Heart Tracks - Proof Of Life

"For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21....."No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him." I Corinthians 2:9....."If you're a dream of God before you take your first breath, shouldn't you live out His dream before you take your last breath?......The best proof of life after death is life before death." Erwin McManus

Paul's words in Philippians have always resonated with me, and they never cease to go deeper. At first I just heard them in the context of all the beauty that awaited me when the time came to leave this world. Paul certainly had that expectation in the speaking of them, but I have come to see, and continue to see more deeply, that it is far more than that. The life Paul speaks of is not limited to some future hope, but a very present one, and the key to entering in is death.....in the here and now. For us to live in all that Christ is, in the fullness of His resurrection life, we must die to all that is not Christ in our lives right now. Our flesh counts that as loss. Paul, with the mind and heart of Christ, knew it was truly gain.

Paul, when he was known as Saul, knew a great deal of what life in the world could offer. He was likely wealthy, enjoyed great prestige and power, and was filled with religious fervor. When he was confronted by the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, all that became as dry bones to him, and knowing the fullness of life in Jesus Christ became his all consuming passion. That's why the words he quoted in I Corinthians have far deeper meaning that just some future hope of heaven. It's true that on this side of eternity, we can never see the extent of the riches that lie ahead for us....but we can begin to see, and we can begin to see much....and hear much...and know much.

So that brings me to the above quotes from McManus. I have always believed that when He created us, me, that there was a dream in His heart for the life He'd created. With our first breath, that dream is in place. The question for each of us is, how close are we living to the fulfillment of His dream? Will it be realized before we take our last? Can we dare to believe that no matter what befalls us in this fallen world, none of it can stop the fulfillment of that dream? It's a dream that has far more to do than what we can gather around us, but of what type of life flows into and out of us. When we walk and live in His resurrection life now, we are entering into His dream for us. A life that this fallen world and all it uses against that life, cannot touch. That's His dream for you and me. Have we stepped into it?

Last, there is his quote about the best proof of life after death is the life we live before death. We who are His, can prove the reality of His Kingdom promise by the extent that we live in that Kingdom right now. When we live a quality of life that really does overcome the world, that really does know abundance no matter how much is in the bank, or what job we have or don't have, what ministry success we know or don't know. In all of it, regardless of the recognition we have or lack in this life, we live in a fullness of life that this world can never know.....and sadly, too many who are His do not know either. Are you and I living a life so steeped in Him as to give proof that there really is a Kingdom whose fullness we will one day enter into....and whose fullness we can begin to enter into now?

Is His dream for you being realized today? Do you bear the seal of His proof of life? There is a pathway to both. It leads to the cross. It is the way of His death that will lead to the way of His Life. Dare we walk it...and enter into His dream.....and His Life?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Texting Jesus

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it. Isaiah 30:15

I don't text. I know that puts me in the minority today, and I don't have a problem with those that do. It's just that to me, it seems a very abbreviated way to communicate. It appears that shortened words and sentences are the norm. I guess it's a deeper illustration of our culture than maybe we care to admit. Face to face intimate conversation seems to be decreasing by the day. Our involvement with one another is steadily diminishing. We spend more time with out technology than we do each other. We don't really talk to one another, we text, and with the smallest amount of words we can. It's carried over into how we relate to Him....if we really relate at all. We limit our conversations with Him to spiritual text messages. We don't say a lot, or reveal a lot, but we figure, just as we do with our earthly communications, He gets the gist of what we mean.

Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we see and hear the hearts of both the Father and Son cry out to the ones they love with a yearning we will never fully understand. A yearning to not only lay hold of us, to bring healing, but to communicate with us, be known by us. The Father sends us long letters of love, His best and greatest being in His Son, Jesus Christ. We rarely take the time to "read" them, let alone "answer" them. With the pouring out of His words comes also the pouring out of His heart. In return, we send him a text message....an abbreviated, often empty one. This is not true in matters of prayer only, but in our worship as well. There are churches, and not a few, who have their "worship" planned down to the second. Everyone knows just how many minutes they will have.....even God....if He has any at all. Unspoken is the desire that in the planning of the service, He would not be so rude as to interrupt the proceedings and throw the schedule off. We talk about creating something that is relevant to people....and are oblivious to what is relevant to Him.

