Category: Ephesians (Page 18 of 19)

The Peace of God

January 8, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 4:7

Shalom. Peace. It’s the perfect state of harmony and communion between God and man; between man and man; throughout all creation. It was promised to the patriarchs. The psalmists wrote about it. The prophets foretold the deliverance of this ultimate peace in the Messiah. For centuries, every generation of God’s people longed for that peace. They sang about it. They preached about it. They looked for it. They waited for it.

That peace of God, that perfect shalom, has come to God’s people in Christ Jesus!

Now that Jesus has won the great victory at the cross; now that he’s defeated death and sin and Satan; now that he’s been raised and exalted; now that he reigns in all glory and power from his heavenly throne, we possess the peace of God.

Paul says Jesus himself is our peace. He tells the Ephesians that Christ has destroyed the barriers, he’s abolished the wall of hostility. Jesus has eliminated the things that separated man from God, the things that divided man from man. All those things are nailed to the cross! Dead! Gone! Obliterated!

“He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” ~Ephesians 2:17-18

May we dwell in the joy of the Lord. And may the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The BCS Championship Game is tonight. So is the elders meeting. D’oh! Next to air-conditioning, I firmly believe that DVR is the greatest single invention in the past 200 years. Hands down. Thank you.

The final “KK&C Top 20” college football poll will be posted before I go to bed Friday night. I’m very much looking forward to most of our 20 pollsters checking in for this last time. And I’m anxious to see the comments from the die-hard SEC fans and the hard-core Big 12 followers.

I’ll DVR the game. So it’ll kickoff between 10:00 and 10:30 tonight at Stanglin Manor. That means I won’t be answering my cell phone or checking any emails or text messages after 7:00.

Peace,

Allan

Assembly As Gospel

August 25, 2008 / Allan / 7 Comments

If this is what it means to have a daughter in high school, I’m not ready. This is the scene that greeted us when we woke up this morning. I have my suspicions as to the culprits. And even though I can’t write on this blog what they say about paybacks, it doesn’t make it any less true.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” ~Ephesians 4:1

“…conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” ~Philippians 1:27

As a response to God’s grace and in imitation of Jesus, we deny our own selfish ambitions and place the interests of others ahead of our own. Jesus emptied himself for our sakes and he became the obedient servant for the Father’s glory. That’s the gospel. And that’s how we live the gospel. The glory of God and the priority of others. Love God and love your neighbor. Jesus says that’s the whole deal. Paul says in Ephesians 4 this is what leads to maturity. This is what leads to “unity in the faith.” Without this mindset, without this focus, we’re still babies.

I’ve tried applying these gospel principles to our Christian assemblies over the past three weeks as we’ve moved together into our new worship center here at Legacy. What this mature mindset means is that, in our assemblies, there’s very little, if anything, that could ever happen that could ever divide us. Our diversity and our differences wouldn’t just be tolerated, they’d be embraced and appreciated, even celebrated.

Whether a person kneels or stands or prostrates himself on the ground in prayer, or adopts the one prayer posture not authorized in Scripture: sitting on one’s rear end…

Whether a person claps his hands or raises his hands or does with his hands the one thing not authorized in Scripture: sits on them…

Whether a person talks and/or sings during the Lord’s Supper or meditates quietly to himself…

Whether a person sings classic hymns that were written 300 years ago or contemporary praise songs that were written three months ago…

Whether a person wears a suit and a tie or shorts and flip-flops…

We are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord and in his death, burial, and resurrection that saves us. We share a common Savior and a common destination. And when we finally and fully grasp that, we will imitate our Lord by making ourselves the least important person in the room.

Planning and conducting and participating in our assemblies is not about finding and conforming to specific regulations found in the New Testament. It’s all about doing what we do in ways that are worthy of the gospel, in ways that proclaim and embody the good news of our Lord and his Kingdom.

John Mark Hicks has written another excellent book about the Christian sacraments. This one, A Gathered People: Revisioning the Assembly as Transforming Encounter, is about our time together in our assemblies. This excerpt is from the final chapter, “Contemporary Gatherings: Assembling Worthy of the Gospel.”

