Heart Tracks - I Am He

3 The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.

4 Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.

5 “Jesus the Nazarene,”[a] they replied.

“I am he,”[b] Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) 6 As Jesus said “I am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! 7 Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

8 “I told you that I am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” 9 He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”[ Acts 18:3-9

This passage of Scripture has spoken so powerfully to me throughout my life in Him. It has inspired me, encouraged me, emboldened me, and kept me. It has reminded me, and reminds me still, that no matter what is happening, Jesus Christ reigns supreme in all of it. It is He, and not the forces of darkness that have the Authority. It is He, not the evil that is everywhere, that speaks the last word. The Word says that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. He is the beginning and He is the end. He is also the Master of all that can possibly come in between all of that.

There is no doubt that darkness has engulfed our culture. Lawlessness increases on every level of society. Acts and behaviors that were once unthinkable have found entry into the mainstream of our culture. The Word of God says that the day would come when "good will be called evil, and evil good." Those days are upon us. Such days are real. What we need to know is that in the midst of these days.....He is more real. In the midst of these days, He still rules over them. The darkness may engulf us, but it can never engulf Him. That is what I see in the passage from John 18.

Scripture says that the leading priests sent a battalion of Roman soldiers as well as the Temple guards to arrest Jesus. They entered the Garden of Gethsemane fully armed, bearing "blazing torches." I've always been amazed that with all the "artificial" light they carried, they still couldn't see Jesus, the Light of the world. As they came, before them stood Jesus Christ, and his little band of followers. Picture the scene; hundreds of men, trained for battle, moving resolutely toward one man and his little group. Except that He was not just one man. He was One Man, fully God, and fully Man, and He, not they, was the Master of the encounter.

As they came toward Him, He stepped forward to meet them, asking who they sought? "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I Am He," was His answer, and with that answer, we see the matchless, glorious, cannot be defeated power of Christ. They fell at His feet. The ones who came to arrest, were themselves arrested by the power and presence of the King. Again He asked, again they told Him, and again, they fell back before Him. In all of it, His Lordship shows forth. Though He knew the cross awaited Him, and that these men would take Him, mistreat Him, and then crucify Him, He was never at their mercy, He was always the Lord in the midst of it. As He would later tell Pilate, "You have no power over Me except what My Father allows you." He ordered them to let His followers go, and they did. Then He submitted to their arrest. He did so because it was all for the glory of His Father and Himself. It seemed like the darkness had won, but for those who are His, it never does. It never can. He may allow it, but He reigns over it, and if we'll trust Him, we'll see, and be swept up in His glory.

So I, we, must live in the truth of all of this. Darkness will always be coming towards us. If we're His, He will always be stepping forward before us to meet it. And as He meets it, He exercises His power and authority over it. The evil intent of the world and the devil behind it is powerless against Him. All of the weapons in whatever form they might take, must fall at His feet in any confrontation when He speaks these words; "I Am He." Against that truth, regardless of the extent of the darkness, that darkness must yield. It is in that confidence that we must live. Do we, do you, live in it now?

May we live now in that confidence. Whatever approaches, may we know He already steps forward, before us, to meet it. And no matter the strength of the threat, He speaks those words, "I Am He." The darkness, the threat, is real. He is more real.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Regular Companions

"Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called the ones He wanted to go with Him. And they came to Him. Then He selected twelve of them to be His regular companions. He sent them out to preach and He gave them authority to cast out demons." Mark 3:13-15

Many of us get confused about what Jesus meant when He said that "many are called but few are chosen." I think this passage of Scripture can really give us a greater understanding of what He was saying.

In another passage of Scripture, we're told that before He chose His disciples, He spent the night in prayer. In the above verses, something stands out that can be easy to miss. It says that He called those that He wanted to go with Him. It then states that "He selected twelve of them to be His regular companions." It seems clear that He called more than twelve to be "regular companions" to Him. Many were called, twelve were chosen. What was it that set them apart from the rest?

I think there are many who will respond to that initial call of Christ. We come to Him, but we come with a vast array of motives. Many come for the "bread and fish" He gives. These are blessing oriented people. They love His goodness, and they love the good things He gives out of it. Others come because they are in deep need, and in His mercy, He can meet that need. They seek mercy, peace, joy, strength, life, and He can and does give all in abundance. There are as many reasons to come to Him, to answer His call as there are needs and desires in our lives. The number who come to Him for such are many. Those who come simply for Him...are few.

Before He chose the twelve, He spent the night in intimate prayer with His Father. In that prayer time He surely received all the insight He needed into the hearts of those He called. They were flawed humans all. They didn't see or understand all that He wanted them to. One of them, Judas, would betray Him, all would fail Him. Yet in each He saw something that was missing in all the others. A desire for Him. I don't pretend to know all the aspects of why He chose Judas, since He knew from the beginning that he'd betray Him, but I believe that even in Judas' heart, that desire for Him was there, at least in part. It became corrupted over the course of the next three years, and Christ became not a Lord to live for, but an instrument to carry out Judas' own sinful desires. Yet in the beginning, I think he too was seeking Christ. He was a regular companion. They were all regular companions. It was in their hearts to be so. Jesus saw it. Jesus knew it. Does He see and know it in you and me?

