Category: Revelation (Page 3 of 8)

He Climbed Into the Boat

February 23, 2016 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! I Am! Don’t be afraid!’ Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down.” ~Mark 6:50-51

Notice that Jesus did not rescue his disciples out of the sea. He gets into the boat with them. He tells them, “I Am God!” Look at me. See this. I am God. I am in control of all these things. Don’t be afraid. I’m right here with you. I’m in charge of everything and you belong to me. I am God. And I’m getting into the boat with you. I’m doing this with you. We’re in this together.

Jesus gives them the strength and courage to continue the journey. They press on, confident that their Lord is with them, that he has dominion over heaven and earth, and that he will carry them through.

It’s like the letters in Revelation. Jesus tells the churches, “I know what you’re going through.” He knows the work and the toil and the endurance of Ephesus. He knows the affliction and poverty of Smyrna, the faithful witness of Pergamum in the middle of Satan’s throne. He knows the patient endurance of Thyatira and the struggle of Philadelphia. He doesn’t relieve them of their struggle. But he promises to be with them. And he promises victory if they’re faithful.

We must keep rowing. The wind is against us and we sometimes get completely blown off course. But we’ve got to continue “straining at the oars.” The power to cross the sea and reach the final shore does not lie with us. That belongs to God — the One who reveals himself to his people most perfectly in his Son, the One who guarantees that victory in his Son’s life, death, and resurrection.

Peace,

Allan

Ending Racism – Good Luck

January 21, 2016 / Allan / 0 Comments

Happy Birthday to my dear mother, Beverly Ann Stanglin, who probably celebrated this morning with a free breakfast at Denny’s in Kilgore. Classy, dad! She’s seventy today. Seventy. Mom, you’re officially, legally, undeniably old now. Seventy is old. That’s you. And you’re doing it very well. I love you.

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Racism is alive and well in the United States and, sadly, throughout the entire world. No one can deny it. We have passed anti-racism legislation and outlawed racist practices. We have marched and preached, promised and reformed. We have boycotted, protested, and rioted. Yet racism is seemingly just as much a local and global problem right now as it was a hundred years ago, if not worse.

Obviously, racism has not been ended, nor will it be ended in our lifetimes. And that’s a terrible thing to believe. It’s a horrible thing to be true. But it probably shouldn’t lead to despair for followers of Jesus.

Racism, just like all sin, is the result of something good gone bad. Mark Galli, in a recent column for Christianity Today, reminds us that racism is an evil distortion of affection for loved ones. Affection for loved ones makes family pride possible. It allows us to feel and display pride in our community. And that’s healthy. But just like healthy sexual attraction is prone to turn into lust and healthy self-esteem might turn into pride, healthy loyalty to one’s own people can easily turn into racism.

Galli’s point is this: given our sinful nature and the fallen condition of the world, we will never get rid of racism in this age any more than we will get rid of lust or pride.

RacismCT

But just because we can’t completely wipe out racism doesn’t mean we have to give in to its nasty and sinful expressions. And isn’t this where God’s Church comes in?

Like with lust, our societies create social norms and laws to keep it in check. We expect men to refrain from making lewd comments to women and we prosecute employers who sexually exploit their employees. Christ’s Body can lead the way in similar fashion as it relates to racism. If we acknowledge the terrible reality, if we can admit that there’s no way human beings are ever going to eradicate sin, we can turn our eyes and our hopes toward the only One who can. We can confess honestly, we can forgive faithfully, and we can work together toward various gospel expressions of reconciliation.

It requires accountability. It takes patience and long-suffering, love and kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control. These are the characteristics of the Spirit of our God who lives inside us. This isn’t about disposing of all tensions, it’s about creating space where people can commit to reconciliation and can treat each other with grace and mercy through the tensions.

It’s the only way.

In the meantime, we wait in hope together. We wait for the great day of true and eternal reconciliation between the races when that “great multitude… from every nation, tribe, people, and language” worships our God together.

Peace,

Allan

Stuff in the Middle

November 20, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

I don’t know where you are today. Maybe today you’ve already spent a few minutes alone in a chair by the window thinking, “I can’t believe this is my life.” Maybe last night you sat at your kitchen table and thought, “I can’t believe this is where I am.” Maybe you’ve been in a mess for the past couple of weeks. Or maybe you’ve been in a bad place for many years. Maybe sermons about transformed lives and blog posts about living by the Spirit discourage you. They might even depress you.

My life proclaiming the Kingdom of God? My life being a declaration of the lordship of Jesus? That’s not my life. Not today, not ever. My life is too messed up. I’m too far gone.

We all think we’re supposed to have an undefeated season. “This was going to be my year. This year everything was going to get worked out. This was going to be a great year. I was going to get everything on track and this was going to be a wonderful year. My family is going to be undefeated this year. My marriage. My career. My relationship with God. This is the year!”

And it’s not.

I’m sorry.

