Heart Tracks - The Borderlands

"So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete understanding of what He wants to do in your lives, and we ask Him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom." Colossians 1:9....."Your inheritance consists of everything in the Father's possession.....He is in truth, everything you need Him to be, but in practice only what you allow Him to be in you." Chris Tiegreen

Jesus said that He came in order that we might have life, and "have it abundantly." This is His heart desire for each one, yet it is a desire that in far too many ways go unmet. So many may be "saved," but so few are truly alive. That may sound judgemental, but after more than 35 years of ministry, I'll take the risk in sounding so. The Father rebuked the people of Israel because they continued to stand on the borderland of the rich territory He had given them, asking them how long they would put off going in to take possession of what was already theirs. So many of His people today are guilty of the same. We live on the borderland of the promise, we don't "go in" to take possession. As a result, we fall victim to all that those without Him experience. Believers divorce at a rate as high, and some say higher, than those in the world. We are held captive to many of the same addictions and emotional afflictions as are those who have never heard of Him. In a crisis we look to other sources rather than He who is the Source. We embody so little of the peace, joy, and strength that is found only in Him. In many ways, we are more unhappy that those without Him, because we believe that life really is found in Him alone, but such life is little experienced by us, or not experienced at all. And the heart of the Father grieves over all of it. As a pastor, my heart has grieved over it as well. I grieve over it still.

My prayer for you echoes that of Paul's in Colossians 1. I long for you to know, understand, and be in possession of all the riches He has given you in Jesus Christ. In the story of the Prodigal Son, the older brother was angry over the welcome his father had given his younger brother, who had squandered his inheritance. His father, who loved him, said, "All that I have is yours." It was a true statement, but the older brother never realized the truth of it. All that was His father's was his, but he didn't live in that reality. He lived like an orphan instead of a son. So many of us do as well. We keep begging Him to give us what He's already given. We keep looking for a place at His table when that place has already been set for us. We try to earn our way into His presence while He has already made a place for us there in Christ. He is everything we need, but we have allowed Him to be so little of that to us. We keep living in the borderland, while the land of promise lies open before us.

May every aspects of your life that continue to linger on the border of His fullness cease to do so this year. May you cease begging for what is already yours. May you cease to accept the devil's lie that you're an orphan and begin instead to live as sons and daughters. In Christ are riches beyond measure. Partake of them....now. Freely He has given, now freely receive. Leave the borderlands. Take possession of what is already yours......in Christ.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Fading Tinsel

"Then they opened their treasure chests and gave Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrhh." Matthew 2:11

There are two things I see here. First is the most obvious, that the three wise men are examples to us. They opened what were their treasures, and gave them freely to Christ the King. This is exactly what He draws us towards as well. All that we treasure, both good and that which is not good at all, must be offered up to Him in worship. There is so much that is good, that we love, honor, and hold to our hearts. Yet that which is good, if held too tightly, will always come between us and the One who is best and central to life. People, and our relationship with them. Dreams, hopes, and desires. All of these can be very good things, but true worship calls to us to release these to Him, entrust them to Him, and surrender to His desire for us in them.....even if His desire runs counter to ours.

Yet "good things" are not all that we can "treasure." We can hold in our hearts that which is slowly killing us; anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, toxic relationships, and unclean desires. We may despise them, but we cannot, will not let go of them. In a dark sense, they too are our treasures, and true worship of the Christ demands that these too be offered up to Him. All of this is the true essence of worship, which is something far more than the singing of a few songs each week, with a sermon (brief as possible) added in. True worship surrenders even the most cherished "possessions" to Him. Do we offer up to Him our treasures, or just our trinkets?

As I write, I'm reminded of an event that happened every year after Christmas, during the first week of the New Year in the neighborhood where I grew up. Across from the two lane road behind our home was a large flat cinder dump. To this place, all the people around would bring their dead, dry Christmas trees, and form them into a large mound. There could be 200 or more trees at a time. It was quite a happening, and we children especially looked forward to it. The volunteer fire department would be on hand to set, and control the fire that would consume them. Something I remember from all that was how just about every tree had a great deal of tinsel still clinging to it. Just weeks before the tree, in all its decorated glory had stood central in every home. Now they were nothing but dried out needles and faded tinsel. The fire would be set, and the flames would roar and consume. It wasn't long before the entire mound had been burnt up, and all that was left were ashes. The trees were gone. The tinsel was gone. What had captivated so many was gone. What Christmas had meant for so many....was gone. As I think on it now, the tinsel and glitter that we had worshiped had faded away, and was burnt up. And such is the end of all that we treasure and value over and above Him. They are ashes in comparison to Him.

This is Christmas Eve, and His call to us is to come, open our treasures unto Him, and receive the greater gift, the Treasure of Himself, given freely to us. Everything else is fading tinsel....that eventually gets burnt up. He alone remains. Yes, we offer our treasures freely to Him, but in return, we receive a Treasure that is beyond any value we can conceive. What will your worship be directed at this year and beyond? Dried needles and fading tinsel.....or the glory of Christ that can never fade? The Father opened His greatest treasure unto us; His Son, Jesus Christ. With such a gift to us, how can we hold anything back from Him?

Blessings, and a most joyous Christmas to you,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Christmas Past - Pt 3

"Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Luke 21:28...."This advent word is not meant for the well-fed and satisfied, but for those who hunger and thirst. And like a miner buried alive in the mine, we hear every blow, every step closer the rescuer takes with extreme alertness. Can one even imagine that the miner ever thought of anything but the approaching liberation from the moment he heard the first tapping on the rock?" Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This week I've shared two stories of past Christmas times in my life. Stories of how, in the midst of pain and suffering, He broke through with His infinite hope and assurance. With this last entry, I want to share a story of how He brought me out of the shadowlands. How He restored the years "that the locust had eaten." How He gave back to me, that which the enemy had said was lost to me forever. His Word says that He came to "seek and save that which was lost," and if we will trust Him, He will do so in ways beyond belief.

