Heart Tracks - No Fault Salvation

"Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.' " 2 Samuel 12:13....."No man ever enters heaven until he is first convinced he deserves hell." John Everrett....."We'd rather dwell on how far we've come than on how far we have to go. We don't like reminders that no matter how long we've been disciples, we are in need of great mercy." Chris Tiegreen

No Fault Insurance for cars first came on the scene for me back in the 1970's. It was a great idea, meant to enable insurance companies to more quickly pay claims without any litigation, and no matter who was at fault in the accident. It was a great idea....for insurance. I'm wondering if somehow we have now gotten to a concept of No Fault Salvation?

Have you noticed the reactions of people, both in the Old Testament and New when they were confronted with the reality of the Father and of Jesus Christ. Isaiah was undone, seeing himself as completely unclean before Him. Peter, with just limited understanding of who Christ was, bid Him to depart from him because he was "a sinful man." The simple fact is, we cannot come into His Presence and react in any other way than they did. I have come to see more and more that the closer I get to Him, the more unworthy I realize I am to be there. This is not negativity, and this is not condemnation. It is simply our human fleshly response to His holiness and glory. In His presence, I become aware of who I am, and what I am not. In His love, He shows me who I can be in Him. Who He made me to be. Such an encounter will lead me to confess what I am not, a turning away from that, repentance, and an entry into His welcome into the life He made me for. This is what He meant when He said that "Behold, all things are new." .......My point in all of this is that I'm not sure that's the current message we in the western church are proclaiming. I don't mean that we don't offer salvation in Christ, but it seems to me to be a kind of "No Fault" salvation. Made easy and quick....and all for our convenience. All one need do is agree to receive Christ.....and though unsaid, even unintended.....at no cost to ourselves. No fault in ourselves.

I'm not saying we need to beat people up over their sin, or demand that they be humiliated before all. But we need to proclaim Christ as He is and not as we would wish Him to be. He is the Lamb, and He is the Lion. He is Holiness itself, and in His Presence, we can do nothing but fall at His feet. In His Presence, we're exposed, but we may also be made whole. We are both confronted and invited. His light clashes with our darkness. In Him, we have a head on collision with the Father. Like Isaiah, like Peter, we're undone. Then, if we admit our helplessness to do anything about it all, He remakes us. It's a remaking that goes on through this life and into eternity. In fact, eternity starts now. We fully realize we're unworthy, and just as fully realize that He receives us and makes us fit for Himself and the Kingdom. We're at fault, fully lost, and we know it. But He's taken care of all the "litigation" on the cross. And our response is to desire to live a life worthy of Him, that turns from all that He hates, sin and all its destructive power, and embraces all that He is. He is not an add-on that we get by raising our hands in response to an invitation, or someone that we agree to accept, and on very reasonable terms. He is the risen Christ and upon seeing Him, nothing can ever be the same again. He is not just the Savior....He is Lord....the Holy Lord. We come to Him only by way of the cross.

No Fault Salvation? There is no such thing. Yet all that He is calls all that we are to Himself. Are we willing to step into such Light? It will cost us our lives.....and we will gain His. Do we come? Have we come.....really?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - High Places

"Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instruction given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places." I Kings 3:3

The other day the Holy Spirit confronted me, as He always does, with a direct hit upon my heart. I had been simmering in frustration over a few things, to the point that I was expending a lot of energy and attention to the problem. Now, I know where all of that can lead; a loss of peace and joy, and a void as to sensing His presence. I know the cost of allowing frustration, worry, fear, or any harmful attitude or feeling to have place in my mind and heart. But what He spoke to me, in His as always gentle whisper, was that I had allowed the problem to become a "high place" in my life. In effect, I was "offering sacrifice and burning incense" to something that was being allowed to have more of my attention and focus than Him. Just like Solomon.

High places in the Old Testament, were sites, established by the peoples whom the Israelites displaced in His promised land, that were given over to the worship of "other gods." Gods who, the Father Himself said, were not gods at all. Yet these high places remained a snare to the people throughout their history prior to the Babylonian captivity. Though the people continued to worship Jehovah God, they also added the worship of these "gods" of the high places. A practice that led to their eventual destruction and captivity. It also led to Solomon's own eventual downfall. It will surely lead to ours as well. We ask "How? We have no such sites. We offer no such sacrifice and incense." Not literally perhaps, but we do nonetheless. I have. I did. So have you.

