The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

AllanStanglin.com

Category: Matthew (Page 20 of 24)

Where Two or Three Are Gathered

September 16, 2010 / / 7 Comments

“Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” ~Matthew 18:20

I had always heard and understood that verse to mean that anytime Christians get together for any reason, Jesus is there. Generally, we use that verse to justify skipping church. Going camping or fishing or staying home to watch the Cowboys is OK if we’re doing it with other Christians. “Where two or three are gathered…” Right?

Over the past few years, I’ve come to see the full context of that Matthew 18 passage. It’s about putting aside differences. Two or three are gathered…It’s about making peace with one another. Forgiving each other. Making right the things that are wrong between people. In light of all the bickering and arguing and debating and dividing and judging and pettiness among Christ’s disciples today, I’ve come to hear that verse 20 as Jesus saying, “Man, if two of y’all can agree on ANYTHING, I’ll show up just to see it!”

The passage is really about prayer.

“If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” ~Matthew 18:19-20

Jesus is talking about prayer. He’s talking about people being of one heart and one spirit, coming together to pray about common concerns, to praise God for common blessings, to ask with one voice for his holy will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Where two or three are gathered…Praying together bonds us to one another. It eliminates the boundaries between us. It destroys the walls. It obliterates the divisions. Praying together allows us to see past the exterior differences between us and stare right into one another’s hearts. Sometimes the only times we really get to see and hear and feel what one another is all about is when we pray together. There are no divisions in a prayer circle. There are no false distinctions. No one is better than anybody else when we come together to pray. We’re all equals in the throne room of God.

When Christians pray together, the Spirit is at work. When we come together to reach for God’s will, his presence is with …there am I with them.us.

Our annual 24 Hours of Prayer here at Legacy begins at 8:00 tomorrow morning. It’s a men’s ministry thing, although it looks like it’s going to be a church-wide thing next year. Open and honest and humble prayer before God and one another. More than 80-men. Close to 3,000 different prayer requests. Continuously, in one-hour shifts, through the day and night, into Saturday morning. It makes us put aside our differences. It forces us to focus on God’s will, not mine or yours. It pushes us to see the world and the people in it through God’s eyes.

If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.I’m meeting my brothers Greg and Jerry and Larry in the worship center at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Herb and Dennis and Gary and James are showing up at 9:00. Elvin and Sam and Jimmy arrive at 10:00. On and on in our worship center. Brothers in Christ crying out to our Father. I’ll be back at 5:00 tomorrow afternoon to pray with Glenn and Bob and Gary. Again at midnight with Bo and Greg and Brian and Larry and Wes. We’re going to pray together.

And Jesus has promised he’s going to meet us there.

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

Caleb NelsonDavid and Olivia Nelson, Legacy’s wonderful missionaries in Kharkov, Ukraine, have finally had that little David&Olivia&Calebbaby. Caleb James was born last week, September 8. For a very interesting story about what it’s like to deliver a baby in Ukraine, check out their blog by clicking here. Lots of awesome pictures there, too. Congratulations you two. You three! We love you. And we can’t wait to see you here at Legacy in November!

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

The Rangers’ magic number is 8!The Rangers have won seven straight. The A’s have thrown in the towel. The magic number is down to eight. And our baseball team is about to clinch it’s fourth division title, it’s first since 1999. The shame of it is that they’re going to clinch it either in Anaheim or Oakland at 12:15 or 12:30am on a weekday.

The Rangers leave today for a ten-game road trip to the West Coast, their last road trip of the season. The Rangers lead the A’s by ten full games!All of the games except Sunday’s begin at 9:05pm Texas time. It’s so disappointing to me. When the Rangers record that last out on that magical night (morning), and they dogpile one another on the pitcher’s mound and they pop the champagne and they cry and laugh and celebrate this great achievement, most Rangers fans under the age of 15 will have already been in bed asleep for a couple of hours. I hate that. I’ll let Whitney stay up that night. But Carley and Valerie will be long gone. So will Carrie-Anne.

The Rangers’ placement in the AL West division does this team no favors. To be the only team in a West Coast division located two time zones away is a killer. I have to believe it’s really difficult to build up a super strong and loyal fan base when nearly a third of all your games every season begin just as most fans and potential fans in your time zone are setting their alarm clocks and brushing their teeth.

Just as the Dallas Cowboys have benefitted all these years from being in the NFC East with the Giants and Redskins and Eagles, the Rangers have been handicapped by playing in California and Washington with the Angels, M’s, and A’s.

Rangers playoff tickets go on sale Saturday. Daily afternoon naps begin this Monday.