Do we notice something else here? After He chose them, He gave them authority. His authority. I think one of the great lacks in the western church is that we are no longer ministering in His Kingdom authority, at least far from fully doing so.. In Acts, Peter told the crippled beggar who sought money from him that "silver and gold have I none, but what I do have I give to you. Rise and walk." Two thousand years later one church leader said to another, "Well, you can no longer say we have no silver and gold." The other replied, "Yes, and neither can we any longer say 'rise and walk.' " In our ministries, no matter of what sort and kind, are we ministering in His authority or ours? Has He even deemed us able to receive His authority? I don't believe that authority can be bestowed upon us in any other manner than by our intimate connection with Him. By our being those who are His regular companions. Many are called, but few are chosen. Jesus is not just seeking those who will come to Him. He seeks those who will stay with Him. Is that a description of you and me?

Jesus Christ knows our hearts....intimately. Do we know His....intimately? Do we come for the good bread and fish He gives....or do we come for Him? Are we with Him so long as He gives what we want, does what we ask, and goes where we want to go. All those ended up being great stumbling blocks for Judas. Are they for us? He has called us. Have we come? If we have, do we remain as His "regular companions," or do we just come back when the bread and fish run out, the blessings are needed, and His help must be sought? Too often in my life I've wanted to be both. I can't. Neither can you. I not only want to answer His call to come.....I want to stay and never leave Him. How about you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Those People

"And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city authorities, shouting, 'These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.' " Acts 17:6

In the book, "The Insanity Of God," the author tells of his visiting China, where he spent considerable time with many of the leaders of the house church movement. He asked them this question; "If I were to visit your home communities and talk with the non-believing families, friends,and neighbors of the members of your house churches, and asked, 'Who are these people - what can you tell me about them?' what would they say? He got a number of powerful responses, but the one that stood out was this; 'Our neighbors would probably say, 'Those are the people who raise the dead.' " With that, others around the table began to share stories from their own fellowships. Stories of healings, miraculous answers to prayer, of supernatural occurrences. They shared that which could only be explained by the miraculous activity of God in their midst. And yes, those stories included instances of the dead being raised back to life. An unbelieving culture took notice. They were the people who raised the dead....I wonder; what is it that the unbelieving culture that surrounds us has to say about the church in their midst? Those are the people who offer a great performance every week? Those are the people who provide a warm, friendly atmosphere? Those are the people who provide a wealth of stuff to keep our children occupied and entertained? It's not that this all bad, but how many of them can say, "Those are the people who raise the dead?" How many of them see us as those in who God is so active, so mighty, that He is turning the world, the community, the culture, upside down through them?

Jesus said that we would not only do the works that He did, but that we would do even greater ones. To what extent is that happening here in the west? Francis Chan asked that if those who were part of the first century church were to attend one of our usual "worship" services, what would they see? "People gathering in a room, listening/watching several sing and to one speaking, and then everyone drives home in their car?" Are we walking in a supernatural power that the world may reject, but cannot deny? If we are, why do we have to spend so much time trying to figure out a way to reach (dare I say impress?) an unbelieving world? Paul walked, lived, and ministered in the power of a risen life. So did the early church. They didn't give rise to indifference and irrelevance. They were not perfect, and they had flaws, but they lived in the power of His Name and Life. So can we. Jesus made that clear. But do we?

Vance Havner once wrote of how the church in the west has allowed itself to become intimidated by all the competing sources vying for people's attention. He said that the first century church was never bothered by any of that. He writes, "They had a robust, world shaking power....If we recovered that we would leave our little hot-chocolate huddles in church basements and give the world today a demonstration that would make its little affairs look like firecrackers beside atom bombs." In Russia, China, Africa, God is moving in just such a way. All the powers of the darkness unleashed against His Church cannot quench what He is doing in its midst. That same mighty God is in our midst as well....but do we notice? If we don't, how will the unbelieving culture around us? For too long have I, have we, used worldly "firecrackers" to get its attention. May we, as His people, seek His unleashed power and presence. May we be a people who once more turn the world upside down. May we be "those people who raise the dead."

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Lingering At The Grave

"Rachel died and was buried....Jacob then traveled on." Genesis 35:19,21...."And his disciples came and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus." Matthew 14:12....."No matter how deep your loss, how impossible it seems to go on, life is too short to stop by any grave. We must proceed." Vance Havner

Jacob loved Rachel.....deeply. Yet the Father had great purpose for his life. He could not continue to linger at her grave in sorrow. He had to press on....The followers of John the Baptist loved their leader. His death was a crushing blow to all of them. Like Jacob, they too knew intense sorrow. They too did not linger at his grave. They took their sorrow, and all of themselves, to Jesus. Can you and I do the same?

