Author: Allan (Page 252 of 492)

Prayers for Paris

November 17, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

The pictures and stories keep coming in from Paris. More information and updates keep crawling across the bottom of the screen. What happened in Paris Friday is the result of Act Two in our Story, right? The Fall. The Perished Kingdom. Men and women rebel against the Creator, they turn their backs on the God of Heaven and Earth, and sin is the result. Sin. Violence. Death. Chaos. Grief. Terrible, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking grief.

We see it. We hear it. We can even feel it.

And we pray.

We pray for the victims and their families. I can’t imagine the horror, the fear, the tremendous loss. We pray for the perpetrators of this evil and their families. I can’t understand how sick and distorted the image of God must be in the people who pull off these kinds of horrific acts of violence; how twisted and sad, it’s so incredibly sad. And we pray for government leaders and their families. I can’t comprehend the tremendous pressure and stress these people must feel, the burden of leadership, the responsibility to make things right, the impossible chore of balancing freedom and security, caution and action, justice and patience, all with the proper amounts of calculated diplomacy.

I think we’re called to pray.

We’re also called to proclaim.

God has made a lot of promises to us. In Act Three, God declares that he’s going to fix everything. In Act Four, God comes to this earth to suffer these same kinds of atrocities with us to prove he’ll do anything — everything! — to fix what’s wrong with this world and his people. We see the conclusion to the Story in Act Six: everything is fixed. Peace between all people. Perfect harmony between the Creator and his creation. No violence. No war. No death. No tears.

While we live in the unfinished Fifth Act, we proclaim. With our lips, with our lives, and through our Christian communities. Jesus is Lord. He really is fixing everything. And we all need to get in on it.

I can’t explain terrorism and airplane crashes and bombings. It’s sin. It’s Act Two. And the world leaders and politicians have no solution. Whatever they’re saying and whatever they’re promising — they’re making a lot of statements and making a lot of promises — is not going to work. More bombs and more violence and more death doesn’t fix this. The only ruler with the solution is our risen and coming Lord Christ Jesus. He alone can make right everything that’s wrong. He alone can fix this. And he is. He is risen and he is coming and he is reigning supreme right now at the right hand of the Father in heaven. That’s what we proclaim.

And we pray.

Peace,

Allan

Home with the Blue Bell… Barely!

November 14, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

There was a short time — only for three or four months many, many years ago — back when I was still trying to get established in a full-time radio career that I worked a part time job as a courier in Dallas. I delivered very important packages all over Dallas/Ft.Worth, from business to business, time-sensitive documents, back and forth, criss-crossing all of North Texas. Every now and then, maybe a couple of times a week, I’d be handed something sealed up in an ice-chest to drive from one hospital to another hospital. And told to hurry.

Those strange and adrenaline-producing feelings came rushing back today, energizing all of my senses, as I packed the ice chest in the back seat and headed from Dallas to Amarillo. The precious and extremely time-sensitive cargo: one half gallon of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and one half gallon of Blue Bell Cookies and Cream.

A few of you were concerned enough about my mission to offer some very helpful advice by email and text. Thank you. Yes, I did pack the chest with ice last night and let it all get very cold for fifteen hours before I put the ice cream in there this afternoon. No, I did not use dry ice (too expensive and a little dangerous) nor did I put salt in the ice (maybe I should have). Yes, I wrapped both half-gallon cartons inside two plastic bags.

I only stopped once. I kept the inside of the truck as cool as I could stand it. I was in the truck for just under six hours. And when I got home, it looked like to me not one bit of the ice had melted. I felt really good about it. Until I started digging out the ice cream. The cartons were both a little mushy on the top and leaking out of the lid just a little. Just a little. But it all felt very, very soft.

Carrie-Anne is in Austin for a culinary arts training seminar, Carley is in Abilene for a girls church conference, and Whitney’s at work. And they’re all three texting me about the ice cream. How’s it going? Did it make it? Is it melted? Did it work?