Whatever we allow to take our hearts and minds away from being centered on Him becomes to us a high place. Anxiety, fear, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, and pride, certainly fit that description. But so do goals, desires, success, comfort, and the pursuit of what we call "the American Dream." All of these and more end up pointing our hearts to that which is not Him. We are in a sense worshiping, offering sacrifice (of our time, emotions, attentions and heart) and burning incense (our devotion) to something or someone other than Him. That may not be our intention, but it's our result even so. Solomon very likely never intended to have his heart drawn away from the Father. It all started as something that he hoped to appease his foreign wives with, but the end was the same. Though he never lost His love, he did lose the fullness of His presence and power. It was his ruin. It will be ours as well.

John Wesley said that anything that pulled our hearts away from Him, "that thing to you is sin." Strong words. True ones as well.
Do we just disregard them, because after all, we live under grace, not law. So did Wesley....If God so despised the high places that He ordered the people to destroy them all, would He despise them any less today? Neither the kings or the people could ever completely bring themselves to do this. To some extent, they remained, and always to their harm. This is why he hates them so. They, and the false "god" they represent always bring us harm. They have to be torn down. Will we have them come down?

In the midst of His confrontation with me, there was no condemnation, but His message is clear. The high places must be brought down.....voluntarily by my will to have it so, and supernaturally by His grace and power to do so. I want no high places, and I want the ones that do exist, usually in disguise, exposed and removed. I don't want my heart to belong to anyone but Him, not even in some small part. Some of them go harder than others, but they must go. How about you? Where are the high places you've been hanging around? To what have you offered sacrifice and incense? Will they come down?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Filled

"Be filled with the Spirit...singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord." Ephesians 5:18....."When the vessels were full.....she said unto her son, 'Bring me yet a vessel.' And he said to her, 'There are no more vessels.' And the oil stayed." 2 Kings 4:6...."The oil of God's Spirit flows according the measure man has prepared for God." Watchman Nee...."Have you ever heard people say they are experiencing a dry spell in their Christian life? What are they saying? Are they saying that the Lord ran out of water?" Henry Blackaby

In Ephesians 5, when Paul calls his hearers to "be filled with Spirit," the Greek translates to "be being filled." As Nee writes, "Allow yourselves to be continually made full." This is not a "sometime thing" or something that happens after an especially good worship experience. This is a way of life. It is to be our way of life in Christ. Is it?

There is no judgement involved here, but Blackaby's questions must be answered. I have certainly had dry spells in my walk with Him. You have as well, but were those times, are those times, a result of His having no water, no oil to provide us? Or, are they due much more to our not, for whatever reason, allowing ourselves to be made full? Have circumstances, feelings, or a myriad of other things, kept us from the place of experiencing the reality of His Spirit filled life? Jesus told His disciples that He had food to eat that they knew nothing about. What do we know about such food, such water, such oil? What do we really know about the ministry and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in His Church? Could it possibly be that the most missing Person in our day to day lives as well as the corporate worship of the Church is the Holy Spirit Himself? It's only the empty vessel that may receive the oil. How empty are the vessels that are our lives and that which is the Church?

Nee says that the oil flows according to the measure we have prepared the vessel to receive it. What's the preparation? Emptiness. Empty of self, of preconceived notions and expectations. Empty of ambition, control, mistrust.....of what the Word calls....flesh. Into such empty vessels, people, churches, will the oil, water, and bread of the Holy Spirit pour out and be given to. When we are continually empty of ourselves, and all that the self-life yields, we can then live out Ephesians 5 and continually be made full. When our yearning is for the oil of His Spirit, a yearning above all yearnings, we will be made full. When our thirst is for the water of His Life, and not the soda pop the flesh so craves, that thirst will be quenched. We will begin to know and partake of the food Christ speaks of. Food we once knew nothing of.....but now desire with all of our heart.

