Category: Mark (Page 13 of 15)

The Kingdom Of God Is Here!

September 4, 2009 / Allan / 2 Comments

Jesus preaches the Kingdom. “Repent!” he says, “The Kingdom of God is near!” And then what does he do? He frees the prisoner, heals the blind and lame, rescues the oppressed.

Those are the signs of the Kingdom.

John the Baptist sends to find out if Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus says, look, you know what the signs are. “…the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

That’s the Kingdom.

Distressed people being encouraged. Cold people being warmed. Hurting people being comforted. The outcasts being brought in and made family.

The Kingdom of God.

When we talk about the Kingdom strictly in terms of church and the institution and the rules and the order — when that’s our whole idea of Kingdom — we quickly lose sight of the very things that the Kingdom of God what it is. Centuries of church development and decision-making and rule-making can cloud our vision. When we see the Kingdom exclusively as church, we tend to focus only on the features and characteristics of the church.

Our challenge is to insure that our identifying characteristics genuinely correspond to those of the Kingdom Jesus was preaching. Maintaining our institutional status quo is not necessarily the same as being faithful to Jesus and his mission. Being a member in good standing or being a middle-of-the-road church isn’t necessarily the same as living under the reign of God.

Our King came into this world in order to serve and to save. And that is the business of his subjects, as well. May our Lord bless us as we serve and rescue and save in his name.

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Only nine days until the Cowboys kick off their 50th regular NFL season. One week from Sunday, they’ll tee it up against the Bucs down in Tampa Bay. And we’re counting down the days with what we’ve been calling the Red Ribbon Review. These are the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number. The almosts. The also-rans. The not-quites.

Today’s #9 is Super Bowl punter Mitch Hoopes. (Doesn’t his picture just scream “Mid-70s”?) He was part of that historic Dirty Dozen draft of 1975, taken by Tom Landry in the eighth round out of Arizona. One of the few, if only, times the Cowboys have ever drafted a kicker. Hoopes was the punter as a rookie that year, posting a pedestrian 39.4 yards per kick average. Dallas made a shocking run to Super Bowl X, a heart-breaking loss to the Steelers in Miami, and then promptly brought in Danny White during the offseason to back up Roger Staubach.

And to punt.

Hoopes was released. And White became, in Staubach’s own words, “America’s Punter.”

Tomorrow’s #8 in the countdown is the only other player in Cowboys history to wear #8 besides the obvious Hall of Famer. Buzz Sawyer. His real name is Robert Meade Sawyer, according to pro football reference guides. But the Cowboys list him as Buzz. He was born in Waxahachie, punted for Texas A&M and Baylor, and wound up playing for the Cowboys scab team during the 1987 players strike. Three games. 16 total punts. 39.9 yards per kick average. And the only exclusively-scabs player to make the Red Ribbon Review.

Peace,

Allan

You Are God and I Am Not

July 8, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Peter looks at the miraculous catch of fish and falls down at Jesus’ feet and says, “Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man!”

Peter finds himself in the presence of the holy Almighty God and he’s astonished. He and his companions are seized with amazement as they recognize clearly their place next to the Creator of the universe. Because of his sin, Peter doesn’t deserve the blessings of Christ. Because of his unworthiness, Peter doesn’t belong in the same boat with Jesus.

You see, the closer you get to God the more clear your own sinfulness becomes. Your own unworthiness before the Lord comes into sharp focus.

The same light that knocks the apostle Paul down the ground on the way to Damascus. The same Lord who caused Job to say, “I despise myself.” The same God who caused Isaiah to exclaim, “Woe to me, I am ruined!” The same Almighty who prompted Abraham to declare, “I am nothing but dust and ashes!” The same Son of Man who caused John to fall at his feet as though he were dead. Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel, calls us to acknowledge our own sinfulness and our own unworthiness.

And until we do, I don’t think we get it.

Until we see ourselves as sinners in the presence of a holy and righteous God, I think we probably cheapen or devalue his amazing grace. Our tendency is to think, “Yes, of course God loves me; that’s his job!”

No, ma’am, that’s not his job. It is an unimaginable, unexpected, unfathomable, unnecessary wonder of the universe! It’s mind-blowing and earth-altering and history-changing. And, to the eternal praise of God, it’s not impossible! God has found a way — amazing as it is — to satisfy both his holiness and his love.