This story takes place during Christmas, 1993. It had been four years, seemingly unending years, since the collapse of my marriage and ministry. During that time many voices had "spoken" as concerned my pastoring again. Most were voices that offered no hope. Voices that encouraged me to be realistic; single men didn't pastor churches. Most especially, divorced single men didn't do this. I needed to realize this, accept it, and get on with my life...a life that would never again have such a role for me. The problem with all this was, the voice of the Father was never one of those voices. So I held on to the promise of restoration I'd believed He'd given me. Step by step, the days turned into months, and then years, but in a manner that only He could work, the door opened to come to Virginia and plant a church. A planting that had next to no visible resources, few people, and little reason to expect it to succeed on any level. One person told me it would be a miracle if I was still there after 6 months. None of this made any impression. Some would call what I had an "opportunity." I called it God. I had been longing for this door to open, and I had told Him that whatever door He did open, I would go through. Like the miner, I had been "hearing" in His still, small voice, that my redemption was drawing near. When the door suddenly opened, I knew it could be no one else but Him, and all the dissuading voices in the world would not keep me from stepping out into what seemed a void, and finding the Rock that is Christ to stand on.

So there I was, on that Christmas Sunday, leading worship for a small, but vibrant group of believers. He'd blessed us with a wonderful place to meet, and we'd decorated it all for the season. We sang, we prayed, we rejoiced. In it all, I saw the glory of the Lord. Here I was, doing again what the devil said I'd never do, in a place the devil said I'd never be. And all because of His grace that wouldn't let me go, wouldn't let me quit, and allowed me to hear the Rescuer coming for me even when I felt trapped in the deepest darkness. My redemption had come near; my redemption had come. My Redeemer lived and lives. So it is for all who will look up, raise their heads, and look for the redemption that He has promised and that will surely come.

You may well find yourself in that "cave" today. Do not be swallowed up by the darkness, but believe and know that His Light swallows up all darkness. The Rescuer stands outside the cave wall. He has come. He will bring you out...if you'll just keep looking up.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Christmas Past - Pt 2

"Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel, which means, 'God is with us." Matthew 1:23...."I know that my Redeemer lives." Job 19:25..."Satan wants us to believe that there's a place so dark and demonic that Jesus can't come and conquer it." Beth Moore

There are so many times in my life where this Scripture has literally come alive for me. Times when I knew, in ways beyond description, that Jesus Christ, Immanuel, was with me. Not just beside me, but within me. Exercising a presence, comfort, and hope that I could never have believed possible. Times when the words of the old hymn ring out in my heart, "He's real, He's real, I know He's real." One such time was on the morning of my first Christmas after my wife had left. I was back at the home I grew up in, and when I awoke that morning, the weight of the pain and heartache I felt hit me in a wave of heaviness and darkness.

I remember walking downstairs, where the rest of my family was. We had always used Christmas Eve as the time to exchange and open gifts, so Christmas morning was just a time of family communion. At that time, no one else in my family knew Him, and though they had sympathy and compassion for what I was walking through, I felt completely alone. Memories of Christmas past, when my marriage had been whole, or at least seemed so, flooded in. Along with them came the whisper of hell that said that not only was that past lost to me, but my future was as well. All I felt was crushing pain, and a deep desire for all of that pain to be gone. I wanted Him to make all of it go away, but life in this fallen world is not like that. We can try and run from pain and disappointment, but one way or another, they will always catch up with us. And in all of this He wished for me to know and experience something more. Something greater. The pain would not be leaving,, but neither would He, and no matter how great the pain, the grace He poured out upon me would be greater still.

Beth Moore said that Christ means to come to the tomb of our loss and call us forth. On that Christmas morning, that is exactly what He was doing with me. What I remember about that day is mostly that I was tempted to just give up. Give up hoping in Him, holding to Him, living in Him. What I also remember is that Jesus, my Immanuel, my Lord, would not let me give in to that. I felt pain. I knew fear. I had no idea at all as to what would become of me. He had not promised me anything in this place but that He would be with me, that He wouldn't leave me or forsake me. That if I would continue to hold onto Him, weak though my hold might be, He would not leave me here. I wanted to be anywhere but "here," but "here" is right where I was. And I had the promise of His presence, and that promise called me to keep on walking. I was going through hell, but by His grace, I wouldn't be stopping there. He called me forth.

Jesus, Immanuel, got me from that day, to the next day.....and the next one, and onward. I didn't stay trapped in that place. Not physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Jesus is the bright morning star. and though His shining may seem hidden, He does shine. If we'll believe Him, and keep on walking, all the while in His presence, felt or not, we will see His glory break through. He is the God who breaks through. He broke through that morning, and many mornings, and days and nights since. Immanuel; God with us. I have known it to be true in Christmas past, Christmas present, and am assured it will be so in all the Christmas futures that remain for me. It is so for you as well. Do you know it today? Hold on to Him, for He is surely holding on to you.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Christmas Past - Pt 1

"Don't be afraid! he said. "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone. The Savior-yes, the Messiah, the Lord-has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David." "Christ is being lost in the faith that bears His name." Erwin McManus

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved Christmas. For so long, it was because of the human element of it, gifts, family, and just the all around good feeling of the season. It was not until I first came to know Him, on that long ago August night in 1979, that I began to understand what Christmas was really all about. Nearly 40 years later, I'm still learning how much more I have yet to understand.