What might happen if in our lives, homes, and church fellowships, we ceased to gorge ourselves on the soda pop and junk food of the world and the flesh, and began to hunger and thirst for the Spirit and Life, the oil, water, and bread that the Father provides in Christ, through His Holy Spirit? He has no lack in His supply. The lack is always within us. It all starts with an empty vessel. Is that vessel you and me?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Heart Prayers

"Pray without ceasing." I Thessalonians 5:17......"Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life.....Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer; He had the boundless certainty that prayer is always answered.....Do we expect God to answer prayer?" Oswald Chambers
I'm not sure that there is any more misunderstood and underused aspect of our faith lives than prayer. Some approach it as a kind of "genie in a bottle" that we just go to Him, "rub" our Bibles and the promises they contain, and then expect the Father to grant our desire. Others see it as an act of desperation, something resorted to when all our efforts avail nothing. There are those who feel it's a matter of convincing a very reluctant God to help us, and so the more (and louder) we cry out to Him, as well as get others to join us in the crying, we'll convince Him to help. Too many of us, maybe most, think of it as a kind of 50/50 proposition. Perhaps He'll help us, answer us, but we're not sure. Our expectations are low. We have secondary resources to fall back on in case we don't hear from Him. Expectations are always a huge problem, because in them, we dictate to God how we think He should and must answer. All of the above make prayer often an exercise in futility. Has it been so with you? Too often it has been for me. Why? When Paul exhorted believers to "pray without ceasing," how could futility ever be the end result of it all? Could it be it's because so few of us really understand what prayer is?
I've a friend that likes to say that the true, best, and real answer to prayer is to have a heart completely at rest in Him. This means that in the midst of our needs, which are many, the first and best answer to them all is receiving Him......His Presence, Spirit, and Life. Where He is, turmoil, anxiety, chaos and fear cannot be. Where He is, perspective changes.....completely. The eyes of our heart are upon Him, and not on the need, crisis, or emergency. We talk to Him, and He to us, from a place of peace, which then yields a surrender of the situation to Him.....and then produces a deeper trust and faith in Him. We are praying from a place of rest, not fear, or panic. From that place we receive abundant grace to walk through the area of need and trust Him to meet, act in, and walk us through it, according to His time and way. And from that place we often discover that what we thought was a life threatening need, wasn't. Or what we thought we must have, we didn't. We start to discover what Chambers meant when he said that prayer was not an exercise, but the life. It's not something we do, it's a life condition we move in. Prayer becomes like breathing. It's not just words spoken to Him, but a heart connection with Him. Our expectations in it change from getting Him to do what we want, what my friend calls "results oriented prayer," to an expectation of laying hold of the mind and heart of Christ, and He laying hold of ours. Heart prayers. It is not goal oriented prayer, but Person oriented. Which is our orientation?
When we begin to realize that what the Father most wants to give us in prayer is Himself, and that we may have that expectation fulfilled in Christ each time we go to Him, our prayer lives will be revolutionized. He is the One thing, and and all other things flow out of Him. When we begin to experience that we begin to know that all we need is in Him....and He will bless us with so many lesser things as well. He is Life. Prayer connects us with His Life. In prayer we receive the fullness of His Life. What greater expectation could we have?
Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Trinkets?

"This life is in His Son. He that has the Son has the life." 1 John 5:11......"He has only one gift to meet all our need: His Son Jesus Christ." Watchman Nee

We like gifts. It's natural to our life. At her last birthday, as my little niece waited to celebrate her party that night, I recounted to her all that would be there,, cake, ice cream, family....."and presents," she was quick to add. Birthday's, Christmas, anytime at all, we look forward to getting gifts. We don't grow out of it. How sad that in the midst of it all, even we who say we are His, miss out on the greatest of all gifts, Jesus Christ.

Just as we tend to focus on "presents," gifts, we also focus on our needs, and we're not shy about sharing them with most everyone, especially the Father. We have financial needs, relationship needs, physical needs, and spiritual ones. Like children going to see Santa Claus, we either have them written down, or memorized, and when we get onto Santa's lap, we pour them out. No one ever went to Santa to inquire to his well being, or spend any time with him personally. Getting the list out, having him receive it, and then leaving with a childlike belief that he'd take care of the rest was the way it went. There's little difference there between the visits to Santa and how we treat with the Father. We never thought at all on whether Santa had more to offer than "goods" and it is much the same with God. We know Jesus Christ is His gift to us, but we too often see Him merely as the means of getting the "goods" we feel we need in life. The "goods" may be good, but they are devoid of Him....of His Life....of His Son. In our seeking of trinkets, we miss the One Gift....the Pearl beyond price. The One in Whom every longing and need is met. Jesus.

