The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

“You will be for me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” ~Exodus 19:6

Our behavior, not just the “belief system” we adhere to, is the most visible means by which we distinguish ourselves from those who have not been raised with Christ and united with him in his death, burial, and resurrection. We should never forget that what is required of us, because we are saved by grace, is a high moral standard of thought and action that for those outside the Kingdom of God is incomprehensible.

Our obedience to God reflects the fact that our citizenship is in heaven. It shows others that he is training us to transcend the present world even though we still occupy its space. It is what is expected of us, because God is forming us into creatures that this world can’t fully grasp.

We demonstrate by our words and actions, in no uncertain terms, that we are of a different pedigree, a holy race. It is, to the rest of the world, the clearest proof of the existence of God—not a logical exegetical argument, not forceful rhetoric, but pure, humble, godly lives lived in the shadow of the cross and in the brilliant glow of the resurrection.

Peter quotes Exodus 19:6 and follows it up with these words, “Live such good lives among the pagans that…they may see your good deeds and glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12).

We’re not called to be God’s people so we can belong to him privately or exclusively. He has a grand goal in mind when he creates us to be his kings and priests. He calls us to live public lives of sacrifice and service to others in his name. And when we do, we show the world that the Gospel works. It’s not just words or a great idea. It changes us from the inside out and makes us into creatures whose behavior is beyond explanation.

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Finally, the Finale!

Legacy VBS 2008 is over. And those of us in the musical get our evenings back for the first time in a little over a month. My greatest fear going into last night’s final scenes would be that, after accidentally breaking or tearing or ripping something in the previous three nights, I wouldn’t be able to break the styrofoam Ten Commandments or the styrofoam golden calf when I was supposed to. But it all came off beautifully. And the kids were all very impressed by the fury of Moses’ righteous indignation.

Can I get theological with the musical?

I can’t help but see our God at work here.

Somehow we were able to take 75 different cast members and set designers and technical operators with 75 different skills and abilities and dreams and visions and come together under one mission. Somehow we were able to unite behind one purpose. Together we fought through missed lines and muted mics and unlearned lyrics (my bad, sorry!) and sporadic rehearsal attendance. Together we smoothed out the rough edges. Together we sacrificed and served and built up and encouraged. We helped each other change costumes and sets and switch out microphones. We worked with each other on scripts and blocking and music.

The people with beautiful voices sang like angels. The funny people made everybody laugh. The focused people kept us on track. The creative people designed a parting of the seas and built a huge mountain. The technical people kept the whole thing lit up and loud. The nurturing people kept us all edified.

And we didn’t kill each other.

I was there every night for over a month and I can’t recall ever hearing one cross word. Not one. Yes, there were moments of exasperation and exhaustion and frustration. But not once did I hear one person say one bad thing about another person. Not once did anybody raise a voice toward anybody else. Not one accusatory finger was wagged. Not one motive was judged. Not one person was ridiculed or rebuked.

It doesn’t seem possible. You couldn’t have gathered a more diverse group than our 75—widely and wildly different ages, backgrounds, experience, personalities, expectations, talents, and tempers. How did it come together so smoothly?

Do I really need to explain?

One purpose. We were way too focused on the mission to gripe or complain or grumble or worry about ourselves. Way too busy. Way too under the gun with the urgency of the task, way too determined to accomplish the purpose. There was a job to do, a big-picture job to do, and we had to do it. And that meant working together as a team, putting the show ahead of the individual personalities or scenes or numbers.

To me, theologically speaking, the musical represents the beauty of God’s Church. People from all walks and all personalities united as one people by the blood of Christ Jesus; working as a team, as one Body, helping each other, encouraging each other, sacrificing for each other, serving each other, to work toward the common purpose.

Kipi, thank you for your hard work and patience. Thank you for your commitment to the children and the families of Legacy and North Tarrant County. And everybody on the cast and crew of Moses: Bound for Holy Ground, thank you for showing everybody in unmistakable ways what it looks like to be the people of God.

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Jesse and/or Mason have posted tons of pictures—350, I think—of their recent mission trip to Honduras. Click here to check ‘em out.

