Category: Ephesians (Page 19 of 19)

Sweet Hour of Prayer

April 30, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” ~Ephesians 6:18

Were your ears burning between 9:00 and 10:00 Friday night April 18?

A couple of weekends ago all of the elders and ministers here at Legacy spent about 24 hours together at a retreat center down in Glenrose. Most of Saturday was spent in sharing our dreams and our goals for the body of believers at Legacy. What do we want to do for the rest of this year and next? What is God ultimately doing with us? Where do we see things in five or even ten years from now? We spent some time talking about vision and thought processes. The day was filled with much open discussion relating to relationships between elders and ministers and within the leadership team.

I’ve been thrilled since Day One to be Legacy’s preacher. I’ve said before, I don’t feel led or guided by God to this place as much as I feel pushed by God to this place. I’m affirmed every week by our Father that he is doing amazing things with us and through us in our part of his Kingdom. But I’ve never been more confident and more thrilled to be a part of this congregation than I was during this retreat.

And it had more to do with what happened Friday night than with what happened Saturday.

As great as Saturday was—I plan to share much more of that with you later this week—Friday’s experience was even better. Because we prayed. We prayed long. We prayed hard. We prayed together. We prayed for each other. And we prayed for every single man, woman, and child in the Legacy church family.

We split up into groups of two and three, ministers and elders, and prayed together for about an hour. A pictorial directory had been desecrated; sacrificed for our prayer time. We were each given a couple of sheets out of the directory with all the names and all the pictures of all our brothers and sisters in Christ. And then we went off to each others’ rooms to pray.

I wound up in my room with Bob Robertson and Don Savage and the names and pictures of almost 170 Legacy members. And after we each prayed for each other, we turned our attention to our church family.

And I love praying this way.

Looking at the faces and lifting the names to God in prayer, I was reminded of 1) how much I’m blessed to know so many of these great people and 2) how so many of our people are struggling with their own issues and problems.

Carrie-Anne and I spent a lot of time between August ’06 and June ’07 praying that God would bless our daughters with great friends here at Legacy. And four or five times in that room Friday night, those families popped up on my list. These answers to prayer, these moms and dads and sweet, precious girls that God has put in our paths; what a blessing! Other men and women who have especially encouraged me since we’ve been here popped up on my sheet; men and women who go out of their way to compliment me and push me and challenge me and keep me focused and on track. What a blessing! And I praise God for these wonderful people and for the opportunities we share together in the Kingdom. And over and over again, men and women and families who are struggling with serious health issues, financial concerns, and ruptured relationships popped up on my list. I’m encouraged by their perseverence in those struggles and their faith in the face of hardships. And what a blessing to intercede for them to our Father in prayer!

There’s something very, very special about praying like this. Praying like this creates permanent bonds between the people you’re praying with and the people you’re praying for. I see Don and Bob differently now after hearing them pour out their hearts and their souls to God in prayer. You learn more about people by praying with them for one hour than you can ever learn in a lifetime of singing together or going to ball games together. Spend one hour with a couple of people in deep, earnest prayer, and I think it’s impossible not to love them more.

There was a ten-month window between the day Legacy hired me and the day I actually began my full-time work here as the preacher. I was still finishing up school down in Austin and only got up here once a month. So the first thing I did was ask the church here to provide a pictorial directory and ask everyone in the church family to write their prayer requests next to their families names and pictures. They mailed the directory to us and Carrie-Anne and I spent those next ten months praying over those names and pictures. We spent ten months with our God, talking to him about those in this church who had lost loved ones, those who were battling cancer, those who were facing important job decisions. Some people are surprised at how well we know everyone’s names here. And I always tell them, I prayed for you for ten months. I was bonding with you for ten months and you didn’t even know it.

In 1895, E. M. Bounds wrote, “Prayer does not prepare us for greater works, it is the greater work.”

Sometime this summer we’re going to organize a 24 Hours of Prayer here at Legacy like we’ve done in Mesquite and Marble Falls. Men of our congregation will sign up in one-hour shifts and pray in groups of four and five over thousands of prayer requests from our church family and our community. It might be the most powerful thing you’ll ever do with a Christian brother.

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Whitney and I had the talk yesterday afternoon. She understands about Josh Howard. She gets it. We’re going to go together one day next week and get her a Dirk jersey. Lucky for me all Mavericks gear is now half price.

Go Stars!