There have been so many lesser things that I've sought in this life. Both as a man, and as His servant and son. There have been many things that I thought I must have in order that my life, my ministry, my walk with Him, be made complete and full. Yet just as the toy the child so longed for and had to have at age 6, is now in the family yard sale at age 7; so too were many of the things that I felt I must have, and He graciously gave. And all the while, the goods choked out my awareness of my deepest need for the Best. For Christ. For His fellowship, intimacy, presence....His Life. The good gifts, even when from His hand, are not life. Christ is Life, and it's our pursuit of many things that keep us from the One thing. Trinkets being sought over the priceless. Much stuff over the One Son.

Do Nee's words resonate in our hearts? Do we live as though it's all about the trinkets, or all about Him? Do we think that we have many needs, or do we realize that we have only one....Christ...and from Him will flow the meeting of all the lesser ones as well? Do we prepare today to jump up on the lap of Santa/God, or do we enter into the rest, joy, and wonder of the arms of His Son.....the One Gift? And here is what's best of all. The Gift of Jesus has already been given. We need not beg. We need only to receive. Let us receive....with gladness.... Trinkets or Gold. Which do we seek? Which do we really want?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Distant Country

"The younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living." Luke 15:13..."God's favorite word is 'come!' " Robert L. Sterner

Are you a "prodigal?" In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son who demanded of his father his inheritance. At root was something much more than a desire for his father's wealth, which he believed he had coming to him. I think an even deeper wish was that he be able to get completely away from his father, his influence and control. This is shown by the fact that when his father gave it to him, he immediately left to live in a distant country.......Now, you and I read all this and most likely don't see any connection between the prodigal and his father. At least not now. Maybe in our past, but not today. Weren't we in church just this past weekend? Didn't we join in with the singing of the hymns and choruses? We even placed a generous check, in our estimation, in the offering plate. It may even have been a full tithe. Sometime in the coming week we'll be in a small group somewhere. We'll even have devotional time this week, when we can make some room for it. We haven't left our Father. We're not living in a distant country.......are we?

I have found in my life that I can end up living in a distant country from Him and not really be aware of it....or at least willing to admit it. I can be doing all of that which is listed above, and more, since I'm a pastor and preacher by calling. I can do it all and still be living, at least in part, in a distant country....away from the fullness of my Father.

There are so many ways for us to take up residence in that country. Discouragement and disappointment rank high. So do offenses taken, which slowly lead us into simmering anger, bitterness and unforgiveness. Worry, anxiety, fear, all of them make great paths to get there. So does busyness, self-pity, and an ability to see everything, everywhere, but Him. All of these and more can slowly, or quickly, move you and I into the distant country....even though we have not physically moved a step. Even though outwardly, nothing has changed in our routine. And maybe it's because we have allowed our walk with Him to deteriorate into routine that opened the door to the distant country in the first place. Whatever the reason or cause of that first step, we've left the country of our Father, at least in part, and dwell now in that distant country. Where the riches we once knew in Him are being squandered, to the point that sometime....soon, they'll be gone. Then spiritually, and likely emotionally and physically as well, we're in the pig pen....with the prodigal.....eating pig food......Might you, in some way, be there right now? If so, can you hear the heart of the Father saying, "Come home?" He told Israel that from the beginning, He had been their home. It is so with us as well. He calls us to come home from the far country we've wandered to. Do we hear today? Do we come home today?

So I close with the question I started with: Are you a prodigal? Has your heart wandered to the far country, though you maintain the outward routine? As Sterner says, His favorite word is "come." He extends it to you now. Come home. To Him. Leave the distant country for His country. A country that never left you. Come home to the land you were created for.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - When He's The Dream

"In the last days God said, 'I will pour out My Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams." Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17

In my last writing, I wrote about when our dreams die. In this one, I want to speak about the Dream that never will. The above scripture was preached by Peter upon the pouring out of His Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He quoted from the prophecy made by Joel hundreds of years before which predicted this event. It's a beautiful passage but there is something in it that is so easy to overlook. Sons and daughters prophesying, and young men seeing visions is readily accepted by us. Such things seem to belong to youth. But old men (and women) dreaming dreams? Old age is the time for reflection, looking back, is it not? The future belongs to the young, not the old....isn't that so? No, it isn't. Not in His Kingdom. In fact, it may well be that the best and greatest dreams are dreamed by the old, and I say that not just because I find myself among them.

