining him in his work and for allowing us to participate as he redeems the world.

Peace,

Allan

It’s 4:00 Friday afternoon. And for the first time in about a month, the Legacy church building is relatively empty and quiet. Ada and Dianne are still working on some tables and boxes on the north end of the concourse. Katie is stacking a few more quilts. Bill is here and Quincy and Kent are visiting in the hall. But, for the most part, it seems as though we’re ready for Legacy’s 23rd annual Give Away Day tomorrow.

The hallways, the classrooms, the concourse, the lecture hall, the fellowship hall, the kitchen, every single square foot of space here at Legacy has been transformed. Racks and shelves and tables and chairs. Hundreds of boxes of clothes and linens and towels and toys and shoes and coats — new and used. It’s huge. You can’t believe it.

And I’m fully aware of the vision, the faith, and the guts it takes as a congregation to pull this off.It’s big. It’s almost overwhelming. And I’m so grateful for those who had the vision and faith and guts 23 years ago when this all started, and the ones who keep the vision alive with their own faith and guts year in and year out. Give Away Day is part of our Gospel story at Legacy. It is one of the biggest ways we, as a church family, join God in his work of reconciling creation back to him by reaching out in love and compassion to his people.Giving away food and clothes and household goods to people who so desperately need them certainly benefits the people in our community. Surely it communicates to them the love and grace of the God we serve. It has to show these people that they are loved and cared for by their Creator. But I wonder sometimes if it doesn’t do us at Legacy even more good. Give Away Day appeals to our common memory and connects us to those who went before us, those on whose shoulders we’re standing today. Keeping and repeating this particular tradition reminds us that it’s so much bigger than “me,” that our God was working in his world and in this church long before I got here and he’ll be working in his world and in this church long after I leave.It’s barely more than controlled chaos. But it’s shared by little kids, teenagers, young adults, singles, marrieds, whole families, newly retired, widows, and the elderly. We’re all in it together. And it’s beautiful.

Over 3,000 people will be served tomorrow. This church family will be brought closer together. Give Away Day will transform us as we are “being saved.” But, above all, our God will be praised. May he receive all the glory forever and ever.

Peace,

Allan

The blood of Jesus is what courses through our veins. It’s in our DNA. It’s the thing that unites us with all baptized believers who are saved by the grace of God through faith in the Son. The pouring out of his blood is what breaks down the barriers that divide us.

The moment our Christ died, the veil in the temple was ripped in two, torn in half from top to bottom. No more separation. The writer of Hebrews makes a pretty big deal out of this. The death of Jesus, his blood, opens up this new and living way by which we live an integrated life. We’re now integrated with God by total access to his throne in the Holy of Holies. And we’re integrated with one another to live in perfect Christian unity.

There’s an ancient communion prayer written by Hippolytus late in the 3rd century that speaks to the power of Christ’s blood:

“We render thanks to you, O God, through your beloved Son Jesus Christ, whom in these last times you sent to us as a Savior and Redeemer according to you will and in whom you were well pleased. And he was betrayed to voluntary suffering that he might destroy death and break the bonds of the devil and tread down hell and shine upon the righteous.”

Those are powerful words. Destroy. Break. Tread.

Those are fitting words, appropriate action verbs, worthy of what our crucified and resurrected Lord has accomplished for us by his great love and grace. Ephesians 2 tells us in no uncertain terms that when Jesus poured out his blood he “destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” and he “abolished the certificate of debt that stood against us.”

He himself is our peace — our peace with God and with one another.

There’s power in the blood. Great power. Wonder working power.

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The Word FM — 100.7 on your radio dial — a local Christian talk radio station here in DFW, has designated Legacy as their Church of the Week. What it means for Legacy is a week’s worth of 60-second promotional spots that I recorded in their Irving studios a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t heard the edited versions yet, but they do focus almost exclusively on our outreach to our community. Specifically the spots mention our involvement with our local elementary schools. And I spend about 30 of those seconds talking up this Saturday’s 27th annual Legacy Give Away Day.

What it could mean for you is $250 cash. At 3:00 this afternoon Texas time, Janet Mefferd will begin her talk show and at some point during that first hour, between 3:00 and 4:00 today, she’ll ask callers to identify this week’s Church of the Week. The first caller to correctly identify the Church of the Week as “Legacy Church of Christ in North Richland Hills” wins the 250-bucks. The call-in number is 800-949-5973. Be ready for it.

