Comfort

 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God." I Corinthians 1:3-4...."We were not created for comfort. We were created to bring the comfort of heaven to those in our lives." Kim Meeder

What is involved in God's comfort? I doubt that most in our comfort obsessed culture have any real idea. We see it as living in the midst of circumstances that shield us from pain, sorrow, and difficulty in general. We're very interested in that kind of comfort. The Father isn't. In fact, the Father will send us out into circumstances and situations that are anything but comfortable. There will likely be pain, heartache, and loss in these places. Yet it is here that we, if we will receive it, shall discover what His comfort really is, as well as what His purposes in the pain and the comfort are. As we receive His comfort, we also receive Him, and receiving Him will also mean we receive His healing and His wholeness. If we will indeed receive it.

Kim Meeder prefaced the following story with saying that "God's love is the foundation of every revival." She then went on to relate how she and her husband had been fishing a river in the Cascade mountains. It was a cold day and the river waters were very rough. She suddenly sensed the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking, telling her to go back to the marina, and to go right now. She told her husband and they began to trip back. As they got to a particularly rough part of the river, they saw objects in the water. As they looked more closely, she saw a man, tangled up in yellow rope. He was near unconsciousness, and she and her husband rapidly pulled him into the boat. As they did so, and due to the frigid waters, she told her husband that they were just in time. The man, barely awake, whispered, "Not for him." Then they saw in the water another man, and he had died.

Later, after receiving treatment, the man called and wanted to meet the couple who had saved his life. He told her that he and his best friend's boat had capsized, and they had been in the water for over an hour. In that time, three boats had gone by but never sought to investigate what they surely saw. Only Meeder and her husband had. She then said that this was to be the purpose of Christ's people, that we are to be those who offer rescue and comfort to all those drowning and dying in the rivers of this lost world. The comfort this man received was not first the comfort of warm clothing and a warm room. It was the comfort of a life that was surely lost, but now saved by ones who first heard the voice of God and then in obedience, ministered to one in desperate need of the comfort and rescue that He is always seeking to carry out through His people.

All around us are people, outside the church and within who are dying in a river of some kind. Addictions, grief, isolation, rejection, and on and on. Will we go on being so obsessed about our own comfort and well being that we sail on past them, never noticing, and really, never caring? Or, will we, like the Meeder's, be so attuned to His voice, to His grace, that the very grace that reached out to us, and continues to reach out, does so through us to ones desperately in need? This is how we live out I Corinthians 1:3-4. This is how we are part of His foundation of love that does bring revival, as His river, the River of God, flows into all the rivers of death this world has.

There is no doubt that our lives will pass by someone in deep need this week. Will we, in our self-absorption, fail to notice them and go on by, or will we cast them His lifeline? What do you think is most likely?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Come And See

 "They said to Him, 'Rabbi, where are you staying?' 'Come and you will see,' He replied. So they went to see where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day." John 1:38-39....."Instead of entering into a theological discussion with Andrew, Jesus turned and began to walk. Andrew's questions would not be answered by discussion alone, but by walking with Him."

We're not patient about our desire to have the Lord answer our questions. In fact, we can be very demanding that He would. Rarely will He do so. He's not trying to be a difficult Lord. He's at work to do something deep in us. Something that cannot be accomplished by discussion and even outright answers. In fact, He's not really interested in our knowing answers, but that we know the One who is the Answer.

We are coming into a day few, if any of us have encountered before. As the Father told the Israelites in the midst of entering new land, "You have not been this way before." Neither have we. Therefore, we must press into Jesus that we may press on with Him. As we walk with Him, we will begin to see more and more. More of who He is, and more of who we are. More of what stands against us, and more of the One who stands with us. It's a journey of discovery, with most of our discovery coming to be who He is and who we are in Him. Each day will provide new opportunities for us to "come and see." In the process, I think our questions will become fewer as our knowledge becomes greater. We enter into intimacy with Him, and that intimacy yields trust. Trust yields courage, His courage, and that courage makes us more than conquerors in all of it.

