Heart Tracks - Hipster Jesus?

"To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." I Peter 5:11......"The 'Hipster Nativity Set' is making news today. It features Mary and Joseph taking a selfie with Jesus inside a manger with solar panels on the roof. The wise men are riding Segways and carrying Amazon packages. A shepherd is posting the birth on Instagram. Jim Denison

I would once have thought such a nativity scene to be unthinkable. Not any more. Why would it be? We in the Church have been steadily lessening the element of supernatual mystery from the three in One God for some time now. We've created a God in our image. A God who is very much like us. We have hipster churches and hipster pastors. Why should we not have a hipster Jesus? In our well intentioned efforts to make people feel comfortable and welcome, I believe we have lost the element of reverent worship. In our efforts to become relevant to people, dare we ask the question of whether our "worship" has become irrelevant to Him?

I realize I'm an "old guy"now, but I don't think I'm an old guy set in his ways....at least as concerns His Church. I realize we cannot use the ministry methods of 1970 in the culture of 2016, but I believe we have lost the sense of awe and wonder of the One we call Lord. Throughout His Word, when men and women encountered Him, the response of the seeking heart could only be worship. Usually they could not even remain on their feet. Falling face down before Him was the most common response. Peter, realizing he was in the presence of Someone he had never encountered before, was convicted of his sin and unworthiness. His glory literally blinded Paul on the Damascus Road. Even in the garden, as they came to arrest Him, a few words from Him literally knocked them off their feet. As Beth Moore put it, those who came to apprehend Him were themselves apprehended by Him. Where are we seeing such responses in what we call worship these days? It's like we come to see "shows" about Him, rather than in expectation of actually "seeing" Him. In this Christmas season, many churches will be singing the Hallelujah chorus with their lips. Will it be on and in their hearts? How far might we have drifted from the sense of wonder, awe, and the giving of glory to Him "who was, and is, and is to be?"

In the Word, it was said of the Israelites after they had fashioned the golden calf while Moses was on Mt. Sinai that "they exchanged the glory of God for a statue of a grass eating ox." Can we at least ask ourselves whether and to what degree we may be doing the same? We cannot manufacture or reproduce His glory. We can only worship it. Father, deliver us from the hipster mentality.....and anything else that seeks to displace you in our hearts, minds....and worship.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - In Person

"When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.' " Genesis 28:16

There's a phrase heard often in the church, or on second thought, maybe not often enough; "The Lord really showed up today." I've said it myself, but more and more I see the great error in such a statement. It is wrong on so many levels. Intended or not it seems to indicate the Lord hovers around backstage, waiting for the right moment to "appear in Person." Or that through various means we can, like a genie in a lamp, "rub our lamps" in just the right way and produce His appearance. Yet, beyond these is an even greater reality. It isn't the Father who needs to show up, we do.

Few wish to spend any time in the Old Testament these days. We live by grace after all. The law has passed away, so why spend any time reading about what life was like before the resurrection of Christ. What riches we rob ourselves of. One of the greatest losses may be our understanding of what is true worship. A great part of the meaning can be found in the very books we choose to ignore.

One of the keys for the priests and people as they came before Him was preparation. God made clear to all that He could not be approached in a casual way. He put before them rituals of purification for the people to observe, so that they would come before Him ceremonially clean and pure. There was no other way to come, and both the Father and the people were very aware that He allowed for no exceptions.

I know that we no longer observe these outward rituals, but they are described to us as a means to be a type, a portrait of what our inner condition must be when we come into His Presence. The priests and people were meticulous in their preparations. They greatly feared coming before Him in any way that He saw as unclean. The Father meant it for a heart lesson for all, even we who live in the covenant of His grace. That we would come before Him with clean hands and pure hearts. His people then came prepared to worship Him. How prepared are His people today?

Observe how we most often appear before Him. How prepared are our hearts and minds to worship? How much time have we spent meditating on who He is, what He says and promises, and especially, what it is He commands of us? We live distracted lives, and this is usually true right up to the moment we seek to enter into His Presence, be it in our personal "quiet times, " or our corporate gatherings. It's for this reason we have come to rely overmuch on music and visual aids in our worship times to get us to let go of our "Monday through Saturday" lives in order that we might spend an hour or so with Him on Sunday. Too often we have an emotional response to it all, and think of it as His "showing up," when in fact, it's we who havn't.

