The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Colossians (Page 1 of 11)

The Status is Not Quo

July 14, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The Texas Rangers are in first place at the All Star break, with a one-and-a-half game lead over the M’s. I did not have that on my bingo card a month ago. With Cory Seager out, Evan Carter hitting below his weight, and half their starters catching rides to the games on buses from Frisco and Round Rock, this team is a contender! I’m not sure it’s enough to compel Ray Davis to open up his checkbook in the next couple of weeks. But there’s hope. Especially in the putrid American League this year. There’s hope.

“To this end we labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in us.” ~Colossians 1:29

There’s an old story about a shoe company that sent two representatives to a third-world country. After three days, the first rep phoned his boss and said, “Nobody here wears shoes! There’s no potential here!” The second rep phoned his boss and exclaimed, “Nobody here wears shoes! There’s unlimited potential for an outstanding market here!”

We can’t escape the really tough stuff in our world; it’s always right in front of us. The politics, the race issues, and a thousand other things that seem to divide us; drawing lines and choosing sides, poverty and injustice, violence and godlessness–it’s everywhere. If we’re not careful, we can give up on the ideas of reconciliation and connection, of healing and redeeming. We can just want to hunker down and play it safe, for our own sakes. Don’t risk it. It’s never going to change. It’s not worth it. It’s always going to be this way now. The status is always going to be quo.

No. Wrong answer.

Children of God and followers of Jesus who are sent by God’s Holy Spirit on his mission never take that position. The new creation energy of our God is working in us and through us. His mighty strength is empowering his salvation mission for Midland and for the whole world. God’s energy, God’s power, and God’s will to bring all people together in him means the status is not quo.

God’s energy working so powerfully within us means wonders have not ceased, possibilities we never dreamed of are bound to happen, and hope is a for-real legitimate position for us to take.

The same God of your Bible, the same mighty Creator and powerful deliverer, is still at work right now today. The God who created breath is still giving breath today; the God who liberated people then is still liberating people today.

We have nothing to fear. We know that God is with us in Christ, that he will deliver us in Christ, and that he really is saving the world through Christ. There’s unlimited potential for new creation in you and in your community. And you and I are so unbelievably blessed and privileged to be in the middle of it with him. And with one another.

Peace,
Allan

The Source

July 7, 2026 / / 0 Comments

“…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven.” ~Colossians 1:5

It’s interesting to me that the Bible says hope is the source of our faith and love. Hope doesn’t come from faith; it’s the opposite. Our Christian faith is grounded in our hope, our hope in what God is holding in heaven–this thing that God is storing for you, this future glory with Christ, these eternal promises of God we know are coming true. Not hope in the things of this world. Not hope in career or family, not hope in scholarships or degrees, not hope in elections or Supreme Courts, not hope in science or technology–hope in what God is holding for us in heaven. The confidence, the assurance we have for that coming day when we know that everything that’s broken will be fixed and everything that’s gone wrong will be made right.

Christian hope is not blind optimism with no foundation to it. It’s not like, “I hope the Cowboys win the Super Bowl this year;” that’s just wishful thinking. That’s totally blind! That’s what led Alexander Pope to write, “Blessed is the one who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” In other words, don’t get your hopes up and you can’t be let down.

For us Christians who are indwelled by God’s Holy Spirit, our hopes are always way up! We expect everything! We expect every hour of every day that our God is at work in this world through Jesus Christ and that he is reconciling all things and all people back to himself! Our hope is secure because God himself guarantees it and he seals it by placing his Spirit inside us.

That Christian hope is what compels us to love. It’s not a feeling or an emotion; it’s an intentional commitment to actions that seek to help others, actions that join God in fixing things and making things right. Cups of cold water, hospital and prison visits, food for the hungry and clothes for the poor, defending the accused and standing with the oppressed–a love in the Spirit that partners with God’s salvation work of redeeming and restoring the world.

Our Christian faith and our Christ-like love changes lives and it changes our city and the whole world. And it springs from our common hope.

Peace,
Allan

For All the Saints

July 6, 2026 / / 0 Comments

“We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints…” ~Colossians 1:4

A “love in the Spirit” (Colossians 1:8) loves all the saints, all the saved. No exceptions. No loopholes. You don’t love some people in your church, you don’t show love to most of the people in your church–your “love in the Spirit” is a love for all the saints. And the writer of Colossians mentions those saints specifically in chapter 3, just in case you’re wondering, just in case you thought you had an out:

Greeks and Jews
Circumcised and uncircumcised
Barbarian and Scythian
Slave and free
Rangers fans and Astros fans.

A Christ-like love is a love for all the saints. No background checks, no application forms, no boxes to check, or requirements to meet. Our Lord Jesus has taken the burden off us of having to decide who to love and who not to love. He says our God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. God blesses everyone. God loves everyone. So, whoever is around me is going to get rained on! I’m going to love whoever is by me or in front of me. If you’re near me, you’re going to get loved.