I think this is so because as we grow older, we grow, or at least should grow, closer to and more aware of Him than ever before. Perspective changes. What we think truly matters changes. We begin to see that many of our "dreams" were not really His dream for us. And He definitely has a dream for us. He initiated it when He created us. He put it into our heart and then set about seeking to bring it to fruition, to reality. If it is not being realized in us, I think it's because we have spent so much of our time and energy pursuing much lesser dreams that originated with us, and not Him. The beautiful thing is that even years spent pursuing the wrong dreams cannot stop Him from bringing about His dream in us. If we'll have it. If we're willing to share in it. When that happens, we are then able to pass that dream along to those who are to come after us. So many of whom are pursuing the wrong dreams themselves.

What I'm finding out in my own walk is that the dreams I now dream are all centered on Him. He, Christ, is the dream. It's so much less about me and so much more about Him. John the Baptists words, "I must decrease so that He may increase" become more real all the time. It's not about my realizing my goals and achievements. It's about laying hold of Him and receiving all of Him that I am able to. It's about realizing that when that starts to happen, the dreams change, and it becomes a case of sharing that dream with others. Others of every age and gender. What I once thought of as great dreams, seem so small in comparison to knowing Christ as He wishes to be known. Paul wrote of how he longed to "apprehend that for which Christ had first apprehended Him." Of laying hold of all that Christ first laid hold of Him for. Paul's dream was not just to take the gospel to the gentiles. It was not just to establish churches throughout Asia Minor. It was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. All he did flowed out of that dream. And it is still flowing to us 2000 years later. The dream for Him was Christ alone. That dream remained alive in him in his prison cell and before the executioner's sword. It's a dream he sought to pass on to all who came after him. Is it a dream that has taken hold of you and I?

I find myself dreaming that dream more and more. Part of that dream is that in some small way, through these writings, and whatever ministry is for me today, those who read and hear will lay hold of that dream, that Christ, as He and His dream lay hold of you.......Everything changes when He becomes the dream.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - When Dreams Die

"You seem to be in a deep discussion about something," He (Jesus) said. "What are you so concerned about?" They stopped short, sadness writtenacross their faces.Then one of them, Cleopas replied, "You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days."..."What things?" Jesus asked...."The things that happened to Jesus....our leading priests.....arrested Him and handed Him over to be condemned to death and they crucified Him. We had thought He was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel."......."We too have thought our dreams were God's dreams and consequently prayed, believed, made plans, and worked hard. And then suddenly it was over, and we sat graveside by lifeless hopes as the doubting began. 'Did I miss something? Should I have prayed or done more? If this was not God's will, then I know nothing about hearing the voice of God." Alicia Britt Chole

What do we do when our dreams die? What do we do when the path we're on, the path we fully believed was His will for us, dead ends, and there is no other visible? What do we do when everything we thought would be, isn't, and we find ourselves like the two disciples. On the Emmaus Road, thinking everything lost, thinking about Jesus, the Father, their power and their promises in the past tense. We, like them, had hoped. Now, we wonder if we can ever hope again.

I have had a lot dreams in my walk with Him. Many of them have died. Sometimes, it was because the dream was mine alone. Much that we call dreaming or vision casting is nothing more than it being a case of our vision and our dream. God's role is to get on board with us and make it happen. If our central desire is to be in His will, those dreams at some point, will die, and He will show us why. But there have been other dreams. Dreams that I was sure came from Him. Dreams I have prayed over, surrendered to Him, and then set out upon with Him, that also died. Why? How? Calls heard and responded to. Ministries undertaken. Areas, both spiritual and physical, entered into in obedience. All embarked upon in full confidence in Him, with full assurance of His Presence. Yet somehow, they died. Or so it seemed. Again, why, how? Why was sorrow at the end of it all? How could He allow this to be? We ask, do we, do I, like Chole, know nothing about hearing His voice?