And then you can take me to lunch on Friday. I’ll be listening for Janet to call your name.

Peace,

Allan

I sat alone in our Legacy worship center Saturday night and again early Sunday morning, asking God to do that thing he always does. Do something great, God. Manifest your Holy Spirit in this place. Move among your people. Convict us. Change us.

I’m begging God to do this thing. And I have in my mind exactly what it’s going to look like. I’m asking God to do something powerful, but I’m dictating to him how it needs to be done. I’m asking him to do very specific things in very particular ways. Mind you, I don’t realize this at the time. My prayers are holy. I believed I was having a wholly submissive conversation with my Lord. But, looking back, I see clearly that I was telling God how to do his job.

What I wanted to happen yesterday didn’t happen. Not even close.

Here’s what actually happened.

A 19-year-old young man who’s been abandoned by his parents, living with his grandmother, battling health issues, and struggling to complete his high school education, came down to the front while we sang, “How sweet, how heavenly is the sight…” and told us he wanted to give his life to Christ in baptism. This young man who’s been coming to Legacy for almost a year now, walking nearly two miles to get here sometimes when he can’t get a ride, this young man who’s told some of us here that this is the only place in his life he’s ever felt accepted, this young man who’s overcome so much already in his few short years, tells the church today’s the day! A new day! Today he’s giving his life to his Lord! And I introduced him to the congregation. “Church, this is Jarrett!” Jarrett turned to face his new family. And smiled. Big. And when he came up out of the water he was smiling even bigger. He told Jason and Lance afterward, this is the happiest day of my life.

One of our dear sisters, Rebecca, came down to the front during that same song to ask the church to pray for her mother who’s having life-and-death stem-cell-transplant surgery later this month down in Houston. Their whole family is facing a “road marked with suffering” right now. There were tears in Rebecca’s eyes. There were tears in the eyes of everyone in the room who’s been down that same road with their own parents. Tears and hugs and prayers.

Rebecca’s son Taylor was sitting in the pew right behind us. Crying. He’s a sixth-grader. On either side of him were Drew and Tommy, two of his friends. Sixth graders. Boys. Loud. Rowdy. Funny. They think they’re cool. They pick on each other and everybody else all the time. And Drew and Tommy have their arms around Taylor. They’re patting his back and rubbing his shoulders. Holding him. Sabrina, a seventh grader two or three seats over is crying. She’s sitting by our Valerie who’s also got tears running down her cheeks. I turn around to talk to them about what’s happening. Sabrina tells me, “I can’t look at people crying, especially my friends. It makes me cry, too.” And I grabbed Sabrina and Valerie, right there over the pew, and I told them, this is what it looks like to bear one another’s burdens. We laugh and rejoice with each other when they’re laughing and rejoicing. And when they’re crying, we cry with them. That’s how we carry one another. This is exactly what we were talking about in the sermon. This is true intercession. This is burden-bearing. This is doing things together.

And then the Drake gets up to lead us in our table thoughts for the Lord’s Supper. And he starts rambling about baseball. He’s talking about double plays, 6-4-3. And he actually compares Ian Kinsler’s turn and jump and throw toward first with a runner barrelling down on him to our Lord’s sacrifice and death on the cross. The second baseman does the right thing by giving up his body, maybe his season, possibly his career. Like Jesus. And I’m thinking to myself how inappropriate this is. My word, this may be the most inappropriate thing that’s ever been said at our Lord’s table! How could the Drake dare to compare Christ’s holy death to what a baseball player does every day? We’ll never have the Drake up there again. And then the Drake interrupts my judging by reminding us how neat it is to share this communion with our brand new brother. Jarrett’s still wet from his baptism. And because of God’s grace, Jarrett communes with us as we all commune with our risen Lord. The Drake begins to read Jesus’ words of institution. And he can’t make it through because he’s crying. And I saw the Drake’s heart. He showed us his heart. And I was convicted. And I was moved.

And then the nearly 83-year-old Candy Man gets up to make his annual Give Away Day announcement. And he spoke lovingly about those in our church family who’ve gone on before. Conrad. Aloma. Jo. He captivated everybody in the room with his passionate words that called us to remember what’s been handed down to us by those who’ve gone before. He even broke up a couple of times. It was a powerful reminder of what we are called to do as disciples of Jesus.

And when our time in the assembly was over, I was exhausted. And exhilarated. God did not do what I had asked him to do. He had done immeasurably more.

Why was I surprised?

