The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

AllanStanglin.com

Category: Prayer (Page 16 of 29)

Our Lord’s Will

May 24, 2013 / / 2 Comments

Burt Palmer, the “Sheep Dog,” the warm, funny, out-going, self-deprecating senior pastor at Polk Street Methodist Church has said it a few times recently and repeated it again in front of sixty-five other elders and ministers at last night’s 4 Amarillo prayer meeting: “I can’t believe it’s the Church of Christ guy who’s pushing this ecumenical partnership.” Howard Griffin, the straight-laced, forward-thinking, super-organized, community-minded senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church has told me that when he tells his people about our 4 Amarillo plans, their reaction is something along the lines of, “Are you sure the Church of Christ wants to be involved in this?” Howie Batson, the most senior of all us senior pastors downtown, the long-time and much-loved, brilliant and soft-spoken, pastoral-face-of-the-city senior pastor at First Baptist Church whispered to me at breakfast yesterday and again after last night’s meeting, “You know, you’re going to get some push back from the other Churches of Christ in town.”

Yeah, some of it’s funny. Some of it’s sad. None of it surprises me. But, this is just the right thing to do. It’s right and it’s good; it’s very good. Because we know for a fact that the unity of all God’s children as a testimony to his power is the will of our Lord Jesus. Good gravy, it’s the last thing he prayed for on his way to the cross.

“…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe… May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me.” ~John 17:20-23

We know that last night’s prayer meeting and our long-term plans to join forces in worship and service for the sake of our city is pleasing to our Father. We can be certain of that. How many biblical passages about the Body of Christ, how many Scriptures about Christian unity, how many references to fellowship and brotherly love do you want me to cite?

There were twelve tables in that room last night with six to eight ministers and elders from the four churches at each one. Well, that’s not entirely true. The table that was positioned at the very front center of the room was empty, drawing attention to yet another thing we all have in common: nobody sits down front. I sat at a table with Jim and Mickye from First Baptist, Callie and Kim from Polk Street, and our own Matthew Blake. We read Scripture together and we prayed. We discussed together what each of our churches are already doing in Amarillo (a ton, as it turns out; praise God!) and dreamed out loud about what God might do through us in the future. As we prayed around our table, I couldn’t help but hear Leon praying for unity two tables over. I heard Steve Rogers behind me at his table, talking to God about his Holy Spirit. During our discussions I could hear Greg laughing a couple of tables to my right. I watched Steve and Larry introduce themselves to about forty different people. I was so proud of our guys last night, so proud of their eager participation and leadership in this great cause.

Burt led us in a time of meditation and prayer from Ephesians 4:3-6, reminding us that there is just one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, and, while we use different amounts of water, just one baptism, We recognized together in prayer that we are called to be a unified people of God. We acknowledged that God is the Father of us all. And we pledged to commit to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Howard led us in a time of brain-storming together about ways we could partner with one another for the benefit of others. If somebody comes to Polk Street looking for food, Polk Street’s not going to start a big food pantry, they’re going to send them to Central. If somebody comes to Central looking for an ESL class, we’re not going to start one, we’re going to send them to First Baptist. If First Baptist needs two more guys to accompany their trailer of supplies to tornado victims in Moore, they’ll call us or First Presbyterian to see if anybody wants to go. People at First Baptist who want to do prison ministry should partner with the programs already in place at Polk Street. People at Polk Street who want to work at Martha’s Home should partner with what Central is already doing instead of trying to reinvent another program. Why not?

I outlined our plans for the next twelve months to serve our city together in the name of Jesus: serving our downtown-area elementary schools, serving and worshiping together during Thanksgiving and Easter, building the Habitat for Humanity houses next summer. In the context of Ephesians 4:11-13, we thanked our God for the works he’s about to put in front of us. We recognized that, according to Scripture, these works of service lead to unity and to increased Christ-likeness. And we begged God to give us those works, to raise up the leaders within our four churches, and to prepare our city to be turned upside down for our risen Savior.

Howie brought it home with an inspiring story about a young girl he presented a Bible to more than a decade ago at one of their summer Bible schools. This young child, who was being starved and abused in her home at the time, has grown into a wonderful Christian young lady who’s written and published a book about her experiences. Howie reminded us that you never know at the time how our God is using our efforts to serve others. And he encouraged us to embrace these new efforts in our downtown neighborhoods with trust that our Father is going to blow us away with his grace and power. We read from Jesus’ prayer for Christian unity for the sake of the world in John 17, and then pledged to God to follow his lead. We asked God to take us to places we’ve never been before in sacrifice and service for others. And we gave our partnership and our plans, our projects and programs, to him in prayer.