I want you to think about Judah in the book of Genesis. He’s the son of Jacob. His name means “praise God.” And he had sex with his daughter-in-law. He didn’t mean to, he said. He thought she was a prostitute. He had sex with his daughter-in-law, he left behind his keys and his wallet, and he got busted. It was a huge scandal.

Think about King David. The glorious king of God’s united nation. Personally chosen by God. David intentionally blows up seven of the ten commandments in one terrible weekend.

Think about Peter. The very first apostle chosen by Jesus. He publicly, loudly, and with great religious curses betrayed our Lord three times the night before the crucifixion. Told everybody he’d never met Jesus.

Can you imagine Peter standing in the room while the people were putting the Bible together? Can you see Peter looking over their shoulders? “Hey, can y’all just go from me throwing my nets down and leaving everything to follow Jesus to those letters I wrote at the end? Can you just cut out all that stuff in the middle?”

Can you imagine David in that same room? “Could y’all just skip from me killing Goliath to the geneaology of Jesus in Matthew? Would you please leave out all that stuff in the middle?”

Judah also is looking over the shoulders of the people putting together the Bible. “Um… can you go from my birth in Genesis 29 to those last words in Revelation that say the Messiah is the Lion of Judah? Could you delete all that stuff in the middle?”

That’s not filler stuff there in the middle. The stuff in the middle is there for a reason. To show us. To teach us.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I can’t believe this is my life.” Hey, let me tell you, your life’s not over! If you’re reading this right now (and you are!), the last lines of your life have not yet been written.

By the power of his Spirit, our Lord Jesus is standing right now between what is and what can be. He stands between what can be and what it can mean for generations of people you’ve never met. Jesus also stands right now today between what is and what won’t be, too.

Your life can be a powerful testimony to the reality of the lordship of Jesus and the eternal Kingdom of God. I don’t care where you are right now or what’s going on, your life can be a proclamation. Not by your power. But by the power of the Spirit and the grace of our God through Jesus Christ.

Peace,

Allan

God’s Perfect Presence

October 3, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.'” ~Revelation 21:3

What really makes the New Creation “new” is the immediate presence of God. In Act Six of the Story of God, the perfect presence of the Creator fills all the earth with his radiant glory. God with us. Finally. Face to face with the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Finally. When all evil is destroyed, when God’s Kingdom arrives in its fullness, God’s holy throne comes down here. God finally does what he’s promised to do all along: He makes his dwelling with us. He lives with us.

“They will see his face.” ~Revelation 22:4

Imagine life in the physical, visible, intense presence of God. No more fear. No more guessing. No more doubt. This is life in the fullest sense of the word, eternal life joined together with its eternal source. All sorrow and suffering, pain and death, are banished forever in God’s presence. And God himself “will wipe every tear from their eyes.” Isaiah predicted this. John sees it happen. God will wipe every tear from their eyes. How could you ever more vividly depict the love of God for his people?

How does the Story end? This is exactly how it ends.

“These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” ~Revelation 22:6

It’s going to happen. This perfect ending to the Story of God is coming. And this final act peppers us repeatedly with instructions in light of the certainty of God’s Perfected Kingdom: keep these words, do these words, don’t add to this, don’t take away from this, keep your robes washed and clean, because Christ is coming. These words and images are intended to inspire us and thrill us; they’re supposed to teach us and assure us. But this is also an invitation. This last part of the Story begs us to get into it. This is a call to discipleship because of it. This is an invitation to join the Story, to jump into the Story, to set your GPS on “New Creation” and go to it!

Act Six gives all of us a great hope. And, by hope, I want to very clear on this: I mean knowing that what our God has started, he will finish. What our God has promised, he will deliver. Our faithful God is bringing this whole thing to completion.

“Behold! I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” ~Revelation 22:12-14

Our hope is not about wishing this true. It’s knowing how the Story turns out.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

God in Christ will take his people to himself. He will. God will bring us to himself, he will take us in with him, and he will live with us. Act Six will never end. God’s Story will never end. Your story will never end.

This is what we believe. This is why we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” ~Revelation 22:20

Peace,

Allan

It Is Done

October 1, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

The magic number is two. If the Rangers win two of the four games against the Angels in the final regular season series that begins tonight in Arlington, they’ll win their first division title since 2011. They’ll also clinch the championship if they win only one and the Astros lose at least one of their three games in Arizona starting tomorrow.

This won’t be easy. The Halos are 10-5 against Texas this year. And, remember, Texas led the A.L. West by two games with four to play in 2012 and blew it, going 1-3 against Oakland and losing the division on the last day of the season.

The good news may be that LAA got seven of those ten wins against the Rangers before the All Star break. Texas was throwing guys like Ross Detwiler, Nick Martinez, Anthony Ranaudo, and Wandy Rodriguez at the Angels during the first half. Since then, the Rangers have added Derek Holland, Cole Hamels, Martin Perez, Jake Diekman, and Sam Dyson to the pitching staff and have gone 3-3 against the Halos. Colby Lewis is the only starter from the first half of the season who is still in the team’s rotation. And, if this thing is still undecided by Sunday, Texas will have Hamels up and ready against a team that’s never faced him.

