The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Holy Spirit (Page 9 of 15)

True Giving

July 31, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is… contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously.” ~Romans 12:6-8

We superficially assume that Paul’s command to be generous is meant only for those who have lots of money. No. Sadly, that misunderstanding causes lots of us to miss out on the terrific blessings of being generous.

Remember, these gifts listed in the middle of Romans 12 are gifts of God’s grace. God’s grace is the source of and the basis for these gifts. And it’s divine grace that guides us in the use of the gifts. A person gifted with generosity gives liberally not because he or she has tons of money, but because that individual has a grace-based understanding of possessions and their importance. His or her priorities are straight, in line with a gospel grasp of what our God has given to us.

And — this is just as important — let’s not limit this gift of generosity to our money and financial resources. Paul doesn’t; neither should we. The Scripture here is calling for an attitude of heart within the Christian community that says, “What’s mine is yours.” So many times your money is not the best thing you could give. More urgently, those in need could sometimes use your mechanical expertise or your plumbing skills or your time to just sit and listen.

Paul’s talking about an attitude. An open heart produces open checkbooks, open refrigerators, and open calendars.

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One of the great joys of working at the church building during the summers is the invaluable interaction with all the kids. (There’s a reason I keep two jars of Jolly Ranchers in my office at all times, and it’s not so I can see more of Matthew or Greg.) At any given time on any given day during the summer, our work is likely to be interrupted by the sound of relay races around the concourse, Nerf rocket launchers down the hall, or some form of zombie tag in the chapel. Yesterday, I was the grateful recipient of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk delivered by a mess of middle schoolers. Today, I was ambushed in my office by a group of church ninjas who were not as sneaky as they wanted to be and a whole lot funnier than they intended.

Our Lord says the Kingdom of God belongs to people just like these little church ninjas. I know why. Who can resist? Their great joy. Their creativity. Their vulnerability. Their tremendous capacity to forgive and their eagerness to love. The carefree laughing. The unashamed singing and dancing. God has called all of us to be just like them minus, maybe, the t-shirts over the heads. Or maybe with the t-shirts over the heads; I need to give that more thought. Thank you, God, for surrounding me with these little reminders of what you want for all of us.

Peace,

Allan

True Encouragement

July 28, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is… encouraging, let him encourage.” ~Romans 12:6-8

When brothers or sisters in our community of faith are hurting, the greatest grace we can offer is comfort or encouragement in the middle of whatever it is they are suffering. A person doesn’t need advice or correction or rebuke in the middle of pain. And he doesn’t need empty words. What he needs is the freedom you give him to crawl inside a hug and feel the embrace of our God. When we’re in pain, we need others to just listen, to just be present. We need friends and family to listen to our grief and fears, to help us sort everything out, and to encourage us not to lose hope.

Think today about the people who have touched your life with this gift of grace. Maybe you’ve experienced some special comforting lately. Perhaps today is a good day to thank them for the wonderful ways they’ve been a vessel of God’s mercy and care.

Or maybe this is one of your stronger spiritual gifts. Maybe today is the perfect day to assess the needs of the people around you. Take a few minutes today to discover who might need your encouragement in their struggles. And then bless them with the mercies of their heavenly Father who lavishly pours out his gifts on his children.

Peace,

Allan

True Teaching

July 26, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is… teaching, let him teach.” ~Romans 12:6-7

Those who are gifted to teach in the Church are called by Scripture to teach the truth. Obviously, teaching won’t bear fruit, regardless of the skills and abilities of the teacher, if the content of the efforts is false. This reminder is especially needed today when it seems more and more people in and out of the Church are much more interested in having their ears tickled than in being challenged by the radical call of God’s Word.

Secondly, teachers are responsible to prepare as well as they can to give their students as much substance as possible. The styles of teachers will vary, of course. But each teacher must be accountable to the community of faith for his or her best. Christian teaching is no place for flying by the seat of your pants. We are called to diligence in our studies.

Third, we use our teaching gifts from God best when we are genuine about how we teach. We must walk the talk. We have to be for real. We have no right to talk about the Scriptures unless we are personally willing to be confronted by them and to invest our whole beings into doing what they say. The impact of our teaching should be that others want to put God’s truth into practice. And we all know the best way for people to learn is through the examples of those who teach them.

God’s Holy Scriptures are such a treasure — bursting at the seams, exploding off the pages with new things to discover about God’s love and our place in his story. And we are all, to some extent, teachers. Parents and grandparents are constantly teaching. Bible class teachers and Gospel preachers qualify. Whenever another person is watching our modeling of our faith, we are teaching. We are teachers. It’s a gift that is to be nurtured by faith in God and in faithfulness to our Christian community.

Peace,

Allan

True Serving

July 24, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is…serving, let him serve.” ~Romans 12:6-7

One problem with being a servant in God’s Church is that the person gifted to serve sometimes doesn’t realize how important his or her gift really is. He hesitates to even offer it. She might seek other gifts instead. The servant isn’t leading visible, out front, out loud, center stage ministries and he feels unimportant. Un-needed. She might feel small in God’s Kingdom.

Part of that is the Church’s fault.

We place too much emphasis on the bigger and louder gifts. We exalt the more visible and high-profile graces from God. Those gifts get more ink in the church bulletin. But in God’s economy, all spiritual gifts are exactly the same.