I believe that Satan, the Accuser, has already noticed. I believe that when Burt stood up last night to kick off our meeting, Satan also stood up at the same time and said, “They’re doing what?!?” I believe that, after last night, hell is trembling. And I believe heaven is rejoicing. I believe that last night our Father said, “Finally!” And then he elbowed a couple of his angels and said, “Now, watch this!”

We are acknowledging that Jesus has the power to change everything, to fix everything, to make everything right. And we’re showing Amarillo what it looks like by our sacrifice and service, by our re-organized priorities, by our Christian unity, and by our lives.

Peace,

Allan

4 Amarillo

May 23, 2013 / / 4 Comments

Four guys walk into a bar: a Baptist, a Methodist, a Church of Christ, and a Presbyterian… that’s a joke.

Four sets of ministers and elders walk into a church building to pray: Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ, and Presbyterian… that’s not a joke. It’s the holy will of our God and a magnificent witness to our city of the power of Jesus! And it’s happening this evening!

“I pray also for those who will believe in me through [the apostles’] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” ~John 17:20-23

We believe that it is God’s will that all his children, all disciples of his Son, be reconciled. We think God’s great desire is for all Christians to be brought together as a powerful witness to the world of his love and peace. You know, this is in our Church of Christ DNA. It was established in the opening lines of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, the charter document for our Restoration Movement, written in August 1809:

“That it is the grand design and native tendency of our holy religion to reconcile and unite men to God and to each other in truth and love to the glory of God and their own present and eternal good will not, we presume, be denied by any of the genuine subjects of Christianity.”

The whole document is about reconciliation, the kind of reconciliation that drives God’s eternal plans. The very ministry of reconciliation he’s given those of us who profess our faith in him. The words in the document are bold and aggressive. And they ring with undeniable beauty and truth. They call for a swift end to all divisions among those who follow Jesus:

“Has the Captain of Salvation sounded a desist from pursuing this deadly enemy that is sheathing its sword in the very bowels of Christ’s Church, rending and mangling his mystical body to pieces? Has he said to his servants, ‘Let it alone?’ If not, where is the warrant for a  cessation of endeavors to have it removed?”

Campbell claims that tearing down the walls and uniting with all our brothers and sisters in Christ is a matter of universal right, a duty belonging to every citizen of Zion. And while the work will be difficult and the opposition will come mainly from within the church establishment, Campbell says it is God’s will. It is the Church’s will. It is the will of those who’ve gone before us:

“Both the mighty and the many are with us. The Lord himself, and all that are truly his people, are declaredly on our side. The prayers of all the churches, nay, the prayers of Christ himself, and of all that have ascended to his heavenly Kingdom, are with us.”

I thank God for the Campbells and the Stones and the other giants of the faith who latched on to God’s holy will as revealed to us in Scripture and would. not. let. go. I thank God for the ecumenical spirit of the Central Church of Christ toward our brothers and sisters in other Christian churches in our city. I’m grateful for the willingness here — the eagerness! — to unite with other Christ-followers.

This evening, the Central elders and ministers are meeting at Polk Street Methodist Church with their elders and ministers and with the elders and ministers from First Baptist and First Presbyterian to spend one-and-a-half hours together in prayer. We are forming an alliance, a partnership. We’re calling it “4 Amarillo.” It’s a hopefully obvious play on words. Four churches breaking down our walls, putting aside our differences to unite for the sake of our city.

We’re not 100% sure what this looks like yet. This August, we want to join together to serve our downtown area elementary schools. We’d like to serve and worship together during the Thanksgiving and Easter holidays. We’re going to swap pulpits with one another. We’re thinking we’d like to build some Habitat for Humanity houses together.

We do believe that this partnership between denominations will be a powerful witness to our city that Jesus really is the Prince of Peace, that he really does possess the power to reconcile and unite. Jesus says in the middle of Matthew 18 that if two or three people will come together and agree on anything, he’ll show up just to see that! And we believe he will.

Whatever good comes from this alliance, we know it must begin in prayer. So that’s what we’re doing tonight at Polk Street Methodist. We’re going to pray. We’re going to commit to one another — all four churches — as brothers and sisters in Christ. We’re going to pledge in prayer that we will not be competitive, that we will not be territorial, that we will see our downtown area as the part of the Kingdom of God we’ve been given to serve together. And we’re going to submit the whole thing to our God. In prayer, we’re going to give our partnership, our efforts, our projects, all of it to our merciful Father for his purposes and to his eternal glory and praise.

It starts tonight. I have only hopes and dreams of where it might be going. But it starts tonight.