It's common to see worship teams and pastors joining in a minutes long prayer before the service. Yet how many hours of prayer went before that minute? How many of us have spent the Monday through Saturday time crying out for Him to move upon His Church? What would happen if we did? There is never a moment when He is not present, appearing. There is never a moment when He is not speaking, moving. It is we who are absent, not Him. Oh that we would be among those that "love His appearing," and are not waiting around till Sunday for it to happen.

We are invited to "come boldly to the throne" of grace, but with reverence, in worship. May His Church become such a Church. A Church that beholds He who always appears, "In Person," for those who truly seek Him. For those whose hearts are prepared for Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Faith Or Fear?

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." John 16:33......'Fear and faith are opposing forces and you have to turn your back on one to behold the other." Susan Larson

John 16:33 is like "Bible 101" for believers. It's likely one of the first ten or so Scriptures we're encouraged to memorize when we first begin to read His Word. Yet, how many of us really live in its truth? Jesus speaks two truths here. He says that in Him we have peace, and in the world we have tribulation. Life has certainly taught us the truth of the second. To what extent do we know the truth of the first? Which more describes our day to day living; victims of the world's tribulation, or dwellers in His peace?

I love the quote from Susan Larson used above. There may be no more powerful force of darkness than fear. It can and does paralyze us, and multitudes live captive to its power. Many, very many of them are believers, and isn't that an oxymoron? Believers in He who is Almighty, living in fear of things that are powerless before He who is Almighty. Yet so many of us do just that. I saw it once put that the great failure of the Pharisees in their inability to recognize Jesus for who He was, the Messiah, was that they did not believe the God they said they believed in. How like them we can be. He has spoken to us all that His Word calls, "His great and precious promises," yet we who say we believe in Him, give proof by our lives that we don't believe what He says. As I heard a football coach once put it, "We live in our fears." Where, and to what degree are we doing the same?

So back to Larson's quote. The force of fear wars against the force of faith constantly in our lives. As she says, for one to prevail, we have to turn our backs upon the other. Which do we turn our backs on? Which do you turn your back on? There is only one way to prevail over fear, and that is to choose, by His grace, to believe Him. Whether you have any understanding of why you are walking where you are, or what is going on while you walk, you choose to believe Him. All of us, if we truly are walking with and pursuing Him will come to the same place that Paul did in Acts, when God told him that the ship he was sailing on would sink, but that He would get Paul and every other passenger safely to shore. In the midst of a terrible, days long hurricane, Paul said, "And I believe it will happen just as He told me." Do we believe that the force of faith in His promise and life will overwhelm the force of the fear we face....every time? What will we turn our back upon, and what will we behold? Who will we behold?

Two forces are before us; fear and faith. Which do we turn away from and which do we embrace? The first never sees Him. The latter always will. Are you living in your fears, or in Him?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Empty Hands.....Full Hearts

"Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to Him. 'Teacher,' they said, 'we want You to do us a favor.' 'What is it?' He asked. 'In Your glorious Kingdom, we want to sit in places of honor next to you,' they said, 'one at Your right and the other at Your left.' " Mark 10:35-37...."When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.'......When Jesus heard him, He stopped and said, 'Tell him to come here.'.....Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. 'What do you want Me to do for you?' Jesus asked. 'Teacher,' the blind man said, 'I want to see.' " Mark 10:47,49, 50-51

A friend and I were talking today and the above Scriptures came into the conversation. My friend spoke of the vast difference in the two requests made first by James and John, and then by blind Bartimaeus. He said James and John's request was all about position, "appearance." They wanted a place of prominence. They wanted to be seen. He then said that Bartimaeus, though blind, had an inner sight that recognized, as Jesus passed by, that He was far more than a man. He was the Son of David. The Messiah. Bartimaeus wanted to see. I think more than anything, he wanted to see Jesus. James and John wanted to be seen.. Who are we really most like?

