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Category: Resurrection (Page 1 of 12)

Good News > Bad News

April 21, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“By his power, God raised the Lord from the dead! And he will raise us also!” ~ 1 Corinthians 6:14

The world demonstrates power by taking life. Our God demonstrates his eternal power by giving life. It takes divine power to raise the dead–the kind of power that produces deep faith and hope and joy.

The power that raised Jesus from the grave and gave him final authority over all things belongs to us. This power that defeats sin and death and Satan forever–we experience that power when we hear the Good News. Because it means there is nothing — NOTHING! — nothing bad, nothing wrong, nothing evil, nothing dark in your life that hasn’t already been overcome by God in Christ!

The Bible says our God “gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17).

So, maybe the odds are stacked against you. Maybe you feel like an outsider. Maybe all the bad news in our world is driving you to despair. Maybe the bad news at work or at the doctor’s office is overwhelming. Maybe the bad news in our marriage or with your kids or your parents really is too much. Maybe the bad news of your past sins or the bad news of your current sins has you paralyzed. The odds might be against you.

Okay, let’s talk about bad news.

The bad news is that Pharaoh’s army is going to win at the Red Sea. The Egyptians were huge favorites that day; the over/under was three-million dead Hebrews. The bad news is that the little shepherd boy and his sling is no match for a trained warrior giant. The bad news is Peter cannot walk on water. The bad news is nobody’s ever escaped from a Philippian jail. The bad news is the world’s authorities crucified our Savior. The bad news is all dead people stay dead.

Thank God for the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus!

The declaration of the angels and the testimony of the witnesses is true: Jesus is alive! Jesus lives! That stone was rolled away, not so Jesus could get out, but so we could look in and see for ourselves, so the truth could be seen and proclaimed.

Our God gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were! He calls things that are wrong in your life right. He calls things that are broken in your family fixed. He calls things that are missing in your soul, the things that are lacking and lost, he calls them found and saved and overflowing with goodness and life!

“The one who belongs to God has no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” ~Psalm 112:7

Peace,

Allan

Not Up to the Task

April 17, 2025 / / 2 Comments

The title of today’s post is about preachers on Easter Sunday, but it’s also an appropriate description of the Dallas Stars as they begin the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs the day after tomorrow. The Stars closed out the regular season in Nashville last night by losing their seventh straight game. It’s the longest losing streak in more than a decade for a team most considered favorites to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals.

They’re in a bad way right now. Through these dreadful seven games, the Stars have been outscored 34-18 and out-shot by an average of 36-26 per game. They got Tyler Seguin back last night after he’s missed almost five months following hip surgery, but they lost Jason Robertson for the last half of the game with a fluke knee injury.

I don’t think you can just flip a switch Saturday and immediately remedy everything that’s gone so wrong the past three weeks with the Stars’ defense, their power play, their penalty kill, and blowing third period leads. I think momentum means something heading into the playoffs, especially when you’re facing the dreaded and feared Avalanche.

I’m hoping Robo’s knee issue is minor and won’t limit him for the postseason. I’m also hoping that my attitude and expectations will improve between now and Saturday night’s playoff opener. Right now, none of it feels very good.

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Reinhold Niebuhr is quoted as saying that he would always attend a “high church” on Easter Sunday where there would be great music but very little preaching. In his view, “No preacher is up to the task on Easter.” I think he’s probably right.

John Updike wrote a poem called “Seven Stanzas of Easter” that perfectly and beautifully captures every preacher’s frustration leading up to Easter Sunday. One of the lines is “Let us not mock God with metaphor and analogy / sidestepping transcendence / let us walk through the door.”

It is a waste of time to try to explain the resurrection of Jesus. Some things can’t be reduced to an explanation and are greatly diminished in the process of trying. The task on Easter is proclamation, not explanation. On Easter, we preachers should offer an invitation to walk through the door, into a brand new world, where the ultimate reality is not death and dying, but everlasting life in the God Almighty of love and grace who brought our Lord Jesus out of the grave.