Peace,

Allan

Religious Freedom: Part Two

March 13, 2013 / / 0 Comments

In our Sunday morning Bible classes here at Central, we’re studying the history of our Churches of Christ within what is called the American Restoration Movement. The hope and prayer is that we, in the words of Doug Foster, “raise our historical spiritual consciousness,” that we come to understand how our distinctive faith and doctrines and practices have been shaped by particular history and culture in order to better grasp the founding vision of our movement and make a deliberate turn back to the best parts. And if you’ve made it past those two sentences to this one, congratulations. Sorry about that.

We’re using Foster’s book, Renewing God’s People, to guide our study and discussions. I’m sharing the fruits of our study and openly processing some of it in this space. You might look at yesterday’s post if this one’s going to make sense.

It was during the prolific exercising of “religious freedom” in the colonial days of the American frontier when the call for “restoration” became a popular cry among Christians. The denominationalism of the day couldn’t be good for the spread of the Gospel. The constant dividing and splitting and planting and branching probably wasn’t communicating the truth of unity in Christ. There seemed to be no end to the numbers of new churches and new forms of Christianity that were being established in the States based on somebody’s new or different interpretation of the Scriptures. Finally, a few church leaders began questioning whether new churches and new denominations, the exercise of this nationalistic and democratic and individualistic religious freedom, was actually harming their Christian witness. Some religious leaders went so far as to say this denominationalism was a direct affront to the prayer of our Lord in John 17 in which Jesus prays for unity among all believers “so the world may believe.” Denominationalism, in their view, was in fact a sin.

James O’Kelly (1735-1826) was one of these guys. A Methodist preacher in North Carolina and Virginia, O’Kelly openly questioned the power and authority of the bishops in the Methodist church, particularly the two in Baltimore. He balked at the whole bishop system, arguing that each Christian congregation should act democratically, like a republic, to govern its own affairs. His motto was “Bible government, Christian equality, and the Christian name!” In 1793, he formed the “Republican Methodists.” Then he went even farther the next year, dropping the name “Methodists” alltogether. We are only Christians, he said, “Christian” is the only name for disciples of Jesus.

In that same year, 1794, O’Kelly published his Cardinal Principles of the Christian Church:

~ The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Head of the Church

~ The name Christian should be used to the exclusion of all party and sectarian names

~ The Holy Bible is our only creed, and a sufficient rule of faith and practice

~ Christian character is the only test of church fellowship and membership

~ The right of private judgment and liberty of conscience are the privilege and duty of all

~ The union of all followers of Christ to the end that the world may believe

What do you think about those six rules? Is this a fairly decent summary of standards and practices for a Christian church based on the Gospel of Jesus? What would you add to a list like this? What would you subtract? Could a church or a group of churches even function with this type of charter? Could a group of churches — Churches of Christ, maybe — function this way today?

O’Kelly’s churches grew to about ten thousand members in North Carolina and Virginia. They eventually adopted believer’s baptism by immersion as their standard practice and taught that the unity of all Christians is God’s plan for redeeming the world.

At the same time, a group of Baptists in Vermont led by Abner Jones (1772-1841) and another group of Baptists in New Hampshire led by Elias Smith (1769-1846) began to independently proclaim a non-creedal Christianity. They  denounced Calvinism and took the name “Christian” as the only acceptable label for disciples of Jesus. These two, again independently of one another, established at least fourteen churches in the early 1800s.

Funny, huh? Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell weren’t the first ones or the only ones with these kind of ideas. The idea of “restoration,” stripping away what is new and unnecessary to get back to something in its pure and original condition, actually was fairly popular at the turn of the 19th century.  It was being preached and practiced by many. And Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17 was driving it.

“…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” ~John 17:20-23

Peace,

Allan

Yesterday in the Chapel

January 23, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Our 83-year-old chapel is my favorite room here at Central. This beautiful worship space was built in 1930 with “liberal” stained glass windows and crosses, in the middle of the Depression, by godly men and women who lived week-to-week and rain shower to rain shower. This chapel speaks to me of tradition and heritage and legacy. It reflects customs and beliefs and practices and stories faithfully handed down generation after generation by some of the best people who ever walked on this planet. I love this chapel. And we spent a lot of time in there yesterday.

As part of our shepherd selection process, we designated yesterday as a congregational day of prayer and fasting. Our church family refrained from eating in order to pour our individual and corporate energies into prayer. We fasted and prayed for our God’s guidance as we select additional shepherds. We asked him to bless us. We thanked him for those great shepherds who have gone before here at Central and, by God’s grace, have brought us to where we are today. We prayed for our current group of elders and their wives and kids. And we begged God to bless those men who are about to be appointed by their church family to lead in the name and manner of Jesus.