What do the pleas of our hearts really focus on? As I heard someone put it once, if He does answer our prayer(s), how much of the answer makes us the main benefactor? So much of what we pray, even when it comes to asking for the advance of His Kingdom in the lives and situations around, will bring about lives made easier, better, more comfortable by His answering and giving? As my friend put it, a lot of what we pray for and seek contains a "mixture." Mixed in with pure desire will be a good deal of self-interest. Such mixture is never pleasing to God. Pastors pray for souls, but "mixed" in is also a desire for a growing church, and the applause and recognition that go with it. We pray for difficult people, situations, and so on to be made right, but mixed in is the desire that if He will do so, our lives will become easier as well. We ask for many things that will benefit others for sure, but we seek a benefit for ourselves too. Often, the "self" motivation is stronger than the "others" focus. We seek the advancement of His Kingdom while at the same time seeking the expansion of our own, or the improving of someone else's lot, which will also improve ours.

Years ago I attended a church sponsored seminar that had as one of its central themes, "You can get anything you want if you just help enough other people get what they want." One look at that cannot but show where the real interest lies. "Getting" is the goal. How much of our prayer life, our walk here, is about that? A.W. Tozer said, "The greater your contentment with your daily circumstances in this world, the greater your defection from the ranks of God's pilgrims en route to a city whose architect and builder is God Himself." Contentment. Comfort, Well-being. Position. Provision. Protection. Where does surrender, obedience, and the cross they will surely lead us to come into play for you and me?

I have walked far more in the spirit and attitude of James and John in this life than I have of Bartimaeus. I have sought my place far more than His. I have wanted to see things come to fruition for my benefit more than for His glory. I have wanted to see results that blessed me more than the blessing of seeing Him. Mark Batterson said the rich young ruler left Christ's presence with full hands and an empty heart. Have often have we? How often will we continue to? May our foremost yearning be to see. Not with eyes of flesh, but of His Spirit. To more and more see all as He sees, and in the midst of it, to see Him as He is. To live before Him not with grasping hands, but giving ones. Empty hands that release all to Him, and in return, live with hearts full of His life and presence. He asks us what we would like Him to do for us? May it be that we, like Bartimaeus, truly receive our sight...that we may at last.....see.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Sacred Ache

"As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God." Psalm 42:1

Sheila Walsh shared the story of when she was preparing to take the platform to speak at one of the "Women of Faith" conferences, a time where she was in a good place in life, when all seemed right, but that there was within her, an ache. A longing. She whispered a prayer to Him as to what it might mean, why it was there? She said she heard the Father whisper back that it was His desire that she should never lose that "sacred ache." It was, and is, a longing for more of Him. It was also His reminder to her that she was not home yet. There remained still more of Him to know and experience. More. Much more.

Do we share such a longing for Him? Is there within us a sacred ache? There can be no doubt that there is. It is in each of us, placed there by Him. He is always calling us home. Home to His heart, His life, His fullness. The great tragedy is that we have become experts at masking that longing with the junk food and soda pop of this world. Walsh says that our hearts will be "radicalized" either by a longing for Him, or for something else. What has radicalized our hearts? What do we chase after? Things, position, recognition, applause? We all ache for something? What is our real "sacred ache?" The answer is not found in the words from our lips, but from the attitudes and actions of our hearts.

I saw a beautiful video on Facebook the other day. An elderly father finds he will be spending Christmas alone. All of his children, busy, successful, distracted, will be unable to come home. The scene is one of him sitting alone at his table, a Christmas tree in the background. The scene then shifts to his children, all invested in their own lives, who suddenly receive notice that he has died. Regret, grief, mourning takes hold of each of them. They all gather at his home, preparing to go in and sort out his belongings. When they enter, they find a table set for all of them, and then their elderly father comes in from the other room. He told them that he felt that their believing him gone was the only means of bringing them home. They all embraced and then joined in a celebratory dinner of life....I saw it in this way. As the elderly father longed for his children, an ache in his heart, so does the heavenly Father long for us. His children, distracted by their lives, were finally awakened to their longing for him. So too must we be. Have we been? Or, will we go on longing with all our hearts for the things of this world, thinking it our home, while missing the joy and wonder of His home...the home we have been created for?