Everywhere, both within and outside of the church, are those who are lingering at "graves." Not just at the graves of lost loved ones, but also at the "graves" of dead dreams, broken relationships, crushed hopes, and unexpected defeats. All of these have an emotional and spiritual impact on us. All of them have the potential to keep us at the grave site, in mourning. Perpetual mourning. It can last for months, years, a lifetime. We cannot bring ourselves to leave that place. We are emotionally and spiritually paralyzed. Whatever the direction of our journey had been, it now has none. We are going nowhere, and the fog of our grief keeps us immobile. It also keeps us from seeing and hearing Him. He has healing in His hands, but all we can see is the grave of our loss. What we have lost is our focus, and we can no longer see all that remains for us in Him.

The disciples of John model for us the only way to go on in our sorrow. Take it, all of it, to Jesus. He knows our sorrow. When He stood before the grave of Lazarus, He wept. He wept because death was never to have any place in the Father's creation. Sin opened the door for it. He wept as well over what the consequences of death, in all of its forms, does to a humanity that He deeply loved, and loves. He doesn't just feel our pain, He enters into it. But He cannot enter into it if we will not release it to Him. And that is the stumbling block for many. We hold to our loss. We make our home at the grave of that loss. Our spiritual walk with Him ceases, and every aspect of our lives is crippled as a result. So we remain broken people who could be made whole. We are crippled and lame when we could be called to rise up and walk. The grave site, with all the sorrow and pain, has become more familiar, even comfortable to us, than the journey that still lies before us. The journey He beckons us to step out into.

Many think that the healing will come as we stand at the grave, the place of our loss. Not so. As someone has said, His healing will not really begin until we take that first step away from the grave of our loss. Then it starts. And step by step it continues. There will always be a sense of the loss, but it no longer paralyzes us, or renders us impotent. We go on in Him, and we discover anew, His joy, peace, and hope.

At what grave might you be lingering at today? Your choice is to stay there, bound to that grave, or, to take the pain and sorrow to Jesus, and find healing....as you journey. Life on this side of eternity is indeed too short, and He has too much more for you, for all of us, than this. This loss, this pain, this sorrow. There will be many graves in this life, but He calls us ever onward from all of them, as we journey ever deeper into the realm where death, in every form, has lost it's power. In that realm, there are no graves.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Unshakable Realm

"The words 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken - that is, created things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain." Hebrews 12:27

In my prayer journal, I have the questions, "What, in our lives, is truly unshakable? What, if every aspect of our lives were shaken to the core, would remain? What would still be standing? Would we still be standing?" These are valid questions, especially for those who say they have put their faith in Jesus Christ. Does the foundation of our life say that we are standing upon Him, or on that which isn't Him at all?

Stability is valued in our culture. Most of our life is spent trying to build that for ourselves. We are told that we need to plan for our futures. Wisely handling and investing our resources, making sure that we have a reserve, even a cushion upon which we can depend. We're also told to construct a strong support network, building relationships with others who can help us in various ways. The world calls this wisdom, and it is, so far as the world defines that word. But as the Word of God says, "the wisdom of God seems like foolishness to men."

I'm not saying that any of the above are wrong. God tells us to be wise stewards of our resources. He is also a God of healthy relationships. We need people in our lives. What He wants us to know, and live as a result of that knowledge, is that our investments, our relationships, the foundations and structures that we build, are not what we're to depend on. They are not to be, never to be, our source. He alone is our Source. He alone is to be our foundation. No matter how precise we might be in our planning, all of its fruit can disappear in a moment. The shakings of this world are real, and the people of God are not immune to them. As His Word says, they come upon the "just and the unjust." What happens if they should come, and they will come, upon you?

Martin Luther, a leader in what became known as the Protestant Reformation, was declared an outlaw by the religious authorities of his day. He found protection with a group of German princes. He was once asked where he would be if that protection was lost to him. He answered, "I will be where I have always been. In the hands of my God." This was not false bravado. Luther was no doubt grateful for the help of the princes, but he knew that their favor could be withdrawn, or broken. It could be gone in a moment. He did not look to the princes, He looked to His God. The princes could be removed. His God, His Lord Christ could never be. Luther lived in the "unshakable realm." That realm can only be known and experienced by those who commit themselves fully into His hands and His life. Everything around us can be shaken, can fall, can be taken away. He cannot. He is the Foundation, the Rock that can neither be moved or removed.

I, literally, have known and experienced what it is to lose everything. I confess that in that time, I knew fear, I knew anxiety, I knew the darkness. The beauty and the glory in it all was that I also knew Him. And in the darkness, in the shaking, I came to know Him even more. I found that my life in Him could not be shaken even when everything around me was being shaken to the ground. Destruction was everywhere around me. The Rock of His presence was within me. I had not lost Him. I could not lose Him. In the shaking, He remained. When they passed, He was still there. So it would be in the shaking to come. What I had, and what I have is not my source. He is my Source. My confidence in Him can be attacked, but He proves, again and again, He is a, my, sure Foundation. Do you know Him to be yours?

