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Category: Hebrews (Page 7 of 9)

Cheering the Runners

June 29, 2012 / / 1 Comment

“Let us consider how we may spur one another on… let us encourage one another.” ~Hebrews 10:24-25

Our summer Wednesday nights at Central are intentionally focused on getting our church family together; on breaking down the barriers between generations and zip codes; on putting away the distinctions; on bringing together all ages, races, cultures, economic groups, and social classes to celebrate the divinely-ordained diversity with which we’re blessed in this body of Christians. And this week’s version of Running the Race — we called it “Cheer the Runners: Encouraging One Another” — surpassed by far our expectations.

For the evening meal, we asked everyone in our church family who was baptized 50 years ago or more not to wait in line to serve themselves, but to sit down at the designated tables so the rest of the congregation could serve them. And we did. We served up tons of brisket and potato casserole and strawberry shortcake. And after we all ate together, we sent these older saints into the foyer of our chapel. While the rest of us gathered in the pews, our older brothers and sisters were outfitted behind the foyer’s closed doors with “runners tags,” big numbers to wear on their chests declaring how many years they’ve each been running the race. Meanwhile, I prepped those of us waiting in the chapel for what would come next.

Johnny led us in the singing of Come, Thou Almighty King and then Greg opened up the back doors and here they came! Right down the long south aisle of our 83-year-old chapel. 60-year-Christians! 70-year-disciples! A couple of 74 and 73 year followers of our Christ! And we let them have it! A standing ovation. Clapping. Cheering. Whistling. Stomping. High fives and hugs. Salutes and pats on the back. Yelling. Hollering. Smiling. Laughing. Nearly 70 of our dearest, sweetest brothers and sisters entering our place of worship to such a roaring welcome. Three hundred more of us cheering them on!

It took a little longer than I thought it might. But if it had lasted three hours, I’m convinced we would have kept clapping and whistling. And everybody in the room would have kept smiling.

Once these dear saints got grouped up at the front of the chapel, we sang to them:

“We love you with the love of the Lord. We see in you the glory of our King. We love you with the love of the Lord.”

And then we all sat down together and raised the roof in beautiful song, praising God and encouraging one another.

Next, we ran around with a couple of handheld microphones and asked these older members to fill in the blanks: My favorite thing about Central is __________. I once was __________, but now I’m __________. I’m encouraged when I see younger people __________. They really opened up with us. They shared their hearts and their emotions. They shared with us their joys and sorrows, their laughter and their tears. More than a few of them expressed gratitude for having once been uncertain about their eternal salvation, but now being completely confident in the promises of our God. A lot of them spoke of their admiration for our elders and ministers. There were many comments about the faithfulness of this church. There were several observations regarding the blessing of so many young families and children in our congregation.

And then we younger ones blessed our older ones one more time: We love you because __________. Again, we heard over and over the common themes of faithfulness and love. We’ve watched them run the race. We’ve watched them endure and persevere in faith. And we’ve felt their great love for us. A lot of people in that room have been blessed by the faith and love of these older saints for their entire lives. And I pray we were able to return some of that encouragement and strength Wednesday night.

Later, Mary had us all divided up — intergenerationally, of course! — into 20 groups to create and decorate Running the Race banners, using only the random supplies and following the specific directions provided at each of the decorating tables. It was quite a deal. Young and old, black and white, rich and poor, older saints and brand new Christians, all working together on these little projects and then, with great pride, displaying their banners and posing for the “team pictures.”

It was an extraordinary night. I believe every person who participated Wednesday came away with a strong sense of truly belonging to something huge, something bigger than ourselves, something eternal. I think we also got a real reading on the faithfulness of our God. He really is still alive and still very powerful; he really is still saving people and still bringing his people together to work and worship and, together, change the world. And I believe we got a little glimpse of heaven Wednesday night. We experienced a little taste of the one people around that one table celebrating together our salvation from God in Christ.