“As long as we are regulated by the gospel, we should value diversity as it reaches people beyond the limits of our own settings. But this demands maturity. The gospel calls us to put the interests of others ahead of our own. But this demands mature discipleship. Can we tolerate different tastes and styles even when we do not like them? Can we vary our styles out of respect for what touches the heart of another even if it does not touch ours? Can we appreciate what a particular style does for one even though it is not as meaningful to us? Can we practice what is uncomfortable for us for the sake of the other?

The gospel demands that we do because Jesus himself endured great discomfort—to put it mildly—for our sakes. As disciples of Jesus, we must follow him into that kind of discomfort, even suffering. To say that we must ‘suffer through’ a particular song for the sake of another trivializes the cross of Christ but to deny that song to others simply on the basis of our own comfort and tradition is to reject the cross of Christ for narcissism.”

Wow. The Father certainly poured a whole lot into our laps with these assemblies. It’s almost like he wants us to practice getting along together.

God’s gift of unity means we belong to each other. We are part of each other. Living worthy of the calling, making every effort requires an eagerness to think about one another, to serve one another, to love one another, to build up one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to submit to one another, and encourage one another.

Even in our assemblies.

Especially in our assemblies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

School Bells! School Bells! I got to sing the Stanglin’s traditional first day of school song to wake up not three but four girls this morning. Four girls at four different campuses (help me, is it campi?) now. Huge backpacks. Sack lunches. Combination lockers. P.E. New friends. New teachers. And now Carrie-Anne’s right in the middle of it, too. I’m pulling taxi duty two days a week now. I’ve always been the one to haul the kids to school in the mornings. But Carrie-Anne’s always picked them up. Until now. On Mondays and Wednesdays it’s me. This afternoon it took me 65-minutes to leave the church building and make it home with all three. I’m hoping that’s just first day traffic. C-A has her first math, history, and art appreciation classes today. It’s going to be an interesting year. We’ve begun yet another little leg of our journey together.

Peace,

Allan

Divinely-Ordained Diversity

August 22, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“…live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” ~Ephesians 4:1-3

The Gospel of salvation from God in Christ Jesus unites us. It seeks to save all people and it brings together all people. People from different backgrounds and different cultures, with different mindsets and different gifts and different views and different styles are all called together in Christ. A quick glance at Romans 12 tells us clearly that God creates our differences. In fact, it’s our differences that make the Body of Christ, his Church, what it is. It wouldn’t be very functional as a body if we were all the same.

And this diversity among us should not only be tolerated, it should be embraced and appreciated—even celebrated.

This divinely-ordained diversity is expressed in many ways by our different styles and preferences in corporate worship. Whether we kneel, stand, or protrate ourselves on the floor to pray (or whether we prefer the ONLY prayer posture not mentioned in Scripture: sitting on our rear-ends in padded pews); whether we go to the front to eat the bread and drink the cup or stay in our seats; whether we sing new songs or old ones; whether we dress formally or informally; these are all matters of cultural and traditional diversity. And if our assemblies are truly regulated by the Gospel, that diversity will be valued by God’s people.

The Gospel calls us to, by imitating Jesus, put the interests of others above our own. Even in our assemblies. Maybe especially in our assemblies. That takes maturity. Spiritual maturity. But if we’re living a life worthy of the calling….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David and Olivia Nelson are our missionaries to the Ukraine. They’ll be leaving October 13 for a six-year commitment to taking the Gospel of Jesus to Eastern Europe. Here’s a link to their blog: http://www.daveandliv.blogspot.com/

Cory and Emily Mullins are our missionaries to Australia. They’re leaving in November for a similar six-year commitment to spreading the Kingdom of our Father to the ends of the earth. You can read their blog here: http://www.mullinsmission.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s the last weekend before school starts for everybody Monday. We’re going to pray for all our school kids during our assembly here at Legacy Sunday morning. Then our Small Group is going to join our Legacy teens and parents in going to all the different school campuses here locally and praying on those sites Sunday afternoon. There’s a big back-to-school bash in the church gym later Sunday. And then I guess we go home and start bagging up and labeling school supplies.