I love the story of the woman with the issue of blood in the gospel of Luke. In that large crowd that surrounded Jesus that day were many who touched Him, but only one, the woman, touched Him in faith. When He asked who touched Him, He already knew, and the woman poured out her heart to Him in reply. She told Him all, and received all of Him that she could in return. She told Him the whole truth and was made whole herself. The Greek word for salvation means "to save and to heal." This is what He longs to do with us in every encounter. I don't mean that we need to be "saved" every day, but I do know that it's His will and desire to take us ever deeper in the conversion process, transforming more and more of lives, healing more and more of our souls. We read His letters of love...and we write our own to Him as well. Text messages simply will not do. Will they continue to do for you? He will write His letter of love upon your heart. Does it remain unopened? Unanswered?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Choice

"At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. At about three o'clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,' which means, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'......."Then Jesus shouted out again, and He gave up His Spirit." Matthew 27:45-46. 50

There is a very harsh truth to be faced in a walk with the Lord; there are going to be times when we feel, when it seems certain, that He has forsaken and abandoned us. There is no sign or sense of His Presence. There is no hint of His help. Everything is wrong and nothing seems right. We look for Him, but He gives us no awareness of His Presence. We cry out for help, but no help comes. We want His comfort, but we feel none. We want to hope in Him, but all our surroundings and circumstances scream into our heart and mind that there is no hope. What do we do then? What are our choices? Our choices and directions come down to just two, and they couldn't be more black and white.

When Christ hung on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, He also took all of our sin, not just yours and mine, but the totality of it all for the human race, upon Himself. The horror and depravity of an entire race's sin was upon one God/Man, and His Father, who sent Him for this very thing, could not look upon Him. Sin separates us from Him, and we could do, can do, nothing to make it right. So He gave His Son to do what we couldn't and can't. God hates sin, and all that it costs and does to destroy the very race He created. In that moment He had to look away, and in that moment, Christ, who had never experienced any kind of break in His relationship with His Father, felt in the very center of His being, the disconnect. His pain was beyond description. He felt forsaken.

You and I have been born into a fallen world, where sin and depravity are on full display. We are not immune to it. Even in Christ, it can touch us, hurt and wound us, seemingly crush us. Death still comes about, Injustice still abounds. Betrayal, failure, loss, they are still present, and at times, they can seem to be all that is present. In our humanity, we want to know where He is in all of it. There are times when He doesn't give any answer to it all. There are times when He is totally silent. Indeed, if we are truly committed to a relationship with Him, such times will come upon us all. And this is where the choice before us comes in, and that choice is seen in those last words of Jesus Christ upon the cross. Will we choose to believe the Father has forsaken us, or will we, as did Christ, choose to commit ourselves fully into His hands? For the exact understanding of His giving up His Spirit was that He was committing His Spirit fully into the hands of His Father. That is our choice, and it's a choice between life....and death.

When we come to that place of His seeming abandonment of us, will we dare to still trust Him.....completely trust Him. Will we, as did our Lord Christ, surrender all, commit all, to Him? When it seems He is nowhere to be found, will we believe He is still there, still with us? Will we put our hope fully in Him, or will we lose all hope in Him? That's our choice. It's the choice Joshua put before the the people of Israel when he called upon them to decide who it is they would follow and trust. Would they choose life...or would they choose death? It's the choice that is always going to be before us, in some form or another. Choose to believe that He is absent, unconcerned, unavailable or uncaring, and so has left us to our own devices. Or, choose to believe His promise to always be with us, regardless of the appearance of things....and surrender all, commit all, to Him...in trust. The choice. How do you choose?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Spiritual Bribery

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.[a]She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36-38...."You can only wait when you've said 'yes' to the ministry of hope." Alicia Britt Chole

Luke 2 tells of two people who had spent their lives looking for the coming of the promised Messiah; Simeon and Anna. When Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to Jerusalem to present Him in the Temple, first Simeon, and then Anna, recognized exactly who He was; the Father's promised Savior and Messiah. They had both spent years, a lifetime really, seeking the heart of the Father, crying out for the fulfillment of His promise. Here in their old age, after so long a wait, that promise was complete. After years of seeing nothing, possibly hearing nothing, the Messiah had come. All those years of silence, yet in them all, they continued to offer worship unto Him. Very likely their emotions in all of it rose and fell, but their worship never did. Both Simeon and Anna longed for the fulfillment of His promise, yet their worship of Him was true even in the absence of that fulfillment. As Chole puts it, their priority in worship was not just to get something from Him, but to give all to Him. Do you and I walk in that same kind of emphasis? They said "yes" to that ministry of hope, and I am sure they believed they would not leave this life until they beheld their Messiah. Yet I also believe that their worship of Him would have been no less full and complete had they died in their hope. They didn't see worship as a "transaction" between they and the Father. Worship was as much a part of their life as inhaling the air around them. Worship was their life. They didn't just want to see the answer, they wanted to see Him...and they did. That's always the yield of true worship.

