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Category: Promise (Page 5 of 11)

Presence

September 10, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Tabernacle

“I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” ~Genesis 17:7

We’re going to be together. We’re going to live together, just like in the garden in the very beginning. God says we’re going to occupy the same places together just like in Act One. The covenant is about God being visibly, physically present with his people.

When he delivers them from Egypt, God leads them from a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Scripture tells us neither pillar “left its place in front of the people.”

And then God brings his people to a mountain in the middle of the desert and he tells them the details of the covenant. God is right there, physically and visibly on the mountain. There’s smoke and fire, thunder and lightning. The people are trembling with fear.

“They offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.’

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.’

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.” ~Exodus 24:5-11

God uses the blood of the covenant, the blood of the sacrifice, to cleanse his people so they can sit down together and share a meal. They saw God and they ate and drank. The blood made them righteous. Because of the blood, God considered them holy, so they could be right there in his face-to-face presence. Eating together! With God! It’s remarkable! But that kind of proximity, that kind of physical relationship and presence, is what God and the humans had in the garden in Act One. And that’s what God is working to restore with his covenant.

God longs to physically live with his people. So, next, he tells them to build him a tent.

“Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.” ~Exodus 29:45-46

“I will put my dwelling place among you… I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people.” ~Leviticus 26:11-12

This is the promise, this is the language through the rest of the Old Testament. I will live with you; you will be my people and I will be your God. At the tabernacle. At the temple. Five times in Ezekiel. Five times in Jeremiah. Three times in Zechariah. God gives us his covenant so we can live together with him in his presence.

Peace,

Allan

Act Three – Covenant

September 8, 2015 / / 0 Comments

In Act Three of the Story of God, the Lord comes to one of the humans and articulates a solemn promise to make things right between the Creator and his created. He guarantees to repair the relationship and to once again live with his people. His love for all men and women and his loyalty to the earth he created compels God to make this covenant. Act Three is good news.Lamb-Art

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” ~Genesis 12:2-3

God makes this covenant with Abram of Ur. And he uses the word “bless” five times, some say because he uses the word “curse” five times in Act Two. So the blessings counter the curses. This is God’s solution to sin. This is how God’s going to fix the problem and redeem the creation and restore the relationship. Through Abram. And every single thing that happens for the rest of the Story, from here in Genesis 12 through Revelation 22, hangs on this covenant. It’s so important that God repeats it four other times:

“Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.” ~Genesis 18:18

“Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” ~Genesis 22:18

“Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” ~Genesis 26:4

“All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” ~Genesis 28:14

God proclaims the covenant five times, some say because the word for “corrupt” or “spoiled” is used to describe the earth five times in Act Two. So the covenant undoes the corruption.

This is enormous! It’s everything! This is the good news that, despite the wickedness, rebellion and sin, despite the chaos and darkness of Act Two, God is going to bless the whole world through this family. The apostle Paul calls this the gospel in advance:

“[God] announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.'” ~Galatians 3:8

And then God seals the covenant with blood. Blood makes the covenant official. Since before recorded history in the Middle East to this time in Genesis almost five thousand years ago to some Bedouin communities in the Middle East today, all covenants require the shedding of blood to make them official. God and Abraham did it in Genesis 15. Abraham cut up the five animals and then God walked through the blood to ratify the covenant. God owns it. It’s his promise.

In Genesis 22 when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son to hold up his end of the covenant, he was ready to. Covenants require blood. On the way up the mountain, Isaac asks his dad, “Um… hey… where’s the lamb for the sacrifice?” And Abraham answers, “God himself will provide the lamb.” And he does. A ram caught in the bushes by its horns. Sheep blood was spilled instead of the blood of Abraham’s child. The blood of a lamb provided by God.

From here on out, blood sacrifice is a central aspect of life for God’s people. Lots of blood. Blood everywhere. Blood all the time. They pour blood on the altar. They sprinkle blood on the people. They paint their doorposts with blood.

The blood says to the people: Remember, God promised to pay for our sins. He said he would fix what’s wrong with everything. We have an arrangement with God. He’s going to make things right. And the blood says to God: Please, remember your promise. Please, fix everything like you say you will.

Act Three: Covenant. It’s a long act. Hundreds of scenes. From Genesis 12 through the end of the Old Testament is about God enacting and working out the covenant. And it’s long. If you were sitting through this play in a theater, this would be the act right before intermission. And it takes forever.