My Father reminds me all the time that he is God and I most certainly am not. And that continually fills me with a deep sense of gratitude. And awe.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!”

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There are 67 days left until the Dallas Cowboys open up their 50th football season. And the Red Ribbon Review is counting down the days with a look at the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number. #67 turns up some very interesting characters and stories.

Pat Toomay wore the number 67 in Dallas. A backup defensive end from Vandy, Toomay barely tolerated Tom Landry and the Flex Defense for five seasons before bouncing from Tampa Bay to Oakland then to retirement as an acclaimed author. Toomay has written two novels about football classified as non-fiction. The Crunch got him in trouble with the Cowboys. On Any Given Sunday got him a movie deal.

Everett McIver was also a #67. He’s the guy who was unfortunate enough to be in the chair and in the middle of a haircut at Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls when Michael Irvin decided it was his turn. During the ensuing argument, Irvin stabbed McIver in the neck with a pair of scissors, coming within an inch or so of killing him. There were reports in the Dallas Morning News later that summer that Jerry Wayne had brokered a deal for Irvin to pay McIver a six-figure sum to keep quiet. All parties denied it. Charges were never filed.

As for on the field football stuff, though, the second-best Dallas Cowboy to ever wear #67 is offensive lineman Pat Donovan. Donovan was part of that Dirty Dozen draft class of 1975 that helped lead the Cowboys to Super Bowl X. He took over for the retiring Ralph Neely at left tackle and played nine years in Dallas, never missing a game. Donovan played in 20 playoff games for the Cowboys, including six NFC Championship Games and three Super Bowls, earning a title ring in Super Bowl XII against Denver. He made the Pro Bowl in four straight seasons from ’79-’82, one of only four tackles in team history to make at least that many trips to Hawaii. Following the ’83 season, Donovan required surgery on both shoulders and decided to retire. Donovan was certainly not as colorful as Toomay or John Gesek, another Cowboys #67, but he is clearly the second-best #67 in team history.

Peace,

Allan

In The Garden

April 6, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.” ~Mark 14:33

What happened that night in the olive grove at Gethsemane? What transpired there? Jesus is meeting a tremendous trial, he’s facing a gruesome horror, he’s fighting intense temptation. And he does not do it stoically. He does it biblically. Loudly. With tears and sweat. And honest lament. He lays his body and soul before God in complete honesty and trust and says, “Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.”

Jesus is facing the most severe test of his life. God is handing him the cup and demanding he drink it. Jesus’ physical and spiritual self — his mind and his body, his heart and his soul — none of him wants to do this. He shudders in horror at the mission before him. He dreads all of it. The pain. The torture. The death. Jesus is facing the terrible prospect of crucifixion. His Father is in the process of making him who had no sin to be sin for the world. Jesus is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. And he’s in turmoil.

Jesus wants another way. And he asks for it.

This is a horrible scene.

Jesus crying out to his Father — “Deliver Me!!” — and no dove descends, no voice from heaven says this is my Son. God has already spoken. And the Son must obey.

And he does.

“Not my will, but yours be done.”

Perfect honesty. Total truthfulness. Complete trust. And a beautiful, matchless example of devotion and commitment and obedience to God. The perfect example of understanding God’s will, wrestling with the difficulty of carrying it out, demonstrating to us that asking God about it, even asking him to change it, is not inappropriate. It’s honorable. But through it all, we clearly see Jesus’ commitment to obey.

Jesus overcomes the silence. He fights off the temptation to do what he wants. And through open and honest prayer, he obeys the Father. At Gethsemane, we see both Jesus’ agony and his determination to do God’s will, even if it means his horrible death.

Praise God for the Savior’s love. And for his obedience to our Father’s will.

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Early Saturday evening, while moving a water sprinkler in the back yard, I noticed a huge glob of bees congregated on the northeast corner of our house. The blob of bees was about two feet in length and 18-inches wide, probably 20-thousand bees according to the beekeeper I was forced to call.

He told me he would charge me $200 to remove the bees, $300 if they had actually gotten into the walls of the house, and $400 if I spray them or attempt to remove them myself first.

Needless to say, we had bees on the brains at Stanglin Manor Saturday night. So when a June bug flew into the kitchen and buzzed Valerie’s head toward the end of dinner, the terrified screams, I’m sure, set off car alarms in Haltom City.