He calls each of His own to live in the unshakable realm. Can you dare to? Or, do you continue to try and build a life that can be shaken away in an instant? The shakable life, or the unshakable one. Which are you living now?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - What Word?

But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”

22 The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout, “Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!”

Acts 22:21-22

In this passage from Acts 22, Paul had been preaching to a crowd of Jewish listeners. He'd been sharing his testimony of how Christ had appeared to him on the Damascus Road, where he had been en route to imprison and even kill followers of Jesus Christ. He had been speaking of all that the Lord had spoken to him, and had been directing him to in his life. The crowd was giving his words their attention. Everything changed when Paul said that Jesus had also commissioned him to take His message of life to the "Gentiles," that is, all those who were not Jews. At that word, "Gentile," his "listeners" stopped listening. They couldn't accept that. In their view, only a Jew was subject to God's favor and blessing. Only a Jew could be His. The Jews had been looking for their Messiah for centuries. They believed that when He came, it would be for them alone. They did not believe that Gentiles could have any portion of their God. A Messiah who came to offer life to all people, was not a truth they could accept. And that brings me to the subject of this writing. At what point might the Lord say something that you will not accept? What word might He speak that causes you to turn away?

I have been preaching and pastoring now for 35 years. I have found most people very open to hearing about certain aspects concerning faith in Jesus Christ. They respond to the truth of the love, peace, joy, and abundant life that He offers in Himself. That's a Jesus Christ they can accept. However, when I tell them that He is also a Savior who demands absolute commitment to Himself, a Savior who bluntly says that there is no other pathway to the Father but through Him, well, those words have caused a lot of people to stop listening. When I add that He also calls us to, demands of us, holy and pure lifestyles, lifestyles of forgiveness, generosity, and selfless love for others, many turn a completely deaf ear to it all. Such words can bring about a cessation of all listening. I've also known the the result of someone "shouting" in one way or another, "Away with such a fellow!" Words have power. There are no words that carry more power than the words spoken and given by the Father through Christ the King. They cut to the very core of our being. We will either hear them, or reject them. Which happens more often in our lives?

It also needs to be said that this cessation of listening is not limited to unbelievers. Even in the lives of those who profess to be His, He can speak a word that can cause us to turn back from Him. This happened in John 6 when Jesus told His followers that their own works could never save them, that coming to Him wasn't the result of their effort, but His. When He added that only those who fully surrendered all of themselves to all of Him could be His disciples, verse 66 says, "At this point, many of His disciples turned away and no longer followed Him." He'd spoken the word, and words, that they couldn't accept. What word has He spoken that you can't accept?

In verse 67, Jesus asked those who remained, "Are you going to leave too?" Peter's answer was, "Lord, to whom would we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life." This is what it comes down to in the end. To whom will you and I go when He speaks the word we find so difficult to receive? Where else do you, can you find true and eternal life? In human philosophies? Those have been trusted in for thousands of years. What real peace, joy, and life have they brought? The evolving of the human race? Where do we see any evidence of that? Has the human bent toward murderous violence lessened in this world? Other religions? All other religions tell one how they can work their way to God. In Christ, the Father came to us, and on the cross, did the work and paid the price that we might know and have Him. Christianity is not a religion. It is a relationship with the Author of Life itself. Be assured, in living that relationship, He will speak words, many of them, that will offend our flesh. What happens when He does?

So I close with the repeating of the question. What word is it that when He speaks it, you'll stop listening? When He does speak it, where and to whom will you go? Christ alone has the words that give eternal life.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Simply Jesus

They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity[a]—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47....."All the things we're adding to the church to make it more exciting are actually killing it." Francis Chan

When I first came to start the church I pastor, I received lots of input as to what I needed to succeed. I was told I needed to have a worship service that made people want to come. I was told I needed quality children's and teen programs. I was told that I needed a facility that was welcoming and attractive. Basically, I was told that I needed to have something that was better than what people could find elsewhere. Sadly, I believed what I was told, and I spent a great part of my ministry trying to "create" a church just like the one I'd been encouraged to have. And I wasn't alone. I believe that far and away, most other pastors have pursued the same. How could we all be so removed from the church depicted in Acts 2? How could what He meant to be a body of believers in Him, become a crowd of consumers of His bread, but not of His life?

Francis Chan speaks of his time visiting and worshiping with the underground church in China. He said that when people know that there will be prayer gathering, or the celebration of communion, they come from everywhere to be a part. Often there is little if any singing or sharing of a "message." Prayer and the sharing of Scripture are at the forefront. It is His Presence that is celebrated and rejoiced in. People don't want to miss it, and will take great risks in the face of persecution to be a part of it. He then made the point that should bring great conviction upon us all. He said that so much of our church strategy here in the west is creating the kind of church that people will want to come to. Little, if any of our thought involves having the kind of fellowship that God wants to come to. We are the focus. The self-life is at the forefront. He's a supporting player. We seek to give people what they want, and we look to Him to add the elements that will make it possible. We call what we come up with "worship" and "church." What does He call it?

