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Category: Prayer (Page 27 of 29)

Waging War In The Worship Center

October 2, 2008 / / 0 Comments

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms…With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” ~Ephesians 6:12-18

“To clasp the hands in prayer is to begin an uprising against the powers of the world.” ~Karl Barth

“Prayer does not equip us for greater works; prayer is the greater work.” ~Oswald Chambers

24HoursOfPrayerThere’s a battle taking place. There’s fighting. We’re in the middle of a war. We’ve received nearly a thousand prayer requests this week in anticipation of our 24 Hours of Prayer Friday and Saturday here at Legacy. I’ve been blessed to read every single one of them as I compile them and organize them for this massive prayer event. And I can testify to the war.

There’s cancer. Illness. Divorce. Estranged children. Addiction. Bitterness. Depression. Broken families. Lost jobs. Disease. Violence. Death. Fear. Concern. Pain. Uncertainty. Sadness.

And it’s nothing but Satan. Our Adversary is working overtime to destroy us. His influence is all over these prayer requests. He’s trying to kill us. It’s not the cancer or the financial woes or the family issues. It’s our Enemy. And he fights dirty. And he’s bent on destruction.

And we battle him together by the power of God. Together we don God’s armor so we can stand against the Evil One. We stand firm, together, in truth and righteousness and peace and faith and salvation and the Word. All those things protect us from the flaming arrows of Satan, from the evil he would do in our lives and in our world to discourage us, to drive us apart, to drive us away. The armor protects us. And above all this, on top of all this, we pray. We pray. We lift our hands and our hearts to the One who promises to destroy the Enemy.

Yes, there is a battle taking place. And that battle is won when we pray.

Between 60-70 men are committed to praying continuously, non-stop, up here in our worship center, from 8:00 Friday morning through 8:00 Saturday morning, 24 hours, over the requests of our church family and our community. We’re taking the war to Satan this weekend. We’re storming the gates of Hell with prayer and the power of our mighty God. We’ll be on the front lines of the cosmic battle in that worship center. We’ll emerge Saturday bloodied and bruised. Intercession isn’t easy. It’s costly. It’s hard. Paul likens it to wrestling in Colossians 4. But we’ll emerge victorious through the strength of our crucified and resurrected Lord.

We could still use another 25-30 volunteers to pray during one of these hours. We need a few more troops. Call the Legacy church office to sign up. You don’t even have to sign up. Just show up. I thank you in advance. You also still have time to submit a prayer request by clicking here.

“As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. He said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord.” ~Exodus 17:12-16

We Have Sinned Against The Lord

August 21, 2008 / / 1 Comment

“Our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” ~Ezra 9:6

“We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.” ~Daniel 9:5

“On that day they fasted and there they confessed, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.'” ~1 Samuel 7:6

This past Sunday, in our brand new sparkling beautiful immaculate impressive worship center, seven people put on their Lord Jesus in baptism. They were born again. They were created all over again to walk in newness of life with our God. Five families, 14 people total, placed their membership with the Legacy Church of Christ. They, too, were beginning again. Rededication. Recommitment. Re-focus. There were many of us in this new building who are feeling a strong sense of re-birth. Starting over. Like New Year’s Day, we sit around and eat black-eyed peas and promise to do things differently from this point forward. Like buying a new car and lecturing the kids about food and drinks and Taco Bueno cinnamon chips. Starting over.

Ebenezer. 1 Samuel 7.

Our new building can certainly serve—no, it WILL serve—as an Ebenezer for the Legacy church family. By God’s help we have come this far. We are where we are because of our God’s power, because of his grace. He’s brought us to this point. Just like Kent and the McDowells and the Holts always point back to the Cox’s garage in 1959, from here on out we’re going to point back to August 2008 and say, “That’s where things started again. That’s where the transition really kicked in. Remember that?”

(Jim McDoniel said Sunday the reason we can’t write “Ebenezer” real big on the outside of the new building is that Russ or Cordelia would have a stroke. The real reason is that the City of North Richland Hills would require 19 permits and a special election.)

In our Holy Scriptures we see that everytime God’s people are at a real turning point, everytime they start over, everytime they seek God anew, everytime they’re asking God for a deepening of the covenant relationship, it begins with a time of corporate confession. An intentional time of corporate, congregational confession and repentance before God. A public acknowledgement of sins committed, not by individuals, by the entire body of God’s people. 1 Samuel 7. Ezra 9. Daniel 9. Corporate sin. Corporate confession.

We did this last night in Oasis. In the brand new worship center, we listed together, out loud, the sins of the Legacy Church of Christ. I just asked the group in there to start naming them. And they did.

