Category: Ezekiel (Page 5 of 6)

Lousy Leaders and Sorry Sheep

September 6, 2010 / Allan / 1 Comment

(You’ve got to read Ezekiel 34 — the whole chapter — before you read this post.)

Ezekiel 34 troubles me. Just exactly like the rest of this book of prophesy, it’s strong. Bold. In-your-face. It pulls no punches. It’s convicting. Condemning, even. Powerful. You never have to wonder what God is thinking when he speaks through Ezekiel. And that’s true with chapter 34. I’m troubled because so much of this chapter seems to be speaking so directly to our churches today.

God rips into the bad shepherds because they’re ignoring the fat sheep who are oppressing the other sheep. And I see us. Sometimes. Sometimes elders don’t want to challenge the church bullies because they don’t want to stir up any conflict. They want to keep the peace. And, sometimes, the fattest sheep are the biggest givers. Sometimes preachers hold back on what God’s telling them to preach because they don’t want to offend anybody. They don’t want to answer the phone calls and emails Monday morning. They don’t want anybody to leave. They don’t want the emergency meeting with the elders.

Elders and ministers don’t always take care of the weak sheep like we should. Taking care of sheep is hard. It’s painful. Time-consuming. It’s work. And, sometimes, church leaders do crave the attention. Some of are tempted by the spotlight. Sometimes we really do just want our own way. Sometimes we do only act in an effort to save our own necks. And our selfishness and inconsistencies can drive the sheep away.

God help us.

We can also — all of us — sometimes be really sorry sheep. We can be territorial about our ministries or areas of service. Or our pews. We don’t let anybody in. We can shove brothers and sisters out the door by being dogmatic and unyielding about our own personal preferences. We can push people to the curb by insisting they believe and think and worship and sing and dress and pray just like me. We’re so good at it, so oblivious to it, that sometimes we can actually take the official position of a weak sheep and use it like an 18-pound sledgehammer to bully and head-butt and ram other sheep into my comfort zone and my lines and boundaries.

There are sheep in our flocks who’ve been in our flocks for years and who’ve never been invited to anyone’s house for dinner. They’ve never been asked to go out to eat. There are sheep in our churches who feel like they don’t matter because we have absolutely run them over on our way to the next committee meeting or service project.

God help us.

God says, “No, I’m just going to do it myself.”

“I myself will shepherd my sheep”

Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.”

Jesus knows how to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. To those who relied on their own righteousness, Jesus ripped away all their excuses and forced them to see their deep need for his grace. To those who were burdened and marginalized, Jesus drew them to God. He showed them that God did not delight in their death but was begging them to come to him so he could give them eternal life. They needed to know there was a place in God’s flock for the weak and the sinful.

The Lord Jesus Christ is our great shepherd. He’s bold and courageous and single-minded in his mission to seek and save the lost, to restore the lost sheep of Israel. And he’s so committed to it — he’s so committed to us, his sheep — that he lays down his life for us. He dies for us. He stands in the gate — he says in John 10 he IS the gate! — between us and the ravenous wolves and the muderous robbers who would kill us and eat us. He’s unwilling to sacrifice even one of us to the enemy. He’d rather die first.

And he did.

God’s people are scattered. We’re all over the map. We bicker and argue. We’re lost and injured and sick. And God through Christ keeps his promises to search and bring back and strengthen. The Good Shepherd makes us one. And he gives us peace.

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

The Rangers are 2-5 right now on this ten game road trip. They’ve gone oh-fer on the season in the Twin Cities. They’ve lost four straight. Josh and Lee are both out indefinitely. Just a little speed bump, right?

Peace,

Allan

Know That I Am The Lord

August 2, 2010 / Allan / 2 Comments

I felt like I was in the final scene of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The conference room at the back of our worship center was packed — jam-packed — with more people than it was ever intended to hold. As I pressed and pushed and excuse-me’d my way to the center of the room, untold dozens of men and women kept pushing money into my hands. Twenties and tens. Lots of twenties and tens. Several dozen checks. A couple of hundred dollar bills. People gave me phone numbers and email addresses. And lots of money. Smiling people. Loud people. Happy people. Giving cheerfully. Offering themselves sacrificially. Some of these people I know very well. Others, I’m not sure I’ve ever met. I can still see their wide open faces. But there’s no way I can remember them all. I didn’t know what to say. Almost 36-hours later, I’m still not sure what to say. I just stood there. Speechless. Yes, without speech. I kept waiting for someone to break out in “Auld Lang Syne.” (Is that how you spell it? Probably not.) Surely another Clarence somewhere was getting his wings!