Our God showed us yesterday in Jarrett’s head of uncombed hair that’s been dyed a few too many times and his well-worn Heath Ledger Joker t-shirt a clear image of what Jarrett “was” and, now, what Jarrett “is” by God in Christ. And we were all reminded that God is also making us into something much different than what we were when we first gave him our lives.

Our God showed us through Rebecca and Taylor how he cares for us and provides for us through his people. A visitor from Houston ran down the aisle as soon as we were finished and told Rebecca that his church will provide a place for Rebecca’s mom to stay during the four months she has to be in and out of M.D.Anderson. For all I know, God may have been orchestrating that “chance” meeting yesterday in our worship center for years.

God showed me in the Drake a man who has a firm grasp on the enormity of being saved by God’s grace. This is what it feels like for him. This is what it looks like and this is how he relates it to others. It’s real. And it’s strong. And it drives big and strong men to their knees in tears. Our God convicted us (me) in the middle of my judgment to see inside somebody’s heart. This is where God himself looks. This is where God makes his judgments. Not on what is said or done, but on the condition of a man’s heart. And when I saw the Drake’s heart, my attitude changed. My mind and my logic was rocked.

And through Coleman, our God reminded us that we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves and our time. My prayers earlier had been for a specific moment on a specific day. And God answered those prayers by showing me that his view is much larger. This wonderful body of believers at Legacy was working for God and being moved by God long before I arrived on the scene. In fact, it’s their lives of faith by his mercy that have me on this scene at all. And this body will be working for our Lord and doing beautiful things for each other and for this community long after I’m gone.

We spent 30-minutes in our staff meeting this morning just reflecting on all the powerful things that happened in our assembly yesterday. We had all, at some point yesterday, been moved to tears by something somebody said, or a song that was sung, or something somebody did. Everyone one of us yesterday had been moved to hug someone we hadn’t hugged in a long time.

God didn’t do what I had asked him to do yesterday. He did immeasurably more. Why am I surprised?

Peace,

Allan

“Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow.” ~1 Corinthians 3:7

I had prayed the prayer of Terry Rush all week long.

“God, just please do that thing you do.”

Every day this past week as we geared up for our first bi-lingual Sunday assembly here at Legacy I asked God to overcome our (my) inefficiencies and our (my) shortcomings and our (my) mistakes to make something really spectacular happen to his people here. I was confident he was going to do something. He always does. But I really wanted God to do something big this Sunday. Something huge. Something powerful. Something so unmistakably beyond our (my) capacity that we would be left with no choice but to give him all the credit.

“God, just please do that thing you do.”

I knew he would. So we planned and planned and planned. A dual welcome and call to worship with Manuel and me. Seek Ye First in Spanish. Both languages on the screens for Scripture readings. A completely bi-lingual communion time with Spanish and English readings and prayers. A double-barreled sermon, me setting up Manuel to knock ‘em dead! And, finally, we’d bring the house down with my all-time favorite song, It Is Well. Estoy Bien!

It was all lining up perfectly during the week. There was going to be a baptism, maybe two! A baby blessing! Maybe two! This was going to be a watershed assembly for us, maybe for all of NorthEast Tarrant County! What a great day for God’s Kingdom!

And then the service began. Six minutes late. I froze while trying to welcome the crowd with a Spanish rendition of 1 John 3:1 I had practiced all week. I actually had to pull out my cheat sheet and read it. How embarrassing.

There were other miscues and mistakes. But overall everything was great. The singing was great. The prayers were great. The Bible passages were great. Manuel was great. Gordon was great. I was great. The babies weren’t crying. The teenagers weren’t texting. Nobody looked at his watch. It was perfect!

And then God said, “OK, Stanglin, you finished now?”

“Check this out.”

And Antonia Moscada came down the aisle. Back in November she had read on our guady flashing sign out on Mid-Cities Boulevard that we offered Spanish language services. She’d been worshiping and studying with our church family for three months. And she wanted to put on our Savior in baptism.

Then Ana Loneli came down the aisle. Back in October she had shown up at Legacy for Give Away Day. Homeless. Sleeping in her car. Manuel and Yvina and Mike and Judy St.Clair had prayed with her that day. They helped her. They got her an apartment and a job. She’s been worshiping and studying with us for four months now. And she wanted to put on Christ in baptism.

Antonia was driving down the road and saw our sign and now her sins are being forgiven by the Creator of the Universe! Ana came for free clothes and groceries and now she’s being given eternal life by Almighty God! Are you kidding me? The sign? Give Away Day?