In this new day we'll find that all those natural things we've relied on are going to fail us. Our culture is being shaken. The world is being shaken. So shaken that as Paul wrote, only that which is of Him will remain. We're going to need His wisdom, His discernment, His understanding, and His mind to walk through it. All of it comes from living in His Presence. Not some vague sense, but a living, conscious reality. This will always be the result when we heed His invitation to, "Come and see."

Blessings,

Pastor O

That Name

 "For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth." Philippians 2:10....."Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name." Bill and Gloria Gaither

I recently heard a young singer named Laney Rene say in an interview that something she remembers from her mother was being told that in those times when she had no idea what or how to pray, or even felt that she could pray, she could offer up a prayer that would be filled with power. Her mother told her that in such times, she need say only the name of Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. In the declaring of His name, the Father would respond by ministering to her in those things she couldn't put into words, or was so deeply burdened as to not even be able to speak. She said she had learned and continued to learn that when we speak His name in prayer, we have no idea of the height, depth, and width of what His name encompasses. She showed great maturity for a young lady. Perhaps you and I need to learn from her this day, and the days to come.

I think there is a plague of hopelessness and despair covering not only the world, but a good part of the church in these days. Much that we don't understand, socially, economically, and politically, have happened and continue to happen. Those things that we have come to both depend on, and take for granted, are being removed or lost. "Why" is the question upon many hearts right now. Fear, anger, bitterness, all of these and more seem to be everywhere. These things are oppressive and perhaps they've oppressed us to the degree that we too know not what or how to pray about it all.

"Be still, and know that I am God," is one of my favorite Scriptures, but we rarely seem to know how to become still before Him. I believe we can enter into that stillness when we simply pray His name, for in His name is peace, joy, strength, and hope. As Rene says, when we pray His name, we have no idea of all that His name covers. One thing is sure, His name will cover us.

Another lyric I love is in the song, "No Longer Slaves." "There is power in the name of Jesus. There is power in the name of Jesus. There is power, in the name of Jesus, to break every chain, to break every chain, to break every chain." We need to discover anew, or maybe for the first time, all the power that is found in the name of Jesus. Every knee, from Satan and his demons, to the most powerful men and women on earth, will ultimately bow before Him, and admit to His Lordship. The full realization of this is yet to come, but we need to know that we can see it come true to the fullest extent this side of eternity when we speak His name in the face of all that comes against us, because all that comes against us cannot stand before His name. Yet how many of us can believe this so that we speak it to all that does come against us, and continues to come against us?

That name. That beautiful, wonderful, powerful name. Jesus. It is the name above all names. Let us, each day, each moment, be found lifting up the name of Jesus, and discover how in doing so, He lifts us above all that stands against us.

He has so many names in Scripture: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Healer, Strong Tower, Savior. He is all these and infinitely more. That Name. There is something about that Name. Let us enter into the full reality of that Name. It starts by simply saying His Name; Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Almighty

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." Revelation 1:8

....."Nothing....can perturb the one who is built upon God." Oswald Chambers

Throughout Scripture there are so many instances where the Father says in essence, "I Am God Almighty." He says this to His people in seemingly endless ways and in every kind of situation. With this being so, you would think that we, His people, would live in a steadfast confidence in this truth. So why don't we? Why don't you?

To be Almighty means that there is no limit, no boundary to His power. No limit or boundary upon how He can and will work. No limit upon the means He has of bringing deliverance, meeting a desperate need, or invading hopeless circumstances. It also means that there is no opponent that He has not already overcome. It means that all the power of the devil, his demons, and his hell cannot, never could, and never will, defeat Him. And if this is true of Him, then it must also be true of His people, you and me, as we live in Him.