Oh, it was all very well orchestrated. All of our elders and ministers signed up to pray in the chapel in 30-minute shifts. We had sheets of paper in there with Scriptures to read and names to lift up in prayer and other suggestions and ideas to guide our people as we praised and petitioned our God. Email messages with similar helps and encouragements were sent to our church family every hour on the hour. We are spread out all over Amarillo and the greater Amarillo area (Canyon, Vega, Panhandle, etc.,) but we would be united in our fasting and prayer during this important time in the on-going story of this great church.

And then God did that thing he does. And he made yesterday in the chapel much better than I could have hoped or imagined.

From 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 last night, there was a steady stream of folks coming and going in and out of that chapel. Every time I poked my head in the door to take a peek, there were at least six or seven people in there. Quietly reading the Scriptures. Praying with and for one another. Holy conversations. Praise and thanksgiving. Confession and encouragement.

I spent three different 30-minute shifts in the chapel yesterday that somehow stretched into 45 and 60-minute shifts. And it was some of the most important and meaningful time I’ve spent with our church family.

We talked together about those great men who’ve gone before. Some of these men I’ve only heard their names (over and over and over). But yesterday I got to hear first-hand how these faithful shepherds impacted these special people in eternal ways. We visited about certain men who were under serious consideration for the important task of shepherding this church family. People had questions, they had insights. Some folks wrestled together over those lists in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 and those conversations were helpful to me and to everyone in those two or three pews. And we prayed. We begged God for his guidance and wisdom. And we asked him to bless our church. People came to the chapel yesterday for a variety of reasons. Some people stayed for five minutes, some lingered for more than an hour. And they were all blessed. But none more so than the preacher.

Thank you, Laverne and Melanie, for honoring me by opening up your hearts in prayer as we talked together about the things we’re looking for in additional elders. Thank you, Myrl, for bringing all those emails and making sure each one of our current shepherds and their wives were lifted to our God for blessing. Thank you, Doug and Lisa and Betty and Margaret for the wonderful and holy conversation we had about shepherd qualities, for the questions you asked about specific candidates, for the prayers you worded on behalf of those men we discussed. Thank you, Tim and Brice, for putting your arms around me and thanking God with me for the wonderful people in this church who have blessed us so richly. Thank you, Larry and Callie, for getting down on your knees at the front of our chapel to lift your voices and your hearts to our loving Father. I didn’t get a chance to speak to you. But I saw you. Thank you. And thank you, Gaye. Oh, my word. Thank you, Gaye, for sharing your very soul with me yesterday. Thank you for your precious tears of joy and thanksgiving. Thank you, Gaye, for reminding me with story after story after story of how great the people are in this church and how blessed by God we are to be a part of it. Thank you, Gaye, for your transparency with me and with all of us who were in that room yesterday. And forgive me, Gaye, in advance, for stealing some of your testimony and your stories for our sermon this coming Sunday.

Thank you, Almighty God, for yesterday in the chapel. You, Father, drew our faith community together yesterday in prayer. You reminded us of your power and your matchless love. You encouraged us with warm words and concrete evidence of your grace. You moved us yesterday. To you be all praise and glory forever.

Peace,

Allan

Augustine’s Prayer for Self Knowledge

November 12, 2012 / / 3 Comments

Lord Jesus, let me know myself and know you and desire nothing save only you.
Let me hate myself and love you.
Let me do everything for the sake of you.
Let me humble myself and exalt you.
Let me think of nothing except you.
Let me die to myself and live in you.
Let me accept whatever happens as from you.
Let me banish self and follow you and ever desire to follow you.
Let me fly from myself and take refuge in you that I may deserve to be defended by you.
Let me fear for myself.
Let me fear you and let me be among those who are chosen by you.
Let me distrust myself and put my trust in you.
Let me be willing to obey for the sake of you.
Let me cling to nothing save only to you and let me be poor because of you.
Look upon me that I may love you.
Call me that I may see you and forever enjoy you.
Amen.

When The Sermon’s Over

July 10, 2012 / / 2 Comments

If my honeymoon here at Central is supposed to last one year — I’m not assuming anything here; it may last another two or three years or, without my knowledge, it may have ended months ago — then I’ve got only about six more weeks of this wonderful bliss. So, please indulge me with your love and grace and allow me to encourage you in a way that, I hope, provokes some honest self assessment and reflection.

It ain’t over when the sermon is over.