Part of it is more in what hear than what we know. The disciples were dumbfounded by His crucifixion and death. It was not how they saw the dream unfolding. They were full of hope, but their hope was fixed upon how they believed Jesus would lead. They had trusted Him to work according to their expectations. When He didn't, trust and hope were shattered. Yet, in the midst of the broken dream came the living Christ who was about to give new hope where their old had died. A.J. Swoboda asks, "Could it be that a legitimate stage of hope is hopelessness?" That sounds crazy, but isn't that where the two disciples found themselves? Chole writes, "Walking with the Savior, they eventually realized that their dream, though dead, had not perished.......When we dream with God, our dreams - even in burial, are not lost. They are planted. God never forgets the 'kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies.' " Here is where the deeper trust comes in. We begin to see that we live not in the here and now alone, but in eternity. We may bury dreams, but that does not mean they are dead. He has unending ways and infinite time to sow life out of what seems to be death. Chole says that "faith is not threatened by funerals." At the burial of our dream, there are tears. There is sorrow. But in deeper hope and trust, we go on. That particular dream may lie buried, but we leave it in His hands, and we go on....to know and discover new, even greater ones, and leave the unrealized dream with Him. The Jesus they thought they knew was gone. Jesus as He really was, and is, was now with them. The end of one dream was the doorway into a much greater and more beautiful One. Sometimes the dreams we thought so real and so right must die so that His best and truest dream for us can come to pass.

I know I've not answered the questions of why and how. I can't. But I can testify, because I know its true, that dead dreams do not mean a dead Christ. What seems to be must yield to He who is. And He who is will not leave or forsake us.....and He has roads yet to take us on. We may have to bury some of our dreams, but we will never have to bury Him. He Lives! Always, He Lives!

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Caressing Sin

"But He was pierced for out transgressions, He was crushed for our inequities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5......."Savior, am I caressing anything You were crucified for?" Alicia Britt Chole

Not too long ago one of the presidential candidates made the statement that he didn't believe there was anything he needed to ask forgiveness for. Much was made of that, particularly in the professing Church, but really, why would we be surprised at the answer? Isn't that really the spirit of the age? Worse, hasn't that same spirit seduced a large part of that church? Even a number of those outraged at the candidate?

I read an outstanding article recently that talked of why the candidate is enjoying great appeal from a strong segment of the Church. In a nutshell, the writer said that he was merely appealing to what our "loves" really are; power, money, material things, and above all, pride. Now, I neither condemn or endorse this man. But we cannot be so deluded as to not see how, on both sides of the so called "aisle," candidates are appealing to the base desires of people. And the people are responding...in large numbers. On both the right and the left, our loves, our idols, are being catered to, and we're giving the caterer our "business." There is nothing new about this. Israel and Judah sought to have kings and priests like themselves and the Father allowed them to have them. I think He's allowing us to have them as well. Not only in government, but in the Church too. We are not lacking for rock star politicians or preachers.

With all that said, and in the very real truth of it all, do we truly have a sense of need as the Church, to both repent, and to be forgiven? Or, have we made an idol even of His grace and forgiveness, and now use them as a means to give us license to be spiritually irresponsible people? We are forgiven in Christ, but have we become so desensitized to Him that we no longer have any concept of what that forgiveness cost....both He and the Father? Chole writes, "This is not a simplistic call to stop sinning. No, this is a sincere call for us to start loving Jesus to a degree that compels us to walk away from sin where we can and get help where we cannot." The old hymn goes, "Such love, such wondrous love....that God should love a sinner such as I." We preach, talk, write and sing a lot about His love for us. Where, really, does our love for Him show forth? How much sin do we caress, accept into our lives, and have no real problem with because, after all, we're saved by grace? He was wounded for our transgressions. How can we go on wounding Him by willfully continuing in them?

May we enter into a love for Him so deep that we cannot bear the thought of wounding Him in any way. We're imperfect people, and we will fail Him, but for those whose hearts are set on Him, these failures will grieve us as they grieve Him. They will also cause us to run into His arms and heart for the healing and wholeness we must have. Such love He has for us. Such love we must give to Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Paycheck

"When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided His clothes among the four of them. They also took His robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said, 'Let's not tear it, but throw dice to see who gets it.' This fulfilled the Scripture that says, 'They divided My clothes among themselves and threw dice for My robe.' So that is what they did." John 19:23-25

In her powerful and fascinating book, 40 Days of Decrease, Alicia Britt Chole writes of the various types of people who were at the cross as Jesus was crucified. There were the rulers, the watchers, those passing by, the two rebels, some of His disciples, and the soldiers. Each had varying levels of interest in Christ. What she writes concerning the soldiers both moves and convicts me. She says they were "Paid to be close to Jesus: nearest and yet farthest away. The paycheck can change your perspective whether in cash or praise. The soldiers valued Jesus' stuff more than His life. As they kept themselves busy around the cross, they numbed themselves to His voice." Can we take a moment, actually more than a moment, and allow His Spirit to reveal just how we may be in the same place with the soldiers in respect to Christ and His cross?