Have we read Revelation lately? Jesus spoke to seven churches. With five of them He commanded that they, in effect, "repent, or else." It was not that these churches were not doing good things or honoring Him in many ways. A common thread for all of them however was that they had "left their first love," God Himself. They, their desires, goals, and plans now had center stage. Christ had become their Helper. They were more consumed with themselves than they were with Him. They were "doing church" in the flesh, rather than being the church in the power of His Holy Spirit. Jesus had seen enough. Jesus had had enough. Dare we think He might have the same attitude with us?

A great churchman named Charles Strickland once said that you could build a church in the middle of a garbage dump, and if the power of the Holy Spirit was actively present there, people will come. In Africa, there is a thriving church literally in the middle of a garbage dump. They have nothing to offer anyone....but God Himself. That's Africa you say. That could never be in our culture you say. Here in the west, we need more you say? More than Him? Really? Can we dare to seek a fellowship where the only attraction is Him. Not for the good bread He gives, but for the wonder of who He is? Everywhere today are pastors who have burned out trying to build a church to which people will come. No matter how hard we try, or how well we do it, someone else will always do it better. And even if they do come, do we have a fellowship to which He wants to come? In our desire to be welcoming to people, to what degree to we wish to be welcoming to Him? Maybe I simplify too much. Or maybe we just are not willing to be simple enough. Simply having Jesus among us. What might be the result of that?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Furnace

"When you go through the waters, I will be with you." Isaiah 43:2....."There is a nearness of God that I could only experience in suffering." Michelle Cushatt

Suffering is an aspect of our faith journey that seems to have little, if any place in the western church. We like to focus on the "wonderful plan" He has for our lives, or that He's placed "greatness" in all of us. There is truth in both, but it's "wonderful" and "greatness" as defined by Him, and not us. Few of us believe that the path to either should contain any real degree of suffering. Indeed, a great deal of our theology centers on the avoidance of, or escape from suffering in any form. This is in direct contrast to what Jesus said to His Church. He said that tribulation, suffering, would be present in the life of His people. It's presence was to be expected. It could not be avoided. Could it be that our having such a difficult time accepting this is the reason for our experiencing so little victory, joy, and peace in a fallen world where, as one said, "the works of death get all the recognition?"

Michelle Cushatt is a woman who has suffered through the attacks of a cancer that has ravaged her body three times now. Her Doctor's have told her that they're hopeful concerning her future prognosis, but they can offer no guarantee. She said that she has come to the place where she had to choose to either "be captive to fear, or trust the One who has numbered my days." That's a place few of us want to go, but I believe it is a place that all will come to at some point in the journey. When we do, when you do, what will we choose?

In the book, "The Insanity Of God," those who suffered intense persecution for their love of Christ, said that they knew, expected, that they would suffer for that love. They knew it would be a part of their life, that they could not escape it. More, they didn't want to, if it was to mean a severing of their deep relationship with Him. They, like Cushatt, knew that nearness of Him that could only be realized in suffering. What do we know of that? Do we have any real desire to know of that?

We in the west, for the most part, have no idea how to deal with suffering, and all the emotions that can come with it. We try to medicate it, eradicate it, avoid it ,or escape it any cost. And the cost of all that is too often, our intimacy, even our relationship with Him. No one wishes to suffer, but life in a fallen world will bring it upon us. What will we do with, and in it? Moses, at the burning bush, was tasked by God to lead His people out of the bondage of Egypt. Moses didn't want to go, surely in part because he knew the suffering that would be involved in obeying such a sending. The Father told him to remove his sandals, his shoes. Cushatt said that in return, God gave him two new ones; His Presence and His Purpose. These would be with him in all the deep waters to come. Fear confronted him face to face. It would do so many times more. Moses would choose, in the midst of the fear, to trust the One who had numbered his days....even in the deepest of his sufferings. Can we? Can you and I trust the One who has not only numbered our days, but holds each one of them in His hands? We need to "take off the shoes" that stand upon our strength and ability, and our expectations, and put on those that are rooted in His strength and might. They, He, will carry us through the waters, fires, earthquakes, and darkness. We live in a fallen world controlled by the evil one, and that fallen world will always be hostile to the life of Christ that is carried by those that are His. There will be pain. There will be tears of sorrow. There will be suffering. All of these will be real. In that reality, He will show Himself a greater reality. What we can know in the midst of all of it, is that the One who holds all of our days, also holds us. In His embrace, crushed to His heart. We will experience that the joy of the Lord is our strength....even in the pain. We may not have answers for all of our "Why's," but we will have Him. And He will carry us through. As did the three in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, we will know an intimacy with Him we could never have known otherwise. In the furnace of suffering....we will see, and know Him. And as we walk through the furnace of suffering, He walks with us. The furnace may be real. He is more real.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - He Knows

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. 24But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. John 2:23-24

I've written a great deal on our need to give ourselves to Him. This passage of Scripture raises the question for all of us; Can He give Himself to us?