I carefully opened up the cartons and stuck a spoon in the middle of each one. It was like sticking a straw into the middle of a really thick shake. I snapped a couple of pictures and sent them to the rest of the family. C-A responded with a crooked smile emoji. Carley sent back a really enthusiastic “If it can hold up a spoon, it’s solid enough!”

She was right. Oh, my. So good.

I’m worried that we won’t ever see Blue Bell in Amarillo again. They’ve decided to cut back from distributing to 23 states down to a total of fifteen. Even after all four phases of the new rollout are complete, sometime next year, eight states won’t be on the list. Among those states that Blue Bell is permanently cutting off: Colorado and New Mexico. I’m scared that means bad news for those of us in the oft-forgotten hinterlands of our great state.

Today might have been a practice run for future ice cream bootlegging operations. I did learn a couple of lessons; I think I can do better next time. And while it may not be quite as important as running a kidney or a liver to a hospital for a potentially life-saving operation… it’s similar. Very similar.

Peace,

Allan

Starbucks’ Red Cup

November 13, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

From Weird Al Yankovic’s Twitter:
“OK, Starbucks, NOW you’ve gone too far!”

Boy, this whole thing. How embarrassing. What an astonishing and pitiful testimony to some Christians’ misplaced values. If you are a Christian, please, in God’s name, refrain from talking or posting about the red cup unless you’re making fun of the people who are complaining about the red cup.

Peace,

Allan

Holy Spirit Witnesses

November 13, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” ~1 John 1:1-3

But I haven’t heard Jesus with my own ears. I didn’t see Jesus with my own eyes or touch his resurrected body with my own hands. Those apostles, those first Christians in the New Testament, had lots of advantages over me. They were real witnesses. I’m not really a witness at all. How can I be expected to proclaim the same ways they did?

As we established in this space yesterday, you have Holy Spirit power. You have the Spirit of God, the personal Spirit of the Christ, living inside you. I don’t know how that works. I promise you right now I don’t know how to explain it. But I believe it. And I trust it.

The Gospels tell us there is a continuity of personal experience with Jesus for all generations of disciples, not just the first generation. In John 14, Jesus promises he’ll never leave his followers as orphans: “I will come to you,” he says.

“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” ~John 14:23

Scripture says that Jesus ascending to his throne at the right hand of God in heaven does not mean the end of his presence with his followers. Jesus lives inside you.

“Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” ~1 John 3:24

“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the World. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.” ~1 John 4:13-15

The power of God’s Spirit belongs to you. It belongs to all disciples of the Christ. The Spirit inside you gives you an ongoing personal experience with our Lord. You know him. And you testify to that by the things you say and the way you live.

Peace,

Allan

Holy Spirit Power

November 12, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

I’m in Dallas this week for the Preacher Initiative and ElderLink, both being held at the great Highland Oaks Church of Christ. And what a great week it’s already been. I’ve been blessed to spend a couple of days and nights with my great friend Jason Reeves and his family, I had dinner last night at the home of OLD friends Glen and Becky Burroughs, I’ve reconnected with and been inspired by some of the best preachers and teachers in our church fellowship, and I spent a couple of hours this afternoon with Sally Gary, one of the Church’s most important leaders today. Tonight, it’s dinner with the Four Horsemen and all the wives (except Carrie-Anne who’s in Amarillo) at Kevin and Anita’s new house in Sunnyvale. And then ElderLink begins tomorrow.

Now, the only pressure of the trip besides writing a sermon in the middle of this busy week on the road, comes Saturday when I begin my journey back to Amarillo. There is an empty ice chest in the back seat of my truck. My daughters have told me I cannot come home without a half gallon of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream and a half gallon of Blue Bell Cookies and Cream. I’m not completely convinced I can make this happen. Can ice cream in those paper cartons last for six-and-a-half hours in an ice chest in the back seat? I’m going to be severely distracted over the next 48 hours with engineering in my mind a way to make this happen. I’d welcome your input and suggestions.