McManus said Christ is being lost in the faith that carries His name. He's also being lost in the season that bears it as well, but not for the reasons we're so quick to focus on. He's being lost not just in the insistence that we say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." And not just in the rank commercialism of it all. I think He's being lost in the tragic absence of joy, particularly in the hearts of His people, when joy is to mark the lives of all to whom He has come. He is joy itself, yet in our hearts and lives there is so little joy at all. We have let the cares of life, the emphasis upon what we lack rather than who it is we have, coupled with countless other "stuff" to steal His gifts of joy, peace, and hope. I know. I have walked through such times, and too often.

I remember my first year in ministry. I'd taken on a very tough assignment, but was sure He would bring me forth to "success" in it. Yet what was happening wasn't success at all, at least as to how I defined it. It was Christmas, and in the living room was our tree, fully lit. I have always loved looking at a lit Christmas tree in the dark. It always seemed so uplifting to me. Yet on this night, it wasn't. All I saw was that which was not. The church and my ministry was not where I wanted it to be. Within me were feelings of disappointment, discouragement, and yes, anger. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Why was it this way? Why wasn't God "helping" me more? I wanted good news, but all I seemed to have was bad. As I sat there, wallowing in my self-pity, I was also listening to a radio program. In it, the story was told of a pastor who had planned a great Christmas celebration for his church, and waited in the foyer for all the arrivals. Yet no one arrived. He was alone in the church, crushed and defeated. As he stood there, a group of carolers came by. He felt the impulse to step out and join them. To sing, along with them, of the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ. And as he did so, the joy of the Lord filled his soul. His plan for himself had fallen apart, but the Father's plan had come together. In that simple story, I saw myself. The proclamation of joy that had been announced to me on that August night, was announced to me again on that night. I had been contemplating giving up in despair, but now, the joy of the Lord called me onward. This place was not the end. This chapter of my life may not be the one I had wished for, but He was not finished writing my story. He still has not finished...and His joy keep calling me, leading me on. The joy of the Lord is my strength.....especially when I have none of my own...which is often.

This week, I hope, with His grace, to share a few stories of my "Christmas past." The theme that I hope speaks loudly, is the gift of His joy, peace, and hope in the midst of both the darkness and the light. A child has been given us, a Savior has come. All heaven rejoices, and so must we. The "stuff" will conspire to keep us from seeing the Son, but if we'll look past it, we will behold Him. A friend of mine, Kerry Willis, always signs his correspondence, "All joy." That is what we must know in all places. His joy, as our joy, is all joy. May it be yours, and mine....today and always.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Lane

Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of. 5 You must each accept the responsibilities that are yours. Galatians 4:4-5

Speaker, singer, and author Sheila Walsh tells this story of her first becoming a part of the "Women Of Faith" ministry tours. She had almost no experience in speaking in public, and after listening to some of the other women speak powerfully of the things of the Lord, in panic, she retreated to the ladies room and cried to Him, "Lord, I can't do this!" She said that in response, she heard His quiet whisper, "Sheila, run in your own lane." She was not called to be in the lane that any of the other women ran in, only hers. That was her calling, and that was His expectation. It is so for each of us....whatever ministry it is that He's purposed for us. And He has a purposeful calling for each one. A purpose and calling none but us can fill.

Walsh tells another story concerning her sister, also a singer, but never on the scale of Walsh herself. She said she once accompanied this sister on a ministry she carried out twice a month in her home town in Scotland. She would go to a retirement home there and sing for the people. Walsh said that her "crowd" was usually about seven. Six of them would always sit in the back row, but one, each time, would sit at the very front. Walsh said that as her sister was about to sing another song, the elderly lady in front said loudly, "Oh no, she's going to sing again." Dumbfounded, she asked her sister afterwards, "How can you do this?" Her sister's answer both amazed and humbled her. She said, "Sheila, I'm simply going to bloom where my Father has planted me." She would run in her own lane. She would not be looking at her sister Sheila's lane, or at anyone else's. She would run in the lane her Father had given her. She would run to win, and she would win because she ran for Him alone. Can we? Do we? Will we?

A lifestyle of comparing ourselves to others is a death wish, yet we so easily fall prey to it. No one more so than pastors and other ministers in the body of Christ. Getting our eyes on others is the surest path to defeat and despair. Back in the early 50's, two men, Roger Bannister and John Landy became the first to run a four minute mile. Such was their fame that eventually a race between the two was arranged. It was called "The Miracle Mile." Throughout the race, Landy led, but only a few yards from the finish line, he looked over his shoulder to see where Bannister was, and at that moment, Bannister passed him and won the race. His focus went from the lane he was in, to the lane Bannister occupied. How often do you and I do that, and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? How often do we look with envy at the bloom of others and lose the bloom meant for us? Where do we do it now?

You and I are called to run the race, in the lane that He has given us. We are not to constantly measure the number who follow others, or who follow us. We are to keep our eyes on the One who runs with us, in the lane we are in. In the end, it will not be about how many or how much that marks our calling. It will be about the beauty of our "bloom" as we ran in the lane He created us for. For the one who's heart's desire is to bloom in beauty for Him, the victory circle will always include them. It will always be the place where they end. Will it be ours? It will, if we stay in our lane, eyes upon Him, blooming for Him all the while.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Here I Am?

"Abraham!," God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am." Genesis 22:1....."How would your life change if you said 'here I am' to God?" Chris Tiegreen

No matter where and how hard we try to hide, God always knows where to find us. He always knows where we are. Our great problem is that we don't. This conviction has only deepened with my own experience with Him, coupled with 35 years of pastoral ministry. We have done a wonderful job of convincing ourselves that we're "with Him" until He comes seeking for us to be, to go, to do, that which we don't really want to be, go, or do at all. Hence the piercing question asked by Tiegreen. How would our lives change if in answer to His call, we simply said, "Here I am?" More than where such a response would take us, or what we do there, just what kind of person would we be in Christ? Oswald Chambers said that God desires to take a person and make a "holy experiment" of them. To have such free and yielded access to them that He is able to display the fullness of His life in and through them. Such a thing can only happen when we respond to His call with those three simple but powerful words; "Here I am." Have they ever been spoken by us? Do we speak them now?