Jesus says “Love one another as I have loved you.”

It’s like you’re a FedEx driver. All the love is from God; you’re just the delivery guy! God fills your truck and you deliver the package. I heard Rick Atchley say this at Pepperdine a couple of months ago: “God’s love is not poured to be stored; we are filled to be spilled for the sake of others.”

And God will test you on it. He’ll give you pop quizzes to see if you’re loving all the saints. God will put difficult people in your life to stretch you to love them. And he usually does that at church. He’ll put a very difficult person right next to you in your Bible class. God will place a couple of impossible people right behind you in the Worship Center. He’ll put a difficult person in your small group. He does it all the time! The call is to love that hard person with your love in the Spirit.

If you are a baptized follower of Christ, you have received the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. And part of that gift is love. Divine love. Holy Spirit love. A love for all the saints.

Peace,

Allan

Buried and Raised with Christ

April 30, 2025 / / 2 Comments

“You have been given fullness in Christ… having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” ~Colossians 2:10-12

You are not baptized by yourself. Baptism is not a private deal. When you’re baptized into the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, you are baptized into his community. You become a part of God’s redeemed people. Baptism is not just unity with Christ, it is also very much unity in Christ.

“You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” ~Galatians 3:26-28

That’s why we do baptisms on Sundays when the whole church is together. That’s why we cram as many people as we can up on the stage and we all stand as close as we can to the water, so you know this is not just about me and God. This is not just about me and my close relatives or me and my best friends. I am being joined by God into this community. God through Christ is now making me a part of this worldwide, universal, eternal community of the saved in Christ.

This past Sunday was our second Baptism Sunday at GCR. We gave our church several weeks to think about baptism. To pray about it. To talk to others about it. To listen to God about it. I taught two Sunday morning classes–they were more like conversations–about baptism with people of all ages and backgrounds and covered lots of baptism topics. If you have never been baptized or if someone you know has never been baptized, we’re going to spend these few weeks preparing for it and then we’re going to baptize a bunch of people on the 27th.

And, by God’s grace, we did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eight brand new Christians put on our crucified and risen Lord Jesus in baptism Sunday. We knew about six of them last week, we learned about one of them Saturday afternoon, and one guy didn’t decide to be baptized until after the second or third baptism. Kristin baptized Bianca, a sweet girl who’s been taught and transformed in Kristin’s GCR children’s ministry. Brandon baptized Charlotte, a long-time member of their small group. Shane and Blossom baptized their son, Donny. Doug baptized his daughter, Ella. Cory and Hannah baptized their children, Margo and Solomon. And I had the tremendous honor of baptizing Kayla, who’s been coming to GCR for two years now at the invitation of a nearly life-long friend, and Nina, Ruben and Angie’s niece, who’s been wrestling with God and her own faith for over three years. We were laughing and crying and praising God together as a united community of faith around the waters of baptism. And each time a new Christian came up out of that water, we charged them and blessed them in unison with the opening lines from Colossians 3:

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a glorious day. Those of us who’ve been baptized for a long time remembered our own baptisms with thanksgiving and renewed our commitments to Christ and to one another all over again. And we thanked God for the privilege of participating in these eight baptisms together as a church family. We ate and drank the communion meal together and prayed over these new disciples, still literally wet behind the ears, dripping with God’s forgiveness and grace, and filled to overflowing with his Holy Spirit.

May our God bless these brand new Christians with his love and grace. May they look back often on their baptism at GCR and remember what God has created in them. And may they walk with him, together with us, faithful to the end.

Peace,

Allan

Trusting the Good News

April 24, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Every single time the New Testament says somebody is filled with the Holy Spirit, without exception, their mouths open and they start talking about Jesus. Most of those instances are in Acts and Luke, but they are all remarkably consistent. And intentional. The Bible is telling us that the indwelling Spirit gives us the power, he gives us the boldness and courage, to share the Good News with others. You can do and say things for our Lord Jesus with God living inside you that you could never do by yourself.

This is God’s plan. This is how he works. It’s part of the Good News. The problem is, we don’t trust it. We don’t always trust the way God works to spread the Good News and expand his Kingdom to save people.

We don’t trust the Gospel to connect and transform people. Or we don’t trust God’s way or God’s Spirit to communicate his Good News through us. We forget that there’s not one single person I could talk to about Jesus that God’s Spirit hasn’t already been working on. When God puts somebody in my path and an opportunity right in front of me, the fact is that he has been convincing them and drawing them and preparing them for a while now. God’s already started something with this person a long time ago and he’d be thrilled if I just jumped in and shared the fun.