So many people came to Christ with what were, in their and others eyes, impossible situations. One such in the Bible presented their desperate need, and asked, "If You can do anything, please help." Jesus replied, "If I can? All things are possible to him who believes." This is the crux of our problem. We have such a struggle to believe. We doubt His ability, and worse, His willingness to help us. Jesus said that nothing is impossible with God. I've a friend that said we need to move from the realm of possibility thinking, which limits us to what we think is possible, to the place of thinking that nothing is impossible when God is the center of the equation. This makes us look not at the impossibility, but upon the God of the impossible. This is what it is to live in the realm of Almighty God. My heart longs to live there. How about yours?

So many of us are looking at these days of darkness seeing only the darkness. God would have us look for His Light. Light that overwhelms all darkness. His Light may only appear as a small blink on a far horizon, but it is His Light, and it is Almighty Light. That which appears only a pinprick of light is mightier than all the darkness of this world through all the ages of this world combined. God challenges us to live in that truth in the face of circumstances that completely deny it. Will we be up to that challenge? Only in Christ will we.

These are four words that I want to hear moment by moment if need be: "I Am God Almighty." I want to hear them in all of my need, as I face all of my giants and mountains, as I step into the darkness. In Exodus, it was said of Moses that "He stepped into the deep darkness, where God was." Let us hold fast to that truth. However deep the darkness, let us not fear it. Let us step into it, knowing that in it, we will discover He who is already there, and who is Lord over all darkness. Himself, God Almighty.

Blessings,

Pastor O 

The Lack

 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins." Ephesians 2:1....."If a bloody beaten Savior hanging from a crude, splintery cross is a picture of judgement, the sin under judgement must have been enormous, catastrophic, and deadly......we don't understand grace until we understand sin." Chris Tiegreen

God, speaking through His prophet, said to His people Israel, "My people are perishing because of their lack of knowledge." Knowledge of who He was, who they were, what they were without Him, and what they could be in Him. Eventually, Israel went into captivity, suffering terrible loss in it. Countless thousands died in the process. I think that we believers are in a very similar place here in the west. We are perishing due to our lack of knowledge....of Him, of our deep spiritual need, and of our general ignorance of that which is integral to a living faith..

Francis Chan has said that "nowhere in the Bible does it say that you simply pray a prayer and you will be saved, converted, transformed." I once wrote this in another devotional and a young college girl responded, challenging that, using the Scripture, "If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, you will be saved." In this she was showing her basic ignorance of truth. Saying words, even biblical ones does not save us, or make us His. This can come about only as a result of an inner work of transformation carried out by His Holy Spirit. It comes when we recognize our condition apart from Him, confess not only our need for Him, but the hopelessness of a life apart from Him, and Invite Him to enter into our hearts and bring His healing, wholeness, and transformation. It involves confession, repentance, and a wholehearted desire to be made new. To step out of what leads to death and into He who gives life. Some time later, that same young lady was engaged in debate with another believer, defending the "right" of someone to live in what His Word clearly identifies as sin, yet were saved by grace because they had prayed the above prayer. There was no evidence of a transformed life, but they had prayed the prayer. I can't think of a clearer description of perishing for lack of knowledge than that. Yet a growing number within the church are perishing, and too few seem overly concerned about it.

We are failing to understand and state the grievous nature and result of sin. Countless preachers neglect this every Sunday. We are also steadily watering down the message of grace until the meaning of the cross and its necessity is diminished, and even lost.. People are being invited into a costless faith that focuses on a Jesus who in no way resembles the Christ of Scripture. He tolerates everything, judges nothing, and confronts the sin of no one. As a result, we have no real understanding of the message of the cross, the cost to the Three in One God in it, and the power of His shed blood for us. Grace is free and it is also cheap. And we have dishonored, diminished, and I think, disgusted God in all of it.

We love the hymn "Amazing Grace," but we rarely grasp the lyric, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." We don't like to think of ourselves as wretched without Him. We prefer thinking of ourselves as "pretty good folks," who are made even better by adding Christ to our lives. And so we are deceived and ignorant as to the power of sin, our captivity to it, and the power of His grace and blood to set us free from all of it.