We’re doing a church-wide tailgate party on July 11 and prayer-walking our neighborhoods on July 18. Can it get any better?

Truly we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. Let us not grow weary or lose heart. And may we consider how we may spur one another on.

Peace,

Allan

God Prepares the Course

June 20, 2012 / / 1 Comment

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” ~Genesis 50:20

We can’t always see where our course is leading. As we’re running the race, we’re not always certain of what’s around the corner. We don’t always know. Only one sees the course perfectly: the loving ONE who marks it out for us.

Joseph is told at the very beginning of his race in Genesis 37 that he would provide for his brothers and family. He had no way at all to anticipate how that would come about in such a massive way. Yet God knew all along that he was going to use Joseph to feed his family and provide for the welfare of the world. It just took a while. It took a long while. It took thirteen years of slavery and prison before God eventually placed Joseph where he knew he’d be all along. God intended it for good. We just don’t always see it.

What I want you to know is that it doesn’t matter where you are in your race right now. If you’re at the top of the highest peak or at the bottom of the lowest valley; if all your dreams have come true or if your life feels like a never-ending nightmare, there will always be ups and downs. Some lives are more up than down, true, and vice-versa. But there will definitely be highs and lows in your race. The truth is that regardless of your present circumstance, God’s sovereignty — his love, his mercy, his justice, his faithfulness, his loyalty, his goodness — always wins!

Evil will not triumph. Blessing will always prevail. Obstacles will all eventually melt away. Joseph’s story shows us God’s complete control of our races.

In Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat the narrarator encourages Joseph while he’s in prison. He tells Joseph not to despair. Don’t give up. “I’ve read the book,” he says, “and you come out on top!”

Now, we don’t have that benefit. Our books aren’t finished yet. The chapters of our lives are written as we live them out every day. And we don’t know exactly what our endings are going to look like. But the call from our God is to run the race with endurance and faithfulness. Wherever we are. Whatever our circumstances. Keep in mind, our race is much more than just the end result. The journey, the process, is just as important.

Joseph’s complete faithfulness while he was a slave, while he was in prison, was every bit as valuable to God as the ultimate deliverance he brought to his family. Faithfulness is faithfulness. It’s huge!

Our response to the God who marks the course and runs the race with us is not a raised hand in a moment of prayer in the worship center. It’s not an emotional walk down the aisle during the singing of Trust and Obey. It’s not the amount on your Sunday morning check or the Bible passage you read Tuesday. The only appropriate response to God’s total sovereignty and loving faithfulness is complete submission. Total commitment.

“We have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to our Father and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our own good that we may share in his holiness.” ~Hebrews 12:9-10

Peace,

Allan

Running the Race Together

June 6, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Our 83-year-old chapel here at Central has been transformed into a miniature stadium complete with colorful banners and cheering crowds, athletes and trophies, lockers and shoes and ice chests full of Gatorade. We’re kicking off our summer “Running the Race” series tonight and, as I’ve come to expect at this place, we’re going all out.

The hope is to use these nine summer Wednesdays to foster some strong intergenerational relationships. We’re not having Bible classes. No kids programs or youth groups. We’re not doing anything according to age group. We’re all eating together at 6:00, worshiping together at 7:00, and then playing together at 7:30.

Together. That’s the key word and the critical idea. Together.

We’re using as our theme passage Hebrews 12:1-3 where Scripture directly ties us disciples of Jesus today who are currently running the race to all the faith heroes in Hebrews 11 who ran the race before us. “Therefore,” it says, “since WE are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, let US throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let US run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

By running the race together, Hebrews is not saying all of us in the Central Church of Christ. It’s not “we” or “us”  together in the United States. This huge host of faithful runners to which we belong is not limited by the boundaries of time and space, much less the man-made borders of nations and denominations. Hebrews 12:1 ties us together with Hebrews 11.

