The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Preaching (Page 19 of 25)

The Kingdom Of God Is Here!

September 4, 2009 / / 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.

Mitch HoopesToday’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

Your Church's Accusers

September 3, 2009 / / 1 Comment

Your Church’s AccusersWho are the people who voice the most complaints about your church? Do criticisms about your congregation come from inside or outside your faith community? Who are your church’s accusers? Is one of them you?

I was visiting with a young brother in Christ this morning about the life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. We were specifically talking about “The Cost of Discipleship” and “Life Together,” arguably his two greatest books. I’m re-reading a bunch of “The Cost of Discipleship” right now in preparation for the Fresno Spiritual Growth Workshop later this month. And skimming “Life Together” three or four times a year is just a smart thing to do if you’re a preacher or some other church leader.

I want to share with you this from “Life Together.” This is especially intended for us preachers and elders and deacons and ministry leaders in our Father’s Church. I was just casually glancing through it today when these underlined words screamed at me.

From Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together”“If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even when there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.

This applies in a special way to the complaints often heard from pastors and zealous members about their congregations. A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men. When a person becomes alienated from a Christian community in which he has placed and begins to raise complaints about it, he had better examine himself.

Let him guard against ever becoming an accuser of the congregation before God. Let him rather accuse himself for his unbelief. Let him pray God for an understanding of his own failure and his particular sin, and pray that he may not wrong his brethren. Let him, in the consciousness of his own guilt, make intercession for his brethren. Let him do what he is committed to do, and thank God.”

Who are your church’s accusers? Don’t let it be you.

A better question, perhaps: Who are your church’s defenders?

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Red Ribbon ReviewThe failure that is the Red Ribbon Review is drawing to a close. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s not. Nevertheless, I won’t be deterred. We’ll keep counting down the days until Cowboys season by recognizing the second-best players in team history according to jersey number until they kick off the against the Bucs at high noon on Sunday September 13.

Today’s pickings are so slim, we’re having to actually name two players to equal anything worth mentioning. Even then, it’s a huge stretch. There are ten days left until the Cowboys season begins. And there are half a dozen backup quarterbacks and backup punters and backup kickers who’ve worn that number. And nobody else. Not one starter in the bunch.

So, let’s go with two backup punters. Let’s honor Duane Carrell: seven games in 1974 (a non-playoff year), 40 total punts, an average of 39.8 yards per punt. And let’s also mention Barry Cantrell who punted in two games during the 2000 season (another non-playoff year), racking up an average of 36.7 yards per kick on 10 total punts.

Sorry,

Allan

To The Preachers

August 21, 2009 / / 0 Comments

To The PeachersActually reading Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, which he started writing 200 years ago this week, is eye-opening to someone who’s only familiar with the superficial “Bible-only” and “Christians-only” bumper sticker slogans we’ve harvested from our movement’s founding document. This work is a passionate plea for Christian unity as described in our Scriptures and prayed for by our Savior. It so clearly outlines the breaking down of denominational barriers and the demolition of anything that would keep us from calling one another brother and sister and communing with each other around our Lord’s table as our God’s holy and perfect will. And it calls on each and every member of the Lord’s Body to work diligently toward that end. The Declaration and Address is saturated with the question, why pray for something if you’re not going to work to make it happen?

Good question.

But Campbell especially appeals to preachers as the ones who must step forward to carry Christ’s mission of unity for his Church.

“Is it not then your incumbent duty to endeavour, by all scriptural means, to have those evils (divisions) remedied. Who will say that it is not? Does it not peculiarly belong to you, who occupy the place of gospel ministers, to be leaders in this laudable undertaking. Much depends upon your hearty concurrence and zealous endeavours. The favorable opportunity which Divine Providence has put into your hands, in this happy country, for the accomplishment of so great a good is, in itself, a consideration of no small encouragement.”

(Of course, much more was expected of preachers back then than is now. At the end of the Declaration portion of the document, in article VIII, Campbell makes it clear that “each meeting of the society be opened with a sermon.” Can you imagine? What if the elders of your church insisted that every elders meeting start with a sermon?)

Campbell calls on preachers to do the will of Jesus

 “…whose express command to his people is, that there be no divisions among them; but that they all walk by the same rule, speak the same thing, and be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment. Let us attempt it. Are we not all praying for that happy event, when there shall be but one fold, as there is but one chief shepherd. What! Shall we pray for a thing and not strive to obtain it! Not use the necessary means to have it accomplished!!

Let the ministers of Jesus but embrace this exhortation, put their hand to the work, and encourage the people to go forward upon the firm ground of obvious truth, to unite in the bonds of an entire christian unity.”

Usually it’s the obvious truths that get us all in trouble.

That’s why Campbell’s encouragement is so needed. And that’s why he and Stone and the rest of the leaders of our Restoration movement are such heroes.