The beekeeper showed up at 7:30 yesterday morning. It was cold outside so the bees weren’t moving much. They had actually all clumped on top of each other instead of being all spread out the way they were in the evening. He put on his bee suit and used a tricked-out vacuum cleaner to suck them them all quickly and painlessly into a big white box. 15 minutes. Two-hundred dollars.

He says he does about 400 calls a year.

Valerie did the math. Now she wants to be a beekeeper.

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What a fantastic morning Saturday at the Eastridge Church in Rockwall. The Four Horsemen met at 7:00 for an hour of prayer in their beautiful worship center (having Mason, Jason’s oldest son, there to pray with us was an unexpected treat!). Seeing Dan on 24 hours of prayer and zero hours of sleep was interesting (actually, it’s not that different from seeing Dan any other time). And, for the first time ever, over-dressing at an event Kevin helped sponsor was a bit unsettling.

Jason and I had the great privilege of sharing breakfast with and then speaking to the men of Eastridge who had just completed a 24-hour period of continuous prayer. What a blessing! I love listening to these men recount the experiences of praying with one another for an hour or more over the needs of the congregation and the community. The unexpected tears. The overwhelming nature of the requests. The burden-bearing. The responsibility. The fellowship. The pouring out of hearts and souls to God. The bonding.

The same thing happened when we did this here at Legacy. And in Marble Falls. And in Mesquite. In fact, the 24 Hours of Prayer was one of the very first things we did as the Four Horsemen following that monumental breakfast at our house in 2001. We pledged to one another that morning to do more for Christ and for his Kingdom. We pledged to do more for the Mesquite congregation and the Mesquite community. We vowed to stop asking the elders for permission, to just start doing the things we knew needed to be done that would shape us all more into the image of Christ. The Second Saturday Servants. Feeding the homeless and hungry in downtown Dallas. The Men’s Advance. We didn’t ask for permission to do any of that. We just organized it and got the whole church to do it.

On Saturday, as we reflected with those men at Eastridge on that life-changing, earth-altering year for us, a year that saw a series of events that facilitated tremendous spiritual growth, Jason pointed out that now he and I both have to ask our elders permission before we do anything.

Funny.

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Parity has entered the world of NCAA tournament brackets at Stanglin Central. And it’s not pretty. Whitney unseated me as undefeated bracket champion in a tie-breaker following the final game last year. This year, Carrie-Anne has unceremoniously taken the crown even before the on-court title is decided. She finished with 72 points. Valerie was next wtih 71. Carley and I tied with 70. Whitney went from first to worst with 63. None of us has Carolina or Michigan State winning the whole thing. So we’re done. Congratulations, C-A.

There’s always next year.

Speaking of next year………Go Rangers!

Allan

Where Are The Kids?

January 13, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Where are the kids? The local TV stations used to ask us at 10:00 every night. It’s the question I ask Carrie-Anne when I come home after work. Thirty minutes after church when I’m ready to get in the car. In a crowded mall. At the park. When it’s especially quiet in the house. When the bikes are left on the lawn. Where are the kids?

If we ask that question as we’re reading Scripture—where are the kids?—the answer always comes back, “right in the big middle of everything.” Right where God put ’em. Right where God wants ’em.

Matthew 21 – Jesus enters the temple in the last week of his life. The children are there shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The religious leaders in the temple are indignant. Maybe the kids were clapping, I don’t know. Maybe just the fact that the kids were in the middle of the temple being loud was enough to upset these teachers and priests. Jesus answers their indignation by quoting Scripture. “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.”

Exodus 10 – Before the plague of locusts, God tells Moses he’s doing this “that you may tell your children and grandchildren…”

Exodus 12 – God insitutes the formational Passover Supper with everyone’s kids right there around the table. “When your children ask you…then tell them.”

Exodus 13 – God explains the dedication of the first-born. “On that day, tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me.'” Also, “when your son asks you…,” tell him the great story.

Deuteronomy 4 – God’s giving the Law to his people. “Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

Deuteronomy 6 – Same thing. “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” And again, when your son asks you, tell him the stories.

Joshua 4 – Setting up the stones to mark the spot where they crossed the Jordan River. When your children ask you, tell them.

Matthew 18 & 19, Mark 10, Luke 18 – Parents bring their children to Jesus. And he welcomed them gladly. They brought their kids to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them and teach them. And he did. Jesus took little kids in his arms, he placed his hands on their heads, he prayed for them. He warns us not to ignore them or neglect them or discourage them in any way because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to our little children and he’s not willing that any of them should be lost.