We all have some very clear ideas about who and where we want to be, as well as what we want to be doing. Self interest is usually at the center of it all. Many in the church are willing to serve Him, but only in places of their choosing. Places that give them a greater platform to display themselves. Places that can feed egos, advance agendas, and enhance comforts. We don't want to be anonymous, but for most, that is exactly what He calls us to be. Hebrews 11 talks about the heroes of the faith, but only a few of them have names. Scripture only refers to them as "those others," but notes that they were "too good for this world." They were His, and were willing to go with Him to wherever He led, to be nothing and no one of note...for Him. With Him. Forgotten, unknown by all perhaps, but held forever in the center of His heart. There is much talk in the church today about changing the world. Somehow, we seem to want to do that without us changing at all. These simple men and women of faith, with their simple response to Him, were transformed by Him, and in return, used of Him to transform their world. How like them are we?

So how would life change for us if we were to simply answer His call with those words, "Here I am?" How would that which makes up our world, our families, professions, ministries change? He calls your name and mine right now. Do we seek a hiding place from Him, or our place in Him? When Jesus walked with the two on the Emmaus road, Scripture says that when they reached the home of the two, "He made as if He would go on"....without them. Within their hearts, they heard His silent call. They invited Him in. Here He was...and here they were. It's the same for you and me. Does He go on without us, without you...or do we, you, go on with Him? "Here I am Lord." Can we say it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Epidemic

"Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24...."The great epidemic in the church today is unresolved grief." Steve Arteburn

They say that time heals all wounds, but that's a lie. A lie so many even within the church have believed. Time heals nothing, it only buries more deeply the grief and sorrow that we never bring to Him. It is an epidemic, as Arteburn says. More, it's a tragedy, for He never wills that it be so. I know. I'm one who has lived with unhealed wounds.

Dealing with grief, with sorrow, from those things that have happened to us, been done to us, or done by us, is, I think, the most difficult challenges facing all of us, but especially those who are His. It can be made so by a well-meaning church that oftentimes gives no real opportunity for healing. We like to rejoice with those who rejoice, but not so much to grieve with those who are grieving. More, we don't like to be involved in the mess that can go along with it all; anger, bitterness, unforgiveness. All these things can be very present, but they're not to be present in a follower of Christ. So if they are, the tendency is to deny them, bury them, try to act as if they're not there. But they are, and they fester...like cancer. They are a cancer...destroying so many lives. It is the long, unending journey of unresolved grief, and all the side issues that come with it.

I have always seen and believed upon Him as a Healer. My Healer. I have walked through some deep sorrows in my life, and He has brought deep healing to the sorrow. Even so, there was a time, nearly two decades ago, when He revealed to me how much of the sorrow remained untouched, and malignant. It was showing up in a number of ways, through relationships, in ministry, and in my walk with Him. I thought a great work of healing had taken place, and it had, but I was unaware of just how much unfinished healing remained. How flawed and wounded my inner life, my self-image and God image, remained. I thought He had done His work. He showed me that He had so much more for me than that. So began a deeper journey into Him. It was not easy, and it was humbling. I had to confess to things that were crippling me, repent of beliefs, attitudes, and actions that hurt me, and others. Someone has said that "the devil can't mess with a corpse." It is only by dying out to that which holds us captive that we can live in Him who makes us free. Doing that is never easy, which is why so many of us prefer to just bury it all, try to move on from it. We hope it will be better down the road, but it isn't. We just keep doing the same toxic things, thinking the same toxic thoughts, living prisoner to the same toxic spirits. And all the while, the Healer stands before us....longing to cleanse us, free us, to resolve once and for all, the chains of our grief, and all the toxic elements that go with it.

Arteburn calls it an epidemic. Are you held in its grip? Can you, right where you are, invite Him to fully search your heart, to uncover everything that is crippling you, hurting you, and very likely others, and just yielding it all, surrendering it all, to Him... and His healing touch. Dying to it all so that you can live in all of Him. The devil can't mess with a corpse. Aren't you beyond weary of his messing with you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Silence

"When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence in heaven for about half and hour." Revelation 8:1

I write a great deal on how God speaks to us, and it's a wonderful blessing and honor He bestows that He does. Yet how do we look at things when He doesn't speak? What do we do, and how do we respond when God is silent?

So much in our lives turns out to be something much less than we expected, hoped and believed for. Marriage, or the lack of one. Our careers, our children, our ministries...our dreams. We were told that "God has a wonderful plan for your life," but where we're at isn't wonderful at all. We hear sermons telling us that God has given us a beautiful destiny, but how could where were at be it? We hear that in Christ there is abundant life, but our lives seem anything but abundant. Need is everywhere, but everywhere, God is silent. He doesn't answer. He doesn't speak. Has He left us alone....on our own? Satan will scream that He has. Yet in His silence, He isn't truly silent. He gives us the whisper of His grace.

Scripture tells us that we're to "come boldly before the throne of grace." The blood of Christ give us free access to the Father. Yet the Father doesn't seem to be in His throne room at all. The seat of His Majesty appears vacant. We are overwhelmed by our need, and have come to Him for help, for answers.....but He's not there. At least not in relation to our natural senses. The only response to our pain is....His silence. But is He really silent?