Peace,

Allan

Legacy VBS Night Three is in the books. The kids are learning about the Passover traditions and customs. They’re talking about godly leadership. They’re making snakes. They’re seeing how God’s promises to his people of old ring true for his children today. And Jerry’s costume is getting weirder every night. We all should have expected Pope to wear his nametag, even as an Egyptian soldier.  And, thanks to Jim & Pat and Ronnie & Kerri, the Red Sea crossing turned out to be a pretty cool effect.

Of the many, many shocking things that happened during last night’s performance of “Moses: Bound for Holy Ground,” one stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Of the many surprising, incomprehensible occurances—and there were many—one still has me scratching my head this morning. Something happened last night that perplexes me and, yes, even troubles me greatly.

It wasn’t the walls of the Red Sea closing in before all the Egyptians could walk through. It wasn’t Moses’ staff shattering into six pieces when I hit the rock. It wasn’t Tracy Sharp lying on the stage behind the rock with a pressure hose that shot water 15 feet up in the air, surprising everybody on stage and the first 12 rows. It wasn’t the Israelites flicking 24 Bics and holding their lighters up in the air during the singing of “Cool, Clear Water.” And it wasn’t that Aaron fielded a cell-phone call in the middle of that song in a bit that Bill Crawford must have lifted from either Branson or the town square western shootout show at Six Flags.

The absolute, without-a-doubt, most surprising and disappointing thing that happened last night is that of the 500 people in that auditorium watching the show, exactly zero people laughed at the “third base” line out of Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s On First?”

How is that even possible? Are we that uncultured? Are we so far removed from our recent past? Are we that dismissive of our shared history? Or are we just ignorant? Can it be that in a group that large, the majority didn’t immediately identify with the bit? Is that realistic? I’m embarrassed for all of us.

The scene in question was about halfway through last night’s show when the Israelites were complaining about having to eat manna and quail. Scripture tells us that manna means “what is it?” So we played with that a bit. The main complainers, Oren and Ethan, were questioning Moses about manna.

“What does it mean?”
“What is it?”
“That’s what we’re asking?”
“What is it?”
“That’s what we want to find out.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know!”

And then all the Israelites together shouted “Third Base!”

You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium.

Shocking. Embarassing.

So, in an effort to culture the flock a bit today, please take the time to click on this link which will get you to the classic audio of Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s On First?” It’s four-minutes long. I suggest you listen to all of it. If you’re familiar with it, you’ll love listening to it again. If you’ve never heard it before, I don’t understand how you’re allowed to live in this country. This is the kind of thing they should require before issuing driver licenses and voter cards. 

Click here and then click on “listen to an audio.”

Do it for the children.

Thank you.

And does anybody have some duct tape?

Peace,

Allan

This isn’t a VBS picture. This is our Monday morning staff meeting.  

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“…become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” ~Ephesians 4:13

In the context of Christian unity—one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father—Paul tells us what it means to be mature in Christ. Christian maturity, according to the apostle, is understanding the body of believers as Christ calls it to be: a corporate body that exists to serve others.

Paul says Jesus gave each of us our spiritual gifts, “some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.” And the purpose of those gifts, the very reason for our existence in the Church of God, is to “prepare God’s people for works of service.”

The preachers and the ministers and the elders and the church staff don’t serve the members. They prepare the members to serve others. They encourage and equip the members to serve other people. Paul says when, and only when, we have that mindset will we “reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

So many of us view the Church as established to serve “me.” How can the Church meet my needs? How can the Church take care of me? How can I be served, how can my kids be served, how can my needs be met at this or that church? What if more people said, “I see a need here at this church I can meet. I’d like to help.” What if more people looking for a church home came in with an attitude of service? Instead of “how can I be filled here?” it’s “how can I serve other people at this place and build the body up?” Paul’s mindset is this: all my needs are met through my resurrected Savior Christ Jesus; now how can I meet the needs of others?

Until we reach that point, Paul says we’re infants. We won’t grow up until we realize that it’s not about me, it’s about the Body of Christ. What can I do to build up God’s Church? And not just my corner of the Church, not just my ministry or my area of interest. The whole Church of Jesus Christ, all of it, big picture. How can I encourage? How can I serve? How can I edify? In what ways can I sacrifice my own interests and needs in order to put others and the Lord’s Church first?

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Day 2 of Legacy’s VBS and the Moses Musical is in the books.