Allan

An Amen For A "But"

April 21, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

“People embraced, laughed and wept and prayed, all in one breath. As the moon rose over the vast flower-decked prairie, the soft southern wind carried peace to tired hearts and grateful slumber. As battles go, San Jacinto was but a skirmish; but with what mighty consequences! The lives and liberty of a few hundred pioneers at stake and an empire won! Look to it, you Texans of today, with happy homes, mid fields of smiling plenty, that the blood of the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto sealed forever. Texas, one and indivisible! ~Kate Scurry Terrell

April 21, 1836. The actual battle lasted less than 20 minutes. Sam Houston and his ragged band of 910 pioneers routed General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President and Dictator of Mexico and self-styled “Napoleon of the West,” and his proud army.

Happy San Jacinto Day!

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So, I’m preaching Habakkuk 3 yesterday, flying along with the great and wonderful news that we are assured of God’s deliverance in the future because of his mighty acts of deliverance in the past. I’m explaining some of the details of Habakkuk’s hymn, showing how he’s actually recounting all of God’s salvation acts in Israel’s history, from the forming of the community at Sinai to the Promised Land to the period of the judges and on into this impending period of Babylonian captivity. Habakkuk is able to face whatever comes his way with great confidence in his Lord because he has experienced and he remembers how God has saved him in the past.

And I’m trying to connect Habakkuk’s story of God’s acts in the past with our own stories of God’s saving acts in our own pasts. I’m trying to get our congregation to think about their own individual stories of salvation. How were you saved? What were you saved from? How did God save you? Who did he use? What circumstances did he use? What happened when God saved you?

I wanted our brothers and sisters at Legacy to understand we all have our salvation stories. And it would do us a lot of good to tell and re-tell those stories. Because those stories build fath. And they give us assurance of God’s salvation acts in the future.

So I go straight to 1 Corinthians 6:9. “…neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were.”

And then I paused and read the next line.

“But…”

And then I said, “Can I get an ‘Amen’ for a ‘but’?”

And I immediately wished I hadn’t said it.

The “but” there is the crux of the passage and the central point of the sermon. I had planned to pause there to let it sink in. But I hadn’t planned to ask for an ‘amen’. And I certainly hadn’t planned to ask for an ‘amen’ for a ‘but.” I immediately wished I’d said, “Can I get an ‘amen’ for a ‘conjunction’?” But there it was. It was already out there. And while I got several “amens,” I also got plenty of smirks and snickers. Yes, all the teenagers sit right down front. But it wasn’t just them.

“But you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God!”

The ‘but” is huge right there. (Cut it out) It’s everything. I just wish it had come out a little differently.

Then I go directly to Ephesians 2. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

But…”

I paused again this time. Didn’t ask for the ‘amen’. But I got it.

And at that point I relaxed. It IS appropriate to ‘amen’ that ‘but.’

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved!”

Fill in the blank: I was once________.

I used to be __________.

But—praise God!—I’m not ________ anymore!

I’m thankful for my gracious church family at Legacy. They are so kind and so patient with me as I continue learning how to preach. Thank you, brothers and sisters!

And thank you for all those text messages at 3:19 and 3:20 this afternoon!

3:18,

Allan

Home Sweet Home

November 14, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

“…you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.” ~Ephesians 2:19

It was announced yesterday by the NFL that the number one selling player’s jersey for the first two-and-a-half months of the football season belongs to Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Nationally, Romo’s replica jersey is outselling LaDanian Tomlinson, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning. That’s initially surprising to me. But when I consider that the Cowboys — overall, the top selling team in NFL merchandise since April — have always been one of the more popular sports franchises in the country and the Cowboys’ best players have always been among the individual top sellers, it makes perfect sense. Plus, Romo’s such a great kid with such a great story. He’s come from nowhere (in football circles, Eastern Illinois is nowhere). He’s had to work hard for everything he has. He makes gutsy plays. And he’s always smiling. What’s not to like?

And the better the Cowboys’ record, the higher the sales. The Cowboys are always in the top ten among NFL teams in merchandise sales. But just two years ago, they had dropped to sixth. Now they’re back to number one, no doubt due to their 8-1 start.

All of us feel a human need to belong to something, to be a part of some group. We get our identity, in large part, from the groups to which we belong. And that something or some group should be successful and popular. The human drive to identify with someone or some group or some cause — even if it’s only a sports team — is enormous. So we buy the jerseys. We refer to our teams as “us.” These identifications make us feel important. We have a need to belong, to have some sense of fitting in the world. And from that sense of belonging, we have the confidence and ability to relate and accomplish things. Our own families, of course, are foundational in giving us a true sense of belonging.

And the apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2 that we do belong. Christ has brought us home to God. We live in God’s house as members of his family. And at the same time, we are a house in which God lives. We belong with God and are involved in what he is doing. The other people in this same house are family with us. This home defines us. Christ gives us a place in his world. And from that sense of belonging we grow in our abilities to relate to others and accomplish great things for the Kingdom. Ephesians 2 tells us to remember where home is, remember where family is: We are at home with our God.