The mystics of earlier times, times when the Body of Christ didn't depend upon their own reasoning, understanding, and logical thought processes, spoke of "practicing His Presence." They meant that the believer had to cultivate His Presence, learn ever more of Him, go ever deeper into Him. In this, their discernment of Him would grow. They would become more and more in tune with the beat of His heart. They would know more of His mind as they took on, increasingly, the mind of Christ. The spiritual reaping in all of this would be immense, but perhaps the greatest blessing would be the steadfast assurance of His presence. A presence that didn't need a feeling to go along with it, or even words to be spoken in it. They had come to know He was there, with them, moving, working, despite the absence of all external "proof." He may seem silent, as we define it, but not as He does. Through His very promised presence with us, He speaks. And in that, we are assured.

I read somewhere the question, "Can He trust you with His silence?" That is a deep trust. He gives it only to those who have journeyed deeply into His Life, and have come to the place of trust, obedience, and restful peace. A peace that cannot be shattered by all the earthquakes of this world. He may withhold His words, but He will not withhold His presence. In His presence, the whisper of His grace speaks....and we hear.

Does He seem silent in your life today? Are you in the midst of the unexpected, the unwanted, the unknown? You seek answers, but there are none coming from Him. You ask that He talk, but He asks, through His silence, that you trust. Trust that He is who He says He is, and will work for your good and His glory as He said He would. In His lack of words, He gives you the abundance of Himself. And that which overwhelms you, is overwhelmed by Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Radical Life

"I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning." Luke 12:49

I just finished an article by a man named John Burton who shared three points from a sermon he'd recently preached. In it, he challenged his listeners to live out these points in all aspects of their lives. They were first, to embrace radical holiness. Second, to engage in fervent intercession, and third, to impact their culture with truth. These things spoke directly to my heart. Do they speak to yours?

To embrace radical holiness. What does this mean to you? Certainly it is something far beyond rule keeping, and abstaining from all kinds of outwardly "sinful" behavior. To embrace a radically holy lifestyle is to embrace the very heart and mind of Christ. God said we are to be holy and He is holy. We are to love as He loves, give as He gives, forgive as He forgives. Embracing radical holiness means we live drenched in His presence. We live at His feet as He reigns in our hearts. As I saw it put, Jesus is in all, as all, for all. When this is our reality, true holiness of heart and life is our reality as well. He flows freely through and out of us. Darkness has no place because we're always running into His Light. We fully embrace a lifestyle of radical holiness because we fully embrace Him. Is such a lifestyle yours and mine?

To engage in fervent intercession is to be engaged in a prayer life that looks like His. His Word says that Christ lives to make intercession for His people. Does our prayer life look anything like His? How much of our "intercession" has as its "goal" the advancement of our own well being, our own agendas? To what level do we intercede for His Church, for a lost world, a lost culture, a lost way? If you "go to church" this week, how much intercession will have taken place in your prayer life for that church, your pastor, and the ministry and mission of both. We are a culture of consumers, and that culture has taken hold of the heart of the church. Has it taken hold of yours? Where are your prayer burdens found? How far outside the circle of you and your family do they go? Read John 17, and see how Jesus prayed for those who were His, and who would be His one day. How much does our prayer life look like this? How far from that prayer life are we?

Last, are we impacting our culture with His Truth? I have seen recent article where noteworthy "believers" have been asked point blank questions about current cultural issues that are spoken to directly in Scripture. Issues that are more and more being found culturally acceptable but condemned as sin in His Word. Into all of this, the Church must speak His Truth, all the while knowing that His Truth will not be acceptable to the majority. All the while knowing that there will be price to pay for it. No, we do not speak it in anger, but in love. We speak it as an invite into His Truth, and all the freedom that comes with it. And we do not just speak His Truth into the culture of the world, but into the culture of the Church as well. Doing this will likely bring far more of a negative response than doing so with the world. Francis Chan said to the congregation of the church he pastored that the hardest place he found to preach the whole Word of God was in his own fellowship. It was there that he found the most resistance....It's popular to say today that the church has to be relevant to its culture. We are only relevant to that culture when we speak and preach His Truth into it. Anything less renders us irrelevant. How relevant, or irrelevant, are you and I?

Radical life. For Him. I want to embrace it....fully. I want to live my time out here embracing it, and when it comes time to leave this realm, I want to leave with my embrace upon it, upon Him, tighter, and stronger than ever. A radical life for Him will surely result in a radical reaction from all that is not Him. The cost is great. The glory gained for Him is infinitely greater. Do we risk it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Two Fires

"And when they had kindled a fire....Peter sat down among them." Luke 22:55....."As soon as they were come to land. they saw a fire of coals there." John 21:9....."Peter warmed himself at the enemy's fire, and denied his Lord. The devil always has a convenient fire for saints who are about to slip....Many saints are living in an interim between Satan's fire and the Savior's fire." Vance Havner

Not long before he found himself at the fire of the enemy, Peter had proudly proclaimed that he would die with Jesus. As he stood at the fire of all those in opposition to his Lord, he denied that he even knew Him. How could something like this happen so quickly? How could Peter end up in the place he was sure he would never come to? The answer is, in the same way that you and I so often have as well....and sadly, continue to..

