The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Promise (Page 1 of 11)

Prayerful. Watchful. Thankful.

August 19, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Rock and Roll has lost another legend and Texas music has lost another one of its sons. Frank Beard, the steady heartbeat of ZZ Top, passed away yesterday at his ranch in Richmond at 77 years of age. A founding member of that “little ol’ band from Texas,” Frank played drums for ZZ Top for 57 years–that ZZ Top boogie don’t woogie without Frank’s shuffling beat underneath. Five years after bassist Dusty Hill’s death, guitarist and lead singer Billy Gibbons is the last man of the famed Texas trio still standing. But he’s vowing that the show will go on. After taking three days off, Gibbons says ZZ Top will perform its scheduled concerts this Friday in Eagle Pass and Saturday and Sunday in Austin, before heading to Michigan and finishing their current tour through the end of November.

Is it still ZZ Top? Or is it just a Billy Gibbons show now? I’m sure Gibbons is wanting to honor Dusty and Frank and what they all started in 1969 by continuing to play as ZZ Top. And maybe it’s a way of stating that ZZ Top is bigger than the three of them. But I’m not sure that it is. It’s not the “same three guys, same three chords” anymore.

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“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” ~Colossians 4:2

In the middle of the sickness and disease and death, our God is healing and restoring and creating new life. Pray for it. Watch for it. And be thankful.

In the middle of all the division and discord, our God is reconciling and bringing more people together in Christ. Pray for it. Watch for it. And give him praise.

In the middle of all the violence and war and threats of war, our God is lavishing his love and mercy on all people. Pray for it. Watch for it. And exalt his name.

In the middle of all the uncertainty, in the middle of fake news and broken promises and broken trust, in the middle of the hypocrisy and lies, our God guarantees–by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus–redemption and the forgiveness of sin and eternal life for you and for all of us together. Pray for it. Watch for it. And be thankful.

Peace,
Allan

Always Working

August 17, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I began yesterday’s sermon by talking about the beautiful sunrises and sunsets in Midland. With the land as flat as it is out here in West Texas, and not very many tall buildings, and no trees, the sky is just so big and the sunrises and sunsets are spectacular. Every day. The sunrise is inspiring. The morning clouds. The colors. The sunset is breathtaking. So huge. The power and the beauty. Every day.

I’m not sure I had seen sunrises and sunsets until we moved to Amarillo 15 years ago. It’s not because they don’t have them in Dallas–they do. Every day. But I don’t think I ever really saw one. There are too many tall buildings and trees in the way. The landscape, the hills, the houses and high-rises–all the clutter kept me from seeing what was always there every single day.

But in Amarillo and, now, even more so, in Midland, with most of the clutter removed, I can clearly see what’s always been there. And I can pay better attention to it. And marvel at it. And be thankful.

The point I eventually made is that our God is always at work. Always. Every day. He never stops forgiving and comforting and redeeming and restoring and encouraging and saving. He never stops. Always. Every day. We believe that when God’s Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the grave, he was given power and authority over all things. And this divine power and authority has already defeated sin and death and Satan and all the destructive forces of evil in the universe. So, that means there is nothing–nothing!–nothing wrong, nothing dark, nothing broken, nothing bad, nothing evil in your life that hasn’t already been defeated by our Lord. The almighty Creator and Savior of the world is at work in your life right now. He is. You know he is doing something holy and good and redemptive in your life.

But maybe you don’t see it.

Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Maybe there are too many buildings and trees in the way. Maybe the ups and downs of the terrain are blocking your view. Can you identify the clutter in your life that’s keeping you from realizing the power and the beauty of God’s work in your life?

As soon as the sermon was over, before the benediction, Triston emailed me the gorgeous picture at the top of this post of a sunset from his front porch. And then Herman and Patti sent this one from their driveway. Wow. I wish I’d had those when I put the PowerPoint together on Friday. Thank you for these amazing pictures.

Every morning, the beautiful West Texas sunrise reminds me that the earth is still turning and the God who created it is still in charge. In the evening, the gorgeous West Texas sunset reminds me that God is still working, always working. He is working for what’s best for you and for me right now and for all eternity. He is working in my life and in the lives of all the people I love. He is at work in and through all the people in our church, all the people and circumstances in our city, and all the people and situations around the world. Our God is constantly redeeming and restoring and healing and saving.

Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Peace,
Allan

Open the Curtains!

April 16, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I believe God calls us to regular and serious self-examination, but my experience with this is that serious self-examination can be both difficult and dangerous. It’s very easy for the enemy to turn my thoughts against me. I avoid silence and solitude–just me and our Lord–because of what gets very quickly revealed about me and my soul. I find it easier to pray about others and minister to others and work harder and produce more than to deal with my own stuff. It’s better when I remember that the enemy is a big fat liar. But I do struggle with this.

Introspection and self-reflection is hard. It can be confusing, maybe even chaotic. Are these gifts from God or is it arrogance? Am I passionate or am I a bully? How mixed are my motives? Am I really making any kind of a difference in our church? Is my own level of discipleship to Jesus too inconsistent to be a preacher? Man, I can get twisted up inside myself pretty fast.

Thomas Chalmers, a 19th century Scottish pastor and theologian compared self-examination to walking into and sitting in a dark room. You can’t see what’s inside the room because the room is dark. So how do you see? How do you brighten the room? Not by straining your eyes or looking harder. Not by sitting longer in the dark and taking more time. Not by squinting. Not by concentrating.

You can’t see yourself more clearly just by focusing more intently on yourself.

Chalmers says you must go to the window and open up the curtains! Let the light of Christ, he says, break into the darkness of whatever’s going on in your soul. And Chalmers says the light is the Word of God.

“If we derive no good from the work of self-examination, because we find that all is confusion and mistiness within, then let us go forth upon the truths which are from without, and these will pour a flood of light into all the mazes and intricacies of your soul, and at length will render that work easy, which before was impossible.”

Self-reflection is difficult and dangerous. Don’t attempt it without soaking in the sunshine of God’s Word. Listen to the voice of the Lord. Learn to look more at Christ than at yourself. You’re not changed by focusing on yourself, but by focusing on Jesus.

God knows the very worst about you, and he still loves you. He does not deal with us according to our sins. He promises that if we confess, he will forgive us and cleanse us and transform us. You must be secure in the love of God for you before any self-examination can be confident or fruitful. Know how precious and honored you are in God’s sight, know the glory of who you are in Jesus, know the guaranteed future you have with God in Christ. Remember that God is for you!

Now.

Now you can identify where God is at work in you. Now you can keep going with the assurance that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
Now I can identify where God is at work in me. Now I can keep going with the assurance that he who began a good work in me will bring it to completion.

This post is more about me than you. Let’s both try to be better at this.

Peace,
Allan

In the Face of Christ

February 17, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I was looking last week at the results of a recent poll conducted by the American Psychological Association that says almost all of us are stressed out and anxious about things that are out of our control. Multiple things. According to the research, 30% of Americans say most days they are so stressed out they can’t function. Over things like inflation, violence, crime, the political climate, and the racial climate. Among those polled, 76% say the future of the nation is a significant source of stress, while 68% say we are living in the country’s lowest point of their lifetimes.

Well, of course we’re stressed out and anxious.

We’re doomscrolling our phones and our feeds, we’re being discipled by our digital devices that are designed to raise our blood pressure. So, we’re constantly taking in the bad news of local and global turmoil and chaos and conflict with an increasing lack of civility as the backdrop–people seem to be so mean. It feels like there’s so much hate. And the tyranny of the constant connection to the unprecedented exposure and pressure through the digital platforms that are intentionally designed to divide us and profit off our polarization has us so worked up we feel like we have to have an immediate and dug-in position on a 13-minute Super Bowl halftime show by a performer we hadn’t heard of three weeks ago!

In the face of so much, our salvation can seem like a smaller thing. The dawn of a new day feels a long way away in the suffocating darkness of right now.

And I don’t know a thing about your marriage. Or your relationship with your children. I don’t know about your situation at work. Or your finances. Or that sin in your life you can’t shake. Or that thing you did a long time ago that you can’t forget. I don’t know how chaotic your life feels or if the things happening around you or to you feel totally out of your control. I don’t know the personal pain or betrayal. I don’t know your wounds. I don’t know how dark it feels where you are. How far away from God you feel. How far away from love and joy and peace you feel.

But I do know this.

You can have faith in the middle of your fears. You can be calm and certain in the chaos of your circumstance. You can experience eternal life while walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

“God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” ~2 Corinthians 4:6

We see the light in the face of Christ. When we look at Jesus, we are given the perfect knowledge of the glory of our God. We see what God is up to when we look at our Lord. We realize, in Jesus, that our God does his best work in the dark.

