Category: Isaiah (Page 10 of 12)

God Wins!

December 8, 2009 / Allan / 3 Comments

We just finished up our “Anchors” series this past Sunday morning with the climactic foundational truth that God wins! This is the one that gives us the most assurance in times of trouble. Our confidence in the face of suffering and trials comes in this final anchor. This is the strong characteristic of our God’s eternal nature that we hang on to as we walk through the dark valleys of this life.

We know that God wins.

At the end of the last book of the Bible we’re given a clear picture of the culmination of God’s eternal plans for his people. Revelation 21 tells us of the new heaven and new earth. The sea that separates heaven and earth has disappeared. We behold the “new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God” to unite with this world and purify it of all its brokenness and imperfection. God and man now dwell with one another forever. “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Someday the whole world will be healed as it is drawn into the fullness of God’s glory. Evil will be destroyed and all the potential of creation will explode in eternal beauty. Heaven and earth become brand new. And one. Again.

And the pains of this life will be wiped away forever. Totally forgotten. “The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)

God created us for eternal life. Eternal communion. Eternal fellowship. Sin and death are alien invaders. Evil and suffering don’t belong. And they will not win.

God wins. God always wins. And it’s always a blow-out. When he brought his people out of Egypt the final score was: God – two million to nothing. God uses a woman with a glass of warm milk and a tent peg to crush the head of Sisera. God uses a scrawny little kid with a lunch basket and a sling shot to crush the head of Goliath. He brings down the walls of the oldest and biggest city in Canaan with a few trumpets. We see it in all the Old Testament stories of salvation and deliverance. We see it in Jesus’ great miracles and in his Resurrection. And we see it in our Lord’s revelation to John. God wins. And — praise God! — by your relationship with him through his Son, so do you!

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I’m a bigger TCU fan right now than I’ve ever been. In the face of this BCS travesty, Gary Patterson is showing tremendous restraint and honor in taking the high road with college football. He’s not saying anything. But what happened to his Horned Frogs Sunday is nothing short of a shame for everybody involved. By pairing up TCU and Boise in a rematch from last year, the big BCS powers have guaranteed that neither school will make any noise during the postseason. Outside Tarrant County and Idaho, who really wants to watch the Frogs and Boise State?

The undeniable truth is that TCU could completely wreck the collusion and totally destroy the backroom BCS buddy-system by losing to Florida or Ohio State by single digits (very likely). Heaven forbid they should actually beat the Gators or Buckeyes (possible). But even if they demolish Boise’s Broncos by 75 (bet on it), it won’t even cause a ripple.

“Who cares? They beat Boise! Big deal!”

The uglier truth is that if Colt McCoy had waited just one more second before launching that ball out of bounds or if that ball off the Longhorns’ kicker had not straightened out and nudged through the left upright, TCU still wouldn’t have been slotted against Alabama in Pasadena. The BCS would have given us a back-to-back Tide vs. Florida rematch first. Without even blinking.

It’s not fair. TCU is as high as they can possibly go in college football under this current system. Duke and Connecticut can win basketball titles. Fresno State and Rice can win baseball championships. Because every other sport at every other level in the history of the world has a real playoff to determine its best team. A good team with a good coach that really comes together to do something good by out-playing and out-coaching the others has a fair postseason shot at everybody else in every other sport. But not college football. It doesn’t matter what TCU does or how badly they beat everybody who will play them, they are as high as they can go. Because they won’t be given the opportunity to beat anybody else.

The entire rest of the world, every football fan and TV executive in the country, would much rather watch TCU and Florida or TCU and Ohio State. Everybody except Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel. And the commissioners of the Big XII, SEC, Pac-10, Big 10, and Big East Conferences.

It’s not right.

Go Frogs.

Allan

As A Mother Comforts Her Child…

November 3, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

My kids run to me all the time. They run to me when I get home from work in the afternoons. They scream from upstairs and from the living room, from the dining room table and the computer room. Wherever they are they yell, “Daddy!” And they usually come running. Wow. I love that.

They run to me when they want to go to Sonic to get a Dr Pepper float. When they want to play, they come to me. When they want to spend the night at a friend’s house, they run to me. When they’ve learned a new trick or made a good grade, when they have a difficult question or a problem at school, my daughters come to me.

But when they get hurt…..

…they go to their mother.

When they skin their knee, they go to their mother. When they’re sick, they go to their mother. When they have a fight with a friend, when they don’t make the team, when they smash a finger in a kitchen drawer, they run to mom.

Because they know how I am. “Suck it up, girl! Let’s go! What? Are you crying? Come on! I’ve had bigger scratches on my eyelid! Walk it off! Rub some dirt on it! What’s the matter with you?”