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

What God has done and what’s doing is real. “We’ve seen it!” the apostle writes. “We heard it, we touched it! It’s real! This is what we proclaim. This is about eternal life. We testify to it and we proclaim it!” As Paul would say, “I am compelled to proclaim the Good News! Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Good News!” Those who experience the salvation of God in Christ, those live in the lordship of Jesus, can’t help but proclaim it.

You’re the same way about a lot of things.

You probably tell your friends when you discover a new soap: “It makes my skin so soft! You’ve got to try it!” You see a good movie and you tell everybody: “Wow! It blew me away! You’ve got to go see it!” You experience a new restaurant and you won’t shut up about it: “Man, we love that place!”

That’s how disciples of Christ are about the Good News of the lordship of Jesus.

Yeah, but I don’t have that kind of personality. I don’t have much Bible knowledge. I don’t have a complete grasp of theology. I don’t have all the answers to all the questions. I don’t have any influence. I don’t have a Christian college education. I don’t have the confidence.

OK. I’ll give that to you. All of that may be true.

But let me tell you what you do have: If you are a Christian, you do have the power of God’s Holy Spirit. You, Christian, have Holy Spirit power. And the reason you have Holy Spirit power is so you can proclaim and so your proclamation will be effective.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ~Acts 1:8

The part we play in Act Five of the Story of God — Proclamation — can only be fulfilled by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is so important. The mission of Jesus is urgent, the Good News must be told. But Jesus wouldn’t let them start until they had received the Spirit. They were prepared, they had been taught, they were witnesses, they were ready. But not without the Spirit. They had to wait for the Holy Spirit. It won’t work without the Spirit. And when the followers of Jesus did receive the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, they could not be stopped.

The Holy Spirit’s main purpose is to speak to people about Jesus. Throughout the New Testament, the Holy Spirit fills the disciples with strength to meet special witnessing challenges. He gives boldness and courage. He provides the right words to say and he provides the power to say them.

The disciples had no academic advantages. They had no political connections or financial strength. They had no upper hand in any way. What they had was Holy Spirit power. By that power they proclaimed the lordship of Jesus. And by that power the proclamation could not be stopped.

Peace,

Allan

Watchful & Thankful

November 5, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” ~Colossians 4:2

The earliest Christians made it a habit to pray regularly at specific hours every day. Some appear to have prayed twice a day, morning and evening; others three times a day, morning, afternoon, and evening. It was a continuation of the Jewish custom that had been practiced for centuries, and subsequently passed on to succeeding Christian generations.

But regular daily prayer was not just the result of tradition.

The first Christians confidently expected the return of Christ and the consummation of the Kingdom of God in the immediate future, within their lifetimes. And they believed they were called to be alert and watchful at all times for that final event. Just like servants were supposed to stay awake and watch for the return of their master, they were expected to remain vigilant for the return of their Lord.

Mark 13:32-37 quotes Jesus as telling us to “be on guard! Be alert!” and “Keep watch!” Christ tells us in Luke 12:35-40 to “keep your lamps burning like men waiting for their master to return.”

Several New Testament passages further reveal that prayer is the proper mode of this constant state of readiness. Prayer is the way that watchful attitude is best expressed. Jesus tells his apostles to watch and pray that they may not enter into temptation. Paul’s letter to the Colossians links the idea of watchfulness and prayer (4:2). And he tells the Ephesians to “be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (6:18).

The discipline of prayer at regular, fixed times was an expression of the Church’s constant readiness for the imminent return of Christ.

Shall we pray?

Allan

Author: Allan (Page 252 of 492)

Prayers for Paris

Home with the Blue Bell… Barely!

Starbucks’ Red Cup

Holy Spirit Witnesses

Holy Spirit Power

Watchful & Thankful

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