Tracy, a visitor, comes down the aisle. A baptized believer. A child of God. A subject in the Kingdom. Tears streaming down her face. She wants to start over. She wants to confess her sins and ask God for forgiveness and for a fresh start.

Nobody could have planned this. It was too wonderful. Only God.

Our God is still so very powerful. Our God is still so very, very active in this world. He still saves people. He still reaches out and rescues people. He still forgives. He still loves. He still moves. He still creates. He still changes people.

Our God uses flashing signs on the road and benevolence programs and mediocre preaching (mine, Manuel, not yours). But let us always remember, it is our God who does it. Nobody and nothing else. Our God has been working on Antonia and Ana and Tracy for a long, long time. We are only privileged to be able to witness it up close and jump into his work as his partners by his grace.

Hallelujah. God saves.

Allan

“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” ~Matthew 25:35-36, 40

The 22nd annual Give Away Day here at Legacy proved to be the biggest and best yet. God brought to us a record 517 families, a record 2,832 individuals. We gave them food and clothes and household appliances and shoes and toys. We prayed with them and studied with them. We held their babies and played with their kids. We hugged them. We laughed with them. And in a few instances, we cried with them.

It’s impossible for me to single out one part of Give Away Day as my favorite. Every minute of the day is a sacred minute, set apart for God’s purposes for God’s people in the name of his crucified and resurrected Son. From the 7:00 am meeting in which we dedicate every part of the day to our Lord to the final clean up and exhausted hugs twelve hours later, Give Away Day is a beautiful living breathing moving portrait of what it means to be the Body of Christ. One body, many parts, young and old, teens and senior citizens, singles and entire families, members working their 22nd Give Away Day and members who haven’t been with us 22 weeks, all coming together, sacrificing, serving, cooperating, exercising gifts of love and mercy and hospitality and teaching and generosity and compassion in a unified effort to join our God as fellow laborers in his Kingdom.

After Give Away Day, there’s not a member of our church family who couldn’t preach the sermon the next day. At the very least we all come together Sunday morning with our own set of sermon illustrations. Our own stories. Our own moving experiences of what it means to serve others in the name of Jesus.

I love taking the families through the building. Rita’s four children were angels. One of them is literally an angel. Or “Ahn-hel” as I was reminded. He’s 2-1/2 years old. And he was a handful for almost two hours. No dad. He’s never met his dad. And somehow we bonded. He kept grabbing my face with both of his little hands and pulling me close. We made noises together. Funny noises with our mouths and our tongues, clicking and spitting and sqeaking with each other to our own great delight. I lost him three times during that two hours, twice in the clothes racks and once after he’d been given a beautiful stick horse and “ridden” it to the top of the stairs in A Pod. We made each other laugh. I kept up with his water bottle. We chased each other out in the parking lot. We prayed together after we loaded up their car with everyday items you and I take for granted but for which they were so grateful.

Francine was shopping for her three children, two teenage girls and a three-year-old boy. I kept having to remind her to get things for herself. I kept having to steer her to the ladies sections and telling her to take things she liked. She kept apologizing. “I’m sorry,” she said over and over. “I’m just thinking about getting clothes for my babies.” Francine’s sister was there with us in the parking lot when we prayed. They were both overcome with emotion. And gratitude. They must have said, “Thank you” and “Praise Jesus” a hundred times.

Maria came through with six children. Six kids. Ranging in age from 17 to six-years-old. We loaded up two Home Depot baskets with clothes and shoes and toys. Nine-year-old Rogelio was showing off his brand new football. Rusty had found it for him. He wanted me to throw it with him in the parking lot. He told me this was his first ever football. Manuel had walked us outside to pray and asked Maria what she really needed us to pray for. And this obviously needy, poor, overwhelmed, hungry, poorly-clothed woman said, “Please pray for my husband. He’s not a Christian.” And we did.

And then Phyllis. Phyllis found out in May she has liver cancer. She has no husband. She’s the lone care provider for her severely physically and mentally handicapped 14-year-old son. He’s in a wheelchair. He wears diapers. She feeds him and changes him. She begged me to allow her to go into the Infants Section of our building, even though her son is not a baby. She needs baby wipes. She needs washcloths. She needs ointment and lotion. And Billye and Dianne and Ada loaded her up. And when they brought out a huge stack of blue changing pads, Phyllis lost it. “You have no idea,” she kept saying. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have no idea. You have no idea.” And she’s right. I don’t.