How much of what we call "worship," "prayer," is really nothing more than a kind of spiritual bribery, a transaction between God and us? I have heard and read people talking about praise, thanksgiving, and prayer, as being keys in our getting God to empower our agendas, desires, and visions. We see in His Word how when the people went into battle, they sent the musicians and singers ahead, loudly praising the Father. The result was victory in that battle. Our takeaway on that is that if we do the same, then victory will also be ours. The same with the giving of thanks, the offerings of prayer, and so on. What we miss, what we're blind to, is the actual heart motivation for all of them. Conscious of it or not, we're seeing all of it as a transaction with Him....as spiritual bribery. Buying God's help by giving Him what we think He wants. Say the right words, do the right things, and then get the right results from His hand. Such was unknown to Simeon and Anna. They waited with a living hope in Him. That hope in Him was a ministry to Him. They looked for the answer, the Messiah, but they could do so because each day, they were looking for and finding Him, in worship. Have we such a living hope, or do we just see things like prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and so on as Christian "tools" to be used to open the door to a God who requires us to cover all the bases in getting Him to come through for us. A worship transaction. Spiritual bribery.

Simon the magician, a professing convert to Christ, beheld the miracles performed by Peter in the name of Christ. He asked if he could buy the power to do the same. Peter replied, "May your silver perish with you." I heard a pastor once translate this more loosely as, "To hell with you and your money." I expect both give us a clear idea of how the Father views such transactional worship. As concerns our heart motivations, how much of our worship is only that?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Thoughts - Broken And Burnt Stones

[a]When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” Nehemiah 4:1-3....."The very thing we're most afraid of, our brokenness, is the doorway to the Father's heart." Ann Voskamp

One of the devil's most effective weapons against us is to make us feel inadequate, unworthy, and disqualified as concerns the Father. He's not lying when he says that. We are born into this world with all of that and more being true about us. Yet it has been said that in Christ, He qualifies the unqualified. He does so because it is not about who we are, but who He is. In ourselves we are inadequate, but in Christ we are conquerors, and more than conquerors. So many spend their lives seeking to prove themselves, to others, even to God. We think in terms of how much we have to offer Him, but He is looking for those who are and will be broken bread and poured out wine for Him, in Him. He is not looking for perfectly cut stones, but rather for the broken and burnt ones. From such He brings glory for Himself. The wonder is not in the stone, but in the One who fits that stone into His Kingdom

When Nehemiah and the first Jews returned to Israel after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, the city was in ruins. The Temple, God's dwelling place among His people was nothing but a pile of broken and burnt stones, as were the very walls of the city itself. Nehemiah directed the people to rebuild and they would use the only materials available to them; those broken and burnt stones. They would qualify what everyone, especially their enemies, said was completely unqualified for the task given them by the Father.

Here is something to realize; satan knows exactly what the Father can do with that which seems beyond use. Sanballat and Tobiah feared what would arise if the Jews succeeded in rebuilding the walls, city and His holy Temple in Jerusalem. So they attacked with ridicule and name calling, hoping to discourage the work before it even began. They focused on what the stones appeared to be, but Nehemiah knew what God had spoken concerning those very stones. He was to rebuild all with those stones. Broken, burnt, past usefulness. If the devil invests that much effort concerning lifeless stones, what do you think he will seek to do to you as concerns the life He has called you to? We are all of us to some degree, oftentimes a very deep degree, broken and burnt stones. We bear the scars of many fires. Our edges are no longer smooth, but deeply pitted and scarred. We don't look like we could fit into anything of use or beauty, but the Lord has His own definition of use and beauty.

He can and will take the ugliest, most scarred and burnt life and shape into a beautiful stone in the Body of His Son Jesus Christ. Out of the rubble and wreckage of a city, the Father led Nehemiah and the people to rebuild the walls, the city, and His Temple. Satan opposed them at every turn, but he could not stop them. He never can. They could only be stopped if they believed the lie. They wouldn't believe it. Do you?

Where are the burns, scars and broken places in your life? Do you fear admitting to them? Have you believed that they have disqualified you from fulfilling that for which He created you? Many will tell you that this so. As one who knows something about being a broken and burnt stone, who has had more than a few tell me that the burns and brokenness disqualified me from living out that which He'd called me to, I tell you it is not so. If we dare to come to Him, broken, scarred and burnt, He will receive the offering, and shape with loving hands, our lives, and fit them into His Kingdom, His Body, as He has always intended. Beauty from ashes....and brokenness, scars, and burns. We behold what He can do with a broken life when we will bring all the pieces to Him. It's the doorway to His heart. Will you enter in?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Who Are You?