Cameron killed as Pharaoh’s first-born son. His rendition of “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” with Gary Giles was the high-point of the night. And that’s high praise considering last night’s acts contained a burning bush, a shepherd’s staff that turned into a very tall snake, water turning to blood, and a tribute to the Village People’s “Y-M-C-A” (There’s lots of blood in the N-I-L-E!).

 Ashley and Jaylana were amazing with “God Loves Israel.” Carrie-Anne threw in a little crack about Gershom and Eliezer being the only two sons we’ll ever have. And, in the burning bush scene, Doug Deere, the voice of God, got in some shots of his own regarding Moses’ lack of speaking ability. “One Day More” is in the rearview mirror. It’s all downhill from here.

Most of the VBS pictures I’m posting are taken by David Branson. He’s posting a couple of hundred each night on his website. You can see all of them by clicking here.

Night Three this evening at 7:00.

 Peace,

Allan

I’ve got Moses on the brain. Everybody who’s doing anything with Legacy VBS this week has had Moses on the brain for a while now.

The stories of Moses are familiar to all of God’s people. We know about the basket in the river and the burning bush and the plagues and the passover and the crossing of the sea. We know all about that. But I wonder sometimes if we truly understand that the story of Moses and the Israelites—or, more accurately, the story of the Lord’s deliverance of Moses and the Israelites—is our story.

This is us.

This one foundational primary act of salvation in our Scriptures very powerfully shapes us and informs us and motivates us to this day. This story, forever linked with our God and his actions to deliver his people inspires and foreshadows all of our God’s acts of salvation. All of them.

Our God saves us and rescues us and redeems us and delivers us and provides for us over and over again in a million different ways. But this first grand watershed event is the pattern. This points to them all. This is the paradigm.

Our God is the God who brought us out of Egypt. Our Lord is the Lord who destroyed Pharaoh and his army. Our God brought us through the sea. Our Lord delivered us from slavery.

We find exodus and sea-crossing language on almost every other page in our Scriptures, from the crossing of the Jordan River through Revelation. Almost half the Psalms. Most of the Prophets. Deliverance from Babylonian exile, freedom from Assyrian captivity, and salvation from sins and the world are all described and predicted and imagined and manifested in terms of slavery and liberation and water and promised land.

This is our story.

We’re all on the other side of the sea. Egypt is behind us. The Promised Land is before us. Our enemies are dead, scattered on the shore, unable to do us any further harm. And our God is present with us, leading us out of one world and into another, from one existence to another. The crossing of the sea isn’t a pep talk. It’s an understanding that God is your God because he acted in your life to deliver you. And when you pass through the waters of salvation, your identity and your loyalties and your worldview radically changes as you live in service to and complete dependence on the Sovereign Monarch who lovingly provides that salvation.

That’s our story.

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One night down, three to go.

Moses: Bound for Holy Ground kicked off last night to a packed house here at Legacy. And the first evening went off almost without a hitch. From Taylor and Lance’s specatular open to our corny rendition of The Ballad of Jethro and Moses sung to the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies; from a real live baby Moses to the artificially “pumped up” shepherds; from the moving prayers of Jochebed and Miriam to the dramatic killing of an Egyptian taskmaster; from costume and set changes to ad-libbed lines and unexpected audience reactions; it was a night to remember.

Carrie-Anne’s been totally typecast as Moses’ wife, Zipporah. Jethro really did ask Moses, “If it’s convenient for you, would you please stand for the closing song?” The preacher really did kill a youth minister, and not just in his dreams. Doug Deere did enjoy his makeup a little too much. John West is under-utilized. No, Jerry Karels, I didn’t read the fine print on my preaching agreement. Kipi really did tell the cast backstage, “More cheeks and lips!”

Over 700 saw the show and stayed for a wonderful church dinner, maybe the final ever Legacy church dinner eaten in the hallways and not in the Fellowship Hall. I’ll have much more to write about all of this in the next couple of days. I’m trying desperately not to hyper-ventilate as the clock ticks on tonight’s finale, “One Day More.” But I’m moved by the gifts and the talents of this church family. I’m inspired by the beautiful voices all around me, the creative writing and directing, the know-how and ingenuity of those building the sets and props, and the spirit of unity and teamwork that’s all around us. It’s a tremendous sacrifice for every single person involved in our VBS. And we dedicate every bit of it to our Lord in the name of our crucified and resurrected Savior, Jesus the Christ. May he bless our efforts and may he use the gifts he’s given us to bless and encourage everyone who walks through these doors over the next few days.