Four games to play. The magic number is two.

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Act Six of the Story of God is not about getting a person’s individual sins forgiven so we can go to heaven when we die. Yes, that’s a very important means of God’s salvation, but that’s not the final end. That’s not the ultimate purpose. God is putting the whole world right. He’s renewing and restoring all of Creation. This is not salvation from the world; this is salvation of the world! Not just personal forgiveness and peace; this is justice and shalom/peace for the whole world. Not individual souls going to heaven; it’s the fullness of God coming here. The risen and reigning Jesus showed it to John. And he wants us to see it, too.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’

He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.'” ~Revelation 21:1-6

It is done. It is finished. The authoritative words of Jesus on the cross are repeated here by our risen and glorious Lord. It is done. It is completed. In the New Creation, all of God’s salvation purposes have come to their conclusion. This is the confirmation and the victory of what God did when he created the world way back in the beginning. This is the confirmation and victory of God accomplished in Christ Jesus two thousand years ago.

The most certain way to figure out what God is going to do in the future is to pay careful attention to what God has done in the past. This is Back to the Future… only without Biff and the cool DeLorean (Well, I don’t know… maybe there will be a cool DeLorean. There definitely won’t be anybody saddled with the last name of McFly). As God’s children and disciples of the Lord Jesus and we remember the future. What we look forward to is not the destruction of life and the planet but the renewal and restoration of God’s original and “very good” Creation.

The opposite of Yogi Berra’s famous line is true: The future is exactly what it used to be!

Peace,

Allan

Saved in Christ

April 30, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

I need to acknowledge the disturbing link that has recently popped up next to the tagline at the top of this website. It says “prescription frr Cialis.” Before that, for maybe a week or so, it said, “Pokémon buy gold Viagra.” Nice. I was first alerted to it early last week. It doesn’t show up on my computer because I’m the administrator, but everybody else sees it. Sneaky. It’s a hack. The links are dead so it’s not hurting anybody. But it’s not what I want at the top of my website. A couple of you have asked if I’ve tapped into a revenue stream. No. But, it’s not a bad idea. If that’s going to be at the top of my blog, I ought to at least be getting paid for it!

We have our very best people working on this, but it’s apparently very complicated. Don’t worry — I’ve been assured it can’t hurt anybody’s computers. It’s just a nuisance. But, yeah, I’m aware of it now.

The jokes I’ve been told about it and some of your one-liners (thank you) are certainly hilarious. Just not publishable.

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I need to also address the Blue Bell recall — I haven’t mentioned it yet on this site. I understand the widespread concern and want to assure you that, yes, I am just as concerned. Some friends and I are in the process right now of going back through Revelation to see if there is some cosmic connection between the end of times and what’s happening out of Brenham. This is heavy stuff and we all need to be paying close attention.

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“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” ~Romans 8:1

We’re considering this week why so many Christians feel like God is disappointed in them. In their honest moments, research indicates that most Christians feel more condemned by God’s judgment of them and less convinced of his great love for them. Of course, we don’t get that idea at all from Scripture. It comes from outside sources.

If you are in Christ, you are not condemned and cannot be condemned. You are saved. You cannot lose your salvation. You can throw it away, yes, but you cannot lose it. We don’t believe in once saved, always saved; but we certainly don’t believe in once saved, barely saved. There is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ.

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ~Romans 8:31-32

There’s not enough eternity to fathom that point. As the old hymn says, “When I think that God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in.” He did that. God did that for you. How will he not also graciously give you all things? Good question.

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” ~Romans 5:8-10

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You were justified by the sin-forgiving, life-bestowing blood of Jesus while you were a sinner. While you were an enemy of God, he saved you. You were not declared righteous for anything you’ve done, so you won’t be declared unrighteous for anything you’ve done. You can’t let God down because you’re not holding God up. This is not related to anything you’ve done or haven’t done. You are saved because of what God has done through Christ Jesus on the cross.

Is God just going to forget about the cross? When it comes to you, is he just going to un-do the cross?

For some reason we get it in our minds that since Christians know better, since we know more, since we’ve been blessed by this saving blood of Christ, we’re going to be held more accountable than others. We’re going to be judged more strictly, more harshly. We know more, so we’re in more danger.

No! Hear the good news, Christian!

Since we’ve been justified, HOW MUCH MORE shall we be saved! Since we’ve been reconciled, HOW MUCH MORE shall we be saved! Why would we assume there is less grace for God’s children? There is more!

More grace. More salvation. No condemnation.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Revelation (Page 3 of 8)

He Climbed Into the Boat

Ending Racism – Good Luck

Stuff in the Middle

God’s Perfect Presence

It Is Done

Saved in Christ

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