For the first time this fall, we’ll have three girls at three different campuses (campi?). Whitney starts high school at Richland. Valerie’s beginning middle school at North Ridge. And Carley’s still at Green Valley Elementary. I’m sorry, make that FOUR girls at four different locations. Carrie-Anne’s going back to school, too. When we got married she lacked a semester and a half in getting her degree. We just assumed we’d get that done pretty quickly. Here, almost 19 years later, she’s going to do it. A semester at Tarrant County College. And then another semester at Texas Women’s University in Denton. She’s up there right now today meeting with her counselor. She’s very excited. And I’m very proud of her. So Monday it’s four backpacks and four sets of school supplies and four sack lunches. And I get to sing “School Bells” Monday morning to four of my girls, not just three.

Peace,

Allan

Become Mature

July 1, 2008 / Allan / 2 Comments

This isn’t a VBS picture. This is our Monday morning staff meeting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“…become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” ~Ephesians 4:13

In the context of Christian unity—one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father—Paul tells us what it means to be mature in Christ. Christian maturity, according to the apostle, is understanding the body of believers as Christ calls it to be: a corporate body that exists to serve others.

Paul says Jesus gave each of us our spiritual gifts, “some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.” And the purpose of those gifts, the very reason for our existence in the Church of God, is to “prepare God’s people for works of service.”

The preachers and the ministers and the elders and the church staff don’t serve the members. They prepare the members to serve others. They encourage and equip the members to serve other people. Paul says when, and only when, we have that mindset will we “reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

So many of us view the Church as established to serve “me.” How can the Church meet my needs? How can the Church take care of me? How can I be served, how can my kids be served, how can my needs be met at this or that church? What if more people said, “I see a need here at this church I can meet. I’d like to help.” What if more people looking for a church home came in with an attitude of service? Instead of “how can I be filled here?” it’s “how can I serve other people at this place and build the body up?” Paul’s mindset is this: all my needs are met through my resurrected Savior Christ Jesus; now how can I meet the needs of others?

Until we reach that point, Paul says we’re infants. We won’t grow up until we realize that it’s not about me, it’s about the Body of Christ. What can I do to build up God’s Church? And not just my corner of the Church, not just my ministry or my area of interest. The whole Church of Jesus Christ, all of it, big picture. How can I encourage? How can I serve? How can I edify? In what ways can I sacrifice my own interests and needs in order to put others and the Lord’s Church first?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 2 of Legacy’s VBS and the Moses Musical is in the books.

Cameron killed as Pharaoh’s first-born son. His rendition of “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” with Gary Giles was the high-point of the night. And that’s high praise considering last night’s acts contained a burning bush, a shepherd’s staff that turned into a very tall snake, water turning to blood, and a tribute to the Village People’s “Y-M-C-A” (There’s lots of blood in the N-I-L-E!).

Ashley and Jaylana were amazing with “God Loves Israel.” Carrie-Anne threw in a little crack about Gershom and Eliezer being the only two sons we’ll ever have. And, in the burning bush scene, Doug Deere, the voice of God, got in some shots of his own regarding Moses’ lack of speaking ability. “One Day More” is in the rearview mirror. It’s all downhill from here.

Most of the VBS pictures I’m posting are taken by David Branson. He’s posting a couple of hundred each night on his website. You can see all of them by clicking here.

Night Three this evening at 7:00.

Peace,

Allan

Feeding The Kids

May 2, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“…bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
~Ephesians 6:4

The verb Paul uses that is translated “bring them up” doesn’t do justice to the notion of nurture and care the apostle intended. “Bring them up” doesn’t communicate the loving and intimate relationship that’s a critical part of raising our kids. He uses the exact same verb earlier regarding the relationship between husbands and wives in Ephesians 5:29. And there it’s translated “feed.” “No one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the Church.”

The command is to nurture our children.

The idea is to feed them in the ways of the Lord.

Holy Scripture explicitly places a high value on our children; a value that should not be taken lightly. And the clear commands from the Law of Moses to the Letters of the Apostles to teach our children cannot be relegated to back-burner status. And the job can’t be left for someone else to do. Our children are not to be merely tolerated, but cared for and instructed about life in Christ Jesus.

If stewardship is the proper management of assets, Christian stewardship should focus first of all on nurturing our children. We don’t have any asset more valuable than our kids.

“Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.” ~Psalm 127:3

Go Stars!

Allan

Sweet Hour of Prayer

April 30, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” ~Ephesians 6:18

Were your ears burning between 9:00 and 10:00 Friday night April 18?