We get comfortable in our walk with Him. So comfortable that what we're doing couldn't be called a walk with Him at all. Over Thanksgiving, a number of my family went for a walk in the neighborhood my niece and her husband and children lived in. The little girls went with us, both full of enthusiasm for the journey. On the way back though, the youngest declared, "I need a break," and sat down on the curb. We all laughed, and her father got her going, but as I write this, I see it as a great illustration for so many of us. We've been walking in His stride, but we're coming more and more to dislike the pace. We decide we need a break. We don't at first think to stop, just slow down a bit, lag behind Him a little. Inevitably though, we sit down on the curb. We need a break. Not a long one of course, just a breather. But the breather turns into a slumber, and it's the slumbering believer that the enemy most loves to attack. It's the one who thinks they're safe on the curb who ends up warming themselves at the enemy's fire. Their spiritual senses have been dulled. They're no longer vigilant as to the ways of the enemy. They can't discern the difference between the devil's fire and His. In the end, on some point, likely many, they, we, end up denying our Lord. When we choose to "sit on the curb," we leave the presence of His Holy fire. As we get further from His fire, we get closer to the enemy's. Before we know it, we're warming ourselves there. And a fire that should have been alien to us, is now familiar. It has a warm glow. We don't want to leave. We've gone from living between two fires to making our home at the wrong one. And it all began at the curb.

Peter didn't remain at that fire. Some days later, as he and the other disciples were fishing, they saw a fire being kindled on the beach. It drew their attention. As they gazed at it, Peter realized it was the Lord Jesus. He dove into the water and swam to Him...and His fire. It was early morning, so likely it was cold. Peter found warmth at His fire. Jesus was preparing a breakfast, so Peter found food at that fire. Peter found anew, His Lord and His life at that fire. The grip of the enemy's fire upon him was broken. He never again left that fire. Will we? Have we? It depends upon how many "curbs" we decide to sit on rather than walk, stride for stride with Him.

Two fires are always being kindled before us. The enemy's and our Lord's. One attracts, one repels. Which one attracts or repels you? If you claim to be following Him, where and at what pace is He leading you? What's tempting you to "take a break," to "sit on the curb?" Seeking your comfort and well being apart from Him is the first step toward's the enemy's fire. How many more will you take? The enemy's fire offers only counterfeit warmth and comfort. In the end, it kills. The fire Christ kindles brings life, vitality, victory. It seeks to draw us to it. We'll either move toward it, or run from it.Both fires consume. One brings death, the other life. At which do you warm yourself today?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Marks

"From no on, don't let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the marks that show I belong to Jesus." Galatians 6:17...."Celebrate your scars as 'tatoos' of triumph. They are proof that God heals. He tells His story through our scars." Sheila Walsh

Being scarred usually brings to mind negative images and thoughts. We look at them as disfigurements that should never be there. Most often, we're ashamed of them, and would give anything to be free of them. That attitude was never found in Paul and most especially in Jesus Christ.

No one gets through this life without scars, and the deepest ones can be those that no one else sees but us. They cripple us, disarm us, paralyze us. We have scars over the deep losses of life. The loss of loved ones, cherished possessions, positions, and the regard of others. Then there are the deeper scars that come from the words, actions, abandonment and neglect of others. The pain of these is intense, and we know it's a lie when we hear that "time heals all wounds." It doesn't. It just covers them over, but the bleeding is always just below the surface.

Jesus suffered as no one ever has. His pain went far beyond the physical agony of the cross. His deepest suffering was experienced when He took upon Himself all the sin of the world, and in doing so, endured what He'd never known before, the turning away of His Father, Who could nothing less because He literally became sin on our behalf. He took upon Himself the penalty of death because of our sin. When He appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, He still bore the scars from the cross. Walsh makes the point that He could have chosen not to retain them, but He didn't. He didn't because He wanted to prove that in His resurrection life is the power to heal the deepest wounds, make whole the most crippled life, restore that which sin sought to destroy. His story is told through His scars. He continues to tell His story through ours.....if we'll surrender them to Him. Have you surrendered yours?

Paul said that his scars were the marks of Jesus upon his life. They showed that he belonged to Christ alone. His scars were also proof that nothing the enemy came against him with could deter what Christ meant to do in his life if he would be yielded to Him in all of it. You and I tend to nurse our wounds...and our scars. As we do so we "nurse" our anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, and shame. The bleeding goes on beneath the surface of the scar. Paul and his Lord Jesus suffered physically, emotionally and spiritually, and were left scarred by all of it, but those scars did not point to their defeat, but to their victory. The cross was a despised symbol in the ancient world, but through it, Christ achieved the greatest victory the universe has ever, or will ever know. Victory over sin and death, and a gateway to His resurrection life. Life in all the fullness in Him that is possible. Their scars were the symbols and proof of His victory. Are yours and mine?

You already know you won't get through this world without scars, and you've many to show for the proof of that. What are your scars proving to you and a watching world? That you're a victim, or a victor? Can He tell His story through your scars, or do your scars just tell everyone about you, and how unfair life and He have been to you. I don't demean your pain, but can you trust Him with your scars? Can you yield them all to Him? Can He make you, through them, a symbol of His victory? A symbol of His Life? Do you bear the marks of Jesus?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Do You Want To?

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:6-8

The above passage of Scripture paints a picture of a too large portion of the Church. The pool of Bethesda was considered to be a place of healing among the Jews. The legend was that when the waters bubbled, it was believed they were being stirred by an angel, and that whoever would be first into the water afterwards would be healed. Into this place of hoped for healing steps the One who is healing incarnate; Jesus Christ. He sees a paralytic lying by the pool, and knows that he has been in that condition for 38 years. Obviously, the man had hope of being healed, yet Jesus asks him a seemingly foolish question, "Do you want to get well?" The man doesn't rebuke Jesus for asking the obvious. In fact, his answer reveals something hidden within him that keeps real healing from ever taking place. He answers in effect, "I can't," and then lists the reasons for that being so. In the natural, his reasons are legitimate, and those "reasons" keep him from seeing the One who is the Healer. His reasons keep him lying at the side of the pool, even when the One who can end all of his suffering stands right before him. How like him are we?