There is that Sacred Ache in all of us, but are we following it to Him, or has it been counterfeited by this world? Does our ache go towards having the fullness of His heart and will in our lives, or for merely having all things work out in the way that we want...and always to our benefit? The Sacred Ache will call each of us home. Our true home...where the Father aches for us. Will we come? Are we moving there now?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Imposters

"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever." John 14:16

Recently, I heard a young woman named Robia Scott talk about her book, Counterfeit Comforters. She called them "imposters" that have gained entry into the very center of our being, and have displaced the Holy Spirit as the source of our comfort, strength and confidence. Imposters that gain a stronghold within us, and convince us that we need them more than we need Him. Imposters that convince us we cannot be without them. Imposters and strongholds share a common trait. They are both built upon a lie. Where have they managed to get you and me to buy into their lie? What imposters have we come to place our trust and well being to?

When Jesus told His disciples that the time was soon when He would return to the Father, fear and dread were quickly upon them. What would happen to them when His physical presence was removed? His words in John 14:16 were meant to belay that fear. That He was not only sending them "another Comforter," but a better One. Better because He would not only be living with them, but within them. He would bring a comfort, an Advocate, a presence, that they would have never known before. Even so, they continued to fear His leaving. All that would change at Pentecost when His Holy Spirit would come upon them, and fill each of them. They now knew and lived in the fullness of this Comforter. No imposter would ever be able to take His place. And there lies the problem. It is when we lack the fullness of His Spirit and Life that we become easy prey for the imposters who seek to have His place. It is then that we will seek to find what only He can give in the false offers of security and well being by that which is not Him. Behind it all is the enemy of our souls, who has an endless supply of imposters to offer. Lacking the fullness of the One who is Truth, we grab hold of a lie. Many lies.

Imposters can establish their place in our lives through many avenues. They can come in any form and many of them can be defined as "good." We end up putting our hope, trust, and security in them. They can be in people, through relationships, marriage, parenting, friendships. Through occupational endeavors. In the presence of material and financial security. And yes, in ministry for Him. I know, because I allowed such imposters to take His place in my own life. I didn't recognize this until they were lost. We never do.

I once saw myself in terms of who I was, what I did, and what I accomplished. When I was a husband, father, pastor, I received a deep sense of well being and security from that. I saw Him as my Source of course, but had no idea of how much trust I had placed in imposters that were not Him. Counterfeit Comforters. When they were all lost to me, and all at once it seemed, the empty void that I was left crushed the life from me. Yet it was in this place that He began to lay a new, and eternal foundation of Himself. When the imposters were exposed for what they were, He who is the real thing was able to reveal Himself. What I did and the relationships I had did not define me. Neither did what I possessed or had lost. I was not defined by either failure or success. He defined me. He sent me, as He has so many others, another Comforter. And in Him, I can continue to guard my heart against all the imposters that continue to seek entry into my heart and spirit. And trust me, they still come knocking.

So who are your own "imposters?" Who are the counterfeit comforters? There's an old hymn with the wonderful line, "the Comforter has come." He has come. He has been given. Have you received? If you're trusting in imposters and counterfeits today, know that they will be exposed for what they are, and for who they are not. Shakings will come, and only what is of Him, is Him, will remain. No more imposters. No more counterfeits. The Comforter has come....for you.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The "Meet Up"

"When Jesus came by, He looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. 'Zacchaeus,' He said, 'Quick, come down. For I must be a guest in your home today.' Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy." Luke 19:5-6........"He told Zacchaeus He was going home with him. Christ wants to live with us, not merely meet us at church." Vance Havner

"Meet-ups" are a fairly common term these days. People have them all the time; in coffee shops, restaurants, pretty much anyplace at all. The church has been having meet-ups for centuries. Mostly on Sunday mornings, but we've extended them into various times and ways during the week as well. These are the official "meet-up" places, but we have un-official ones as well. They take place in what we call our morning or evening devotions, and other ways as well. All of them are times we designate, set aside, to meet-up with Jesus. They can vary in time length, but one things seems common with all of them. When they're over, so is our time spent in His presence. We then "get on with life," and too often, it's a life lived without a conscious presence of Him. Our meet-ups with Him may be valued by us, but they don't really define us. We may meet with Him anywhere, but we rarely take Him with us everywhere. Especially as concerns the thoughts, attitudes, practices and so on that we feel most "at home" with. We like to meet with Him, we don't really want to live with Him.