God can move mountains when you stuff a toy dog for a child at “The Bridge.” God can mend broken hearts when you move furniture and change out sheets and pillowcases at “Martha’s Home.” God can heal wounded souls when you sing at “Another Chance House.” God reveals his glory when you serve someone in his name.

All these gifts are critical to the community of faith. If they’re not exercised — or properly appreciated — we lose some of what we are intended by God to be because we’re not operating at full strength. We’re not functioning as a whole body.

Holding the songbook for the older lady next to you is an exercise of a spiritual gift. It’s just as important as what the preacher’s doing up there. And, probably, a whole lot more meaningful to her.

Peace,

Allan

Invitation to Possession

May 13, 2014 / / 0 Comments

I see movie trailers all the time teasing the next big demon-possession flick: based on a true story. Movies about demon-possession: based on historical events. Books about demon-possession. Newspaper and magazine articles about demon-possession.

You ever heard of an angel possession?

Why is it always the demons?

See, the Spirit of God is not interested in a violent takeover. Of anything. God’s Spirit will never enter your heart or your head or your body and cause you to do things against your will. That’s not how our God operates. God’s way is through invitation.

“Come and see.” “Come and eat.” “Come follow me.”

Gracious invitation.

“Give me your burdens.” “Cast your cares on me.”

Gentle, loving invitation.

The ways we act with each other and with the world will reflect our views of God. Our thoughts and deeds will communicate our understanding of our Savior. A kind invitation will always go a lot farther than an aggressive assault. And it’s much more in line with Christ-likeness and godly behavior.
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This past Sunday may have been Mother’s Day at your church. Here at Central it was Delta Day!

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 Yu Darvish finished one out away from a no-hitter at the temple Friday night and there were ten of us in the seats down the third base line to witness it together. It was probably a little weird for Brock since his dad and Greg Dowell and Spruce and Hub-Daddy were all there. It probably felt like we had made the trip for an intervention. But we just had an absolute blast. Greg ate for the cycle. Danny kept threatening to take off his shirt. I won $13 dollars from the rest of the guys on Martin’s homer in the 5th. Lanny tried to double-down on the Dot Race. I think Hub was actually rooting against the little kid running the stolen base promotion. And Andy was oblivious to all of it because he kept his eyes laser focused on the field the whole night.

It was so good to get caught up with Byrnes and the Drakes. And, yes, Darvish is impressive. Wow. I’ve been to countless hundreds of baseball games in my life. Still never seen a no-hitter.

On a side note, wouldn’t the Rangers be really, really good if Darvish could pitch every night?

Peace,

Allan

Great Power for Us

March 18, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“…his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” ~Ephesians 1:19-23

Scripture goes out of its way, the apostle Paul goes to great lengths, to explain to us disciples just how much power we have in Christ Jesus, our risen and coming Lord. Christianity is a religion about power. Eternal power. Dynamic power. Powerful power. It’s like Paul pulls out his college Thesaurus, the one his parents gave him that weekend he was accepted into Gamaliel’s school, and conjures up every possible word for power — rule, authority, power, dominion, title — and says Christ is more powerful than all of it. Come on, Paul seems to be saying, just try to think of the most powerful thing in the universe. Now multiply that by ten billion. And Christ is still more powerful! Every power that’s ever been and ever will be, every title that’s ever been given and ever will be, every government, every political structure, every economic system, every industrial complex, every biological reality, every financial authority, every historical rule, Christ dominates it! Every single power that has ever existed and will ever come about, real or imagined, human or spiritual, temporal or eternal — – they are all subject to our Lord!

And we don’t get it. If we do, it seems to be only in the logical, cerebral sense, not in the practical application sense.

No wonder this is the focus of Paul’s great prayer that opens up his letter to the churches around Ephesus. I want you to know this power, Paul prays. I want you to understand it, to grasp it, to really own the mind-blowing truth that the exact same Holy Spirit power that brought Jesus out the grave to reign at the right hand of God is the exact same power we all have in us and at our disposal as his disciples.

The New Testament doesn’t really go into deep discussions about the powers and power structures of the world except to remind us that they are all in subjection to our King. Paul doesn’t seem worried about the powers at all. He shows little interest in them, other than to say, “They’re all defeated in Christ Jesus!” Sometimes he mentions that the victory was won at the cross. Other times he claims it happened on that Sunday morning at the garden tomb. But he doesn’t overly concern himself with what’s happening in Rome or in the local city hall. Christ reigns! Jesus is Lord!

So, if this is true…

(and it is!)

Jesus is the winner. And if we’re in Christ, we don’t need to worry about the powers. We don’t worry about what’s happening in Austin or Washington D.C. or Moscow. We don’t worry about what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iran or in downtown Amarillo. Those powers have already all been defeated, they just don’t know it yet.

And if, as Paul writes, the church really is the fullness of Christ, then we don’t have to worry that we’re missing out on something. We don’t have to concern ourselves with other disciplines or traditions from the other side of the globe, with formulas or superstitions from down the street, or with secret knowledge or unrevealed mysteries from another realm. We’re not missing anything. In Christ Jesus, we have everything!

No wonder Paul prays that we would grasp it.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know…!” ~Ephesians 1:18

Now, what would happen if we really believed all that? The gates of hell tremble at the thought.

Peace,

Allan

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