As always, click on the pics for the full size. Night Two at 7:00 this evening.

Peace,

Allan

“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight.” ~Jeremiah 15:16

You are what you eat. We know that. We experience that. If a nursing mother eats fajitas for dinner with jalapenos and pica de gallo and salsa she’s going to be up all night. Not because she’s sick, but because her baby is sick. The fajitas have become a part of the mother. You are what you eat. I look in the mirror and I can see the cheeseburgers and Whoppers and Kettle Cooked Lays potato chips. They’ve become a big part of me. The biggest part.

Jeremiah says when your words came, I ate them. I digested them. I assimilated them. I made them a part of me.

“‘…eat this scroll that I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.’ So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.” ~Ezekiel 3:3

Ezekiel’s being called into God’s service. Speak for me to Israel. Speak my words. Teach my people. Be an example for them. And God doesn’t say hear my word, listen to my word, read my word, study my word. He says eat it. Eat this scroll. Eat the word. Make it a part of you. Be one with it. Fill your belly with it. Take it all in.

“I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth…” ~Revelation 10:9

John’s taking notes on the words of the angel. He’s writing it all down. He wants to record it. He wants to remember it. And the angel says don’t write it down. Eat it.

The words of Scripture are written in a way—and intended—to get inside us. The words deal specifically with the life and death of our souls. And they’re written to transform each of us into a person who fits, and into a life that fits, with our God and his perfect creation and his gracious salvation and his gathered community. The words of Scripture have the power of the Holy Spirit behind them, the power of God in them. And they’re passed on to us to create in us truth and beauty and goodness. And as we wrestle with them and meditate on them, as we turn them over and think about them and obsess over them, the words enter our souls like food enters the stomach. They spread through our entire system of blood and air and organs and nerves and functions and they become holiness and love and wisdom inside us.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” ~2 Timothy 3:16-17 

Make no mistake, eating the Word does not result in doctrinal maturity or knowledgeable Christianity. We don’t study the Bible to know more. We study the Bible to do more. Living by the Bible, living by the Word of God, means we’re not interested in knowing more, we’re interested in doing more.

We don’t learn Scripture. We don’t study the Bible or use the Bible.

We eat it. We ingest it. We assimilate it.

We take it into our lives in such a way that it metabolizes into acts of love, cups of cold water, and prison and hospital visits. The words manifest themselves in casseroles and cakes, groceries delivered, comfort and encouragement, evangelism and justice and sacrifice, all done in the name of the Christ.

The Word of God is the standard. It’s the authority. And we don’t use it. We submit to it. It’s not for information. It’s for transformation.

May we be a people of the Word. And may our God bless his Word to be at work in us, transforming us and empowering us to become more and more like him.

Peace,

Allan

“Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ~Mark 5:19

I’ve been convinced for a while now that the reason we are not particularly evangelistic is that we’ve tried to convert people to the Church instead of to Jesus. We think people should be taught how to be members of the Church instead of being taught how to be followers of the Christ. And we’re so bogged down with all the rules and regulations and details of the faith that our story has become so complicated—DISTORTED—that we’re too afraid to tell it.

I can’t talk to my neighbor about Jesus or about my faith. What if he asks me a question I can’t answer? What is our church’s stand on this issue or that? What are we saying now about that topic that’s a little different from we were saying about it ten years ago? What are the reasons again we do or don’t do these certain things differently from everyone else? How do those Scriptures work that get me from Point A to Point B in those arguments we’re always having? I can’t remember all that. I might get something wrong.

So we don’t evangelize. We’ve made it so complicated—you can be a Christian, but I have to teach you how to be the right kind of Christian—that we’d rather not bother. Better to keep my mouth shut than to risk not knowing all the right arguments.

Terry Rush has articulated these thoughts so much better in his blog post from yesterday:

Loaded down with multiple and conflicting proof-texts while being well-warned of all those many false prophets, our people have become convinced we will not remember how it goes and most likely will get it wrong if we dare try. Therefore, the general population of the church lives frozen and mute; unable to move with confidence to extend their faith to another. We have concluded that refusing to share the life in Christ with others is a better option than taking a stab at sharing and getting it fouled up.