Pride.
Apathy to God’s mission to save the lost.
Prejudice.
Racism.
Materialism.
The desire to be a big church.
Tolerance of sin in the body.
Apathy toward social justice.
Self-reliance.
Selfishness. A Me-Church attitude.
Trying to be like everybody else.

There were still a dozen hands raised when I cut it off.

And we prayed. One of our elders, David Watson, lifted everyone of those Legacy church sins to our Father in prayer. All of them. He confessed them—our past and present sins—on behalf of the whole church. Then we sang together “Just As I Am” and “I Am Mine No More.” and then another of our elders, Gordon Lowry, prayed a prayer of repentance for the church. Turning wholly away from the sins and turning fully toward God as the only source of our forgiveness and strength and renewal. And then we closed with another of our elders, Bill Baker, thanking God for his forgiveness and for his love and for redeeming us, even in our sins.

Wow.

What a night. Paul says it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. Not confessing, not repenting, shows contempt for God’s kindness and tolerance and patience. Those are the very things that lead us to confess and repent.

We’re promised by our God over and over again in Scripture that if we confess and repent, if we admit our sins, if we turn from our former ways and destroy completely the things in our lives that contribute to our sins, if we have a complete change in attitude and determine with all our hearts to turn fully to our Lord, he promises to restore us and forgive us and cleanse us and reconcile us to a perfect relationship with him. And he promises a renewed sense of unity and peace among us.

May we from this point forward turn away from our sins and turn fully to God. And may our Father bring to us his boundless mercies and limitless grace.

Peace,

Allan

Yet I Will Rejoice…

August 15, 2008 / / 0 Comments

I’ve got more pictures, more personal reflection, and even a challenge or two I want to throw out there to you before this day is over. But, first, I want to share with you this thing that’s killing me right now….

Amid all the excitement and energy and enthusiasm of this week, all the hustle and bustle, all the ceremonies and dedications, all the special bulletins and articles, all the planning, all the people, all the anticipation, I’m devastated by news I received early this morning. David Hunter, the preacher at the Robinson Church of Christ just south of Waco, is walking through a dark, dark valley right now.

David is in our group of ten preachers who meet once a month down in Waco at the Crestview church. Around here I refer to our group as the “Waco Alliance.” We spend that day every month praying together, studying the Word together, and sharing with each other the ups and downs of life as congregational preachers. David’s one of these guys with a sly, dry sense of humor. Almost every single thing out of his mouth is funny. You just have to be paying close attention to get it. Always upbeat. Always positive. He’s preached longer than any of us in the room. And he’s seen more and experienced more than any of us. And he never has a negative word to say. About anything. We all share the normal frustrations that come with being preachers. People. Attitudes. Roadblocks. Politics. And every time we come to David, he tells us he doesn’t have anything bad or negative going on his life. No struggles. No confusion. No problems. Of course, he makes the occasional joke about an elders’ meeting—that’s a requirement. But he always seems almost embarrassed to admit to us that his life is great, everybody’s healthy, everybody’s good, everything’s wonderful, and God is blessing him abundantly. He has a beautiful wife. Outstanding son at Pepperdine. Wonderful daughter beginning her freshman year at ACU. Perfect.

I’ve always believed his attitude comes from his time in the Word and in the Church. He sees the big picture, maybe, better than anybody else in the room. He’s able to step back and survey the landscape and see our God forgiving sins and saving souls and robbing hell. Instead of the mess that sometimes clouds my vision, all he sees is God healing people and restoring people and using people to redeem the world. I’ve come away from every meeting of the Waco Alliance wishing David were closer than two hours away. 

His wife, Denise, suffered a major stroke late Wednesday night. She’s 48. She’s thin. She’s in great shape. She runs two miles a day. There’s no history of this anywhere in her family. But she’s in trouble. The news yesterday was bad. Lots of brain issues. Parts of the left side of her brain are dead. Other parts have experienced damage. Significant swelling everywhere. She’s still unconscious and unresponsive. The neurologist told David yesterday Denise would have “significant impairment for the rest of her life.” Last night David acknowledged to us that, regardless of the outcome, there was a long, long road ahead. He was optimistic that most of the swelling would go down this weekend and most of her brain would resume its normal activity.

It got a lot worse overnight. David was in the middle of an email this morning, trying to update all of us at once, and the email abruptly ended this way: “…I have to stop for now. Just got a call from the neurologist…it’s not good. She’s taken a turn for the worse, her swelling increased during the night and they are putting her on a ventilator.” 