"But now, O Israel, the Lord who created you says, 'Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are Mine." Isaiah 43:1...."The poor deluded fools feeds on ashes. He is trusting something that can give him no help at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, 'Is this thing, this idol that I'm holding in my hand, a lie?' " Isaiah 44:20

I heard Sheila Walsh tell the story of one of her experiences after she had checked herself in to a psychiatric hospital. Upon her first interview, the Doctor asked her who she was. She answered "Sheila Walsh." He said, "No, I didn't ask your name, I asked you who you are?" She then answered, "I'm the co-host of the 700 Club." He said, "I didn't ask you what you do. I asked you who your are?" She then said to him, "I don't know who I am.".......A month later, as she was leaving the facility, the Doctor who conducted that interview, leaned out of his office window and called to her, "Sheila Walsh, who are you?" She called back, "I'm Sheila Walsh, a daughter of the King."

I think so many of us, if we're really pressed on this issue of who we are, would, like Walsh, end up saying, "I don't know who I am." It would be because like Walsh, we put our identity into the name we have before others, or even more, the job, ministry, or role we have in life. That's who we are. The great problem in this is, who are we if that name, job, or role we have had is lost? Who then are we?

I know something of this. A great part of my life was spent identifying myself by these things. A day came when I was no longer any of them. I had been a husband, a pastor, and I had visibility in these roles before others. Then....I didn't. And it was a terrible blow. If I was no longer any of these, then what was I? Who was I? If I saw great value in being these, and I did, then now that I wasn't, I obviously had no value. I had knowledge about how others saw me, and how I saw myself, but I lacked any real understanding of how He saw me, and didn't really know that His was the only viewpoint that mattered.

When Isaiah spoke for the Lord to the people, he spoke the Father's heart to a people who had embraced other gods, idols, and did not know the lie that held their hearts concerning them. We do the same, though we are very slow to come to grips with it, if at all. We hold fast to our hearts what we do and what role we play. Insert the title of the job you have, or the relationship role you're in. We so easily see that as being who we are. We may have dedicated these roles and places to Him, but it's they, and not He who define us. Our identity is one with them, not with Him. We hold onto a lie...a lie that cannot help us once they are gone. In that psychiatric ward, Walsh, with her marriage destroyed, and her co-hosting role gone, had to come to terms with who she truly was, and where and with who her value really lie. Have you come to terms with it yet? Or do you still hold to the lie?

I remember the deep sense of loss concerning my roles. Yet losing them didn't immediately result in my recognizing the lie I still clung to. In His mercy, He began to restore my place as a pastor fourteen months after it had been lost to me. Yet I continued to feel that it, along with the hoped for restoration of a marriage would be what made me truly whole. So I continued to hold on to the lie. Yet He is so faithful. It took a lot of hard years and disappointments resulting from believing that lie until, at last, the beauty and reality of the above Scriptures came alive to and in me.
I was not defined by what I did, or who I was with. I was defined by the One who made me, and made me for Himself. To know beyond doubt that I had His love, His approval and acceptance, and His constant presence, meant that I could live in victory, have wholeness, be complete in Him no matter what state I was in, or how others saw or measured me. The power of the lie had finally been broken, and the power of His Truth had finally come.

I won't say that the lie no longer shows up to try and woo me back. It does. But such is my knowledge of the power of His Truth, that each time, I need only look to Him, and feel His presence, security, and oneness with Him wash over me. Finally, after so long, I know who I am. I may often need reminders, but I know. Do you? Or, do you continue to hold on to the lie?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Where Have You Laid Them?

3 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and [h]was troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. John 11:33-35..."Jesus looked around an saw them following. 'What do you want?' He asked them. They replied, 'Rabbi (which means Teacher) where are You staying?' 'Come and see,' He said. John 1:38-39

I recently heard someone make mention of the above Scripture in reference to our need to take Jesus to the place and places where we have laid our failures, disappointments, hurts, defeats, betrayals, even the very death of our greatest dreams and desires. We all have such places where we have "laid" them. We may even have sought to "bury" them, but their presence is still with us. The smell of death, as Mary, Martha and the other mourners were sure would be upon Lazarus, is still with us. We may have "entombed" them, but they are still there, affecting us on every level of our life. Jesus comes, and bids us to take Him to them. To all of them.

Where are such sites in your life? Where is it that you've laid the wounds, tragedies, losses, and bitter disappointments? Some may have been so long there that you're no longer conscious of them, yet they still affect you, influence your behavior, thinking, and attitudes. Jesus knows them all, and He would have you know them as well. He asks you to take Him to them. Will you invite Him to "Come and see" even the most devastating of those long buried things?