May we work hard to uphold the ideals of those who’ve gone before us as they reflect the perfect will of our Father in heaven. May God bless us with boldness and courage and power from his Holy Spirit to lead his people in the paths of greater unity for the salvation of the world!

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Robert Williams23 days until the Cowboys open up their regular season against the Bucs in Tampa Bay. And we’re counting down the days by honoring the second-best players in team history according to jersey number. #23 in our Red Ribbon Review is backup cornerback Robert Williams. As an undrafted free agent out of Baylor in 1987, Williams played on some of the worst teams in Cowboys history. But he hung on long enough to collect two Super Bowl rings in 1992 and 1993. He carries the distinction of having scored two TDs in a Cowboys uniform, both of them on blocked punt returns.

Bullet BobTomorrow’s #22 is a no-brainer. He’s a Hall of Famer, a Ring of Honor member, an olympic gold medalist, and he holds 22 Cowboys team records. Hard to believe he’s still only the second-best player to wear #22. Bullet Bob Hayes was taken in the seventh round of the 1964 draft out of Florida A&M and wound up changing the game of professional football. Known as the fastest man in the world after breaking four records at the 1964 Olympics, Hayes blew right by everybody who tried to cover him on the football field. So defenses were forced to try brand new things. Like zone coverage. Unheard of.

It barely mattered.

Hayes played ten seasons in Dallas and finished his career with an astonishing 20.0 yards per catch average. He averaged Bob Hayesover 18 yards per catch in seven of his ten years, including league-leading averages of 26.1 yards in 1970 and 24.0 yards in 1971. He finished in the NFL’s top six in yards receiving five times and was named to three Pro Bowls and twice as a first-team All Pro. Hayes racked up 7,295 yards on 365 catches with the Cowboys and 71 touchdowns. And he’s the only man to have ever won an Olympic gold medal AND a Super Bowl ring.

None of this information came from Lucille Hester. And I’ve got a letter from Bob to prove it.

Peace,

Allan

For The Sake Of His Body

July 15, 2009 / / 0 Comments

For the sake of his body…Preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God is going to involve some suffering. Picking up a cross and following Jesus, as our Savior demands, is certainly a call to suffering. It’s a sharing in the sufferings of Christ, a participation in what he endured. It makes us more like him. It shapes us and molds us to be more like him.

Jesus’ afflictions are not complete. They’re not done. They’re not finished. They are “lacking.” The sufferings of the Christ are still being carried out in those of us who follow him.

“I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the Church.”

The Colossians 1:24-29 context in which we find this sentence is all about preaching — proclaiming the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. Preachers, I think, are called to die. To die to self, to die to the world, to die to any other way of life, to model in a “the-medium-is-the-message” kind of way what it looks like to live in Christ. To take on the sufferings, to bear the burdens, to carry the weight. And to do it for the sake of the Church.

There’s a teenager in your church who will come alive if you’ll only die for him. There’s an older woman in your congregation who will blossom like never before if you’ll die for her. There’s a sick brother, a depressed sister, a spiritually immature Christian, a stubborn believer, a wounded soul, a damaged disciple who has no hope of living unless someone dies for him or her.

I need to be reminded of this constantly. My role as a proclaimer of the Good News is to preach it and live it the way Christ did. Even with the sufferings. Accepting the sufferings. Embracing the sufferings. Welcoming them as a way of joining my Lord in his mission to redeem the world.

“I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the Church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness — the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” ~Colossians 1:24-29.

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Red Ribbon ReviewToday’s #60 in our Red Ribbon Review countdown to Cowboys season is a downer. Twelve players have worn #60 in Cowboys history. And it’s a less than stellar group. The noteables among them include the likes of Jackie Burkett, Ben Noll, Lee Roy Caffey, and Dean Hamel. You don’t remember them. You can’t tell me what position they played or when. This is a tough group. Only two of these 12 played for Dallas longer than two seasons. One of them is the second-best #60 ever to play for the Cowboys. And he is defensive lineman Don Smerek.

(I can’t even find a picture of the guy. All I’ve got for you are these career stats. If you find a picture of Smerek please send it to me. Still looking for a picture of our Red Ribbon #69, Ben Fricke, too.)

I do remember him, though. Smerek played 69 games for the Cowboys as a backup defensive lineman from 1981-87. An undrafted free agent out of Nevada-Reno, Smerek finished his career with 14.5 quarterback sacks, six of those in 1983, probably his finest season. Smerek is remembered for his time in Dallas, mainly, for two things.

One, he was shot in the chest one night by a Dallas motorist who claimed the 6′-7″, 260-pound Smerek kicked his car and challenged him to a fight. A Dallas grand jury refused to indict the shooter for attempted murder. They ruled it self-defense.