When children are hurt they go to their mother. Physical pain. Emotional pain. When it’s deep and it’s real, they go to mom. Because mother will meet you with a Band-Aid. Mother has a hug. Mother wipes away all the tears. Mother will just hold you and kiss you and carry you. Mother always knows exactly what you need. A mother’s love is warmer. It’s more sensitive. It’s more in tune. When you’re really hurting, you need your mother.

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” ~Isaiah 66:13

Have you ever pictured God as a mother? God does.

When God’s people are at their lowest — the temple’s destroyed, the holy city is in ruins, they’re scattered in exile, they’re experiencing deep separation, pain, loneliness, and despair; when the only memories they have are bad and the only future they have is bleak — God says, “I will hold you and comfort you. Just like a mom. I have borne you and I will love you forever. Just like a mom.”

In Isaiah 49, God’s people say, “The Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me.” And God replies, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”

And that’s reason for joy.

“Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion
on his afflicted ones.” ~Isaiah 49:13

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An emailed comment from a loyal reader regarding last week’s picture of the 24 elders from Revelation 4-5 casting their crowns down at the heavenly throne: “Great comments, awful picture. Old white guys as elders? Really?”

OK, that’s fair. You got me. I’ll forever stand on the biblical picture of elders being old(er) and guys. There’s no debating that. Ever. But you’re absolutely right on the absurdity of all 24 elders being white. That doesn’t hardly capture the revelation of Christ as these elders representing “every tribe and language and people and nation.” Not at all.

Sorry. Good catch.

If anyone can email me a picture or a link to a picture which represents the elders around the throne as from every color and language and nation, please do.

Peace,

Allan

Never See Death

July 9, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Why doesn’t the roadrunner ever die? I’ve watched the coyote chase him all over the desert, I’ve seen him ALMOST caught by the coyote a million times, I’ve seen him in countless situations that look impossible to escape, but I’ve never seen him die. He always lives. Why?

It’s not because the coyote is inept. He’s a genius. It says so right on his business card.

The roadrunner never dies because the roadrunner has an agreement with the writer.

The writer has already determined that the roadrunner will never die. Regardless of how many trips the coyote makes to the ACME dry goods store, no matter how many rocket launchers and catapults and gallons of invisible paint are purchased, despite the coyote’s hours and hours of planning and scheming, the writer has decided the roadrunner will always win and the coyote will always lose.

Jesus says in John 8:51, “I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

See, our Savior holds the power of life and death in his hands. He is the Creator of life. He is the master over death. He’s defeated death in his Resurrection. Death has nothing on our Lord. He obliterated death and reversed death’s effects. And he promises us that if we believe his claims and keep his word, we will never die.

If we truly believe it, our lives will show it. Our attitudes will reflect it. The ways we deal with people and events and circumstances will prove it. The way we handle financial crises and health issues and death and disease will testify to our life in Christ. God’s Son personifies life and victory and resurrection as powerful realities for his children. Death is not the bottom line for us. Death is not the final word. Christ Jesus is the ultimate power with the ultimate authority. And he always writes the last chapter.

It’s good to have an arrangement with the writer.

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Mary Hollingsworth, one of our newer members here at Legacy, is seeing sermon illustrations in her back yard. Our focus this past Sunday on the holy stumps and the holy seed and the salvation shoot prompted Mary to email me yesterday with a couple of pictures and this message:

“Last year a tornado in Bedford broke two of our huge oak trees in half, leaving only stumps. We thought they were toast and gone forever, which broke our hearts because we’re tree huggers to the core. I’m happy to say that we were wrong. Both stumps are now growing like crazy. ‘A new branch will grow from a stump of a tree.’ It’s still happening! And even though I know the Root of Jesse has already come, he does promise to come again. Perhaps these new branches are good reminders for us to keep growing, in spite of tough times, and be ready when he appears again.”

Thank you, Mary, for the pictures and the reminders.

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There are 66 days left until the Cowboys kick off their 50th NFL football season in Tampa Bay against the Bucs. And to get us there, we’re counting it down with the Red Ribbon Review. We’re honoring the runners-up, the almost-weres, the also rans, the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number.

Today’s #66 is versatile offensive lineman Kevin Gogan. A bargain as an eighth round pick (206th overall) in 1987, Gogan toughed it out through those last two horrible Tom Landry seasons and the transitional phase into the Jerry Wayne Era, resulting in two Super Bowl rings and a huge fat contract with the Oakland Raiders. Gogan spent seven years in Dallas, but he got all his Pro Bowls and national recognition with the 49ers. At one point late in his career, Sports Illustrated put Gogan on the cover of an issue dedicated to dirty players in the NFL. Again, in a 49ers uniform. Still, he beats out Burton Lawless and Jesse Baker. He’s the second-best ever.