We see the awful effects of all this in the condition of the church overall. The fading message of holiness of life, an ever decreasing awareness of the supernatural life and power of God, and an ongoing diminishing of His miraculous works in our midst. We talk about having an abundant life while having little idea as to what true abundance is. We live in desperate lack and don't know it. We are perishing for lack of knowledge.

My challenge for each of us is, how true is any of this in our lives, our families, and our church fellowships? Where have we compromised His message? Where have we made a truce with a sin? Where are we living at peace with the enemy of our soul? Where do we need a fresh visit, perhaps a first visit, to His cross?

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Microscope

 "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

The Ganges River is considered to be a sacred and holy river by the Hindu faith. Leonard Ravenhill tells the story of a Indian chemist that put a drop of its water under a microscope and saw that it was alive with bacteria. The shocked chemist contacted a Sadhu, which is a Hindu holy man and had him look through the microscope, where he too saw the "defiling" germs. Ravenhill relates that when the chemist turned his back, the Sadhu threw the microscope to the floor, shattering it. "The view had been too revealing." Ravenhill writes, "This is why sinners shun the Bible - it is too revealing. This is why believers back away from some Bible truths - they are too demanding."

How likely are you and I to sincerely invite the Father to search our hearts in the manner outlined in Psalm 139? In too many cases, the "view" is too revealing for us. Like the Sadhu, we would rather carry on with the illusion that we, like the Ganges River, are not really what such searching reveals. There could not be that much corruption. There couldn't be that much rottenness in our soul. There couldn't be......could there?

The verses from Psalm 139 have been preached on and heard, perhaps even prayed by many of us. Somehow, in too many instances, we've never truly heard or carried out the prayer. But I believe God is bringing first His people to the place of having it done in our hearts. The rottenness and corruption can no longer be denied, though we've done a remarkable job of trying to. In our culture alone we are seeing a level of anger, hatred, and violence, that is destroying us from within. The church is not immune from it, and sadly, in many cases has been a part of it. We need His cleansing, but His cleansing cannot come until we finally admit what is present. We've "shattered" enough "microscopes" in denial.

What has been lurking within our hearts, as well as the heart of the church in America, must be brought out into the light. His Light.

The political, social, and economic divide in our society is tearing us apart. That divide has found its way into the church. So deep do some of our feelings and views go that we, who are brothers and sister in Christ, fear to speak or say anything that might arouse anger in a fellow believer. Once it was said that two believers could agree to disagree, agreeably. That is a rare thing in these days. Strife within the Body is often just a word away, and the truth of all this is, if it is only a word away, then it already exists in our midst.

I remember as a young believer listening to a missionary tell of a fellow missionary who would explode into anger with little or no provocation. He said that the ones he was to minister to called him, "Rev, Gunpowder," for this tendency to easily implode I believe our fellowships are now crowded with brother and sister Gunpowders, ready to explode not only over the things listed above, but upon anything that can touch a nerve, or trigger a dislike. Anger and hatred are simmering just beneath the surface of too many lives, and so, too many fellowships. It has been tolerated long enough. We can no longer smash the microscope. We must admit to the inner defilement, yield it up to the One who sees it all anyway, and be cleansed. Be made whole. Be made pure.

Where are you and I avoiding the microscope of His searching spirit. What spiritual bacteria is clinging to our heart and soul? So many who revere the Ganges as holy, are made sick and even die from the bacteria it contains. What "death" is at work in us because we refuse to admit to its presence?