I just got off the phone with Jim Martin, the preacher at the Crestview church who put our little group together. It’s not good. David’s asking that we pray. I’ve been praying for David and Denise and their kids since yesterday. Please join me in lifting this great family up to our loving Father.

In our Oasis class here Wednesday night we talked about how, in the middle of all the excitement and optimism and enthusiasm of our new building and all the activities that go with it, we are still surrounded by people who are hurting. People who are in a very, very dark place. People maybe right next to us. My friend David is there. Please pray for them.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord;
listen to my cry for mercy.
In the day of my trouble I will call to you,
for you will answer me. ~Psalm 86:6-7

Sovereign Lord

July 30, 2008 / / 0 Comments

“Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” ~Acts 4:24

The Scriptures point clearly to the fact that our God uses governments and wars and elections and political manuverings and the rising and falling of empires to work his will in our world. Whatever the powers of this earth decide or do, our Father uses for the purposes of his eternal Kingdom. Those early Jerusalem Christians in Acts 4 understood this principle. After they’d been ordered to stop teaching and speaking about the resurrected Christ, they appealed to their Sovereign Lord to “stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” They pointed back to Psalm 2 in this prayer to acknowledge that the powers and authorities of this world are always opposed to God and his mission but that God uses those very powers and authorities to do his will.

Maybe they didn’t even realize how true their prayer was.

Shortly after the unified wording of this prayer, the powers of the world carried out the execution of Steven and scattered the new Church with persecution. And God used it to spread the Gospel and expand the borders of his eternal Kingdom. And our Father is doing the same thing today.

This coming Sunday, for the first time ever, our brothers and sisters in Christ will assemble in a public building in the capital city of the people’s republic of China. This Sunday, the legally sanctioned Beijing Church of Christ will meet to worship our Sovereign Lord.

God uses the Olympics.

There are over 15-million people in Beijing. There are over a billion people in China. And starting Sunday our own brother Aubrey Johnson from the Peachtree City Church of Christ outside Atlanta is going to be teaching and preaching salvation from God in Christ Jesus for seven straight weeks! In Beijing, China! Under government sanction! Under government protection! Bible class at 9:30! Worship at 10:30! Are you kidding me?!?

Prove our God is sovereign? He just did!

Again!

David and Olivia Nelson tell me Christians are fleeing Moscow by the hundreds because of new government restrictions there. God is going to use that. Manuel Calderon baptized eleven people into Jesus last week in Venezuela. He’s using that. Our teenagers here delivered over 700 lightbulbs last week to families in an apartment complex near our church. God’s using that. Dan Miller and Bruce Archer have established two congregations of new Christians at two apartment complexes in Mesquite. And God’s using that.

That smile you gave the clerk at the post office. That kind word you delivered to your waiter. The check you wrote. The cake you baked. The hours you volunteered. The child you helped. The senior you assisted. The big stuff and the little stuff. Our God is sovereign over all. All of it. And he’s using it for his purposes and his Kingdom.

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 I have 17 spots available for college football pollsters to participate in The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys Top 20 College Football Poll. You can be a pollster. You only have to be a college football fan and commit to emailing me your Top 20 every Monday through the football season. Please see yesterday’s post or click the “KKC Top 20” tab at the upper right corner of this page for more information.

Happy Milestone-Birthday, Ro! Are you tired? Are you involved? Is that why you’re so tired? I love you.

Peace,

Allan

Don't You Know There's A King In Zion?

July 25, 2008 / / 1 Comment

TheJesusWay“I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” ~Psalm 2:6

 Psalm 2 is the psalm most used by Bible writers, quoted or alluded to nine times in the New Testament. Psalm 2 forms the very center and focus of the Church’s first recorded prayer in Acts 4.

“Why do the nations conspire
  and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand
  and the rulers gather together against the Lord
  and against his Anointed One.”
  ~Psalm 2:1-2 & Acts 4:25-26

Like those very first Christians, when we pray Psalm 2 it allows us to personally realize and internalize the tremendous canyon between the world’s ways and the ways of our God. It puts the reality of this unbridgeable gap between our ways and the ways of “the nations” right into our hearts and minds and muscles and guts.

Eugene Peterson translates Psalm 2:6 this way, “Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion?”

Peterson expands on the idea in his book, The Jesus Way:

“The first generation of Christians took Jesus at his word when he announced that the Kingdom was at hand—a real (not ideal) Kingdom with a real king, King Jesus. The words and sentences of Psalm 2 dismissed the pretensions of all these other ways and let Christ the King permeate their preaching and prayers and following. They followed the resurrected Jesus with an air of triumph and praise. The gospel was not something private that they cultivated in the cozy security of their homes and hearts; it was public, the most powerful force in human history, shaping the destiny of nations as well as the souls of men and women.”