Wherever Christ ministered, there were great crowds. Many were just curiosity seekers. They wanted to see what all the talk was about. They were content to stand off at a distance....and remain unchanged. Others were more aggressive. They pressed in on Him, but their desire wasn't really for Him, but what He could give them. They may have touched Him, but they didn't lay hold of Him. Is this really any different from much of what we call "Church" today? In our gatherings, there doesn't seem to be any lack of those who are very content to keep their distance from Him. They join in the songs, listen to the sermon....kind of, but they never encounter Him. Spectators, they leave the same as they came. Others, like the crowd pressing in, come with expectations of receiving something from Him. They want a meet-up in order to secure an answer to some need. This is not wrong in itself, but what's missing is any deep longing for Him. In His grace and mercy, the need may be met, but their heart is untouched. Yet what marked Zacchaeus, and some few others like Him, is they were determined to have something more. Zacchaeus, a tax collector and man of means, and likely known and feared by all, was willing to look the fool in their eyes by climbing a tree. So deep was His desire to see Jesus. There was a longing in his heart that no words can really describe. Jesus saw it, and of all the crowd around Him, it was Zacchaeus whose home he went to. Neither Jesus or Zacchaeus would be satisfied with a meet-up. Jesus wanted to be where Zacchaeus lived. Zacchaeus wanted Him to be there as well. Do we?

Preachers, teachers, watchers and listeners, we all need to put an end to our religious meet-ups. We need to live ever more fully in His heart, as He comes to live every more deeply in ours. In this, we become more and more at home in each other. In our corporate times, and private ones as well, we live with each other, and we all live fully in Him.There is no time when we are not conscious of this. Curiosity seekers and mere petitioners for His help will not know this place. Only those willing to go out on a limb to "see" Him will. I want to be such a one. I want to be part of such a Church. Do you? Or will you be content to just be a face in the crowd? Curiosity seeker. Petitioner. But not a dweller in Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Abundant And Broken

"Then He took a loaf of bread; and when He had thanked God for it, He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples saying, 'This is My body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." Luke 22:19........"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10

The title of this writing may sound like a contradiction to some. How can anyone be abundant and broken at the same time? It just doesn't seem possible. Being broken, living in brokenness, is not an attractive picture for many. Most will do all within their power to avoid such a state, and a very large number of them are professing followers of Jesus Christ. We are quick to buy into His words concerning having the abundant life He promises in John. Especially as we would define abundance. I saw a book today titled, "Will Jesus Give Me A Double-Wide Home, Because I Need More Room For My Plasma TV?" A comical title to be sure, but not so comical if we were to admit our real heart attitude as to what life in Him should be. Too many of us define abundance as having "more of," and "bigger than." We hear His promise of abundance. We don't hear His invitation to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings....which is where true abundance begins, and flows out of.

Writer and speaker Ann Voskamp asks the question, "How do we live an abundant life in a broken world?" More, how do we live an abundant life in the midst of our own brokenness? The key, as always, is found in the life of Christ. The disciples had little idea of the extent of what He was saying when He served them communion in the upper room. He was giving them, and us, more than a sacrament to practice as a means of remembering Him. In the giving up of His broken body for us, He was providing through His brokenness, the means to true spiritual abundance. To those who are His, He invites us into that same sacrifice and that same brokenness....that we might not only have abundant life, but be vessels of it to a broken world....through our own brokenness.

In His brokenness, Jesus gave of Himself to those who were also broken. We all, whether knowing it or not, are broken. When we know this, our flesh tendency is to hide. Christ life has as it's desire to give....of itself.....abundantly. Pain doesn't make us run away from Him, but to Him....and then through Him to others who are also broken. We don't fear our own brokenness because we discover that in Him, we find healing and wholeness. We then do not fear the brokenness of others, but in Him, become His agents of taking His healing and wholeness to them as well. We are broken, then we are blessed in our brokenness. We are then fit to become His blessing to a lost and broken world. We are living lives that at the same time are both abundant and broken. Are we living such lives right now?