Please click here to read Terry’s wonderful little article on this problem. (His portrait of Barney Fife as the church cop who nervously paces with his whistle and badge, looking to bust somebody for getting part of the arguments wrong is classic.) And be encouraged to forget all the anxieties of the arguments and the details and just share with people what our God through Jesus is doing with you.

Peace,

Allan

“O Lord, the God who saves me,
day and night I cry out before you.
May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
~Psalm 88:1-2

Please take a moment right now to lift up a prayer to our Father for some dear friends of mine, Hank & Janet Lewis. I just learned last night that their 18-year-old daughter, Jade, was killed in a car wreck Thursday evening.

Hank & Janet and their sweet family live in Smithwick, just a few miles east of Marble Falls, where Hank owns a construction company. The little church in Smithwick doesn’t have much of a youth group, so Jade and a couple of her buddies came to our congregation in Marble Falls most every Sunday night and Wednesday. As the default youth minister there for a little over six-months in ‘05, I got to know Jade by teaching her in Bible classes and worshiping with her at devotionals. We took her to WinterFest. She was in our home. A beautiful and talented young lady with big dreams.

I didn’t meet Hank and Janet until January ‘07 when we all spent two weeks together in Israel. Through friends they had at Austin Grad and the Brentwood Church in Austin, they had arranged to take Jade with them on our trip. Jade was the youngest in our group of 25. Janet was the sweetest. Hank was the funniest.

I fell in love with this couple, this family. Huge hearts. Giant faith. Generous spirit. Hank and I wound up working in the same corner of the 10th century B.C. fortress in Tamar during the archaeological portion of our tour. And we began calling him Hammerin’ Hank because of the relentless way he attacked the nine layers of 4,000-year-old dirt with his pick. There was no quit in Hank. He worked harder than all of us.

And he played just as hard. If I live to be a hundred I’ll never forget Hank picking up boulders the size of small cars and tossing them over the 600-foot cliffs at Mizpe Ramon and hollering with delight as we watched them tumble almost out of sight. You could hear him laughing and screaming a mile away. He was acting like a ten-year-old boy. And we fed off that.

Janet’s penchant for beautiful scarves almost caused an international incident at the Israeli-Jordan border. We had to negotiate with machine-gun-toting soldiers to secure her passage.

And Jade was the adventurous one. We lost her on a couple of ocassions, once for a little over an hour, when she hiked ahead of our group and took a wrong trail.

In May of ‘07, just two days before we moved from Marble Falls to Legacy, Hank and I shared a two-hour breakfast at the Bluebonnet Cafe. And we talked about preaching and construction and faith and hope and raising daughters. We talked about God’s Church and the eternal scope of his Kingdom. And we prayed for each other.

And I just found out last night that Jade is gone.

My heart is broken today. But nothing like theirs.

I just got off the phone with Hank. He’s hurting. But his faith is strong. He encouraged me more than I encouraged him. He’s prayed for years that our God would keep his daughter safe. And he and Janet realize that Jade is now in the safest place she could possibly be. There’s nowhere safer than in our Father’s arms.

Please pray for Hank and Janet today. Pray for their other children, Caitlin and Keenan, and the two kids they just adopted a few months ago from Ethiopia. (I told you they have big hearts.) Ask our God to comfort them with his peace and love. They are wonderful Christian brothers and sisters who are, right now, going through a deep, deep valley. The visitation is this evening. The funeral is tomorrow. Please pray for them.

And hug your kids a couple of extra times today.

Peace,

Allan

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” ~Romans 8:28

Our God ordains not only the ends, but the means. He uses all of it, everything that happens to us, for his purposes.

Nothing touches our lives that is not under the control and direction of our loving heavenly Father. Everything we do and say, everything people do to us or say about us, every experience we will ever have—all of it is providentially used by our God for our good.

Our problem is that we generally see what’s good for us differently from the way God sees what’s good for us.

As he works in our lives, and in the circumstances of our lives, God’s intent is to build Christian character, to conform us into the image of his Son, and to prepare us for final glory. So what he promises in Romans 8:28, then, is not that every difficult experience will lead to something good in this life. The “good” God has in mind may involve the next life entirely.