In fact, I would argue — get ready, I’m about to! — that the best and most important part of our Sunday morning assemblies occurs after the sermon is finished. Church is not over when the sermon is over; it’s just getting started. If you’re heading for the doors and out into the parking lot the moment I close my Bible, you’re missing out on the best stuff that happens during our assemblies. If the last thing you see or hear, experience or participate in, during our weekly gatherings in that worship center is my voice, here’s what you’re missing.

1) Self-Reflection – the song that we sing together right after the sermon is chosen in order to promote some healthy and much needed self-assessment. The song is connected to the just-presented Word in a way that should lead to personal and congregational reflection. It’s hard enough in this noisy world with our hectic pace and our short attention spans to find time to reflect on God’s Word and our response to it. Whether you hit the parking lot one minute after the sermon’s done or 30-minutes later, the honest truth is that, by that time, you’ve already forgotten every bit of it. You’re on to the next thing. What sermon? What Word of God? We believe that the Word preached has a life-transforming power. We believe that God’s Spirit uses that Word to change us, to shape us, to form us more into the image of Christ. Those moments immediately following the proclamation of that Word are much better spent thinking and reflecting, meditating and contemplating application, than in gathering up purses and papers and rushing up the aisles. What’s the hurry?

2) Baptisms – yes, it still happens occasionally. Somebody will be so moved by the proclaimed Word of God, he will walk down to the front of the worship center right after the sermon and be baptized on the spot. A previously unsaved child of God will declare her allegiance to her Creator, submit fully to the Lordship of our Christ, participate in the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus, and be delivered from her sins into eternal life in glory. Why would you want to miss that? It’s the thing we teach and preach, it’s the thing we uphold as vital to salvation, it’s the very thing we’ve fought to defend. It’s baptism! It’s the chance to witness up close and personal our Almighty God snatching an eternal soul from the clutches of Satan and redirecting him or her to heaven. It’s the opportunity to physically watch God keep his centuries-old promises. It’s a holy occasion to participate in God’s salvation, to witness a birth, to be present when a child of God is reclaimed and restored to righteousness. Why in the world would you miss that in order to get to Arby’s or to the lake fifteen minutes earlier? To me, it’s like a football player who has given his life to football saying “no, thank you” to starting at quarterback in the Super Bowl in order to go home and watch a hair-clip infomercial on a 13-inch black-and-white TV. It’s that crazy.

3) Bearing Burdens – two or three times a month, it seems, somebody in our church family or somebody from the Amarillo community is taking that time right after the sermon to ask our church for their prayers. A brother in Christ comes down to the front to confess sin and ask forgiveness; a sister comes to reveal her broken heart over a family matter; or, as was the case this past Sunday, three ladies from the downtown women’s abuse center come forward and beg us to pray for God’s mercy and strength. To me, this is our fully-involved God saying to us, “You want to be more like Christ? You want to become more like my Son? Here, minister to these hurting people.” Encouraging the downtrodden, giving strength to the weak, forgiving the sinner, loving the unlovable — these are all very Christ-like things to do. Jesus lives to intercede for us; interceding on behalf of others makes us more like him. Bearing the burdens of others is about as Christ-like as it gets. It’s incomprehensible that while your brother is mustering up all the courage in his body and soul and mind to walk down that aisle to throw himself upon the mercy of God and his church, you’re skipping up the opposite direction to get to the ballgame or to your enchiladas and rice. With only a little prompting, forty or fifty people got out of their seats to embrace those three women Sunday, to put their arms around them and pray with them as they bared their hearts to God and to us. I praise God for that physical, tangible, see-able outpouring of his grace. It was the best thing, the most powerful thing, that’s happened in our worship center in months. I pray you didn’t miss it because you were in a hurry to mow your lawn.

4) Exhortation – at the end of every assembly, one of our shepherds stands up to bless us. One of our elders, one of our spiritual fathers (to use a New Testament term), reads to us from the Holy Word of God. He challenges us to live in the coming week for Christ. He blesses us. And he prays for us. I don’t understand why anybody would walk out on that. You know it’s coming. We do it every week. One of the men this church family has ordained as the most Christ-like among us, one of the men we’ve said we will follow because he is so obviously following our Lord, one of the men we believe God has placed among us to shepherd us is going to get up and bless us! He’s going to read Holy Scripture to us! He’s going to pray! It’s incredibly important. It’s huge. I can’t understand why anybody would walk out on that blessing.

It ain’t over when the sermon is over. Usually it’s just getting started, the best part of our Christian assemblies together is still to come. God still has plenty of work to do — on you, on me, on our church. I lovingly encourage you to stick around.

Peace,

Allan

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