We live in the day of "easy faith," of costless, crossless Christianity. We are eager to secure "confessions of faith," and tally up the number. The thing is, nowhere in His ministry did Jesus ever seem eager to do the same. Indeed, He seems to discourage people from following Him. He tells them, and us, to "count the cost." He tells them, and us, that no one can follow Him unless they're willing to give up everything for Him. When the rich young ruler came to Him, He sent him away because giving up all for Him wasn't in his realm of reference. In how many fellowships would we do the same? David would not offer up to God sacrifices which "cost me nothing." Yet more often than not, we welcome those who will offer Him such, and too often, we do as well. That's why the Scripture from John 2 speaks so loudly to me. With such heart attitudes abounding, can Jesus Christ entrust Himself to us? Can He entrust Himself to me, and to you?

Throughout His earthly ministry, people flocked to Him. People "believed" in Him. Yet to these Jesus never "entrusted Himself.". He knew what was in their hearts. He knew that many who shouted "Hosanna" concerning Him today would be shouting "Crucify Him," tomorrow. Despite our shouts of praise for Him today, what does He see in our hearts about tomorrow? Do we really have a walk to which He can entrust Himself? In John 6, we're told Jesus gave a "hard saying" to His followers, and that the result of it was that "many followed Him no longer." Is there a hard saying He can put to us that will bring about the same? I don't mean will it make us stop going to church or Bible study, or even stop tithing or doing church work. I mean a place where our undivided allegiance to Him is no longer undivided? Nik Larson, author of "The Insanity Of God," says of his seeming impossible ministry in Somalia, that he had to decide if he would "Walk with Jesus in hard places? Knowing Jesus, loving Jesus, following Jesus, living with Jesus." To such does He entrust Himself. Can He entrust Himself to you and me?

Do we walk with Him in hard places....painful places....impossible places? When all that is on the horizon is pain, hardship, great cost, do we still walk with Him? Can He give Himself over to us in trust? Can He entrust us with the testimony of who He is before a hostile world that is determined to crush that testimony? He knows those that He can do so with? He knows what's in a heart. What's in ours?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Echoes

"I will show him how much he must suffer for My name." Acts 16:9

When I read books geared towards a walk in Christ, I like to read those that both challenge and convict me. Such works are not easy to come across these days. I've a pastor friend who likes to say that all his favorite Christian writers are dead. So much of today's western Church writings detail how we can have better, richer, more successful lives. Self is so often at the center of it all. So when I find something totally opposite of that, I absorb it. Such a book is "The Insanity Of God," by Nik Ripken, which is not his real name, as he ministers in an area where to reveal his real one would put him, his family, and co-workers in danger of their lives. In one part of the book, he details his time among Russian believers shortly after the fall of the Soviet state. These believers had suffered greatly under the Communist regime. His telling of some of their stories pierced my heart. I want to share a few of them with you in this writing.

The first had to do with Russian fellowships whose pastors had been arrested and sent to Siberian work camps. Most of these men died in their captivity, and their families suffered as well. What the Communists would do after removing the pastors was to find one who would co-operate with their desires, telling him what he could say and do. In one of these congregations, almost all the men had been arrested and removed. All that were left were the women. When the government chosen pastor came in, the believing ladies stood before the pulpit with locked arms, and the pastor could only get to it by forcing his way through. Once there, the women would sing hymns of praise and gratitude before he would rise to "preach." When he began his state selected sermon, they, as one, turned their backs to him and remained in that state for the rest of his message. This was their rejection of the compromised sermon he was bringing. What moved me about this was how watered down and compromised much of the "gospel" of the western church has become. Yet our response to that has been to eagerly hear it. These Russian and Ukrainian believers were suffering unspeakable persecution, yet would not compromise in any way their beliefs. They had given all to Him. They had counted the cost, and they would pay it.

The writer raised a question with these believers; "How did they learn to live and die like they did?" They answered, "We learned it from our parents, our grandparents, and our great-grandparents." The question that rises up in my heart is, what are our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren learning from us? A cross-style life and faith, or a self-styled one?

Here's another story: The author, upon hearing all these tales of faith in the face of intense persecution, asked "Why haven't you put these stories together into a book, so that you could inspire believers around the world. An older brother, who'd suffered much answered, "Son, when did you stop reading your Bible? All of our stories are in the Bible. God has already written them down. Why would we bother writing books to tell our stories when God has already told His story? If you would just read your Bible you would see our stories are there. When did you stop reading your Bible?" The author wrote, "His convicting question still echoes in my mind." Does it echo in yours?