Regardless, we enter every day, we welcome every situation, we endure every circumstance with great anticipation, knowing that our God is intimately involved and working in our best interests.

We wait eagerly, Paul says, for “our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” That’s the “good” God’s working in you and me.

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We went to a rock and roll wedding Saturday night. I don’t know what else to call it. When the bridesmaids walk down the aisle to Grand Funk Railroad’s “Some Kind of Wonderful” and the bride enters to the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love,” that’s a rock and roll wedding.

Ashley, you were beautiful. Warren, love that girl just like Christ loves his Church. And may our Father bless you both richly with long lives of faithful service to him and his people.

Chris and Liz, the wedding was fantastic. We had a blast. We miss so much praying with y’all in parking lots, watching Cowboys and Stars games at your house, worshipping our God with you in Mesquite and Tulsa, and laughing together about everything. Jeremy, your song blew us away. It was a perfect evening. We love y’all.

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We have a little baby cottontail living in our yard. At least one. Maybe there’s a mom and dad and a bunch of little bunnies, I don’t know. But Thursday afternoon one of them decided to cool off by jumping in our pool and hanging out in the shade of the skimmer. He sat there in the skimmer from before noon until I dragged him out with a net at almost 6:00. Carley wants to cage him and keep him. She’s already named him Chestnut or something.

Peace,

Allan

“The Bible tells us not how we should talk with God but what he says to us; not how we find the way to him, but how he has sought and found the way to us; not the right relation in which we must place ourselves in him, but the covenant which he has made with all who are Abraham’s spiritual children and which he has sealed once for all in Jesus Christ. It is this which is within the Bible. The Word of God is within the Bible.” ~Karl Barth

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” ~Psalm 119:103

After Oasis last night I visited for about an hour here in my study with some folks who wanted some more information about Legacy. We talked about spiritual formation and children’s education and Small Groups and new buildings and worship styles and evangelism. And we did our very best to stay off that A-B Line of thinking and talking. And right in the middle of our conversation, one man looked right at me and said, “You know what I really like about Legacy? I love how much Scripture is read here.”

Me, too.

Sadly, the holy Word of God isn’t read publicly anymore in too many churches. I cringe as I write those words. And I hate to believe that it’s true. But it is.

While I was in school at Austin Grad I served as a roaming visiting preacher, trying to get my feet wet, trying to gain some experience, trying very hard not to embarrass myself or the poor person who had invited me to speak. Inevitably, someone from the church would call me a few days in advance of my visit and ask for a Scripture reading. And on more than a few occasions, the kind person on the other line would balk at my suggestion.

“That seems too long,” the person would say. “Can we shorten that a little?”

“It’s six verses!” I’d reply. “Ideally, I’d like to have the whole chapter read.”

In too many churches the only time Scripture is read is right before the sermon, generally just one or two verses, usually by a pre-teen or teenager who’s not looked at the passage until the moment he’s standing before the holy assembly of God’s people.

I’m delighted that, here at Legacy, we uphold the Word of God and give it the prominence it deserves in our Christian assemblies. The Word is read publicly in big, meaty chunks. The Word opens our assemblies. It closes our assemblies. It’s read at the Table. It’s read by our elders and ministers. It’s read by the entire congregation in unison. It’s read by our young children and our older men.

And there’s a reason for that. Actually, there are many reasons for that.

The Bible is an instrument of God’s holy communication. God acts through his Word. He speaks through his Word. God is his Word. The Bible is not a book of man’s thoughts about God and the actions of God; the Bible is God’s intimate actions and thoughts about and regarding man. The Word of God creates and sustains life. The Word transforms us into his image. It gets inside us and shapes us. It molds us and moves us. It’s the vehicle by which God reveals himself to man. It saves. It’s the standard by which we’ll be judged. But the Word of God is not a threat or a burden. It’s a delight. It’s our hope and our joy. It’s our protection against temptation and sin. We live by the Word of God. Without the Word of God, we live in famine.

And so we read it here at Legacy. All the time.

And I was very glad last night when my new friend noticed.