Proclaim the resurrection–that’s what the apostles did. And that’s what we need to do Sunday.

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I’m really looking forward to our annual 4Midland Maundy Thursday service this evening, hosted this year by our brothers and sisters at First Methodist. We’re changing things up a bit tonight with more of a Tenebrae vibe than a Maundy Thursday vibe. We’re not sharing the communion meal, deciding instead to focus on the events following that last supper, from our Lord’s prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, through the trials and the crucifixion, to his burial. The service will flow from the Scriptures, lots and lots of Scripture, punctuated with dramatic visual and audio effects to immerse us in the sacred story. The combined choirs of our four churches will bless us with some special music, but we’re also going to sing some old familiar hymns together like O Sacred Head, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, and Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross.

Anytime our four churches get together for worship or service, it’s a powerful witness to our city that our Lord lived, died, and was raised to eternal life to break down all the barriers between us and him and between us and one another. That will happen again tonight and it will be glorious. By God’s grace and his Holy Spirit, we’re also going to be drawn closer to our Lord this evening. And to each other.

If you live anywhere in the Permian Basin, I invite you to join us at 7:00 this evening at First Methodist in Midland.

I thank God for our 4Midland partnership, for the holy friendships I enjoy so much with these three pastors, and for the ways our churches are learning from one another and growing together in Christ.

Peace,

Allan

You Will Come to Life

August 20, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Things don’t always seem really great. Things don’t always go the way you thought they might. In fact, sometimes, things are really rotten. Things at home. Things at church. People in your family. Situations. Issues. Sometimes it can seem hopeless. Sometimes it can be overwhelming. You don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. You can’t believe it’s possible for this or that to work out for good. There’s no way.

“Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone.” ~Ezekiel 37:11

Have you looked at the cross lately?

You know, we live by faith, not by sight. We live by the Spirit, not by the flesh. We serve a Lord who has already defeated every single thing that would ever come between us and our God-ordained potential and purpose as his children living in his eternal Kingdom. Our God looks at his Son dying—deader than dead—on that cruel tree and sees hope. He sees possibility. God looks into the darkness of the tomb and sees eternal life. He looks at Sarah’s barren womb and the 100 candles on Abraham’s birthday cake and sees an entire nation of millions of his people. And our God looks at your life, he looks at your church, he looks at the mess that is you and/or the people around you, and he sees great promise. He sees things we don’t see.

“I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.” ~Ezekiel 37:6

The things happening to you or around you—whatever they are, they are not a joke. It’s nothing to be taken lightly. I’m sure it’s all quite serious.

But the cross of Christ and that empty tomb remind us that it’s also nothing to worry about. It’s nothing to lose sleep over. It’s nothing to sweat. The power of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus takes away all doubt and fear and replaces it with holy power and confidence.

God’s power is made perfect in weakness. And you are weak. You are so pitiful. So am I. We are, together, some of the weakest, most pitiful people around.

And that, my brothers and sisters, gives me great courage and hope.

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Here are a few pictures from the second night of our own personal World Series parade in Arlington. Carly and Collin joined us Friday at the ballpark where we received free promotional giveaway championship hoodies, which are short-sleeved and weird; took pictures with the World Series banner, which looks tiny and insignificant next to that massive video board;  the World Series trophy, which was displayed inside Chuck Morgan’s P.A. booth and brought tears to my eyes; and the huge World Series championship ring that was just meant to be climbed on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peace,

Allan

Resurrection Community

April 2, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Not one person experienced the resurrection of Jesus alone. Nobody encountered the risen Jesus by themselves. The people who saw the empty tomb and the angels, the ones who ate dinner with Jesus that evening–they were all with their friends. Most of them, we know their names. We know their stories. We know about their relationships with one another.

The resurrection of Jesus creates togetherness. It creates community. It forms us together as one people today, just like it did then.

“Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ.” ~Ephesians 2:4-5

I still think the best picture of this is in Acts 2. Those first disciples who witnessed the risen Lord, those first 120 followers of Jesus who were gifted by the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit at Pentecost, are living resurrection life together in community.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the community, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… All the believers were together and had everything in community. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” ~ Acts 2:42-46

They didn’t have a whole lot in common other than the resurrection. But they acted like family. Every day. In each other’s homes. Loving each other. Serving each other. Ministering to one another. Taking care of each other. Eating together. Praying and singing together. They devoted themselves to the community.

The resurrection community is like a neighborhood, but it’s more personal. It’s like a family, but it’s more diverse. It can be like a football team or a civic club, but it’s much stronger. Your resurrection community, your church family, is brought together and held together by something much bigger than you. But some of you just aren’t around enough to be changed by it. Some of you–seriously–we hardly ever see you.

We need each other. None of us can do this by ourselves. It’s impossible. We were raised by Christ and with Christ to be together. I need you. And whether you admit it or not, and whether you like it or not, you need me.

You need me to love you. I need you to encourage me.

You need me to challenge you. I need you to correct me.

I need your strength when I’m tired. You need my support when you’re down.

I need your patience when I’m out. You need my joy when you don’t have any.

We all need to remind each other about the resurrection and our parts in it. We all need to be able to look around and see clearly that we’re not in this new resurrection lives by ourselves.

Peace,

Allan

Easter Blessing

March 31, 2024 / / 0 Comments

The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead! God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him!”
~Acts 5:30-32

Christ Jesus our Lord is risen and reigning today, right now, at the right hand of God. May he bless us and his Church with the same boldness and courage of the disciples who witnessed it.

Peace,

Allan

Resurrection Hope Right Now

March 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

In Mark’s resurrection story, it’s not, “Hey, Jesus is raised! That means there really is life after death!” No, it’s more like, “Jesus is raised and he wants you to go to Galilee to see him! Today! You will see him, just as he told you!” In other words, everything Jesus told you about God’s Kingdom is coming true right now. It’s happening today. And you’re in on it!

Same deal in Matthew. “He is risen from the dead! Awesome! That means we’re going to heaven!” No, it’s more like, “Go see him in Galilee today! He’s got work for you to do! When Jesus meets them there, they worship the risen King and he says, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Now, go! And surely I am with you every step of the way!”

Resurrection doesn’t mean escaping from the world someday when we die. It’s means ministering to the world today while we’re alive. Resurrection hope is a way to live and work for the sake of the world by the resurrection power of our Lord Jesus right now. We are the messengers now, we’re the deliverers of the Good News that the risen Messiah is the King of the whole world. We demonstrate that Good News by living resurrection lives. We call on others to receive it and respond to it for their own resurrection power and hope in Jesus.

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. They will rest from their labor for their deeds will follow them.” ~Revelation 14:13

We are–each of us, all of us–commissioned by God’s resurrection power to live and work for the coming and everlasting Kingdom of God on earth. That’s Christ’s prayer and that’s our hope: that God’s will be finally and fully done on earth as it is in heaven. We’re not oiling the wheels of a giant machine that’s going to roll off the side of a cliff. We’re not restoring a masterpiece painting that’s ultimately going to be thrown into a fire. We’re not planting roses in a garden that’s destined to be dug up for a parking garage. You are accomplishing something every day that will be an important part of God’s eternal Kingdom forever.

Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every act of care and nurturing, of comfort and support; every prayer lifted; every lesson taught; every good deed that spreads the Good News; everything you do in the name and manner of our Lord Jesus becomes an important part of his Kingdom. We are given resurrection hope in order to share that hope with others. And everything we contribute to the cause–everything!–is used by God toward that great and ultimate end. Every cup of cold water given in his name; every snack packed for at-risk school kids; every check written for foreign missions; every meal served at Family Promise; every diaper changed at Young Lives; every kid mentored at Opportunity Tribe; every fist bumped at Emerson Elementary; every hospital and prison visit; every act of kindness toward an immigrant or refugee–all your work matters. Every minute is packed with heavenly potential. Every action is loaded with eternal consequences. What great hope!

Resurrection hope. Genuine hope for tomorrow. Living hope for today.

Peace,

Allan

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