No doubt the Ganges was once a river flowing with pure, clean water, but centuries of abuse and defilement by both humans and animals have turned into a breeding ground of disease and even death. Where has a similar work taken place in us? Where does spiritual disease thrive in us? May the river of His Life flow through us, washing it all away. May we come to Him and simply say, "Lord, let Your river flow to me, in me, and through me. Let Your river flow.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Chain Music

 'Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord." Ephesians 5:19

In an old interview with Richard Wurmbrand, author of the classic, "Tortured For Christ," Wurmbrand tells of the many times he and his fellow Christians, held in chains in prison, would sit together in their cell and sing songs of praise and worship to their Lord. He said, "And our jailers provided us with musical instruments with which to accompany our songs. As we sang, we would provide a melody by hitting our wrist shackles upon each other or the floor." They used the very symbol of their captivity as a means of worshiping the Father. Their chains were used to make music to God. Chain music.

I often wonder what the melody of our lives sounds like to Him? What does it sound like to those around us, to brothers and sisters in Christ? Few are so gifted as to have a beautiful voice, but all of us can offer up beautiful soul music to Him, and we can do so in all places. Even the darkest ones. Yet we rarely do. All of us have had the experience of listening to someone sing who had no ability to do so. It was a trial upon both our ears and spirit. How many would say the same about the broken melodies that come from our hearts and spirits?

I'm heavily convicted by Wurmbrand's story. I have read many others like it. Stories from Chinese believers, imprisoned and tortured by their communist overlords. I have heard them from Christian missionaries, kidnapped and abused by Muslim radicals. I have heard these stories from so many different sources, yet does my story come close to resembling theirs? Does yours? Life in this fallen world has a seeming endless means of placing chains upon our wrists, legs, and spirits. Have we ever lifted them up, in whatever form they come, and offer them in worship to Him? Have we ever played chain music to Him?

All who have heard the story in the Book of Acts of Paul and Silas' unjust imprisonment. Placed in the darkest and deepest part of the prison, beaten and bloody, they sang songs of praise to the Lord. So moved were their fellow prisoners, that though an earthquake brought the walls of the prison down, all, including Paul and Silas remained in their cells. Praise, worship, does such to the walls that press in on us, to the chains that seek to hold us, when we offer them in worship to Him. The Bible relates that the jailer and his family all came to Christ as a result of all this. I believe that their fellow prisoners did as well. Such is the power of our witness when our lives sing with power of our chain music.

No one feels like singing and praising in their pain and hardship. To do so requires and act of our will. But if we will, we find that He, through His Holy Spirit, provides the music and the song, and He will do so through the very chains and circumstances of our pain. It is recorded that so many of the Christian martyrs of the first century, killed in the arena in Rome, died while singing songs of worship to their God. May the songs that coursed through their hearts course through ours. May we cease with our "songs" of complaint, self-pity, and self absorption, and release a melody unto Him, each other, and a watching world, that contains indescribable beauty. We'll all sing some kind of song today. What will be yours?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Nowhere To Hide

 But Peter and John replied, 'Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We cannot stop talking about the wonderful things we have seen and heard." Act 4:19-20...."We can expect views that differ from those of the thought police will be boycotted, shamed, and outed. But we will not be silenced. We will endure the shame, the ridicule, the penalties. We will be heard, and we pray that the church will speak with one voice." Erwin Lutzer

This morning I listened to a video of Pastor Erwin Lutzer being interviewed concerning his book, "We Will Not Be Silenced." It had to do with what the church may expect to be coming in the near future, indeed, right now. The seeds for it were planted long ago, and the fruit of them will be seen in our midst. It is coming to the place where the one who is truly Christ's will not have any place to hide. Our witness must be real. We will be counted as His, or not His. Casual Christianity, which is an oxymoron, but made possible by our weak message and witness, will no longer be an option. Costless discipleship will be no more. The cross, long absent from much of the western church, will reappear, and we will have to carry it. Are you and I ready for it, because ready or not, it is upon us.