A couple of weekends ago all of the elders and ministers here at Legacy spent about 24 hours together at a retreat center down in Glenrose. Most of Saturday was spent in sharing our dreams and our goals for the body of believers at Legacy. What do we want to do for the rest of this year and next? What is God ultimately doing with us? Where do we see things in five or even ten years from now? We spent some time talking about vision and thought processes. The day was filled with much open discussion relating to relationships between elders and ministers and within the leadership team.

I’ve been thrilled since Day One to be Legacy’s preacher. I’ve said before, I don’t feel led or guided by God to this place as much as I feel pushed by God to this place. I’m affirmed every week by our Father that he is doing amazing things with us and through us in our part of his Kingdom. But I’ve never been more confident and more thrilled to be a part of this congregation than I was during this retreat.

And it had more to do with what happened Friday night than with what happened Saturday.

As great as Saturday was—I plan to share much more of that with you later this week—Friday’s experience was even better. Because we prayed. We prayed long. We prayed hard. We prayed together. We prayed for each other. And we prayed for every single man, woman, and child in the Legacy church family.

We split up into groups of two and three, ministers and elders, and prayed together for about an hour. A pictorial directory had been desecrated; sacrificed for our prayer time. We were each given a couple of sheets out of the directory with all the names and all the pictures of all our brothers and sisters in Christ. And then we went off to each others’ rooms to pray.

I wound up in my room with Bob Robertson and Don Savage and the names and pictures of almost 170 Legacy members. And after we each prayed for each other, we turned our attention to our church family.

And I love praying this way.

Looking at the faces and lifting the names to God in prayer, I was reminded of 1) how much I’m blessed to know so many of these great people and 2) how so many of our people are struggling with their own issues and problems.

Carrie-Anne and I spent a lot of time between August ’06 and June ’07 praying that God would bless our daughters with great friends here at Legacy. And four or five times in that room Friday night, those families popped up on my list. These answers to prayer, these moms and dads and sweet, precious girls that God has put in our paths; what a blessing! Other men and women who have especially encouraged me since we’ve been here popped up on my sheet; men and women who go out of their way to compliment me and push me and challenge me and keep me focused and on track. What a blessing! And I praise God for these wonderful people and for the opportunities we share together in the Kingdom. And over and over again, men and women and families who are struggling with serious health issues, financial concerns, and ruptured relationships popped up on my list. I’m encouraged by their perseverence in those struggles and their faith in the face of hardships. And what a blessing to intercede for them to our Father in prayer!

There’s something very, very special about praying like this. Praying like this creates permanent bonds between the people you’re praying with and the people you’re praying for. I see Don and Bob differently now after hearing them pour out their hearts and their souls to God in prayer. You learn more about people by praying with them for one hour than you can ever learn in a lifetime of singing together or going to ball games together. Spend one hour with a couple of people in deep, earnest prayer, and I think it’s impossible not to love them more.

There was a ten-month window between the day Legacy hired me and the day I actually began my full-time work here as the preacher. I was still finishing up school down in Austin and only got up here once a month. So the first thing I did was ask the church here to provide a pictorial directory and ask everyone in the church family to write their prayer requests next to their families names and pictures. They mailed the directory to us and Carrie-Anne and I spent those next ten months praying over those names and pictures. We spent ten months with our God, talking to him about those in this church who had lost loved ones, those who were battling cancer, those who were facing important job decisions. Some people are surprised at how well we know everyone’s names here. And I always tell them, I prayed for you for ten months. I was bonding with you for ten months and you didn’t even know it.

In 1895, E. M. Bounds wrote, “Prayer does not prepare us for greater works, it is the greater work.”

Sometime this summer we’re going to organize a 24 Hours of Prayer here at Legacy like we’ve done in Mesquite and Marble Falls. Men of our congregation will sign up in one-hour shifts and pray in groups of four and five over thousands of prayer requests from our church family and our community. It might be the most powerful thing you’ll ever do with a Christian brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whitney and I had the talk yesterday afternoon. She understands about Josh Howard. She gets it. We’re going to go together one day next week and get her a Dirk jersey. Lucky for me all Mavericks gear is now half price.

Go Stars!

Allan

Category: Ephesians (Page 18 of 19)

The Peace of God

Assembly As Gospel

Divinely-Ordained Diversity

Become Mature

Feeding The Kids

Sweet Hour of Prayer

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives

Allan's Links