I have been a pastor now for more than 30 years. I don't think there has ever been a time when I did not love Him, yet I know, to my shame, there have been those times when I, like the soldiers, kept myself busy around the cross. Times when I valued "Jesus' stuff" more than His life. Times when I was numb to His voice because my focus was on where I wanted to get to, what I wanted to be, and what I wanted to have. Times, too many, when ministry was as much or more a career than a calling. More a job than a life. It can get that way and we don't even notice, because in our pursuit of what we want, we have become numb to His voice. Our eyes are on His stuff and not His face. And it doesn't just happen to pastors. We can all fall into the trap of being "professional believers." It can be a very subtle fall. In every walk of our "faith" we can end up being near Him for the "wages" we receive. Following Him is our job, not our lifestyle. We're at the cross to get hold of His stuff, not to become one with His voice and heart. From the pulpit to the living room to the workplace, this can so easily be the case. Is it the case with us?

Being a pastor I know I identify with that aspect of it all too easily. The pastor is a shepherd, but somehow, the shepherds role has gone from that of being one who gives up his life for the sheep, to one who must cast "bold vision" and then get the sheep in line with it. Leadership is a definite part of it all, but what type of leadership is the key question? Do we drive them or lead them? Is it about our goals, or our God? For so many years, I had prayer cards and sheets that had as their objective getting the results I desired. The stuff. I didn't see it as such, but Jesus was secondary. The results I wanted were good ones, but the focus was the result, not the King. Intended or not, the calling had become a job. I wanted my "wages" more than I wanted Him. And the wages involved much more than money. I remember at Bible College a beloved Scotsman and teacher named T.C. Mitchell sharing his amazement at discovering as a young preacher that not only did he get to give glory to God by proclaiming His Word, but he got paid for it as well. The message was clear. He would have done it for nothing. His focus was on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Is ours? Or do we look for the "success," the notice, the esteem....the "paycheck?"

How like the soldiers might we be? Are we the nearest to Him while also being the farthest? Do we look first for our wages, or for Him? Are our eyes on His stuff or upon Him? Are we constantly around His cross, busy, but unwilling to ever go to it....with Him? What say you and I? Do we look for the paycheck, or Christ?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Secondhand Glory

Secondhand Glory "Then Moses had one more request,'Please let me see Your glory,' he said." Exodus 33:18......"Much of our looking at Jesus is secondhand, 'as in a mirror,' reflected through the church, through books, through nature, through people. Hence much of our Christianity wears a secondhand look. It is moonlight (reflected) instead of sunlight (firsthand). One young minister said to another, 'You speak with authority. I quote authorities.' One was firsthand. The other secondhand." E.Stanley Jones...." I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." The Apostle Paul..."No attraction was ever allowed to hold the mind and soul of Paul save the face of Jesus Christ." Oswald Chambers

E. Stanley Jones quotes the words of the philosopher Nietzsche, "If the Christians want us to believe in Christianity, they must look redeemed." To this Jones writes, "Few have the redeemed look. And they are the ones who are looking at Jesus." The world is desperate for those who have the redeemed look. Desperate for those who have not only seen the face of Christ, they continually see it. Sound too mystical for you? Maybe that's a great part of our problem here in the western church. We like what's tangible. We're uncomfortable with what is not. From the pulpit, in the midst of the congregation, to what is happening in our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods and communities, we need to hear from those who have seen the glory of the Lord, and continue to see it. This is what will speak to a world caught up in, trapped, in the philosophies of men. That world needs to hear from men and women whose deepest desire is to behold Him in His glory, and that continually. Men and women like Paul, who make no place in their hearts for any other attraction that might take the place of the face of Jesus Christ. Are we such people?