Two, Smerek was riding shotgun with Randy White when they famously crossed the Cowboys players’ picket line to participate in practice on the first day of the 1987 NFL players strike. Tony Dorsett stood in front of White’s pickup in a tense standoff in front of TV cameras and nearly got run over by an angry “Manster.” Of course, Dorsett actually joined the “scabs” two weeks later, along with Too Tall Jones and Danny White. I’m not sure the Cowboys ever got over what happened during those six weeks. But Smerek and Randy White were the first two to cross. And Smerek is the second-best player to ever wear #60 for the Cowboys.

Peace,

Allan

Always "Yes!"

July 14, 2009 / / 0 Comments

“In him it has always been ‘Yes.'” ~2 Corinthians 1:19

Terry Rush is tough. Tough for me to read. Tough for me to swallow.

Always “Yes!”I go to Rush’s blog when I’m down. When I’m feeling the sting of criticism, when I’m feeling hurt by things that are said and done around me, when I’m confused about my role and my mission as a preacher of God’s Word, I turn to Terry. He’s good. But he’s tough.

Terry’s actually second in line. The first thing I do when I find myself feeling attacked or wronged or mistreated is to find a quiet spot somewhere in this church building and cry out to God. And I wrestle with our Father. What am I doing here? Why did you put me here? What do you want me to do? I pray the words of Habakkuk, “Why do you just stand there and watch?” Do something!

Satisfied with my own righteousness, and right-ness, then I go to Terry’s blog. He knows preachers. He understands preachers. He’s been doing it for 40 years. He knows and understands elders and deacons and youth ministers and worship leaders and church and church pratices and traditions and church politics and church members and church dynamics. He gets it. So I go to Rush for encouragement. He’s the world’s best Christian encourager. He paints beautiful word pictures that remind how big our God is and how wonderful his Kingdom. He reminds that God is in charge and we’re not.

And when he specifically addresses preachers and other church leaders, he doesn’t pull any punches. He understands himself and us too well. His words sting and rebuke. And challenge. He tells me to grow up. He tells me to put my head down and get back to work. He reminds me that everything that goes right is a “Yes” and everything that goes wrong is a “Yes” because God is working it all out. When things aren’t going my way, Rush reminds me that, in God’s wisdom and timing, it’s really all actually going perfectly my way. I’m just too short-sighted and self-serving to see it right now. During tough times, Terry reminds me that “we chalk it up to his marvelous mystery, accept it by sheer faith, and keep smiling.”

And then I run back to the quiet place and change my prayers. I take the focus off of me and put it back where it belongs, solely on our God. See, that’s what Terry’s words do for me. They force me to re-orient my view and my focus. He causes me to see where the criticisms of me are right. And that’s tough. It’s hard. At that point, I pray new prayers. I confess to our Lord that I’m being pouty and moody and touchy and paranoid and overly-sensitive and high-maintenance. I ask for and receive his blessed forgiveness. And I vow again to put my head down and get back to work, back to my calling. God’s in charge of the details. I should let him work those out.

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Red Ribbon ReviewThere are 61 days left until the Cowboys kick off their 2009 football season. And today’s #61 in the Red Ribbon Review is offensive lineman Blaine Nye. A fifth-round pick out of Stanford in 1968, Nye played nine seasons in Dallas and was a major part of that transition from “Next Year’s Champions” to Super Bowl kings. At right guard, he made it to the Pro Bowl twice and played in 15 playoff games, including three Super Bowls. But my favorite thing about Nye is his humor and insight.

Two of the most famous quotes in Dallas Cowboys history were uttered by Nye.

On Thanksgiving Day in 1974, Clint Longley came off the bench for an injured Roger Staubach and threw a late 50-yard Blaine Nyetouchdown pass to Drew Pearson to beat the Redskins. Longley had never thrown an NFL pass before that day. When asked to comment on Longley’s performance, Nye dryly declared it was a “triumph of an uncluttered mind.” I find myself using that line a lot.

The other one’s even better. Nye once summed up everything that is the NFL and big-time sports when he said, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s who gets the blame.”

Along with Larry Cole and Pat Toomay, Nye was a charter member of the Cowboys Zero Club, an unofficial group of players who vowed to never do anything to seek publicity. Club membership never grew beyond those three because those wanting to join the club were automatically disqualified for expressing an interest. They treatened to kick Cole out one week after he returned an interception for a touchdown in a nationally televised game against Washington.

Nye suddenly and surprisingly quit the Cowboys following his second Pro Bowl year in ’76. He and Tex Schramm got crossways on contract talks and Nye just walked away. He owns a successful consulting business today in California. And he is the second-best Cowboys player to ever wear #61.

Peace,

Allan

The Holy Stump

July 2, 2009 / / 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

Stumps

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.

StumpHow 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-Shootold 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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Red Ribbon Review73 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.

LarryAllenAllen 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 #73dominant 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

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