When Martha, Mary, and the rest of the mourners laid Lazarus in his grave, they had no expectation that he would ever leave it, at least not in this life. They trusted in his being resurrected, but that was a future hope, not a present one. Where they laid their sorrow and loss was where they expected it to remain. Jesus felt their sorrow, and He entered into it, but it was what He did next that transformed everything. For those who trust in Him, no matter the depth of our need, hurt, or sorrow, we can look with faith unto what He will do next. What He did next was to call forth Lazarus from his grave unto life. A life that was beyond hope of recovery was recovered. Resurrection life was not just for tomorrow, it was for today. The one they had laid and lost was raised up and given back. Martha and Mary, in the midst of deep heartache and little faith, beheld a miracle beyond belief simply because they obeyed His word to take Him to where they had laid him.

We all have these places in our lives. All along the path of our journey are places where we've "laid" the crushing devastation of our failures, defeats, betrayals, and losses. We may have kept moving, but we have never really gone on. Right there stands Jesus, and He bids us, as He did Martha and Mary to take Him to where we have laid them...all of them. He's entered into our sorrow, but He asks us to trust Him in what He is about to do next. Can and will we? Can you?

We must extend this invitation to Jesus if we're to ever to know real wholeness. But that path also contains a second invitation as well. It is the one extended by Him to us. In John 1, in response to the two disciples question as to where He was staying, Jesus simply said, "Come and see?" This is His invitation to each one of us, no matter where we are at this moment. The disciples were inquiring as to where His physical dwelling was. Jesus wanted them to know where He dwelt in the Spirit, in the Kingdom. They could only know that if they would come to Him, enter into His Life, and see. He calls us to the same. He said that eye hasn't seen, and ear hasn't heard all that the Father has in store for those who love Him. But if we heed His invitation, we begin to see, hear, and know the fullness of that Life He invites us to.

Two invitations: The first comes from us, bringing Him into our various places of death and loss and beholding what He will do there. The second comes from Him, bringing us into the fullness of the Life He has just breathed into those places. Three simple words; "Come and see." Can we speak them to Him, and will we hear them from Him? His invitation has been given. Dare we give Him ours?

Blessings,
Pastor O.

Heart Tracks - A God For Us?

"What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?" Romans 8:31...."As Joshua approached the city of Jericho, he looked up an saw a man facing him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, 'Are your friend or foe?' 'Neither one,' he replied, 'I am commander of the Lord's army.' At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. 'I am at your command,' Joshua said. 'What do you want your servant to do?' " Joshua 5:13-14...."For us, the question is not one of receiving help, but of accepting leadership." Watchman Nee..."How much Christian work there is today that has never been disciplined, but has simply sprung into being by impulse." Oswald Chambers

A pastor friend recently remarked on how, in Job, we're told that "Satan went out from the Presence of God." He then pointed to the fact that Christ, His Son, was "sent out" from His Father in order to accomplish His will. I expect most of us know that truth, but are we aware of the quiet ramifications for us in it?

Those who are His love the promise of Romans 8:31. We want to face life, ministry, relationships, everything, under the covering of that promise. God is for us. Who can be against us? And so we go out (keep that phrase in mind) with the full expectation that whatever we put our hand to, He will bless and enable us in it. We presume that He is fully with us, engaged in our plan, our agenda. In it, we commit the sin of presumption, assuming that because we want it, or that it's "good," He's for it, will bless it, and bring it to pass. Secondly, we fail to recognize the very subtle but real difference between our going out for Him, and being sent out by Him. Oswald Chambers, who established a college for training missionaries, said that one was to go nowhere until they knew that they were not only being sent out by Him, but that He was and would be fully with them in the work. They presumed nothing. They waited upon Him in everything. It is the enemy's way to go out from Him, and the landscape of the Church is strewn with the wreckage of all the lives, endeavors, and mission projects that did so, in presumption, simply because they believed that in the going, He was for them. We seek the results of studies, demographics, and such as our impetus. Too often, they are our reason for going out. We go, but we're not sent.

When Joshua was about to enter into battle, he encountered the "Commander of the Lord's host." Most think that the Commander was the pre-incarnate Christ. Joshua, in his humanity, wanted to know whether this One was for, or against the people of Israel. His answer of "neither" would have been totally unexpected. What God wanted Joshua to know, what He wants us to know, is that He will not take the role of our supporter in our plans and agendas. He will not limit Himself to being the most powerful member of our team. He will lead, He will command, and we will fully yield to Him in all of it, or He will not be going out. Otherwise, we will be going out, but we will be going out from His Presence, from Him. Do you see the subtle similarity between the way of the enemy, the way of the Dragon, and the difference from the way of Christ, the way of the Lamb?