One last story. A mother and her children, sent to Siberia after her husband had been sent to a prison camp, were starving. Her children asked her how they would get food. She said the Father would provide for them. More than thirty miles away, God awoke the deacon of a church and told him to load his wagon with food supplies collected by his church and take it to this pastor's starving family. He asked God how he could do that? It was many degrees below zero, and besides, wolves roamed everywhere at night. The man told God, "Lord, if I go, I may never make it back." God answered him, "You don't have to come back. You just have to go." In a culture obsessed with personal safety, how do we respond to that? In our desire for His guarantee of our well-being before we do anything, what is our response to His saying the same to us? Coming back is not the issue. Going forth for Him is.

What do you and I do with these stories of faith? Do we feel the gentle rebuke of His Spirit that the author felt when God spoke through that Russian elder? These stories have been before us in His Word all of our faith lives. Have we ever really seen or heard them? Have we been so busy mapping out our journey of personal success, ministry success, that we have never really seen or heard at all? While building our buildings, have we had nothing built into our hearts? Do we feel the "echo of conviction" from His heart? If not, just when was it that we stopped reading our Bibles? When was it that we started to listen to the voice of the surrounding culture and not His? When was it that coming back safely meant more to us than going forth boldly? Do such questions bring with them the echo of conviction? Or do we just proceed in our self-styled lives?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Hearsay?

"Now we believe, not because of your saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed Christ, the Savior of the world." John 4:42....."The Samaritan woman, like Philip, said, 'Come and see.' Much of our personal work, our Sunday School teaching, our preaching, falls short of that. We disseminate information about Jesus, but we often fail to clinch the matter by bringing men and women into His presence." Vance Havner...."If the law we preach is not established in our own hearts, we are of no more account before God than sounding brass or tinkling cymbals." John Wesley

We often hear people say about favorite books, movies, and songs, that they "know them by heart." The lyrics, stories, melodies, are so woven into their minds and hearts, that they just seem to flow out of them. It's a kind of intimacy. How can it be that one can have such intimacy with what is inanimate, yet so lack it as concerns the living Christ?

I heard Tony Evans speaking recently on the deep need of our being "Kingdomized" in our day to day living. That wherever we are, we need to show people what "God looks like" in that setting. In the business world, as neighbors, co-workers, employees, employers, and most of all, ministers, we need to portray to a world that doesn't know Him, just what He "looks like" in all of those places that He has put us. We can't do this when all we have to give is information about Him. It only comes from a personal knowledge and experience of Him. Job said, "I have heard of Him by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have seen Him." Havner said, "Job knew Him by heart, not hearsay." Do we?

The people of God are to be vessels of His reality wherever we are. Yes, we are each of us imperfect, but the beauty is that in and through our imperfections, He's able to show His perfect love and life. We don't just tell them who He is, we manifest who He is in our living. Imagine how our "worship" would be transformed when the God we know by heart shows up in every aspect of what we call worship? From the teaching, to the singing, and most especially through the preaching, we show forth who He is. In all of it, people "see" Him. As He is. Who He is. When that happens, we don't have to depend upon "props" to keep people engaged. They're engaged with Him. When these same people emerge from that time, they show forth a Christ that others can become engaged with as well. They become living expressions of His peace, joy, strength, and hope. His life flows out of them. They literally mirror Christ wherever they are. And people don't emerge from such times merely emotionally stimulated, talking about the good music and nice sermon. They've encountered Him, and they're not the same people they were. And wherever they go, things will not be quite the same again. This is Kingdom life. Is it our life?

Andrew the disciple met Jesus. He was not content for others, beginning with his brother Peter, to know Christ by hearsay. He wanted them to behold Him for themselves. "Come and see," was his invitation. Information givers can't make that invite. Those who truly know and live in Him can. Can we? Do you and I offer hearsay, or heart knowledge? Are we information givers, or vessels of His reality? I know what the longing of my heart for me to be is. What's the longing of yours?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - God Of Elijah

"He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. 'Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?' he aked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over." 2 Kings 2:14 "The days of Elijah are gone, but the God of Elijah lives today." Vance Havner

A few years ago, Francis Chan wrote a book titled "Forgotten God," dealing with the seeming absence and ministry of the Holy Spirit within His Church. A generation ago A.W. Tozer one titled, "Tragedy In The Church: The Missing Gifts," lamenting the loss of His Church moving and ministering in the giftings and power of His Holy Spirit. I fear that we are only growing more and more in the direction these two men, many decades apart, warn us of.