Peace,

Allan

“So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” ~Acts 12:5

We know we’re supposed to pray. So we do. But sometimes we get lazy with it. We don’t always pay attention to what we’re saying and why. In 1916, in his book The Soul of Prayer, P. T. Forsyth wrote the reason our churches don’t know how to pray is “the slipshod kind of prayer they hear from us in public worship; it is often but journalese sent heavenwards or phrase-making to carry on.”

If we really believe that God is who the Bible says he is; if we really believe that he is the almighty true and living God, the powerful creator and sustainer of heaven and earth; if we really believe this God is personal with us and not only hears our prayers but faithfully answers them; if we really believe that, then every one of our prayers will be filled with passion.

Not eloquence. Not etiquette. Not posture and syntax and order. Our prayers will be characterized by passion.

If we believe it.

E. M. Bounds, from an essay he wrote in 1895:

“The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil everywhere. Prayer is not a fitful short-lived thing. It is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in silence. It is a voice which goes into God’s ear, and it lives as long as God’s ear is open to holy pleas, as long as God’s heart is alive to holy things.

God shapes the world by prayer.

The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on his great work upon earth. The great throes and mighty convulsions on earth are the results of these prayers. Earth is changed, revolutionized, angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing, and God’s policy is shaped as the prayers are more numerous, more efficient.

It is true that the mightiest successes that come to God’s cause are created and carried on by prayer. The days of God’s activity and power are when God’s Church comes into its mightiest inheritance of mightiest faith and mightiest prayer. God’s conquering days are when the saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer. When God’s house on earth is a house of prayer, then God’s house in heaven is busy and all potent in its plans and movements, then his earthly armies are clothed with the triumphs and spoils of victory and his enemies defeated on every hand.”

That’s power. And if we believe it, our prayers will reflect it. Our prayers won’t be little. They’ll be huge. And passionate.

Abraham pleading for Sodom. Jacob wrestling at midnight. Moses fasting and praying for God’s people in the wilderness. Hannah intoxicated with sorrow. David heartbroken with grief and remorse. Huge, passionate prayers. Jesus overcome with loud cries and tears in the garden. Elijah exploding with confidence on Mount Carmel. Paul courageously petitioning on behalf of the new churches.

When we understand the God of our Scriptures, when we see things the way he sees things, then our prayers will be marked by passion. When we couple the greatness of God with the sinfulness of creation and when we understand both of these truths, then we understand what it is God really wants and what he’s doing. And we very boldly and courageously and passionately pray for it.

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I can root for a guy like Paul Pierce. He fought and trained and worked and played his guts out for ten seasons, mostly pathetic losing seasons, in Boston. And for all ten of those season he vowed to do whatever he could to bring a title to Boston. He never said a negative word about the franchise or his teammates. He begged the team and the fans to stick with him. He promised to win a championship there.

I can cheer for a guy like Doc Rivers who, up until two months ago had never won a playoff series as a coach and, one year ago, was this close to being fired. He begged Danny Ainge and the Boston front office to stick with him. He promised to do everything he could to win the title.

Doesn’t the NBA championship, clinched last night by the Celtics in a rout of the Lakers, mean a whole lot more to Pierce and Rivers than it does to Kevin Garnett?

It’s hard for me to pull for a guy who plays 12 years in Minnesota, the last four or five griping and whining about how lousy his team is and how they’re never going to win, and then demands to be shipped somewhere else where he wins the championship.

To me, Pierce and Rivers embody the commitment and loyalty and team-first principles we love about sports while Garnett represents the self-serving team-jumping ring-chasing we hate. Is there no room in sports anymore for an Archie Manning or Fran Tarkenton?

Garnett embarrassed his new team and his new city when, immediately after the game with a dozen live national cameras and microphones in his face, he could only muster primal screams and long multi-syallabic curse words. A string of ‘em. If not for ABC’s eight-second delay, the broadcast would have been rated R. Nice. When Garnett finally found his limited vocabulary, it went something like this. “I got mine! I got mine!”

He looked into the camera and shouted, “What are you gonna say now? I got mine! I’m legit! I’m certified! What are you gonna say now?”

And then he went Joe Namath on ABC sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya, “You look good, girl!”

Pierce and Rivers couldn’t stop thanking each other. “Thank you for sticking with me,” they told each other over and over again.

I love that. Dedication. Commitment. Loyalty. Values that should and will be more and more appreciated in sports, if only because it’s increasingly rare.

Peace,

Allan