I should have had other people preach yesterday. I tried to proclaim our rescue from the life-choking clutches of Satan. I tried to preach about how our Savior has delivered us from all the powerful tools the devil uses to separate us from our God and from each other. And I couldn’t do it justice. I didn’t even get close. If I were wise, I would have asked seven or eight of our members here to jump up and share their Give Away Day stories. That’s the sermon.

Our God is still in the business of redeeming people. He’s still on a mission to rescue people who are stuck behind the bars of sin and sickness. He’s still active in liberating those who are paralyzed by disease and death. Our powerful God is alive. And he’s defeating Satan. And he’s robbing hell.

And we are blessed to join him in that work.

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I take great personal pleasure in the failings of the Dallas Cowboys. In light of the way this team is built and structured and in relation to the gospel the owner lives and preaches, my position is certainly defensible. My great joy in yesterday’s disaster in the desert is tempered a bit by all the bad news coming out today. Romo’s broken pinky finger has him out for four weeks. McBriar’s fractured foot has him gone for at least six weeks. Felix Jones will miss at least two games with a hamstring. More surgery for Sam Hurd.

This team could very easily go straight into the tank, where it seems to be heading anyway. They could lose three of their next four and fall straight out of the picture. But some of the joy will be stolen because they’ll have the built-in excuse of missing these injured players. That takes some of the fun out of it. It lowers expectations. It’s not as dramatic.

It’s so much better when they fall apart at full-strength.

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For the first time since 1984, the Texas Longhorns are the #1 team in the regular season AP poll. They’ve never been ranked #1 in the history of the “KK&C Top 20.” Let’s see if that changes late tonight.

Thanks to Jesse V for the Give Away Day pictures.

Peace,

Allan

This is all follow-up and clean-up—an effort to tie up a few loose ends before the weekend.

I was wrong Tuesday in declaring that Aaron and Jennifer didn’t turn in their “KK&C Top 20″ because they were in Hawaii. They actually took the time to put their numbers and teams together and emailed them to me from their hotel before the deadline. It’s just that our email server here at the church blocked it from getting to me because it was coming from the Hawaii hotel’s server. I didn’t see their lists until yesterday.

There’s nothing really earth-shattering that would have impacted the order of the teams in this week poll. But I do want to pass on a little trash talk. Everybody’s picking on Ohio St. And Jennifer piles on with this as she lists the Buckeyes at #12: “Do we really even have to include them this week? Yippee for USC putting them in their spot!” And Aaron boldly predicts that USC could beat the St. Louis Rams. They both put Florida at #3, declaring that the Gators will “spank Tennessee this Saturday to solidify their place.”

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About last night…

Every now and then, maybe once every couple of months, I get a weird vibe from the congregation here at Legacy while I’m preaching. It’s like they’re all staring at me, not with scowls, but with very serious looks on thier faces and with great intensity. And I’m never sure if everybody’s upset with what I’m saying or if they’re just really, really paying attention.

It happened last night in Oasis.

I’m preaching the Colossians 3:11 and Galatians 3:28 stuff I talked about in yesterday’s blog. In Christ, we all belong to each other. Just as Jesus lived and died to obliterate the differences that separate us, we too should be committed to breaking down the barriers of culture and language and socio-economic status that exist in our churches. And now, as we gear up for Give Away Day, is the perfect time to start thinking about and talking about these things. It’s time to be perfectly clear about how we understand the Gospel message.

Because the three-thousand people who visit us on Give Away Day and the people who are being brought to Christ by Manuel and our Spanish-speaking ministry are, in some ways, our enemies. They are enemies of our comfort zones, enemies of our decency and order, enemies of our property values, enemies of our traditions. And may God have mercy on us if we communicate to them in any way that you must be a white, working, middle-class, English-speaking American citizen in order to use our buildings or our classrooms or our worship center or our restrooms.

If we put any limits at all on anybody who’s different because they’re different—any limits—we are not of God. We are not acting like Jesus. If we exclude them from the table or shun them to another room, if we don’t give them full and complete access to all the physical blessings of this church family, we are, in essence, denying them access to the full and complete salvation from God. Because the Gospel of Jesus is that ALL barriers are annihilated. ALL the walls are destroyed. There are no differences. Christ is all and is in all.

And I’m looking at our church and wondering, “Are they all mad or are they just chewing on this?”

They’re just chewing on it. They’re taking it all in. I believe they’re listening and understanding and even agreeing. But at the same time they’re saying, “But that’s hard.”