When Joshua realized who it was that he'd encountered, he could do nothing else but fall on his face in worship. And then he got up, in submissive obedience, and went on to total victory. To choose any other way but the way of the Lamb will also result in our falling on our faces, in defeat, in shame. Oh, we may accomplish many of our objectives. We can do a lot in our own strength, but we build a house of straw. It will not stand. In the end, it is nothing. Is He for us? Yes....for all those who step out in the assurance that they are His sent ones, and who will not take a step without His Presence. We can go out, but if we do so on our initiative, we'll never enter in. Yet those who are sent out by Him enter into the richness of their inheritance in Christ. To acknowledge Him in all of our ways is to be surrendered to Him in all of our ways. We then are sent out to accomplish His purposes, not simply going out to accomplish our own. And His purposes can look very different from ours. The way of the Dragon and the way of the Lamb. One is the way of Christ, and the other is not. There is a way that seems right, and there is a Way that is right. Which is yours and mine?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Worship In The Darkness - Part 3

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them." Acts 16:25....."Darkness will not go quietly into the Light." Alicia Britt Chole...."If we are immersed in the Spirit of God, the difference between a five-star hotel and a Greek jail are minimal.....The spiritual war requires great focus - and the ability to worship in dark places." ChrisTiegreen

We talk a lot about worship in the church today. We debate which style is most effective. We give attention to a lot of the details and make-up for what yields what we would think of as a "great worship service." Lighting, atmosphere, and mood are all things we take into consideration. We want to provide a good experience. I wonder if we consider how much of our "worship" is focused on ourselves, and how little upon Him? Even more, I wonder if we understand that true worship ushers us into a real spiritual battle ground? A battleground where His Light clashes with hell's darkness? I don't think the enemy cares much about our style, music choices, or how we light our sanctuaries. He cares very much whether His people come to Him with hearts wide open, seeking, laying hold of Him, wanting Him, wanting to encounter Him. All of themselves taking hold of all of Him that they can. The enemy in the dark will fight against such worship with all of his might. As Chole says, darkness will not go quietly into the Light.

Can you imagine satan's joy when he managed to have Paul and Silas imprisoned? He had them right where he wanted them. Their ministry for Him thwarted, their doom assured. He had won. They had lost. Now he could move on to his next victim(s). Yet Paul and Silas didn't respond as he'd hoped. They didn't give in to despair, hopelessness, or complaint. Locked in the darkest part of that prison, they worshiped Him...worshiped Him with all that was within them. Worshiped Him with such intensity that the earth shook. The prison doors flew open. Every power that held them was overcome. Because they were able in the darkest place, to worship Him. The darkness did not go quietly, but it did go. True worship is total war. True worship shakes both heaven and hell. The first with joy, the latter with despair. True worship crushed even the deepest darkness to the wall. It is always the witness and testimony of those able to worship in dark places.

I've a pastor friend that likes to use the term "first responders" for all those whose hearts are being drawn to His in worship and witness. First responders is a term we're hearing so much of in relation to the destruction of Hurricane Harvey. These are ones first on the scene of chaos. The Father is calling His own "first responders" in the midst of the chaos and darkness that envelops our culture. I believe these first responders will be all those who have learned the secret and the joy of worshiping Him in the darkness. The ones who found freedom, joy, peace, and most of all His Presence, in the midst of their own kinds of prisons. Their own kinds of darkness. The ones who found the brightness of Christ's Light amidst the darkness of the devil's hell.

I saw a moving video of a Texas interstate highway exit lined with trucks towing boats, all on their way to Houston to aid in the rescue work. The line went on for miles. These, in addition to all those already on the scene, were the first responders. They responded to the call. How about you and me? Do we hear His call to come out and into a culture awash in darkness? I believe only those who have learned to worship Him in the dark will hear it, will come to it, respond to it. The rest of us? Well, we can always stay occupied in debating what it is that make for real worship.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Warning

"As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control, and the judgement to come, Felix was afraid and said, 'That's enough for now. You may leave.' " Acts 24:25........"What does grace mean in our society? In the minds of those who are convinced of their sinfulness, it is a refreshing oasis of relief from a dry spiritual desert. But for those who have embraced a fuzzy, relative morality - the 'whatever you like' ethics of our age - grace means nothing. Why would a generation that has defined its own easy standards need a merciful God? What is there to forgive?" Chris Tiegreen

While I write this, Florida is being threatened by what is being described as a "potentially catastrophic hurricane," Irma. Pictures of packed, almost impassible freeways are being shown, as people in panic seek to get out of the path of destruction. As gasoline supplies dwindle, many are unable to procure the fuel needed to leave. It's too late. May His mercy be much upon these ones, and upon all that lie in the path of the storm, should it actually come upon the state, as many believe it will. Yet, as I watch these scenes of flight and fear, I am reminded of something even more dangerous, more destructive, and is coming upon the entire human race regardless of where they live. It is inescapable, and it is the final judgement upon all those who are without Christ on that great day. For all those whose lives are not "hidden in Christ," He who is the only source of safety, the only Way out of destruction's path.