Beep-Beep,

Allan

Our God Is So Big!

July 6, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Our younger children sing a fun song — one of those with hand motions and everything — about the enormity of our God.

“My God is so big!”

That about sums it up. Simple words. Broad concept. But, what else could we possibly say? Those who’ve actually seen God and then tried to describe him didn’t do much better.

Isaiah saw God and says, “…the train (literally ‘hem’) of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1). If just the hem of his garment fills the whole temple, how big is that throne? Better yet, how big is the One who sits on that throne? In other words, human words fail to describe the greatness of our God. They can rise no higher than the hem of his robe.

It reminds me of the leaders of Israel returning from a communion meal with God on the mountain. They had just shared food and drink with God. And they tell the people, “Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself” (Exodus 24:10). See how our words stop at the pavement.

God is completely outside our categories. To try to describe him in human terms is always to fail. It’s futile. That’s why it was necessary for God to translate himself into our terms by coming to the world as one of us in Christ Jesus.

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

And the song’s pretty good, too.

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There are 69 days left until the Dallas Cowboys kick off their 2009 season against the Bucs in Tampa Bay. And we’re counting down those long summer days with the Red Ribbon Review, a look at the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number. We’ve got to catch up today on what we missed over the holiday weekend. While you were in the pool and grilling out and watching fireworks with friends and family I was considering…

…the second-best player to ever wear silver-and-blue number 71: Willie Townes. An original member of the front four of the famous Doomsday Defense of the late 60s, Townes played only 2-1/2 seasons in Dallas. But they were meaningful. Townes anchored the left tackle position from 1967-68, helping the Cowboys advance to two straight NFL Championship Game losses to the Packers. Heart-breaking losses, yes. But he was a critical part of those “Next Year’s Champions” teams. It was his hit on Bart Starr in the Ice Bowl that forced the fumble George Andrie ran back for a score. Backup offensive lineman Andy Frederick deserves honorable mention for his reserve role on the Super Bowl teams of the late 70s. But Townes gets our second-place nod today. He only played 32 games in his super-short NFL career. But it was foundation-type stuff.

Our Also-Ran at #70 is a guy who made a successful NFL career out of deep-snapping for punts and kicks, the very likeable Dale Hellestrae. Drafted by the Bills out of SMU, Hellestrae came to Dallas in 1990 and stayed for 11 years. He snapped in 176 games, 21 of them in the postseason. And he collected three Super Bowl rings along the way. He was a novelty, for sure. But he revolutionized the deep-snapper position. You can probably only name one deep-snapper in NFL history. And only one who ever had his own radio show. Helle’s the guy!

At today’s #69, I give you backup center Ben Fricke. Fricke came out of Houston and played in Dallas for three seasons, 1999-2001. He only appeared in 16 games for the Cowboys. And I can’t find a picture of the guy to save my life. Here’s a link to his stats. Go ahead and click it. It won’t take long.

Peace,

Allan

How Long?

July 3, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

When faced with the prospect of preaching to people who refuse to respond in a nation that refuses to change, Isaiah asks the Lord, “How long?” (Isaiah 6:11). Daniel asks the same question toward the end of the 70-years of exile, “Lord, how long?” (Daniel 8:13). The souls under the altar in John’s end time vision repeat the same question, “How long, Sovereign Lord?” (Revelation 6:10)

Surrounded by the problems of this world, confronted daily by the mystery of evil, a powerless spectator as sin and Satan and death and violence and disease seemingly have their way, we’re left to ask the same question.

“How long?”

I don’t know. Nobody knows.

However, you can be certain of this: the darkness of whatever present circumstance you’re enduring cannot adequately hide the glimmer of hope in the promises of our all-powerful and all-loving God.

Our Father is compassionate and gracious. slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. He will turn our mourning into dancing. He will remove our sackcloth and clothe us with joy. He will shine light into darkness. And he will bring life out of death.

Trust him. Seriously. It’s what he does.

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There are 72 hot summer days left until the Cowboys kick off their 2009 season. And in our countdown of the second-best players in Cowboys history by jersey number, today we honor offensive lineman Tony Liscio.

Liscio came out of Tulsa in 1963 and played eight full seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, mainly as a backup offensive tackle behind Ralph Neely and Forrest Gregg. In fact, 1966 was the only season Liscio started all 14 games. The Cowboys lost the NFL title in the Ice Bowl in Green Bay the following season and came up three-points shy in Super Bowl V in 1970. It was during the off-season between ’70 and ’71 that the Cowboys traded Liscio to San Diego for Lance Alworth, the move that brought “Bambi” to Dallas for his final two years.