Are you living in broken place right now? Don't fear it, deny it, or run from it. Embrace that place in Him, and in the embracing, find His wholeness and healing. You will know His abundance as well as His brokenness.....and you will be, for the broken lives He puts you in front of.....the richest of His blessings.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - God Is!

"He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He rewards those who seek after Him." Hebrews 11:6...."I do not means some vague belief that there is a God. I mean the conviction that God is: living, present, active.....Do not claim to have faith until you can say, 'I am and I have...because God is.' " Watchman Nee

I have a friend who likes to say that there are times when the only thing you can pray is, "Father, have mercy!" Those three words may be the most powerful prayer we can utter. Life, and the enemy who operates in the midst of it, can so overwhelm us with his attacks through or circumstances that we don't even know how to respond, how to pray. All we can do is cry out for His mercy.....and in His mercy, He moves, and He reveals...Himself.

Before we can pray such a prayer however, we must come to, be, in the place that has settled once and for all this truth, the truth Nee speaks of. We must be completely convinced that God IS! That He is all that He says He is. That He will do all that He says He will do. That He will be to us, all that He says He will be. Someone once said something to the effect, "He lives, and that means endless possibilities." Endless possibilities because He IS the God of "nothing is impossible." When this is the ground that we are standing on, living upon, than no matter how deep the darkness and danger, no matter how fearsome the threat, or the lies of hell are, we live in the full confidence that our God is...able, willing, active....for us!

With all this being true, the question than arises, do we have a personal, living knowledge based on intimacy with Him? Knowledge that is rooted not only in our minds, but our hearts as well? We live in the midst of a fallen world, and being His does not excuse us from having to live with the very real consequences of that. As Jesus said, in this fallen world we will have tribulation....At times, perhaps many times, intense tribulation. Yet He has overcome that world and all its power on the cross and in His resurrection. He IS Victory. Therefor in Him, we live in victory.

Paul said in Ephesians 3:14, "When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father." He worships Him. He worships Him because as he contemplates the endless wonder of who his God is, it's the only response he can have. In a dank prison cell, chained to his guards, Paul is overwhelmed not by the cell, the guards, or his circumstances. He is overwhelmed by who His God is. Are we?

If the enemy, working in and through this fallen world you find yourself in today, is closing in on you, dare you dwell on just who your God is in the midst of it? Yes, we may cry out for mercy, and He will give it. In that mercy I believe He will give us fresh, powerful revelations of who He is. Who He is to us. To you, and to me. The enemy will speak the lie of what he says is. That lie will fall, every time, when we speak in response, the truth of who He is. He is living, He is present, and He is active. He lives. He reigns. He is. He is the great I Am! And because He is, we can face all of our yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows. Face them, overcome them, because He is.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Mixture

"Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgement day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone's work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. If the work survives the fire that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames." 1 Corinthians 3:12-15....."If our lifework is to be fireproof, it will not be so built by sentence prayers and one minute Bible readings before breakfast. But it costs, so we slip in a block of wood here and fill in with hay there and get by with stubble yonder.....It is so easy to let up here and there and work in a little wood or stubble, but blessed is the man who will not substitute even the good for the best." Vance Havner

I think all believers of His Word agree that there awaits us all in eternity, judgement. The primary judgement will concern what each has done with Jesus Christ. His Word clearly states that He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." That "no one comes unto the Father except through Him." Through Him alone, and no one else. Those who have confessed their lost state, their need of forgiveness, repented of their sin, and received Him unto life, have settled that first question. Let me stop a moment and ask, have you settled it? What, to this point in your life, have you done with this Savior, Jesus Christ? Yet there is another judgement that awaits for those who have settled this question. As John Bevere puts it, the first judgement determines what we have done with Jesus Christ. The second concerns how we have lived for Him. I'm concerned in that I don't think many of us put much thought into that question. At least here in the west. The desire of the apostle Paul's heart was that he would complete his life journey and be found faithful....to the very end. That he would hear, on that last day, "Well done, good and faithful servant." How much do you and I really wish to hear the same? How we live, and not just in action, but motive, really determines the answer to that.