Peace,

Allan

Father, Forgive Terry Jones

September 9, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Father, forgive Terry Jones; he knows not what he is doing.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” ~Jesus

Terry Jones is planning to burn 200 copies of the Qur’an on the lawn of his church in Gainesville, Florida this Saturday. He says Islam is of the devil. He claims that Muslims are our enemies and that Christians need to take a stand. His idea of taking a stand is to lash out in a violent show of force and desecrate what is sacred to millions of people who do not yet know our Lord.

“In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” ~Jesus

Terry Jones says he doesn’t like the Qur’an because it teaches that Jesus is not the Christ. He doesn’t like Muslims because they are killing American Christians in the name of God. So his response is to categorically condemn these people and burn their books.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” ~Paul

Terry Jones says he’s going to show the Muslims that we have freedom and rights. We have the right to free speech. We have the freedom of religion. And we’re going to show all the Muslims around the world that we intend to exercise those rights and freedoms in any way we choose. That may be so. More power to him. But don’t you dare attach the name of Jesus or God’s Church to your crusade. Do not endorse your violent exercise of freedom by invoking the name of the One who voluntarily gave up all of his freedoms to save the world from sin. Do not justify your angry and vengeful actions by claiming their motivated by the One who gave up all his rights, who allowed himself to be mocked and ridiculed and abused and killed in order to save me when I was an enemy of God himself.

“If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” ~Jesus

The national media love to find Christians who don’t act like Christ. And they find them all over the place. They’re everywhere. It’s no wonder a lot of people hate us. It’s no wonder.

Terry Jones is not acting like a Christian. To act like a Christian is to love your enemy. To follow Christ is to treat your enemy with compassion and grace and mercy. To be Christ-like is to treat every single person exactly like the child of God, the man or woman of God, the person God sacrificed his very life for in the body of his beloved Son that he or she most certainly is. God loves these people. All of them. They’re all made in his holy image. And he cares deeply for them. Christ died for them. All of them.

Terry Jones does not represent Christ in his words or his deeds.

And Terry Jones does not represent us. This is not who we are. It’s not.

“All men will know that you are my disciples, if you love.” ~Jesus

Father, forgive Terry Jones; he knows not what he is doing.

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

Stream DFW this weekend at South MacArthur Church of ChristIf you’re still undecided on whether or not you’re going to attend Stream DFW this weekend at the South MacArthur Church of Christ in Irving (Ken Young and the Hallal Singers, Terry Rush), please click here and watch these video highlights from last year’s Stream. And then click here to register. See you there!

Peace,

Allan

Deal or No Deal

May 14, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Jesus called Simon and his brother Andrew. “At once” they dropped their nets and followed him. The woman at the Samaritan well dropped her water jar to respond to Christ’s call. The man in the Gerasenes enthusiastically jumped in the boat with Jesus upon being cleansed. When he received his sight, Bartimaeus “immediately” leapt up to follow Jesus on the way.

Over and over again the clear and consistent portrait of true discipleship to Jesus is painted as a relationship on Christ’s terms, not on the terms or conditions of Christ’s followers. Bargaining with God is NOT the all-in submission for which our Savior is looking. The Gospels are full of these would-be-disciples:Let’s Make a Deal

Deal or No Deal“IF you’ll give me a nice place to live, THEN I’ll follow you.”

“IF I can take care of my business first, THEN I’ll follow you.”

“IF you let me deal with my family issues first, THEN I’ll follow you.”

“IF you allow me to hang on to my worldly possessions, THEN I’ll follow you.”

In each case, it’s a deal-breaker with Jesus. We don’t negotiate with God. We don’t put conditions on Christ. This is not a game show. It’s life and death. It’s heaven and hell. It’s salvation and judgment and relationship and atonement and sanctification. It’s eternal. We give ourselves wholly to him as a response to his complete service and sacrifice for us. No looking back. Brakes off. Full steam ahead.

That’s the deal.

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

MDA Lock-UpThank you so much to every single person who donated this week to MDA. We wound up raising a total of $1,105 for clinics and shots and treatments and evaluations and therapy and equipment repairs and camps. I was taken away in the back seat of an unmarked car at noon yesterday and made it back to the church offices, full of barbecue and a couple of funny stories, by 1:30. Thank you, again. Your good-natured ribbing was wonderful. Your open heart for generously giving to those in need was inspirational.

I’m going to leave the link to my MDA page over there on the right side of the blog for 30 more days. If you’d like to add to the total and help me meet my actual goal of $1,480, just click over there.