Yes, it is. Christianity is a very difficult religion. Very difficult. As Neil Postman says, “Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.”

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I’m leaving Sunday afternoon for the ACU Lectureships with the rest of the Four Horsemen. After Jason preaches in Diana, he’ll meet Kevin at Dan’s house in Forney and they’ll all pick me up here at about 3:00. And we’ll eat Jalapeno chips and Whoppers (Jason will eat Corn Nuts. Nasty.) and we’ll laugh and we’ll make fun of each other and play on each other’s personality quirks and bad habits. Man, are we going to laugh. We always do. Along with our February camping trip, this is our other annual time to be together for a few days and minister to each other and study and pray together and grow together in Christ and in each other. What a blessing these three godly men are to me. What a tremendous source of strength for me in my difficult walk with Christ Jesus and his people. My heart overflows with gratitude to our God who saw fit to bring together a Garland cop, an architect, a jewelry salesman, and a radio anchor seven years ago to dramatically change all of our lives. To eternally alter our lives. And the rest of my prayer is that our God will use us in huge, massive ways to impact our communities and this whole planet for his Kingdom.

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I have to leave Abilene early—Tuesday after lunch—because I’m flying out of DFW Wednesday morning for Fresno, California to spend four days with the Woodward Park Church of Christ and my great friend Jim Gardner. I’m speaking five times in those four days, four times as part of their annual Spiritual Growth Workshop and then preaching at Woodward Park Sunday morning. And I’m excited about it on many fronts.

I’ve never been to California before. Never. I’m anxious to see the beautiful central California valley, even if I probably won’t make it out to the beach. I’m excited to experience the multi-cultural church family there at Woodward Park. Over a thousand members, like here at Legacy, but only about 600 English-speaking. Wonderful. I can’t wait. I’ll be preaching to a pretty huge crowd on Saturday night, probably the biggest ever for me personally. So, I’m looking forward to that. But mainly I’m thrilled to be spending a little time with Jim. As busy as he’s going to be, it will probably only be a little time. But it will be valuable. What a heart for preaching. What a spirit for evangelism. The more he can rub off on me, the better for us here at home. I miss Mandy and his precious daughters. I haven’t seen them since they left Marble Falls two years ago. And I’ll get to see Jimmy Mitchell again. Jim’s flying him in to lead our worship at the workshop.

It’ll be hectic every minute of every day between right now and next Sunday night, the 28th. Please ask our Father to bless me with safe travel and for his Word to be proclaimed powerfully through me and all the other speakers in Abilene and Fresno next week.

Peace,

Allan

“Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” ~Colossians 3:11

When we are joined to Christ, we are joined to one another. So we have absolutely no grounds, no basis, for any hatred toward others or feelings of superiority. All those feelings and attitudes are obliterated by our Redeemer. His Gospel completely opposes any use of human criteria to exclude others or reduce them to second class citizens. We dare not avoid others or belittle others on the basis of external and human distinctions that don’t matter to God—race, sex, class, education, geography, zip code, politics, culture, language, or economics.

We all, everyone of us, belong to each other.

Markus Barth writes:

“Justification in Christ is not an individual miracle happening to this person or that person, which each new person may seek or possess for himself. Rather, justification by grace is a joining together of this and that person, of the near and the far, of the good and the bad, of the high and the low, liberal and fundamentalist. Salvation is a social event. No one is joined to Christ except together with a neighbor.”

Any person who shuts others out on the basis of human differences is not of God. To apply these differences in excluding people from salvation or labeling them as unworthy until they change their condition is to deny that God is impartial. That attitude denies that we are justified by faith alone and that Christ’s death and resurrection atones for our sins. This sort of outlook insists that God loves us because of who we are, not in spite of who we are.

As we gear up for our annual Give Away Day here at Legacy and as we crank up our Spanish-speaking ministry, let us remember the Gospel as our Savior taught it and lived it. Shame on us if we tell anyone they have to act just like us, they have to think and talk and believe just like us. Shame on us if we force them to dress like us, pray like us, or worship like us. Shame on us if we obligate them to anything or anyone other than our heavenly Father, his resurrected Son, and his Holy Spirit.

Jesus treated the sinners, Samaritans, and Roman centurions the same as he treated the so-called righteous Jews. In fact, he treated the ones who were “different” or “outsiders” with more grace and love and mercy than he did the ones who “belonged.”

And so must we.

Peace,

Allan