Havner talks of how, in our lives for Him, we so easily place varying amounts of wood, hay, and straw into our lives for Him. Others have called such a life one of "mixture." Into lives professed to be lived out for Him, is mixed in a great deal of "us," of the self-life. The subtle presence of this can lead to a great deal of self-deception. We can trumpet loudly that all we do, we do for Him, except that lurking beneath the surface is a great deal of self-interest as well. We tell ourselves that we're zealous to build His Kingdom, but at the same time, we're very interested in building our own as well. From the pulpit to the pew, it is so. How "so" is it in you and me?

When I began in ministry, my overriding concern was to grow my congregation. Yes, I sincerely wanted to win souls, and did. But I also wanted to be seen as successful, and that fleshly desire too often caused me to see people as a means to get what I wanted, and the Father as a means to help me do so. To varying degrees, this remained true through years of ministry. I wanted to give glory to Him, but I wanted to share in the glory as well. The Father will not share His glory. He will not honor or recognize the wood, hay, and straw. The mixture. Even when souls are saved and churches grow. Personal ambition finds no favor with Him, even when the results are good ones. He is not pleased with offerings that contain so much hay, wood, and straw. The offering that is a mixture of honor for self and honor for Him. How much of our lives are really all about just that?

Mark Batterson told of his early days in ministry when he was frustrated and unhappy with the smallness of his congregation. He said that the Father spoke to his heart and told him that if he could not be content and joyful pastoring a group of 25, neither would he be so if he were leading 2500. Lives that flow with such a mixture of both silver and gold and wood, hay, and straw will not be either.

All of us will one day give account of not only what we did with Him, but how we lived for Him. The most important question in eternity will be, "What have we done with this Jesus?" Everything depends upon that . Second in importance will be how did we then live for Him? Bevere says the first question decides where we will spend eternity. The second, how. We'll all answer each one. How do you answer now? Do you wish that to be how you answer then?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Three Masters

"Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles the endless treasures available to them in Christ." Ephesians 3:8........"The source of Apostle Paul's contentment was a Person, not provision. With God by his side, Paul was satisfied." Alicia Britt Chole

I don't remember who said it, but I have written down in my prayer journal, "We're concerned about provision, protection, and position. Yet we need not be concerned for any of these if we will realize we are heirs of His Kingdom." Paul states in Romans that those who are His are co-heirs with Him of all the riches and fullness of His Kingdom. Yet how many of us live as if this is so? How many of us are mastered by an obsession over how we'll be provided for? How safe will we be? How successful can we become? Our life focus is so much upon these three "masters" that we never really experience the "endless treasures" in Christ that Paul speaks of.

There's a saying that goes something along the lines of , "We never know who we have in Him until He is all we have." Yet few of want to get to such a place. In fact we're terrified of that place. As a result we invest our life energy into making sure that we have enough, are safe enough, reach high enough. The Father becomes our facilitator in all of that. He provides, protects, and advances us. Our security lies then in what He has given, not in who He is. Our great fear then is that what we have will run out. What keeps us safe will be broken down, and that the place we have achieved in life will be taken away. Provision. Protection. Position. Three masters. Three tyrants. And many of us are living in bondage to them right now. In Exodus, the Father rebuked the people of Israel when they made a golden calf to represent to them who He was. They needed to have an image. He told them that they had exchanged their glorious God for a statue of a grass eating ox. How different is that from what we do? We worship the fruit of what He gives, not the One who gives it all. We are more concerned over losing the fruit than we are of losing the Giver of the fruit.

Paul's life was totally invested in proclaiming and inviting people into the riches, the treasure that could be realized in Christ alone. Paul meant that the treasure was Christ Himself. We have made it all about the things He gives. We have framed our modern message all around that. That's the golden calf that we have made.....and been mastered by. Come to Christ and He will provide for you, protect you, and yes, ensure your success. Then we focus our lives upon these....and miss Him....completely.

Too much of my life has been lived under the tyranny of the three masters. I want only one. The One who makes me free. The One who is the only true Treasure in this life. Christ. Jesus says in John 17:3, "And this is the way to have eternal life - to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the One You sent to earth." May our prayer be that we come to have more and more of His eternal life as we come to know Him and the Father more and more. May the three false masters fall that we may be mastered by the the three in One God alone.....and be free.

Blessings,
Pastor O