If you spend any time at all reading these "Thoughts," you know that I do a good bit of reading, and I try to keep abreast of what books are currently being offered. There is a thread through many of them that seems to be a common one. It's that we, working in His name, can so impact the culture, that we can convert that culture, or at least a significant portion of it, and so usher in the Kingdom. It's not this concept that I have a problem with nearly so much as the means, or lack, that I see in the process. What I see, at least from my admitted imperfect perception, is an emphasis on OUR effort, and a lack of His miracle working presence and manifestation. There is much writing on how to meet and impact our culture, but I don't see a lot of mention of Him "showing up" in the midst of His people, His Church, and being the center of all that is happening. I have studied a great deal concerning those periods of "revival" in the life of the Church, and how the surrounding culture was impacted. Manifestations of His Life were real. Miracles did take place. There was an overwhelming, nearly irresistable presence of God. When the Temple of God was first dedicated, His Presence so filled it that the priests were unable to minister, to do anything. When God shows up, all we can do is fall speechless before Him. My question is, is there any real expectation anymore that He will...show up? Or are we depending more on our models of ministry, or what the church needs to be in this current culture? We have to have understanding of our culture, I get that, but God is a God who transcends culture. The God of Elijah's time is the God of our time. He still comes with overwhelming power. He still does miraculous works. His Holy Spirit still seeks to fall upon His Church, and through His Church, do wonders in the culture and cultures it ministers to. Yes, we need to prayerful consider, plan, and minister, but all the while, we should have a continuous expectation of and dependency upon His Holy Spirit power manifesting in ways beyond all of our prayers and plans. I'm not sure that we're praying, planning, and ministering with such expectation today. We expect God to help, but do we expect Him to show up in such ways as to just behold His wonder and work?

I am longing and have been longing to see the God of Elijah today. I want to minister in constant expectation that He will come in ways beyond my greatest expectations, and as I minister, I want to do so in the fullness of all His spiritual giftings. I want His presence to so fill His Church that all we can do is fall to our knees in wonder as we behold Him, the mighty God of Elijah, of Pentecost, explode upon His Church and it's culture. Where is the God of Elijah? He is among us. Can we lay down all of our agendas, plans, and methods, and be swept up in His? Elisha, who was Elijah's successor, didn't look for a new plan after the Father took Elijah "home." He looked for the God of Elijah Himself, and found Him. All of Him. We will too. All we need do is seek Him. Do you seek Him?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Best Robe

"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.' " Luke 15:22

The story of the Prodigal Son and his father is one of the most familiar in the Bible. Yet one of the glories of His Word is that there is always something new to see. Such is the case with here. Several weeks ago in a prayer gathering, a friend remarked on how he had just recently seen something new in the story. It had to do with the fathers call to have the best of clothing and apparel brought out to his son. What my friend hadn't realized before was that when the father called for the best robe, ring and sandals, he was giving him HIS best robe and apparel. The best that he had was given to a son who had wasted all that he'd been given, and did not, by human reckoning, deserve any such favor. Yet so overjoyed was the father to receive a son considered dead and gone back to himself, that giving the best that he had was just an outflow of his joy and love. He didn't hold back in his giving. His giving wasn't based on whether his son deserved it or not, but upon his great love for a rebellious son who'd come home to his father. In this we see the great love of God for a fallen race; rebellious, undeserving of that love, who, when we come to Him in confession and repentance, also receive the very best of Himself. Nowhere is that seen more clearly than in the giving of His only Son, Jesus Christ. As the father clothed the prodigal with his best robe, so does God clothe those who come to Him, in spiritual poverty, with His Son, Jesus Christ. We, who without Christ are naked and poor, are made rich in Him through Him. He holds nothing back as He gives us the very best of Himself.

Preachers and teachers have exhorted us for generations to always seek His best in all things, to never settle for the good, but to pursue His best. That's a good teaching, but here's the question: In our zeal to have His best, what's our heart desire for giving Him ours? Think on that for a moment. How many times have we given Him our leftovers? Leftover time, resources, energy, talents, and giftings? How many sermons, teachings, worship services have we prepared, given, and received when we have presented much less than the best of ourselves? How many of these have we put together with a modicum of prayer and preparation? How many "worship services" have we come to, regardless of our part in them, mostly unprepared to worship? How many "sacrifices" that have cost us nothing have we offered up to Him? Not just on scheduled days of worship, but in our day to day lives? Lives that are to be an act of worship in themselves. How much of what we give Him of ourselves is really our best, and how much is just leftovers?

Here's another question to ponder. How much of what we give others in His name is really our best? He places people before us all the time. When He does so, do we even notice them, let alone their need? If we do, what is it that we "give" them? Do we give them a Scripture promise, along with a pledge to pray for them, and then move on, most often forgetting them altogether as we do? When we give to them, what do we give of ourselves? Someone said we will view others brought before us as either human interruptions or as divine appointments. Which is it for you and me? For we who eagerly seek His best, how eager are we to give both Him and those He loves, our best?

His best "robe." The Father gave that in Christ without a second thought. What is your "best robe?" Likely there are a number of them. How much of a delay goes by before you'll give it, them, to Him, to another? Or, do you continue with your leftovers? In every closet there are old, worn coats no longer used or wanted. No such coats exist in His, and He would never give us such. They do exist in ours. Are they what we offer?

Blessings,
Pastor O