It was too much. Almost chaotic. People were cramming themselves around the room. Others were pressed against the glass, unable to squeeze in. A line three and four across stretched out into the halls from both doors. I fully expected the ceiling tiles to be ripped apart and more people to be lowered down on mats and ropes. We had to move everybody back out into the worship center.

A Legacy family is in crisis. Major crisis. And we gave it to God by giving it to his Church. We spilled it all before the whole Body of Christ. No holds barred. Raw honesty. Brutal truth. All the pain. All the sin. All the darkness. Here it is, we said. Now, let’s help this family.

And we did. And we are. And I still can’t believe it.

Why am I so surprised? God is faithful. He’s always promised to take care of us if we’ll just depend on him. And he’s never broken one of those promises. Never. So why am I so shocked that he moved our church to such great depths of Christian love yesterday? Why was I so blown away?

Because it’s so rare?

Maybe.

Why is it so rare?

Because we don’t always depend on God the way he wants us to?

Maybe.

I really believe the key is to totally and completely and wholly rely on God instead of ourselves. And we never do that. Except when we get in a “hopeless situation.” Except when we find ourselves in the middle of a cyclone of horrible news and dreadful circumstances. Except when we hold meeting after meeting after meeting and discover we’ve got nothing. Nothing. No answers. No wisdom. No suggestions. No solutions. Nothing.

And we wind up with no choice but to give it all to God. In all humility and brokenness and helplessness, we give it to God.

And then he does that thing he always does. He rescues. He saves. He delivers. Just like always. And I imagine our heavenly Father looks at our surprise and says, “Now you know that I am the Lord.”

Praise God. He alone is God. There is no other. Praise God.

Allan

You Must Speak My Words

May 28, 2010 / Allan / 4 Comments

“You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen.” ~Ezekiel 2:7

My preaching just got a whole lot better. Members of the Legacy church will be especially pleased to know that I’m a much better preacher today than when I last posted on this blog. The annual Sermon Seminar at Austin Graduate School of Theology will do that to a guy.

Sitting at the feet of Rubel Shelly as he graced us with his knowledge and insights into our Savior’s Sermon on the Mount and encouraged us to empty ourselves and truly live into what God intends for us as his children. Listening to Paul Watson as he walked us through the words of judgment and grace in Ezekiel and challenged us to preach both. Soaking up my great friend Jim Martin’s wisdom and experience as he taught from 2 Corinthians and inspired us to rely solely on our God as we minister in our churches. Feverishly taking notes as Jim Reynolds carried us from Genesis to Malachi, painting a portrait of our God and his people, a breathtaking picture of love and mercy and grace, and begged us to preach the story. It was, as somebody observed halfway through the first day, like getting a drink from a fire hose. It was so much. Almost too much.

I heard a few jokes. I picked up several preaching pointers. I gathered lots of sermon ideas and outlines and illustrations. All those things are going to make me a better preacher. But here’s the thing that matters; this is what’s important:

For three days in Austin I was reminded by some of the best preachers and teachers of preachers in our fellowship that our sermons do not belong to us. Our sermons are the holy words of our mighty God. My ideas, my stories, my words, my thoughts are inadequate and empty. The world is too messed up, it’s in too much trouble. I bring nothing to the table. I’ve got nothing to offer. It’s God. God’s holy words and God’s holy will. His grace and his mercy and his love. His presence and guidance and encouragement. It’s God. I’m speaking for God.

This preaching thing is not a career. It’s not a profession. It’s a calling. It’s a sacred calling. Preachers are not hired and fired; they are not applicants or candidates. We don’t update resumes or climb any corporate ladders. We work for our Father. Everything we do, we do for him.

If the whole church applauds in approval after my sermon this Sunday but God is not pleased, I have not fulfilled my calling. If the whole church scowls in disapproval but God is delighted, I have done what he is calling me to do.

The Austin Grad Sermon Seminar always re-centers me. It re-focuses me. It pulls me back to the proper understandings and views that get so easily distorted or sometimes even lost in the swirling mess that is church life and church meetings and church politics and church business. It reminds me of who I am as a powerful proclaimer of the great news of salvation from God in Christ. And it reminds me that I work for the God who created me and equips me and empowers me to speak his words — whether anybody’s listening or not — and he guarantees those words will not return to him empty.

Thank you to Stan Reid and the whole Austin Grad staff. Thank you to Rubel, Paul, and First & Second Jim. Thank you to Eddie Sharp who planned all our worship times. Thank you to my great friend Jason Reeves for his company and his encouragement and for not bringing his smelly Corn Nuts into my truck. Thank you to Jim Gardner and Jimmy Mitchell for the prayers in our hotel rooms and the gut-laughs during our meals. And thank you to our mighty God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, for calling me to preach the Word.