And our Christian life flows from there.

The church, as a family of faith, ought to feel like a family. Family members care for each other, are committed to each other, confront each other, protect each other, and sustain each other. That same sense of family should shape our worship. Worship should not be like a production we watch. It should have the free and comfortable feeling of being involved in a family experience, joining together to communicate with each other and with our Father. No one should be allowed to feel like an outsider in the church. Everyone needs to know they belong.

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There’s nothing quite like hockey people.

From the players and coaches and GMs down to the trainers and water boys, you’ll never find nicer people anywhere in sports. Hockey people are by far the most accomodating, the friendliest, the most down-to-earth in all of sports. I’m convinced it has a whole lot to do with my theory based on the relationship between job hazards and pay and the way athletes treat other people. I’ll share that with you some other time. The point is that I really hate to see Hicks fire Doug Armstrong.

Maybe he needed to go. The Stars are obviously missing something. Being bounced out of the first round of the playoffs three consecutive years puts the pressure on. But the mediocre start this season along with the two or three total meltdowns we’ve already seen makes it so much worse. I just know that Doug was/is the most open, available, friendly, honest GM I’ve every worked with. He could be clear across the country, in a crowded airport, in-between planes, and still answer my phone call. He could be on Central Expressway or stuck in traffic between Dallas and Frisco and he’d still return my call. That was great and always made my job so much easier. But better than that were the times we’d visit in-between periods up in the AAC pressbox. I don’t have a ton of hockey knowledge. And he knew it. But I don’t think he ever got frustrated with me. He always answered my questions and explained things to me. And he always asked about my girls.

I’m not sure Brett Hull’s the guy to take his place. Hulley’s another one of those hockey players, like most all of them, who are just as down to earth as you and me. I love his candor and his wit. His talent, during his heyday, was unmatched. He owns the signature moment in Stars history—even if his foot was in the crease. I do know Hull will provide the media with many more volatile sound bites than the guarded and laid-back Armstrong ever did. And that’ll be interesting and fun. But this move by Hicks has all the marks of desperation. This is a huge gamble. It’s either going to pay off huge or it’ll be a complete disaster. I don’t know what to compare it to.

I just feel bad for Doug Armstrong today.

Peace,

Allan

A New Attitude and Mind

November 12, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of your redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.” ~Ephesians 4:29-32.

There’s an old story about Woody Hayes, the volatile Ohio State football coach. In a 1968 rivalry game against the hated Michigan Wolverines, Hayes ordered his team to attempt a two-point conversion in the 4th quarter of a contest the Buckeyes wound up winning 50-14. Asked why he went for two, Hayes replied, “Because I couldn’t go for three.”

That’s bitterness. That’s malice. That’s rage. And I love that story. It’s hilarious. But Hayes never could get rid of it. That bitterness and rage took him over, ate him up, and eventually cost him his job.

Paul tells us that, as disciples of Christ, we’re to put off the old self and “be made new in the attitude of your minds.” We’re to “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” You can’t excuse rudeness or abrasiveness or mean words or hurtful comments by saying, “Well, that’s just who I am” or “Well, that’s just the way he is.” The apostle says that grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Unwholesome talk is, according to Paul, any talk that doesn’t build others up and meet their needs. One who is not kind and compassionate is, according to Paul, one who is eaten up with rage and malice and bitterness. That grieves our God. And, as God’s people, it ought to grieve us.

Let’s commit today to being “imitators of God…and live a life of love.”

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My thanks to everyone at the At The Cross Church of Christ in Mesquite. My family and I had a wonderful time worshiping with that group of believers, seeing old friends, and meeting brand new Christians whose lives are being changed by the saving grace of God in Jesus. The Allenhurst and Peachtree apartments in Mesquite are home to plenty of abuse and neglect and poverty and lonliness and despair. And At The Cross is reaching out to those places with the love of Christ and making a difference in the Kingdom. I praise God for them. And I thank God for the great people at Highland Oaks, Mesquite, and New Hope who are playing such a significant role in ministering to that church family.

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With the division title on the line, on the road in a hostile environment, against a good team on an unbelieveable hot streak, the Cowboys showed again that they’re pretty stinkin’ good. No Barber. No Witten. No matter. Romo’s great. His throw to the tight end in the corner of the end zone while he was being sacked in the middle of the field was another classic. Romo seems to produce one of those great plays that most quarterbacks have no business even attempting at least once a game. Who can stop them? The Packers?

Please?

Peace,

Allan

Category: Ephesians (Page 19 of 19)

Sweet Hour of Prayer

An Amen For A "But"

Home Sweet Home

A New Attitude and Mind

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