So, we run the race together with all the saints of all time. We run the race with Abraham and Ernie, with Moses and Lachelle. We run with Mollie and Johnny and Callie and with Noah and Jacob and Joseph. And these great witnesses who went before us are like spectators; they’re watching us as we run the race and they’re cheering us on. That’s part of the picture. But it’s more than that. They are witnesses in that they bear a testimony. Their lives are a witness to God’s faithfulness, to God’s great provision and his eternal promises. Their lives prove what we preach.

It’s not so much they’re looking at us to cheer us on as we’re looking to them for encouragment and inspiration.

We’re part of a heritage, a legacy; we’re living and running in a story that’s a whole lot bigger than most of us realize.

So, while we’re eating and singing together tonight, while we’re competing in three-legged sack races and tossing water balloons with people much younger and much older than us, we’ll be reminded that we’re always running this race together.

Peace,

Allan

Running with Regular Folks

May 31, 2012 / / 2 Comments

By the time Whitney and I got in the truck after Bible class last night and turned on the radio, the Rangers were down 17-0 to the M’s. We started praying for a quick score and an onside kick.

Good grief.

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The writer of Hebrews walks us through the hallowed Faith Ring of Honor in chapter eleven, biblical hero by biblical hero. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David. By their faith, the writer makes clear, these people conquered kingdoms, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and “gained what was promised.”

Then the author has the audacity to commend disciples of Jesus — the Church, you, me! — to run the race the same way these heroes did.

Excuse me?

You want me to be like Abraham? You want me to be like Moses? Are you kidding? Why don’t you just set me up for a lifetime of cruel disappointment? I can never live up to that. Who can?

Before we check the “NA” box on this one, we might want to consider one thing: as Christians, we are extraordinary, we are super, we are heroes; not because of anything we’ve done or can do, but because of what God through Christ is doing in us and with us.

When we live by faith, we bear witness to God and God bears witness to us. Our lives become proof that faith in God works. Despite our weaknesses and shortcomings. Probably precisely because of our weaknesses and shortcomings.

We’re not perfect. We’ll never be perfect this side of glory. But our Father is working to make us perfect, we are “being saved,” in the everyday middle of running the race in faith.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” ~Hebrews 12:2

Peace,

Allan

The Prayer of the Fellowship

October 11, 2011 / / 0 Comments

If I were Skip Bayless, I would have headlined today’s post:

“Rain-gers Cruz to Detroit with 2-0 Lead!” 

I received the news of Nellie’s 11th inning drive via David Byrnes’ iPhone during Valerie’s choir performance at Amarillo High School. The Rangers won it right in the middle of Jubilate Deo. It means sing with joy to the Lord. And we did.

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Yesterday’s post about our congregational prayer for Judy has pushed me even farther in reflecting on the importance of public prayer. So many times our hurried efforts at the pulpit or, worse, our rambling ruminations and repetition betray a careless attitude toward this sacred activity among the saints in the presence of God on his holy ground. Congregational prayer is never to be entered into lightly. It is serious. It’s heavy. It requires forethought and preparation. And it demands relationship. You really can’t pray appropriately for your brother unless you really know your brother.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says as much in Life Together. And I agree.

“The prayer in the common devotion should be the prayer of the fellowship and not that of the individual who is praying. It is his responsibility to pray for the fellowship. So he will have to share the daily life of the fellowship; he must know the cares, the needs, the joys and thanksgivings, the petitions and hopes of the others. Their work and everything they bring with them must not be unknown to him. He prays as a brother among brothers. It will require practice and watchfulness, if he is not to confuse his own heart with the heart of the fellowship, if he is really to be guided solely by his responsibility to pray for the fellowship.”

If you’re asking people to lead prayers in your assemblies, please don’t wait until the day before to make that call. Give them several days, maybe a full week or more, to pray and prepare and practice for this awesome task. And if you’re leading these public prayers on behalf of an entire group of Christian brothers and sisters, by all means please take great care in the things you say and the ways you say them. Pray about it first, just between you and God; you’re going to need his help. Prepare the congregational prayer in advance; write down the words. Practice it; know what you’re going to say when you dare to address the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Above all, remember that you are praying on behalf of the group. And that sanctifies you. It transforms you. Because when you intercede for others before the throne of God and focus more on their needs than your own, you are being like our Christ who always lives to intercede for us.