When Moses left the presence of God, his face would glow with His glory. The people he led had a definite reaction. They either ran from, or to it. When he spoke, it was not with his own words and thoughts, or something he had gotten from a conference or seminar. He spoke that which flowed out of an encounter with God. The fiery presence of God filled the being of Moses. As it did with Paul, and as it has down through the ages in men and women such as Spurgeon, Wesley, Moody, Corrie Ten Boom, Chambers, Tozer, and so many more. As it does in those who are His today. Does this glory fill us as well? Do we truly "look" redeemed? Or, do we just pass along secondhand truth and glory. Relating what others have seen and experienced, but have never really or fully known ourselves? Do we dare allow Him to bring forth the answer? Conferences and seminars can serve a function, and many times those who speak at them have truly beheld Him. If so, do we come away longing to behold Him as well? Do we have a longing that cannot be denied? Or, do we just pass along that which someone else has seen and heard? Have our other "attractions" quenched that longing.....to death?

I close with this, a quote Jones passes on to us. "Mary was listening to a sermon from a man who spoke out of firsthand contact with Jesus, and she said to herself, 'Listen ears, this is not preaching. This is revelation.' " The need is beyond desperate for those who have "seen, heard, and handled" the wonder and glory of the Lord. We do not lack for preaching. The world is crying out for revelation. So is the Church.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Guarding Graveclothes

 Guarding Graveclothes

"So they rushed back to tell His eleven disciples - and everyone else - what had happened. The women who went to the tomb were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several others. They told the apostles what had happened, but the story sounded like nonsense, so they didn't believe it. However, Peter ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened." Luke 24:9-12
....."To what purpose all our parochial routine? Some may choose to guard the graveclothes, but one question still remains. Where is he who has seen the risen Lord?......With pride we sport ourselves as being 'with it,' when humbly we should seek to be 'with Him.' " Geoffrey Bull

The above quote from Bull has haunted me since I first saw it a day or so ago. The question His Spirit pierces me with is, what have we in the church been doing more of; guarding His graveclothes or telling a world locked in darkness that we have seen the risen Christ? Unless, maybe, we haven't really seen Him at all.

I'm not saying that we don't believe, or that we have no connection with the risen Lord, but have we really "seen" Him? In the day to day walk of life, and all life entails, have we seen Him? In our families, relationships, jobs, circumstances, and ministries, have we truly seen Him? Can we tell a crippled, sin darkened world that we have seen, that we have intimate knowledge of the risen Jesus Christ? Or, are we guarding graveclothes? Do we lift up an "event," the resurrection and celebrate it at least once a year at Easter, but then go back to "guarding the graveclothes?" To me that means living our lives out in our own strength, facing problems, needs, impossibilities in our own understanding. Looking to earthly resources and abilities instead of Kingdom ones. We guard the empty tomb and the graveclothes within. We will never deny the resurrection of Christ, but how many of us have truly seen the resurrected Christ? We believe in the resurrection, but so few of us seem to live truly resurrected lives. We know all about the resurrection from a historical standpoint. Do we know it from an experiential one? The light has come, so why does the darkness grow? Unless His light has yet to fully come upon and into us. The resurrection and the Pentecost experience of the release of the fullness of the Holy Spirit which followed are actual happenings. Have they actually happened in us?

I recently heard writer and speaker Christine Caine tell of something that happened with her young daughter who badly wanted a Barbie flashlight. They went out together and bought one and after paying for it, the little girl clicked it on. But in the bright lights of the store, she could not see its light. She exclaimed to her mother, "Mommy, quick, lets go find some darkness." We do not have to go far to find spiritual darkness. It does not just lurk outside the doors of the church, it makes itself known within them as well. We will not overcome it by continuing to guard the graveclothes, but it cannot stand, has never been able to stand against a church who has truly seen the risen Christ. The light that shines from such people will bring about the same result that it did 2000 years ago when it was said of his followers, "Those who are turning the world upside down have come here as well."

Jesus turned the tables upside down in the Temple. It always starts within the church. What tables in our hearts need to be turned upside down in order that we no longer guard graveclothes, but manifest the light of His presence.....all because we have seen the risen Lord? A clear question. What's our clear answer?

Blessings,
Pastor O

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