Peace,

Allan

God's Determined Persistence

March 19, 2010 / Allan / 0 Comments

“I will search for the lost and bring back the strays.” ~Ezekiel 34:16

Our God will go to whatever lengths are necessary, he’ll do whatever it takes, he will not ever give up on saving his people. Even when we resist, he keeps on pursuing. Even when we rebel, he keeps on forgiving. Even when we run away, he keeps chasing. He won’t be stopped in his goal of redeeming his children.

“Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country
and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” ~Luke 15:4

Our merciful Father used the power of a violent storm and the weak witness of a runaway prophet to save the pagan sailors in Jonah 1. He created and commanded the great fish to rescue his rebellious servant in Jonah 2. And in Jonah 3, our faithful God put five Hebrew words into the hearts of a wicked people and turned an entire kingdom upside down for him.

“I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,” declares the Sovereign Lord.
“Repent and live!” ~Ezekiel 18:32

Our God is that relentless hound of heaven C. S. Lewis writes about. He’s on the trail to save and he won’t be stopped. May we see the world as our Father sees the world. May we light the lamps and sweep the floors. May we leave the 99 and go into the wilderness to save the one. May we go into the “streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” May our will and our mindset match that of our Righteous Creator who moves heaven and earth so that all the men and women of the world, all the men and women of your community, will be saved. And may we allow nothing — absolutely nothing! — to get in our way.

Peace,

Allan

The Call

January 30, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Ever seen a burning bush?

If you ever did, how would you respond?

How about the clear, unambiguous call of God to his Church — to us! — to apply the holy words of Scripture to our lives, to be transformed more and more into the image of Christ, to connect with each other and to minister to one another and to serve each other like family, and to take the good news of God’s mercy and grace and forgiveness into our neighborhoods and communities?

That’s a huge burning bush! That’s an Aggie bonfire towering in front of us, crackling with possibilities and blazing with the fire of God’s call!

The spiritual leaders of the Legacy church body, the elders and ministers, are all firmly convinced that the proper response to this eternal inferno of God’s commission is best made in weekly Small Groups Church.

Last year’s first cycle of SGC began with 692 men, women, and children and ended last month with 778. And we certainly anticipate bigger things in this next cycle that starts in April. With an average of 21 people in each of our 37 groups, there’s no room to grow. We need every former Co-Leader and at least 30 others to sign up this Sunday. If you already have your co-leading partner, please sign up. If you want to Co-Lead but you’ve not yet secured a partner, sign up anyway. There’s time to find your buddy. We need 100 total Co-Leaders to lead 50 groups when we start up again in April.

That’s the challenge. That’s the call. To you.

Now, what’s your objection?

“Nobody will follow me.” Abraham’s servant said that, and the Lord’s angel told him, God will make it happen (Genesis 24:6-7).

“I’ve tried it before and failed.” Moses said that, and the Lord said, it’s not about you, it’s about God (Exodus 3:12-4:17).

“It’s too hard for me.” Isaiah threw that excuse out there and he was promptly told, God sees and controls the big picture (Isaiah 6:11-13).

Jeremiah said, “But I’m not a good leader.” The Lord told Jeremiah, God is with you and will provide for you (Jeremiah 1:8).

Ezekiel was brutally honest and said, “I don’t want to go.” The answer came back over and over again, with God, there’s nothing to fear (Ezekiel 2:6).

“I’m too old.” That was Zechariah. The angel replied, God will give you signs and proof of his presence (Luke 1:19-20).

Mary said, “I’ve never done this before.” She was told, nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37).

Paul said, “I’ve got a rotten past.” Christ told him, God is empowering you for his mission (Acts 22:21).

Ananias offered, “It’s too risky, it’s too dangerous for me,” only to be told, God is taking care of the details (Acts 9:15).

See, the deal is that we usually view God’s call and God’s will and God’s plan for me as all about me. This task is too big for me. It’s beneath me. I might make someone mad. I’m too busy. I’m not gifted. I’m not qualified. I don’t know how. I’ve never done that before.

And God says, you’re right. But it has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with whether or not you think you can handle it. God says, “I AM.” I am qualified. I am powerful. I am the God who’s doing this, not you. I just want you to jump into it. I just need you to trust me. Believe in me. Allow me to do this with you and through you for my purposes and my Kingdom.

The call is right in front of you. How do you respond? With every reason and excuse as to why you can’t or shouldn’t act? With reasons and excuses as to why you can’t go to Egypt? Or by throwing yourself completely into his mission, wholeheartedly, in total faith and trust, no reservations, brakes off, full steam ahead, no looking back? By hurling yourself into the project, confident in our Lord who promises to deliver?