Again, as I watch the scenes of flight, I am amazed at how close is the attention we pay to warnings of physical danger, yet how oblivious we are to those that are spiritual. Then again, could it be that we, the Church, have taken ourselves out of the role of those who sound the warning? We have emphasized the saving grace of God, and infinitely great is that grace. But as Tiegreen points out, what does the grace of forgiveness really mean to a generation who believes they have no need of it? Paul said that without repentance there can be no forgiveness of sins. Repentance flows out of conviction of need, of awareness that we have ALL sinned and fallen short of His glory. How can anyone truly be "saved" if they have no idea of what it is they are to be saved from? We are awash in a culture of depravity, where there is tolerance for every view except one that is absolute, and there is nothing more absolute than the message that Christ came to save sinners, among which we, like Paul, are foremost. When Paul witnessed to the Roman governor Felix, who was part of a culture so very similar to that of today, he knew just speaking of His love and grace would not reach the dark heart of Felix. Felix needed to know what his true problem was. That the problem could only be solved through the blood of and belief upon Jesus Christ, and what the consequences of rejection were. Felix fled. Not towards, but away from Christ, and His messenger, Paul.

The concept of sin is not just fading in our culture. It is fading in a great part of the Church as well. We present Christ as One who satisfies every fleshly longing. We speak to consumers who are looking for needs to be met...and abundantly. We must instead show forth a God who is a consuming fire. Who seeks to consume us...and cleanse and make us whole. A God who is a hurricane of Life and Love....but also a hurricane of loss and eternal death to all who reject Him. We do not speak with a torrent of condemnation, threat, and carnal fear. We speak in and with the mighty wind of His Spirit. A mighty wind filled with His love, but filled also with the real and awful consequence of rejecting that love. Eternal darkness. We do not try to convince anyone of His Truth. Only He can save and transform. We can only be His Light shining in the darkness, calling lives to Him. To Christ as He is and not as we would like Him to be.

John the Baptist asked the Pharisees "Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Who warns this generation of the destruction that is certain for all who are without Christ? The answer is not in a renewed evangelism emphasis, but upon a Holy Spirit filled love for God, love for the lost and for souls, and a hatred of sin and all its consequences. The consequences are sure. Who among us will sound the warning?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Finished!

"Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the Scriptures He said, 'I am thirsty.' A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch and held it up to His lips. When Jesus had tasted it, He said, 'It is finished.' Then He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit." John 19:28-30...."It is finished. That is the last word in the redemption of man." Oswald Chamber....."It is finished, and Jesus is Lord." Lyric from the song, It Is Finished..."You tore the veil, You made a way, when You said that it was done." Lyric from the song, At The Cross

I often think that these three words of the King may well be both the best known, yet least experienced in their Truth, of all the words the Lord spoke. From the cross He proclaimed that the full ministry and work for which He had been sent had been accomplished. The atoning for all sin as well as it's power over humankind had been done and broken. On the cross, and in His subsequent resurrection, everything we must have to live abundant, victorious lives was completed. Jesus knew that it was finished. The devil knew, and knows it was finished as well. The question is, do we know it is finished as well? The victory has been won. The victory has been given. Have we received that victory? Have we entered into it?

The reality is, too many of His people live as if this truth is not real. We struggle and strive, barely making any spiritual progress, if we make any at all. We too often see Him as a God who must be appeased and pleased before He moves to any degree to help us. We know that His Son Jesus Christ came, lived, ministered, died and rose again. But we live as though He then removed Himself from the picture, and left us on our own to struggle through....with occasional interventions from Him on our behalf. After all, pain and suffering remain in this world. If it's really finished, why? If victory, abundance, strength and Holy Spirit power are really ours, why do we feel so weak, powerless, helpless...victimized. The full answers to these questions go beyond what I can write here, but maybe the journey to entering into this finished works starts with a realization of these three things.

First, we need to know that though it is finished, it isn't over. The battle is won, but it goes on. The devil is defeated, but he fights on. We are redeemed, but we continue to live in a fallen world. A world temporarily in the enemy's hands, but whose hands are controlled by Almighty God. It is not over, but it is done! Fight as he may, assault as he will, he cannot thwart the purposes of the Father for us if we will cling to Him, abide in Him, live surrendered to Him. We can live resurrection lives in a fallen world held in the grip of death. Until He returns, the battle goes on, but the victory is already ours...He overcame the full might of hell on the cross. In Him, we do, we have, as well.