Peace,

Allan

Give Away Day 2.0

November 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I’ve got at least one more thing to say about yesterday’s topic, Knowledge Puffs Up. Seriously, it’s beyond me how men and women can argue and debate and complain about each other and about the Church in the name of Christ. In light of Holy Scripture and salvation from God in Jesus, I don’t get it. And, quite frankly, it’s easy for me to understand why people are leaving the Church. And I completely understand why outsiders don’t want any part of it. But let’s save that for Monday. Today, I want to write about something I’m really excited about.

Not this open letter from Sports Illustrated football expert Peter King to Jerry Wayne. This letter is excellent, yes. And I have enjoyed reading it. But it’s not today’s main topic.

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For 27 years now, Give Away Day has been the highlight of Legacy’s outreach and benevolence ministry. We do many other things in the areas of outreach and benevolence. But Give Away Day has always been our signature event. Our mission identity is wrapped up in Give Away Day. It’s almost become who we are.

And that’s a good thing. It’s a very good thing. It is certainly something to be proud of. I tell people all the time about our Give Away Day. I think it’s tremendous. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people lined up for hours around our building. We love these people. We pray with these people. We fall in love with these people. And we help tons of people. Over the years, we’ve helped untold thousands of people with food and clothes and household items and mercy and love and compassion and grace. It’s wonderful for the people who are helped. It’s an incredible blessing for Legacy. And our God is glorified.

The problem is that we only see these people once a year.

The people who come to Give Away Day don’t live here. They’re not a part of our immediate community. They all drive 30-45 minutes to get here. I invite these people to worship with us knowing that it’s all but impossible. I ask for their phone numbers, only to learn on Monday that it’s a wrong number or it’s been disconnected.

That’s always been the frustrating part of Give Away Day. We’ve never been able to achieve our ultimate goals of bringing these people into our community of saving faith.

Hundreds and hundreds of the people who need Give Away Day and who need to come to God in Christ live in the Rosemont neighborhoods of South Fort Worth. That’s where they are. By God’s grace, our brother Manuel Calderon and the Siempre Familia Church of Christ are right there in the heart of that mostly Spanish-speaking segment of our county. Those 240 brothers and sisters live on the same streets as these people who drive 25-miles to get to Legacy’s Give Away Day. They work with them. Their kids all go to school together. They play ball together. They attend the same civic events. They are already a community with these people.

So tomorrow, we’re taking Give Away Day to the people. Instead of asking people to drive to us, we’re taking the clothes and diapers and coats to them. We are partnering with our God and with Siempre Familia to make Give Away Day bigger and better and more Kingdom effective than it’s ever been before!

There will be 100% follow-up with every single person we serve tomorrow. There will be Bible studies and prayers and ministry. Meaningful conversations. In-depth interactions. No language barriers. No long drives to a place that doesn’t seem like home. There will be baptisms. Souls will be saved and hell will be robbed!

My prayer is that we at Legacy can experience what it’s like to reach out into a local community with the love and grace of Jesus. My hope is that we feel deep inside us the joy of getting involved with people who live in our own zip codes. We’re doing that already in bits and pieces with a couple of the elementary schools around Legacy. But Siempre Familia does it on a grand scale, on a Kingdom-worthy, gargantuan scale! And I want us to catch that same Gospel fire.

We are thrilled to be partnering with our church family at Siempre Familia and joining God in the great work he’s already doing there in South Fort Worth. We are grateful to be counted worthy as our God’s co-workers in this salvation mission. And we humbly pray for his continued blessings as the powerful heritage of Legacy’s Give Away Day tradition enters this exciting new phase!

“May he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” ~Hebrews 13:21

Peace,

Allan

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