Small Groups Church is messy. You put a thousand people in each other’s homes and in each other’s lives, it’s messy. It’s difficult. It’s a real challenge. It’s full of suprises. It’s full of hospital visits and funerals, soccer games and car pools, different dynamics and diverse discussions, some extra dusting and vacuuming.

And lots and lots of wonderful stories.

I beg you to jump into the middle of it — or at the front of it — as a Co-Leader at Legacy. Jump head first, all the way. And allow our Father to do amazing things with you and through you for his people within this church family.

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We just got home a little while ago from Scottish Rite in Dallas. They took Whitney’s cast off. (Shew-wee!) Dr. Herring grabbed a pair of pliers and pulled the four-inch pin out of her heel. (Yech!) And then he pronounced her perfectly well and the reconstructive surgery a smashing success. She’ll be weaning herself off the walker as she regains strength and flexibility over the next couple of weeks. Praise God for her healing! Thank you so much for your prayers, your cards, your calls, your visits, all the wonderful ways you’ve encouraged and blessed our oldest daughter over the past two months. God has showered us with his love through you, our dear friends.

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

Last thing: I’ll never forget — ever — a telephone conversation I had with my sister, Rhonda, back on Super Bowl Sunday 1994. It was about 2:00. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but in the middle of the conversation, I told her I was skipping church to go to a Super Bowl party at a friend’s house.

She was genuinely surprised. “You’re skipping church to watch the Super Bowl?”

“Well, yeah.”

“You’re kidding.”

I said, “Rhonda, come on! You know me!”

And she said, “I thought I did.”

That was the last time I ever skipped church to watch a TV show. I urge you to make the same switch in your lifestyle and in the message you send your kids and your friends starting this weekend. Please don’t skip church this Sunday night to watch a TV show.

Peace,

Allan

Eat The Word

June 26, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight.” ~Jeremiah 15:16

You are what you eat. We know that. We experience that. If a nursing mother eats fajitas for dinner with jalapenos and pica de gallo and salsa she’s going to be up all night. Not because she’s sick, but because her baby is sick. The fajitas have become a part of the mother. You are what you eat. I look in the mirror and I can see the cheeseburgers and Whoppers and Kettle Cooked Lays potato chips. They’ve become a big part of me. The biggest part.

Jeremiah says when your words came, I ate them. I digested them. I assimilated them. I made them a part of me.

“‘…eat this scroll that I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.’ So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.” ~Ezekiel 3:3

Ezekiel’s being called into God’s service. Speak for me to Israel. Speak my words. Teach my people. Be an example for them. And God doesn’t say hear my word, listen to my word, read my word, study my word. He says eat it. Eat this scroll. Eat the word. Make it a part of you. Be one with it. Fill your belly with it. Take it all in.

“I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth…” ~Revelation 10:9

John’s taking notes on the words of the angel. He’s writing it all down. He wants to record it. He wants to remember it. And the angel says don’t write it down. Eat it.

The words of Scripture are written in a way—and intended—to get inside us. The words deal specifically with the life and death of our souls. And they’re written to transform each of us into a person who fits, and into a life that fits, with our God and his perfect creation and his gracious salvation and his gathered community. The words of Scripture have the power of the Holy Spirit behind them, the power of God in them. And they’re passed on to us to create in us truth and beauty and goodness. And as we wrestle with them and meditate on them, as we turn them over and think about them and obsess over them, the words enter our souls like food enters the stomach. They spread through our entire system of blood and air and organs and nerves and functions and they become holiness and love and wisdom inside us.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” ~2 Timothy 3:16-17

Make no mistake, eating the Word does not result in doctrinal maturity or knowledgeable Christianity. We don’t study the Bible to know more. We study the Bible to do more. Living by the Bible, living by the Word of God, means we’re not interested in knowing more, we’re interested in doing more.

We don’t learn Scripture. We don’t study the Bible or use the Bible.

We eat it. We ingest it. We assimilate it.

We take it into our lives in such a way that it metabolizes into acts of love, cups of cold water, and prison and hospital visits. The words manifest themselves in casseroles and cakes, groceries delivered, comfort and encouragement, evangelism and justice and sacrifice, all done in the name of the Christ.

The Word of God is the standard. It’s the authority. And we don’t use it. We submit to it. It’s not for information. It’s for transformation.

May we be a people of the Word. And may our God bless his Word to be at work in us, transforming us and empowering us to become more and more like him.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Ezekiel (Page 5 of 6)

Lousy Leaders and Sorry Sheep

Know That I Am The Lord

You Must Speak My Words

God's Determined Persistence

The Call

Eat The Word

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