Jesus was born at night.

The sun disappeared and the earth was plunged into darkness as he died.

God’s Holy Spirit raised him from the dead “while it was still dark.”

New life always starts in the dark. A seed in the ground. A baby in the womb. Jesus in the tomb. A church in a shift. A Christian in a crisis.

We know the darkness of death has been broken by the light of the power of God’s Holy Spirit. The silence of the night has been pierced by the trumpet blast of the dawning of a brand new day. Our God is the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they are. And we know the very last words our Lord Jesus said to us as he ascended to the seat of all authority and power at the right hand of God: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Which, is closer than you think.

Peace,
Allan

People of Promise

July 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“If the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.” ~Galatians 3:18

We are not a people of the law, we are a people of promise. And that matters. It matters big time.

If we believe we are saved by the law or by rules and regulations or by behaving correctly, then we’re going to treat people harshly. We’ll be arrogant and judgmental, we’ll be unbending and unforgiving. We’ll be nervous or unsure about the correctness of our own performance, so we’ll fight and divide over the weirdest things. And we’ll turn off a lot of people.

When we know we are saved by the gracious promise of God in Christ, then we’ll be a people of mercy and love. We’ll give others the benefit of the doubt. We’ll be flexible and forgiving, we’ll seek to bless others, we’ll be kind and hospitable. Our words will be encouraging, our actions will be inviting. We’ll be unified by a focus on the really important things. And we’ll inspire a lot of people.

We are not people of the law. We are not people of rules or people of regulations or people of the guilt trip or people of the coercion. We are not people of correct interpretations or proper practices. None of those things save us! Those are things we use to gain control. Or to be right. Or to be better. Or more prominent. Those are the things that divide us and separate us, those are the things that lead to strife and condemnation.

The Good News is that your forgiveness, your salvation, your eternal life rests solely in the unchanging promise or our God through Christ alone.

“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” ~Galatians 3:29

Peace,

Allan

Blessing

June 26, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I’ve been away from my phone this morning.
Nico Harrison hasn’t traded Cooper Flagg yet, has he?

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Think about the very first words our God said to the very first human beings. In the creation account in Genesis 1, the text says “God blessed them.” His very first words to his created humans were words of blessing. He created them and he immediately spoke blessings to them.

I wonder what he said.

We don’t know. The text doesn’t tell us. Maybe it was something like this.

You are very good. I made you in my image. You are mine. You belong to me and I belong to you. You are important to me. You are valuable to me. You matter to me. You are deeply loved by me. 

Then almost immediately, these people take what God says is important–people–and make them not important. They take what God blesses as valuable–people–and make them not valuable. There’s murder and revenge, lying and rape, pride and jealousy, violence and drunkenness–all kinds of evil in our hearts and minds and in our actions against each other.

And in Genesis 12, God says, “No! This is not how it’s going to be! What I think is important is going to be important! What I have blessed as valuable is going to be valuable! I am going to bless Abraham and, through him, I am going to bless all the people of the whole world!”

And Jesus takes all that wickedness, rebellion, and sin, he bears it in himself, all the way to the cross, and he leaves it there. And on that third day, when our Lord is raised to life by the Holy Spirit, he doesn’t speak one word of vengeance or punishment or anger or retribution. The very first word Christ Jesus says to his disciples on that resurrection day is, “Peace. Peace be with you.”

You are very good. You are made in God’s image. You are his. You belong to God and he belongs to you. You are important to God. You are valuable to him. You matter to God. You are deeply loved by God.

And his blessing for you and his promise to you is bigger than all your sin.

I think about David, the king of Israel, the man after God’s own heart. What did God see when he looked at David that day and chose him and blessed him? David was just a kid, kind of an afterthought, just a kid hanging out with the sheep. What did God see in him that day?

Did he see David’s fierce violence or his fierce loyalty?

Did he see David as the great psalmist or the notorious outlaw?

Did he see David’s humility and prayers or his rape and murder and lying and sin?

God saw all of it. Every bit of it. And God still picked David. He chose David and blessed him.

And our God chose you in Jesus Christ before the foundations of the earth.

His blessing for you and his promise to you is bigger than all your sin.

Peace,

Allan

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