Secondly, though it is finished, we're not. We are not finished in carrying out, living out, that which He created us for and called us to. We're not finished in His placing of us in the front lines of already won battles. We fight, but we fight with the knowledge that the enemy we fight is already beaten...and knows it. All the devil has is bluster...and lies....and threats....and his own name. We come against all that in the name of Almighty God. No matter how fearsome he appears through whatever means of attack he uses, he is already beaten, and we have already won.

Last, one of the enemy's greatest lies will be to get us to believe it is we who are finished, not him. He wants us to believe that the situation is too far gone, or that our failures and sins have been too many. That everything is far too gone, far past the point of saving. We are finished, and he has won. What Christ the King tells us in His finished work is that nothing, absolutely nothing, can be so "finished" and dead that the Father cannot raise it up. All the circumstantial evidence or "proofs" the enemy may offer to the contrary are lies. The Lord reigns, no matter how deep the darkness, and no matter how long dead. Death is swallowed up in victory. Has that reality, made so at the cross, become yours? Have you ever come to the cross...to Christ...to life?

So, how real are those three words, "It is finished," to you and me? Everything that was needed for us to have victorious, abundant, and overcoming life was done at the cross. It was finished. At the cross.....Come to cross. Come to victory. Come to His life. What keeps you from it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Tower

15So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” 16He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep. John 21:15-17...."When we stand before Him, He will not ask, 'Were you accurately estimated? Were you appropriately recognized? Were you sufficiently applauded?' Instead He will ask, 'Did you love Me? Did you love others toward Me? Did you obey Me? Did you submit yourself to My will and My Word? Did you live for what I died for?' " Alicia Britt Chole

In the book, The Way Of The Dragon Or The Way Of The Lamb, Kyle Strobel tells of his visit to a prominent evangelical church. He said as they waited in the lobby, they saw a huge model of an ancient ziggurat, which is a pyramid shaped building that increased in height using steps. Most biblical scholars believe the Tower of Babel in Genesis was a ziggurat. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a massive fountain, built upon a foundation of large boulders. Upon each boulder was a plaque that named some achievement of the church. Strobel writes, "Let that sink in. Without realizing the implications, someone built the Tower of Babel in the lobby of the church with the foundation stones representing their own achievements. Someone built a model of the biblical portrayal of human arrogance as a physical representation of their own success......What could possibly be the goal of spending a fortune to erect such a monstrosity other than proving that they had something to be proud of?" In a church culture awash with "goals," what is it we're really trying to prove?

Let me say right off that in a ministry spanning over 30 years, I spent the majority of them seeking to build my own "Tower," to erect my own monument, establish my own legacy. It wasn't a naked obsession. I wanted to see His Kingdom grow, souls saved, lives made whole. I wanted to bring Him glory. I still do, but in all of it was a mixture. I wanted my kingdom to grow as well. I wanted glory too. I wanted Him to increase.....and to increase along with Him. I offered Him a mixture of sacrifice and pride. That's not an offering He seeks or accepts, and in our hearts we know that. So why do we offer it up? The yearnings to build our own towers remain in us. We want to give Him what we do. He wishes for us to offer up who we are. All of who we are. He calls us to the simplicity of such a life just as He did Peter. Peter, who always yearned for first place. "Feed My sheep. Tend My lambs." That's what we're all called to, for all who are His are members of His priesthood. But instead, we seek additions to our towers....and the sheep and lambs are starving, wandering off. In our homes, our churches, and to all the "wanderers" beyond.

Strobel writes, "The desire to be special, to be significant and powerful, is endemic in our culture; and we bring those things to the body of Christ." In the Church today, very few give much thought as to the account of our lives lived out in Him that will be required of us one day. The apostle Paul greatly feared falling short in such an accounting. Such was his love for his Lord, and for those He had entrusted to him. He never desired to be more than a feeder and tender of sheep, a vessel of His wonder and glory unto those he'd been sent to. He left no monuments, unless a jail cell can be reckoned as such. Yet His sheep are fed and tended even now through the ministry his Lord entrusted to him. Of the questions listed above by Chole, he could truthfully say that he did indeed, Live for what Christ died for. Can we? Can I? Can you?

The lure of the tower still plucks at my heart, even now in my latter years. I like to think I've grown past it, but have I? If He were to take me back once more to the beginning of my ministry for Him, would I, knowing what I do now, still seek to erect that tower? The lure is strong. It is in our flesh to deeply love monuments to our self. We are called to live a life that points to Him alone. All to Him alone. To Christ alone, and not to Christ....and me. Who does our life really point to? What are we trying to get people to see? Christ, or our monuments?

Blessings,
Pastor O