Following Jesus is a unique way of living. It’s like nothing else. There is nothing and no one like Jesus. Following him gets us little or nothing of what we commonly think we want or need. Following him accomplishes nothing on the world’s agenda. Following him takes us right out of this world’s assumptions and goals and straight to a place where we can “insert a lever that turns the world upside down and inside out.” Following Jesus has everything to do with this world, but almost nothing in common with this world.

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TheChallengeI’m preaching my first Gospel Meeting (they’re not called Gospel Meetings anymore, are they?) beginning this Sunday evening through Wednesday at the Keller Church of Christ. My good friend Kyle Bolton is the preacher there, a long time friend of the family that traces back to his parents and my parents and my grandmother at P-Grove.

Here’s the lineup:

Sunday: “The Challenge to Know God” God reveals himself to us at Sinai & Zion
Monday: “The Challenge to Trust God” Isaiah 46 and Matthew 8
Tuesday: “The Challenge to Obey God” Abraham and the binding of Isaac
Wednesday: “The Challenge to Share God” The parables of Luke 15

My personal theme for the week is “The Challenge to Preach Four Straight Nights.” I invite you to join us for any and all those evenings.

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BigFootballAnnouncementHereMondaySome of you have asked me lately, in emails and in person, why I’m not doing a 99-Days of Football on the blog this summer like we did last year. Well, we can’t do the exact same thing every year. Where’s the joy in that? Something much bigger and much better and much more interactive is coming soon. In fact, I’m planning on announcing it this Monday, July 28 on this blog. If you’re a hard-core college football fan, this will be right up your alley. If you’re interested in the 99 Days of Football, you can still click on the green tab at the top of this page to relive the glamour and excitement of last year’s countdown to football season. In the meantime, bone up this weekend on your college football scouting reports and predictions and join me back here Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Peace,

Allan

The Church's First Prayer

July 21, 2008 / / 0 Comments

“Enable your servants to speak your Word with great boldness.” ~Acts 4:29

 In Acts 4 we find the very first ever prayer recorded in Scripture after the establishment of God’s Church on the Day of Pentecost. Acts 4:24-30 is the Church’s first prayer. It was worded by an assembly of God’s people, all raising their voices together in united and passionate petition to the “Sovereign Lord” of the universe in the midst of government oppression against the teaching and preaching of Christ Jesus.

The prayer occurs in the immediate aftermath of Peter and John being arrested and jailed and questioned by the authorities and commanded to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. It’s important to note that this group of baptized disciples didn’t ask God for relief from the oppression or for judgment on the oppressors. They request only two things.

1) They ask for strength to obey during the oppression, to have the nerve and the guts and the faith to continue to speak boldly about the Christ even though it had been outlawed.

2) They ask for God to act in his mighty power to do what he needs to do to advance the Kingdom of Heaven and bring glory to Jesus.

In the face of tremendous opposition, when the persecution and government resistance to Christianity was escalating and getting worse, the Church didn’t pray for wisdom or protection or for favor with the authorities. They didn’t pray that the next election would go their way so their situation would change. And I’m not saying those are inappropriate things for which to pray. But this prayer during this crisis was for the ability to be obedient to Christ’s command to continue to teach the Gospel. The concern here is not for safety or deliverance from persecution. It’s for the Word to go forth and for Christ to be glorified.

What an amazing response! What a counter-cultural, Christ-like response! This prayer as a response to the problem is so totally opposite of what was happening in their world. This prayer goes so against the prevailing thought. And John used to be caught up in that culture. When Jesus and the apostles faced opposition in a Samaritan village, it was John and his brother James who said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” Scripture says Jesus turned and rebuked them. Peter used to be caught up in the culture. He had actually pulled out a sword in the garden the night his Lord was betrayed. He tried to chop a guy’s head off! But Jesus rebuked him and actually healed the man who’d been injured.

By Acts 4, as evidenced by this beautiful prayer, we see how Peter and John have grown. We see how they’ve changed. We see how the Holy Spirit inside them was transforming them into the image of Jesus. In the face of opposition and persecution, they lash out in unified prayer together with all the saints and they ask for boldness to obey and to continue to speak about their risen Lord and they ask that God be glorified.

If resistance to the Kingdom and opposition to the Kingdom gets worse in our land—or I should say WHEN it gets worse—may we find our comfort and strength with each other, may we be bold to continue speaking about Jesus, and may our Father act in powerful ways to bring glory to his holy servant Jesus.

 Peace,

Allan

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