In 35 plus years of ministry, nothing has grieved my heart more than pointing wounded, hurting people to a Healer that stands right before them, and yet they cannot see, and they cannot believe. They see all the reasons why they cannot get well. Physical, emotional, and spiritual reasons why they must remain trapped in their crippled state. Jesus knew the man at the pool desired healing, but the "bonds" that kept him at the poolside were stronger than that desire. Jesus wasn't stating an obvious question. He was asking him, did he, more than anything else, want to be well, to be free and whole? Did he want to be delivered from that which crippled him on every level of life? It's a question He asks all who lie at the side of the "pool." Does He ask it of us today? How long have we been lying there, wanting to be free of the wounds of yesterday, the captivity that our actions, or th the actions of others have left us in? How long have we been in our own "crippled" state, emotionally, physically, spiritually? Do we want to get well, or are we trapped in that place by all the reasons we can come up with for why we can't?

Day after day, week after week, year after year, we come to our own pools. We "do" our devotionals, attend our Bible studies, go to our worship services, and yet we emerge with the same afflictions we've been trapped in for so long. The Healer is before us, but we don't see Him. We only see the reasons why we can't "get into the pool." To each of us He asks, "Do you want to get well?" The question unasked is, "Or do you wish to go on in your suffering?" How are you answering that? Do you say to Him, "I can't," or, do you, in faith proclaim, "I will!" In Him, by His grace and might, I will be free. I will be whole. I will take up my "mat," and I will walk. All by the power of the One who heals. The One who stands before me now.....with healing in His hands.

How long have you been going to the pool? How long have you been focused on what has kept you by its side instead of the One who is before you? He asks what seems to be obvious; "Do you want to get well?" Do you? Or, will you just keep coming back to the pool, but never stepping in?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Irritants

"You are the salt of the earth." Matthew 5:13...."The world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." John 1:14...."Real living Christianity rubs this world the wrong way....this world resents the light that exposes its corruption." Vance Havner

Likely you've heard, or even used the expression, "rubbing salt into the wound." It's rarely, if ever, associated with something pleasant. Salt is an agent of purification. A common military punishment at one time was flogging. Afterwards, a man's back was severely lacerated. Salt was rubbed into the lacerations as a means of protecting against infection and corruption, but it was painful. The body rebelled against that which was trying to save it. Exactly as does the world in response to the "salt" that those who are His are to be in its midst. Yet how many of us are?

I am not advocating for followers of Christ to be obnoxious, overbearing, unloving and judgemental people, though many of us are. But one who lives for and in Him, is going to, by His very presence in their life, bring light into darkness, and "salt" into corruption. Jesus went about doing good, but they crucified Him for what He spoke and taught. His presence in a fallen world brought open conviction of their sin and lost state. They didn't kill Him for what He did, but for who He was. Where Christ is, sin and darkness cannot be. They will either flee from Him, or seek to destroy Him. That was the response of the world to Him as He walked through it. It remains the response as He walks in it through us. To what, if any degree, are we experiencing any of this ourselves?

In the west, many see the church as irrelevant. The church seeks to respond to this by trying to be relevant, yet I think we miss the real reason they see us as such. We lack in too many ways, the Almighty presence of God within us, and so within this world. We do seek to do many good works, to show love to a world desperate for it, but if the fullness of His Life and Spirit are not in us, and flowing out of us, than we become just another "organization" doing good things, but doing them all in the our own strength. We may get people to join our organization, but He has not taken hold of their hearts, transformed their lives, and brought them into His Kingdom. We try to get people to accept us, and our Lord, without bringing offense. Jesus knew nothing of this approach. He still knows nothing of it. Saul the Pharisee sought to overthrow the church and its Lord. After meeting the Lord Christ on the Damascus Road, he was transformed into a man who was part of a church that turned the world upside down, and "rubbed" countless numbers the wrong way in doing so. They were salt and light, and while they loved their lost world completely, they would never allow themselves to be anything less.....irritants to the darkness and corruption, never ceasing to "rub" the world the wrong way.

Someone said that in the early church, the world kept telling the church to shut up, but that today, the church spends most of its time trying to get its parts to speak up. It's much easier to be silent than to upset the world. That brings a price with it. It's easier to be nice folks doing nice things, than to "preach" not just with actions, but with our words, a message that directly confronts a fallen world value system. So we're faced with a choice; we can "stroke" the world and allow it to be unchanged in its lostness, or we can go against the grain, rubbing it the wrong way, and bring the offer of life. Which one is the result of your life and mine? Are we really bringing purity to the corruption, or do we aid the decay?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - For The Joy

"Keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish, who endured the cross for the joy set before Him." Hebrews 12:2

Disappointments are a part of life. Disappointments can be crushing, paralyzing. They can feel like death. To many, they are death. No one can escape them, and sometimes, oftentimes, they seem to be the lot of those who are His. Maybe they're your lot right now.

Hebrews 12:2 speaks of the Lord Christ enduring the cross in order to lay hold of the joy, the joy of bringing life and freedom to all who would believe upon Him, that was set before Him. The meaning of the Greek word for endure is to be in a place much longer than had been expected. Many are, maybe you are, in a place of hardship, loss, pain, defeat, sorrow, disappointment, much longer than you ever expected you would, or could be. The weight of the cross you bear, and all the sorrow that goes with it, is beyond anything you ever expected to encounter. You never thought it could be this way. You may be in the midst of the most crushing disappointment. Maybe you're even disappointed in Jesus Christ Himself. You may feel yourself to be in the darkness, but darkness is never darkness to the One who is Eternal Light Himself. In the pain, the disappointment, He calls us to, by His grace, endure. Endure for the joy that is also set before us. The joy that through faith is within us. This place is not the final place. He calls us, leads us onward.