In our Scriptures, the kids are always right in the big middle of everything. Exactly where God put ’em. In our Bibles, the children are never on the edges, they’re not peripheral participants in the community of faith. They’re not sent to the other room. They don’t eat at a different table. They’re not placed in an “age-appropriate educational environment.” They are critical components. They are integral to God’s plan for his people. They are the centerpiece to our sacred conversations and the core of our holy gatherings.

Where are the kids?

When you’re praying. When you’re reading the Word. When you’re singing praises to God. When you’re at the common table with your brothers and sisters in Christ. When you’re talking about our Savior and the Gospel’s impact on your life.

Where are the kids?

Which Is Lawful?

November 13, 2008 / Allan / 2 Comments

“Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely.” ~Mark 3:2
“(They) were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely.” ~Luke 6:7
“…looking for a reason to accuse Jesus…” ~Matthew 12:10
“…he was being carefully watched.” ~Luke 14:1

The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, these self-appointed Sheriffs of the Synagogue, were watching Jesus closely so they could pounce on him the second he broke one of their rules. In Luke 13, Jesus heals the woman who’d been crippled for 18 years. In the synagogue. On the Sabbath. In Mark 3, it’s this man with the withered hand. In the synagogue. On the Sabbath. And the Sheriffs didn’t like it. They were indignant. They plotted to kill him.

And Jesus challenges these religious leaders with his question in Mark 3:4 > “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”

Jesus presents to the synagogue rulers—and to you and me—two ways of doing the religious rules and regulations. He doesn’t throw them away. He says there are two ways of keeping them. One way is good and one way is bad. One way gives life to people and one way takes life away from people. One way frees people from burdens and one way places more burdens on people. One way liberates people from their chains and one way locks people up in prisons.

Jesus gives us two ways of doing religion. Two incompatible outlooks. Two opposite and conflicting views about our God and his Law and his intentions for his Law. And he presents it as a choice between the two. You have to choose. You can’t have it both ways.

“Which is lawful?” he says. For hungry people to eat or for them to remain hungry in order to protect your rules? (Mark 2:23-27) Which is lawful? For this man with the debilitating injury that singles him out as less than whole to be healed and to made whole or to remain withered and less than what he’s meant to be in order to keep your traditions? (Mark 3:1-6) Which is lawful? For this woman who’s been bent over for as long as she can remember, burdened by the weight of the world and her own sins, to be delivered from these burdens and made to walk again or to remain stooped over and burdened even more in order to keep your order? (Luke 13:10-17) Which is lawful?

God’s Law is not about the rules. It’s about people.
God’s Church is not about the institution. It’s about people.

And if we’re partnering with God and with his plan to redeem the world, we take care of people, not rules. So why, sometimes, do we act like Sheriffs of the Synagogue? I’m afraid, sometimes, we get together with God’s people on God’s holy day, the day set aside for us to celebrate salvation from God in the resurrection and reign of Christ, and we’re watching closely. Looking for a reason to accuse.

“Did you see what he’s wearing? Did you hear what she said? He’s raising his hands. She’s closing her eyes. He’s clapping. She’s kneeling. He won’t stand. She won’t sing.

And Jesus asks, “Which is lawful?” To do good or evil? To watch for those who might stray from my tradition and call them on it? Or to praise God with them in the understanding that we’re both redeemed by the blood of the Lamb? Which is lawful? To save life or to kill? To watch closely for someone who might violate my regulation and talk to them about it? Or to encourage them and be thankful that you both share salvation from God in Christ? Which is lawful? To remove the barriers and burdens and hurdles from my brothers and sisters or to weigh them down with my rules and regulations that act as chains and prison bars to those we’ve told have been set free?

Jesus says there are two ways. One way cares about people. One way doesn’t. The synagogue ruler in Luke 13 actually addresses the people after Jesus heals the crippled woman. “Hey! he says. “If you’re looking for freedom, if you’re looking for healing, if you’re looking for relief and rescue, if you’re looking to be delivered from the things that are weighing you down, come back some other day. You’ve got six other days to do stuff like that. Come back tomorrow. We have our rules, you know.”

Nobody—and I don’t care if they’ve been members of the congregation for 45 years or if they’re completely unknown strangers off the street—nobody should ever come into our church buildings to sit with us, worship with us, sing and pray with us, and study the Scriptures with us and feel like somebody’s watching him closely. Or looking for a reason to accuse.