Obviously, I can’t write about all the scenes this week. That’s impossible. It’s thirty-eight-and-a-half books. It’s too much. What I’d like to do is give you four things to look for when you’re reading the Old Testament. This will help you, equip you, to read and interpret and apply the Bible as a story and not as a law book. I think God’s communicating four things, he’s doing four things with his covenant: Revelation, Presence, Partnership, and Faithfulness. We’ll start in on those tomorrow.

Peace,

Allan

Saved in Christ

April 30, 2015 / / 0 Comments

I need to acknowledge the disturbing link that has recently popped up next to the tagline at the top of this website. It says “prescription frr Cialis.” Before that, for maybe a week or so, it said, “Pokémon buy gold Viagra.” Nice. I was first alerted to it early last week. It doesn’t show up on my computer because I’m the administrator, but everybody else sees it. Sneaky. It’s a hack. The links are dead so it’s not hurting anybody. But it’s not what I want at the top of my website. A couple of you have asked if I’ve tapped into a revenue stream. No. But, it’s not a bad idea. If that’s going to be at the top of my blog, I ought to at least be getting paid for it!

We have our very best people working on this, but it’s apparently very complicated. Don’t worry — I’ve been assured it can’t hurt anybody’s computers. It’s just a nuisance. But, yeah, I’m aware of it now.

The jokes I’ve been told about it and some of your one-liners (thank you) are certainly hilarious. Just not publishable.

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Blue BellI need to also address the Blue Bell recall — I haven’t mentioned it yet on this site. I understand the widespread concern and want to assure you that, yes, I am just as concerned. Some friends and I are in the process right now of going back through Revelation to see if there is some cosmic connection between the end of times and what’s happening out of Brenham. This is heavy stuff and we all need to be paying close attention.

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“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” ~Romans 8:1

Saved in Christ!We’re considering this week why so many Christians feel like God is disappointed in them. In their honest moments, research indicates that most Christians feel more condemned by God’s judgment of them and less convinced of his great love for them. Of course, we don’t get that idea at all from Scripture. It comes from outside sources.

If you are in Christ, you are not condemned and cannot be condemned. You are saved. You cannot lose your salvation. You can throw it away, yes, but you cannot lose it. We don’t believe in once saved, always saved; but we certainly don’t believe in once saved, barely saved. There is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ.

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ~Romans 8:31-32

There’s not enough eternity to fathom that point. As the old hymn says, “When I think that God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in.” He did that. God did that for you. How will he not also graciously give you all things? Good question.

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” ~Romans 5:8-10

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You were justified by the sin-forgiving, life-bestowing blood of Jesus while you were a sinner. While you were an enemy of God, he saved you. You were not declared righteous for anything you’ve done, so you won’t be declared unrighteous for anything you’ve done. You can’t let God down because you’re not holding God up. This is not related to anything you’ve done or haven’t done. You are saved because of what God has done through Christ Jesus on the cross.

Is God just going to forget about the cross? When it comes to you, is he just going to un-do the cross?

For some reason we get it in our minds that since Christians know better, since we know more, since we’ve been blessed by this saving blood of Christ, we’re going to be held more accountable than others. We’re going to be judged more strictly, more harshly. We know more, so we’re in more danger.

No! Hear the good news, Christian!

Since we’ve been justified, HOW MUCH MORE shall we be saved! Since we’ve been reconciled, HOW MUCH MORE shall we be saved! Why would we assume there is less grace for God’s children? There is more!

More grace. More salvation. No condemnation.

Peace,

Allan

Perfect Power

April 21, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Happy San Jacinto Day! Find yourself a Treaty Oak, prop up your wounded leg, and relax in the shade, and sing The Yellow Rose of Texas while celebrating the Republic’s glorious victory.

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Scripture tells us that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. I’m not sure I’m content to be weak. I think I mostly want God’s power to be revealed in my strength. I want the strong and important parts of my life to testify to the power of our God. I don’t think I’m good with being weak.

Strong? Yes! Productive? Absolutely! Competent? Oh, yeah!

Weak?

Not so much.

See, the apostle Paul doesn’t have an inferiority complex when he acknowledges over and over in his letters how weak he is. He just gets it. He understands the truth.

God’s power was seen in Moses, not Pharaoh. And Pharaoh had all the military. God’s power was made perfect in David, not Goliath. And Goliath had all the technology. God’s power was experienced in Peter and John, not the Sanhedrin. And the Sanhedrin had all the votes.