Romans 5 tells us that we can rejoice in the midst of the deepest problems and trials because He is at work to bring glory to Himself and good to us. He calls us to live in a confident expectation of His salvation and deliverance, a living hope....and that "this hope will not disappoint us."

In my life, I have known deep sorrow and loss. I have experienced crushing disappointments. I have known what it is to feel disappointed in Him, to be in a place of suffering far longer than I ever thought possible. He did not leave me there....ever. He did not reject me even when I was tempted to reject Him. In the place of seeming hopelessness, He instilled hope. And while there have been events in life that have disappointed and wounded me, He has not left me there, and the hope He has given while there seemed to be no hope, has not either. He never will. If we'll endure, if we'll hold to Him in hope....even if by the most slender of threads, He will not disappoint us.

I am thankful for so much this Thanksgiving. For the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For the saving grace that they have brought me. I am also thankful beyond words for the hope that does not disappoint. Hope that enables me to endure, with joy, all that I may walk through. Thank you Father. Thank you Jesus. May we each, press on, and all for the joy set before us.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Counterfeit

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." John 4:24...."Those cannot worship God aright who do not worship Him alone." Matthew Henry...."Every Christian has a moment- by moment- choice of which kingdom to stand in, which cup to drink from, which worship to embrace." Chris Tiegreen

I write this on an early Sunday morning. All over this nation, over the next several hours, people will be gathering for "worship" in fellowships across the land. How many will be gathering to worship Him in "spirit and in truth?" How many will be coming together as a group of "consumers" seeking good "bread and fish" from the Lord? How many will be there because it's what they've been doing for a very long time. "Going to church" is in their DNA, just like going to work, school, or tuning in to this weekends big game? How many will come with the sense of what can He do for them, as opposed to what can they offer Him?

I'm not seeking to remove the human element from any of this. We have needs, and it's not wrong to want the Father to minister to them. Jesus does invite all who are weary and heavy laden to come to Him. The problem is that too many of us are like nine of the ten lepers that Christ cleansed; only one turned back to praise, honor, and worship Him. The nine were very happy with what they got, but they missed out on what they could truly have laid hold of; the fullness of Christ Himself. How like them are so many of us?

So much of our prayer life, our "worship life" is really all about us. We're looking for Him to do something to make our lives better, easier, happier. Erwin McManus once said that Christ is being lost in the religion that bears His name. Going deeper in that, I think Christ is being lost in much of what we call "worship" in the church today. He's there as our servant, our helper, our, as Mark Buchanan put it, "heavenly caterer." All the while we miss, even ignore the Almighty Sovereign God who is in our midst. It's a tragedy we repeat week after week. Isn't it well past time for it all to stop?

I'm both moved and convicted by Tiegreen's words. We do face moment by moment choices as to "which kingdom we stand in, which cup we drink from, which worship to embrace." We have a great deal of double-mindedness in this. Our other kingdoms, cups, and worship, constantly distract us from the only One worthy of worship. We are so distracted that when we come through the doors of our fellowships, that it can take 2/3 of the service before we even begin to feel like focusing some part of ourselves on Him. We bring our counterfeit kingdoms, cups and worship with us.....and we miss Him. Is there anything more tragic than that?

If you read this today, if you did find yourself in His house of worship yesterday, what was your "worship" really like? Can you say that you really did worship Him in "spirit and in truth?" Or, did your other kingdoms, cups, and idols steal away what belongs to Him alone? Giving ourselves away to counterfeits. I know that these are hard questions. Dare we come up with the hard answers?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Squandered

(Jesus said) I am not saying these things to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen." John 13:18

Chris Tiegreen has written that we can know Him in ways that no one else can. Can we stop our breakneck pace of life long enough to allow that to saturate both our minds and our hearts? Take a breath and contemplate just the beginnings of what that can and does mean. God, whose capacity to be known is infinite, tells us that we may each have a knowledge of Him that is held only by us. No one else ever has or ever will know Him in just such a way. That's an intimacy beyond words to describe.

We may know the characteristics of God by memory. Goodness, mercy, healing, wholeness, righteous, wise, almighty, and on and on to infinity. What He wishes for us to know and experience is that we can have a personal knowledge of Him in these that is given to us alone. No one else has known or experienced Him in quite the same way. We have a piece of His mind and heart unique to us. He has never given Himself to someone else like He has given Himself to us. What an awesome gift. What a divine privilege. Are we aware of that gift? Do we, are we squandering it?

The Apostle Paul, a man of tremendous intellect and spiritual power, had as his deepest desire "to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection." I think his second deepest desire was that those he ministered to would have that desire as well. Certainly all of his writings point to that reality. In fact, he said that he claimed to know nothing except "Christ, and Him crucified."

His Word says that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." Can we grasp, even in a small way, that as He fashioned us, shaped us in creating us, that He put within each of our hearts, the potential to know Him as no other could? That among the sea of souls that are His, He has given the opportunity to know Him as none other can? What a gift. What a privilege. Are we realizing it?

No one knows our hearts like He does. No one knows the deepest needs of our hearts as He does. What I need is often not what you need at all, so He won't speak to us both in the same way. He deals with us unique to what He has created us to be. We have blundered terribly in expecting God to relate to all of us in the same way. Your salvation experience must be like mine. Your convictions must be my convictions. How you deal with sorrow, loss, failure, and more, must be as I would. None of this is so with Him. Where He knows He must give a hard word to us, He will. Where His gentle voice needs to be spoken, He speaks. And He will speak in a voice that only our heart can hear and receive. We say there is no one like Jesus. He says that's true, and for Him, there is no one else like us. Like you. Like me.

The ability to know Him as no other can; a blessed gift, and wonderful privilege. Are we squandering it? No one else will ever love us like He does. No one else can ever love Him like we can.

Blessings,
Pastor O