I met a couple of kids at the Lock-Up who are suffering with Muscular Dystrophy and I wished them God’s richest blessings for healing and comfort and peace. But my thoughts were and still are with Angela Giles. May our merciful Father bless you, Angela, with his gracious healing and comfort and peace.

We love you,

Allan

Who Do You Say I Am?

May 13, 2010 / / 0 Comments

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” ~Matthew 16:15

Who Do You Say I Am?Peter answers his Lord by confessing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In similar circumstances — we could argue we live 24 hours a day in that circumstance — we would all make that Christian confession.

And Jesus would respond, “Blessed are you, Allan. Blessed are you, Joe. Blessed are you, Jane. Blessed are you (insert your own name).

And we’d just sit there, together, basking in the quiet moment, reflecting on the eternal implications of that confession.

And then what if you broke that silence by turning the question back on Jesus? What if you asked Jesus, “Who do you say I am?” You ever thought about that? What would Jesus say if you asked him who he says you are? You know he has an opinion. He knows you. He knows everything about you. What you say. What you do. The ways you think. He knows. And you ask him…

“…Who do you say I am?”

Well, what does he say?

I think Jesus would say, “Allan, you are a faithful proclaimer of the Gospel. You are a compassionate minister in the Kingdom.”

See, Jesus would always go to the positives first. That’s the way he operates. Our tendencies are to see the negatives first. Even in our self-evaluations, we look at the negatives and blow them out of proportion. But Jesus would initially attend to the good things about us. It’s called grace.

And then, I’m afraid my Lord would say, “Allan, you have a real lack of trust in me. Your faith isn’t nearly as strong as it should be by now. And you have a real problem with looking at things from a worldly perspective. Even things in my Church. You make judgments and decisions based on worldly principles.”

He would say other things about areas in my life I’m needing to change. But he would probably keep coming back to my lack of faith.

If you were to ask Jesus, “Who do you say I am?” what would he say?

Seriously.

He has an opinion.

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

last day to contribute!The cops are coming to get me at noon today. No Thursday hoops. I’ll be in jail in Bedford trying to raise the rest of the $1,480 bail money needed for MDA. As of this writing, we’ve raised $950. Thank you, thank you, thank you! If you’d like to contribute to the cause, please click here. Again, thank you.

Peace,

Allan

Expectation #7

February 19, 2010 / / 0 Comments

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” ~Matthew 22:37-40

Love God, Love NeighborLove is the beginning and the end of our righteous relationship with God — and everything in the middle. Love pushes us. It motivates us. It defines us. Love is what Scripture says binds everything we do together in perfect unity. We must place unconditional, God-ordained love in the supreme position of our hearts and minds and in God’s Church.

God’s love for us depends completely upon his character, not ours. Everyone stands before our God equally. No human being can ever do anything to earn God’s love. That fact that we are sinners is woefully inescapable. The fact that God still loves us anyway is amazingly wonderful. And we respond to that matchless grace and undeniable love by loving him back and by loving all people the way he does.

And that doesn’t mean surface relationships. It doesn’t mean love at arm’s length. It doesn’t mean love all people, but don’t get involved in their lives. It means imitating God’s gutsy love, his all-in love, a love so full and so complete that it compelled Christ to suffer and die to show us.

May we be a people who receive one another as Christ receives us, who forgive others as we’ve been forgiven by God, and who love God and others as fearlessly and unconditionally as he loves us.

Peace,

Allan

Expectation #5

February 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” ~Matthew 5:16

We’re called to evangelize the same way Jesus evangelized: in deep, personal, loving, and giving relationship. We watch our Lord proclaim the Gospel and we follow his lead.

Let Your Light ShineJesus eats dinner with his friends. He teaches in Capernaum and preaches at the lake. He throws a picnic for five thousand and he spends the night in the mountains praying with his disciples. He hugs mourners at funerals. He touches lepers. He weeps for the city. He embraces strangers and stays with tax collectors. Jesus protects the adulterous woman at the temple and he blesses the children. He forgives his enemies from the cross. He dies for me. And he walks out of the tomb and breathes into us his resurrection life.

The Way of Jesus is always in creating and saving and blessing. He invites and he forgives. He seeks the lost and heals the sick. He turns the other cheek. He embodies the Good News in submissive love and sacrificial service.

According to Acts 2:42-47, this is how the first church evangelized. This is how you let your light shine. This is how you share your faith and redeem the world. By delivering a casserole or mowing a yard. By inviting somebody over for ice-cream. By praying for enemies and forgiving people who do you harm.

The world sees that and can’t resist.

Peace,

Allan

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