Pew Research released their state of the church report two weeks ago. According to their surveys and research, in 2007,  63% of all Texans went to church at least once a month. In 2024, just 17 years later, the percentage of Texas residents who go to church at least once a month is down to 38%. The odds are right now today higher than they’ve ever been in your life that your next-door-neighbor doesn’t go to church. The odds are higher right now than they’ve ever been since you were born that your co-worker is not a Christian.

And I’m guessing you don’t know how to talk to them about it. The very thought of talking to your friend or neighbor about Jesus or about the Good News makes your stomach fall into your socks. You say you don’t know how to have a spiritual conversation.

Yes, you do. You just don’t trust it. You don’t trust the Good News. Or you don’t trust God’s plan or God’s Spirit.

Talking to people about Jesus is a Holy Spirit activity. You don’t have to start anything with your neighbor or classmate; God’s already started it! Our Lord tells us that God’s Spirit is at work around the clock convincing men and women, exposing what’s wrong in the world, and drawing all people to himself. The Holy Spirit is convicting people of their sin and compelling men and women to seek righteousness and avoid judgment. God’s Spirit is working hard on people all around you. And this same Spirit lives inside you, empowering you like you can’t believe.

Pray that God will open a door, pray that you proclaim Christ clearly, and make the most of every opportunity (Colossians 4:3-5). The Holy Spirit will put the person directly in front of you, the Holy Spirit will tell you what to say, and the Holy Spirit will do with your conversation what’s going to be best, what he’s already planned and been working on. If you’ll only trust the Good News.

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The Dallas Stars have played three games against Colorado in this first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, they have led the Avalanche for a total of just 62-seconds, and yet they are leading the series two games to one. Two come-from-behind overtime thrillers. Last night, the Stars had to kill off a four-minute double-minor power play at the end of regulation and at the start of overtime just to get to Tyler Seguin’s sudden death winner. For drama, athleticism, pressure, grit, adrenaline, anticipation, and edge-of-your seat tension, there is nothing better than overtime playoff hockey. It’s like having a heart attack on a roller coaster in an electrical storm. Can’t wait til Saturday.

Go Stars

Allan

Baptism Sunday at GCR

April 23, 2024 / / 0 Comments

You are not baptized by yourself. Baptism is not a private deal. When you’re baptized into the name of Jesus Christ, you are baptized into his community. You become a part of God’s redeemed people. Baptism is not just unity with Christ, it is also very much unity in Christ.

“You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” ~ Galatians 3:26-28

That’s why we do baptisms on Sundays when the whole church is together. That’s why we cram as many people as we can up on the stage and we all stand as close as we can to the water, so you know this is not just about me and God. This is not just about me and my close relatives or me and my best friends. I am being joined by God into this community. God through Christ is now making me a part of this worldwide, universal, eternal community of the saved in Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

I love the way our Spiritual Formation Minister Jim Tuttle says it when he baptizes someone. As soon as he brings them out of the water, he grabs them and says, “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is now you are an eternal child of God. The bad news is (gesturing toward the whole church) this is your family!”

This past Sunday was our first ever Baptism Sunday at GCR. I had never done one of these before. I have thought about it and wanted to do it for years, but haven’t been able to pull it off. We gave our church two weeks to think about baptism. To pray about it. To talk to others about it. To listen to God about it. If you have never been baptized or if someone you know has never been baptized, we’re going to spend these two weeks preparing for it and then we’re going to baptize a bunch of people on the 21st.

And, by God’s grace, we did.

Six brand new Christians put on our crucified and risen Lord Jesus in baptism on Sunday. We knew about four of them last week, we learned about one of them Saturday afternoon, and one guy didn’t decide to be baptized until after the second one had happened. Coy was standing  on the stage with the rest of us and leaned toward J.E. and said, “Will you baptize me?” Melinda baptized Jayce, one of her co-workers she’s been bringing to church. Matt and Stacey baptized their teenage daughter, Kylie. Lan and Cassie baptized their adopted son, M.J. Philip and Caitlin baptized their two daughters, Madison and Mabel. We were laughing and crying and praising God together as a united community of faith around the waters of baptism. And each time a new Christian came up out of that water, we charged them and blessed them in unison with the opening lines from Colossians 3:

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory!”

It was a glorious day. Those of us who’ve been baptized for a long time remembered our own baptisms with thanksgiving and renewed our commitments to Christ and to one another all over again. And we thanked God for the privilege of participating in these six baptisms together as a church family. We ate and drank the communion meal together and prayed over these new disciples, still literally wet behind the ears, dripping with God’s forgiveness and grace, and filled to overflowing with his Holy Spirit.

May our God bless these brand new Christians with his love and grace. May they look back often on their baptism at GCR and remember what God has created in them. And may they walk with him, together with us, faithful to the end.

Peace,

Allan

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