God does everything through people who understand they are nothing and does nothing through people who think they are everything. Instead of hiding our weaknesses, we should probably embrace them, let more people see them. That is, after all, where our Lord does his best work.

Peace,

Allan

Precious and Honored

March 31, 2015 / / 1 Comment

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
do not be afraid, for I am with you.”
~Isaiah 43

Nola Havins finished her race earlier this afternoon. And she ran well. Very well.

A surprise of a brain hemorrhage took Nola down Sunday night a week ago. Nola and Derrell had just returned home from their small group where they and some of their oldest and dearest friends had been praying through Psalm 23. The dinner was great, the fellowship was sweet, and the time spent meditating and listening to the voice of God through the hearts of their friends had been inspirational. As soon as they got into the house, Nola bent down to pick a couple of towels off the laundry room floor. And that was it. Just like that. No warning. No signals or signs. No symptoms. No nothing. One minute Derrell and Nola are enjoying a really great end to a really wonderful day together like so many they’ve shared during their 57 years of marriage. And the next minute, Nola has left for the next life without even saying “bye.”

Whew! Tough pill to swallow. Very rough week. For everybody.

Derrell and Nola are like grandparents to our three girls. Valerie talks about her boyfriend with Nola. Carley hugs and high-fives Derrell and exchanges smart aleck comments with him. Whitney hugs them both like she’s known them for 20 years. Derrell and Nola are just those kinds of people. Nola is 76-years-old and defies you to add the word “former” to Rodeo Beauty Queen when you describe her. Just a strikingly gorgeous woman. Inside and out. Sweet as can be and just as healthy and active as anybody half her age. At Family Camp two years ago, there was Nola, strapped in to the zip line and ready to jump off the platform 45-feet in the air. Always encouraging Carrie-Anne and me. Taking us out for burgers at Buns Over Texas or catfish at that all-you-can-eat place in Umbarger. Always talking to our girls. And always loving each other with a  mutual affection and faithfulness that rubbed off on anybody who came near.

She goes down Sunday night and it’s a shock to everybody.

She’s in a coma for nine days, until 1:00 this afternoon and it’s just hard. Really hard. For everybody.

But Nola belongs to our God. She is his. He created her and he loves her. She is his daughter and he is her Father. And he is faithful to her, to bring her into his glorious face-to-face presence forever. We mourn today with Derrell and the kids and grandkids and everybody else in their super-huge, well-connected, and really fun family. We grieve. And we pledge to take care of Derrell; to love him and support him through very difficult times ahead. We vow today to remember in Nola the ways her gentleness and grace reflect the glory of our Lord. We encourage the family by reminding them of how much Nola touched our lives.

And we hug and kiss our husbands and wives tonight. We tell them how much we love them.

If there’s one thing Derrell has told me every single day — sometimes twice or three times a day — since that Sunday, he’s ordered me to tell Carrie-Anne how much I love her. “Promise me,” Derrell has said every day, “that tonight you’ll tell her. Because I didn’t get that chance with Nola.”

So, tonight, in honor of Derrell and Nola and their 57 years of marriage that truly reflected the glory of God and served as a powerful testimony to our Lord’s love for his people, tell your wife tonight how much you love her and how much she blesses your life. Tell your husband how much he means to you and how you can’t imagine living without him.

God bless all the Havins. And God receive sweet Nola into your faithful arms.

Peace,

Allan

Understanding What God is Doing

March 11, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“…asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will.” ~Colossians 1:9

In Scripture, knowledge has nothing to do with some special understanding that’s reserved for the spiritually elite. And it’s not about unlocking the eternal secrets of the universe. In Scripture, knowledge is understanding what God is doing. It’s recognizing how Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God’s redemptive promises for all time.

“God has chosen to make known… the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” ~Colossians 1:27

“…so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ.” ~Colossians 2:2

Knowledge is understanding that all of God’s salvation purposes are fulfilled in Jesus. It’s knowing that salvation is available to all through Jesus. And it keeps us from being sucked in to the world’s opposite forms of knowledge and understanding. The values and practices of our culture are powerful forces. And without God’s knowledge, we can wind up following a mushy sentimentality or a pathway of power or success reinforced by a herd mentality. Christians may not know more than others, but we ought to know better.

Peace,

Allan

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