But Liscio never played a down for the Chargers. He strained both hamstrings in stretching drills at the San Diego training camp and they shipped him to Miami. But his back was killing him, he was limping and in constant pain, so he just retired.

Until halfway through the ’71 season.

In the middle of November, the Cowboys were desperate for help at left tackle. Ralph Neely had broken his leg in a motorcycle accident. Don Talbert had broken his foot. And Forrest Gregg was too old to carry the load. So Tom Landry called Liscio on Monday November 15. He was at the Cowboys practice on Wednesday. His right leg was heavily taped from his ankle to his hip. Both shoulders were aching. His right knee hurt. But he was the starter against the Redskins that Sunday, a 13-0 win over Washington that gave Dallas the division championship.

(By the way, Liscio was wearing #64 during this “comeback” because Talbert had been given #72 after the trade.)

Liscio didn’t allow a single sack during his eight starts in the last half of that season and post-season of 1971. In fact, the Cowboys never lost another game that year, running the table to go on to capture their first NFL championship, routing the Dolphins in Super Bowl VI. Lance Alworth actually scored the first points in that Super Bowl, a quick toss to the left side. Liscio’s side. Cool.

Happy Fourth,

Allan

The Holy Stump

July 2, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“If even a tenth — a remnant — survive,
it will be invaded again and burned.
But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down,
so Israel’s stump will be a holy seed.”
~Isaiah 6:13

God calls Isaiah to preach to people who will hear but never understand, to a nation that will see but never perceive. Their hearts will be calloused, their ears will be dull, their eyes will be closed. And this ministry of failure is to continue until all of Israel is wiped clean. Isaiah is called to a faithful proclamation of God’s Word — non-negotiable repentance and commitment to the Lord and his ways — until the enemies haul everything away and there’s nothing left but stumps.

A desolate land of stumps.

Barren. Lonely. Empty. Devastated. Hopeless. Forgotten. Desolate. Ravaged. Destroyed.

How do you feel when the doctor diagnoses cancer and gives you or your loved one just a short time to live? What does it do to you to learn that you’re now unemployed? When your spouse says, “I want a divorce”? When your children leave our Lord and his Church? When physical pain dominates your existence? When loneliness pushes in on you? When your faithfulness to the Lord seems to only result in bad news? How do you feel when your own life — to you and to everyone who sees you — resembles a stump in a vast field of stumps?

Barren. Hopeless. Forgotten.

Please remember the stump is holy. Keep in mind that there’s seed in the stump. Holy seed. Our loving and powerful God is working right now to produce something beautiful from the ugly stump. His plan is to bring salvation from the stump.

The same God who brings order out of chaos in the opening lines of Scripture, who raises a mighty nation from a 90-year-old barren womb, who lifts the ruler of Egypt from the bottom of a well, and delivers his people to the Promised Land through a desert is the God who brought the Savior of the World from the stump of Israel. The holy shoot from the holy stump of Jesse!

Stay strong. Be faithful. You may not see it. But the stump is holy.

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73 days now until the Dallas Cowboys kick off their 2009 season. And we’re counting down the days with what we’re calling the Red Ribbon Review, a look at the also-rans when it comes to the best ever Cowboys. The second-best Cowboys player to ever wear jersey number 73 is big, huge, massive, large, offensive lineman Larry Allen.

Allen played 12 seasons in Dallas during the Jimmy Johnson-induced “big is beautiful” era of offensive linemen. According to his bio, Allen stands 6’3″ and weighs 325. It was more like 345. Or 375. It appeared to fluctuate wildly. But he wasn’t just big. He was super strong. Allen bench-pressed an even 700 pounds during the 2001 training camp in Wichita Falls, an NFL record that still stands. At the time the team was boasting that Allen had only 11% body fat, translating to 300 pounds of pure muscle and bone.

An eleven-time Pro Bowler and six-time All-Pro, Allen started in 170 games for the Cowboys between 1994 and 2005, a dominant force on some pretty bad teams during the Gailey and Campo stints. Allen certainly benefitted from Emmitt Smith’s skills and stats. He also got a lot of mileage out of John Madden’s hyperbolic descriptions of Allen’s size, his blocking, and his value to the team. Still, when the Cowboys cut him going into the 2006 season, he was the last remaining player to have participated in a Cowboys post-season win.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Isaiah (Page 10 of 12)

God Wins!

As A Mother Comforts Her Child…

Never See Death

Our God Is So Big!

How Long?

The Holy Stump

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