That situation says a whole lot more about the watcher than it does the watch-ee or the rules. Jesus called it hardness of heart.

Aren’t we glad we serve a King who’s much more about mercy than ritual?
Aren’t we glad our God deals with us compassionately with patience and grace instead of Law?
As God’s children and subjects of the King, aren’t we compelled to treat others the same way?

Peace,

Allan

Plunder Taken, Captives Rescued

August 28, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

“Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce?
This is what the Lord says:
‘Yes, captives will be taken from the warriors,
and plunder retrieved from the fierce;
I will contend with those who contend with you,
and your children I will save.'” ~Isaiah 49:24-25

“No one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.” ~Mark 3:27

As Jesus teaches and loves and heals and drives out demons in Mark 3, he’s accused by religious leaders and his own family of being possessed by Satan. But Jesus makes it clear: what’s happening is not the result of some civil war within Satan’s ranks. This is a direct frontal assault from the outside. The strong man is Satan. His house, his domain, is this world which he’s trying desperately to secure and hold on to. His possessions are his victims, these people he’s taken captive. He’s trapped these victims. He’s imprisoned them with sin and fear and death and disease and demons. He’s holding them with divorce and crime and addiction and unemployment and cancer. He’s got ’em. But then along comes the stronger one, Jesus. He comes from God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to cross the barriers of time and space, to smash through the walls of the devil’s house, to tie Satan up and carry off his precious possessions. To free the captives. To rescue the prisoners.

God himself overcomes the mighty one. He destroys forever the destroyer.

Satan uses our fears of the awful things we see all around us. Hebrews 2 says Satan holds the power of death and holds us in slavery, keeps us paralyzed, holds us in prison, by our fear of it. And then God himself breaks through, as the divine Son of Man. Jesus comes to earth, right into the middle of Satan’s house. He walks our streets. He teaches our people. He hugs our kids. He eats with us. He touches us. And he brings with him the eternal Kingdom of God! He wages war—not against the petty tyrants and selfish leaders and evil empires. He comes here intent on destroying THE Kingdom of Satan which has enslaved all of humanity. Christ Jesus, by his birth and life and teachings and ministry and death and burial and resurrection and exaltation, takes Satan’s plunder and rescues Satan’s captives and he ties Satan up and makes him watch.

We are that plunder taken. We are the captives rescued. This is us. We were the ones imprisoned by Satan. We were the ones held in slavery by our sins and paralyzed by our fears. We were the ones stuck, doomed, distressed, condemned. We were the hostages. We were the sentenced prisoners. We were headed to an eternity of death and despair. Damned by our own selfishness and sin. We were hopeless. We were already given up for gone.

But now we are rescued. We’re freed. We’re liberated.

We’re not just rescued from ourselves and our sins, we’re snatched from the life-choking clutches of Satan himself! We’re freed from the Kingdom of Darkness to walk eternally in newness of life.

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” ~Colossians 1:13-14.

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Several of you have been asking about Debbie Miller, the wife of one of the Four Horsemen, one of my dearest friends. Her surgery was yesterday. And it couldn’t have been more successful. It couldn’t have gone any better. And our Father couldn’t have answered our prayers in any more of an amazing way. All the cancer is totally gone! 100% gone! There wasn’t any in her muscle tissue. There’s not any in her lymph nodes. It was all contained in the tumors and the tumors are gone! Praise God!

I talked to Dan last night. He told me it was the greatest and happiest day he’s had since….and then he said it’s the greatest and happiest day of his entire life. Our God is great. He answers prayer. And he delivers his people. And we rejoice today with Dan and Debbie.

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We’re leaving Friday for Searcy, Arkansas to spend about 24 hours with my brother, Keith, and his wonderful family. And then it’s off to Benton, Arkansas to hook up with Jimmy Mitchell and the Benton Church of Christ. Jimmy was our Youth Minister in Marble Falls when we were there from ’05-’07. I’ll be preaching for them in Benton on Sunday. Please keep our family in your prayers. And ask God to bless our time with great family and great friends.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Mark (Page 13 of 15)

The Kingdom Of God Is Here!

You Are God and I Am Not

In The Garden

Where Are The Kids?

Which Is Lawful?

Plunder Taken, Captives Rescued

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