I love the words of Peter and John to the Jewish religious leadership. They spoke these words after the resurrection and Pentecost, when His Holy Spirit was poured out. They, and the other believers had been giving powerful witness of His resurrection and thousands were coming to Christ. The leader's place and control were threatened, so they in turn threatened Peter and John with death should they continue to proclaim their message of life. Thus their reply, that they would obey God and not man. And here is what is key in that reply; they would not stop proclaiming all the wonders that they had seen and heard from and in Jesus Christ. This will be your challenge and mine, because our faith will be strengthened by what we have seen and what we will continue to see and hear. If we are seeing nothing and hearing nothing, than we have nothing to tell about, and nothing to stand upon. Perhaps this is the great problem of the western church? Too few of us have seen, heard, and beheld His wonders, and so we have little or nothing to proclaim.

The church is going to be finding itself in the midst of an increasingly hostile culture. How are we going to respond to the hostility? Without a doubt, we have to realize that the resistance stems from sin, blindness, and rebellion. These will not be overcome by political or social activism. Neither will they be overcome by the church simply being loving and caring. We are to speak the truth in love, but we must understand that a culture in love with its sin will not see such words as loving. It will hate the church that speaks them, and use every means to silence it.

I repeat what I have written before. God is calling us to war, but it is a war fought on our knees, with the weapons of the Kingdom. He has promised that the gates of hell will not stand against the people of the Kingdom. Are we, you and I, those people?

I close this piece with this story from Richard Wurmbrand, author of "Tortured For Christ." Wurmbrand, a Romanian, was in a communist prison simply for the crime of being a Christian. One of his cellmates had been horribly tortured to the point where he was dying. Lying nearby was the very man who'd been his torturer. He himself had been accused by another of crimes against the state and was now imprisoned and suffering torture himself. He too was dying. As he lay dying, he had been overwhelmed by the witness of life and love he'd seen this man and other believers. He asked if the man that he'd tortured would pray for him. That man, barely able to walk, crawled to his bed, held him in his arms, while stroking his hair, and led Him to Christ. Wurmbrand said, "The murdered ministered to his murderer." This is how we will overcome. By the power of His Word, our witness, and His life and love. Victory in Jesus!

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Rebuke

 When James and John heard about it, they said to Jesus, 'Lord, should we order down fire from heaven to burn them up?' But Jesus turned and rebuked them." Luke 9:54-55

Jesus and His disciples were heading to Jerusalem, and they were traveling through Samaria. Samaritans were a mixed blood people, the descendants of Jews who intermarried with the non-Jewish people who populated the land after Israel was carried away into exile by the Babylonians. Jews and Samaritans despised each other. As a result, when Jesus sent ahead asking a Samaritan village if He and His followers could stay there, they denied Him because He was a Jew and was heading to the hated city of Jerusalem. The brothers James and John, thinking they would be doing a righteous work, asked if they could call down fire on the village and destroy the people. Jesus rebuked them because they were exhibiting a spirit not from His Kingdom, but from hell. We who identify as His, do well to ponder how this applies to us. What spirit are many of us walking in today? Where are we earning His rebuke.

My heart grieves with a deep heaviness over what has been unfolding in our nation over the last decade and a half, though the seeds for it were planted long before. What happened yesterday in Washington D.C. is only a symptom of what has been brewing for a long time. Our culture is soaked in a spirit of hate and anger. This is a tragedy, but the greater tragedy is that many in the Church have been swept up in that spirit as well. We see it in the rhetoric of both sides of the political and social spectrum. Hate, and all the violence that springs from it, comes naturally to those without Christ. It is to be totally alien for the one who calls themselves one of His.

The burning, looting, violence, chaos, and hatred we have been seeing unfold before our eyes comes straight out of the devil's "gameplan." Decades ago C.S. Lewis wrote The Screwtape Letters, an account of how the demons of hell work through the minds and hearts of men to bring about destruction. It is all about how the enemy manipulates humans to bring about his desired end, and my friends, that's exactly what he's doing right now. And too many of God's people have been swept up in this manipulation. Have been deceived.

I confess that I have been angered by the actions of those I would consider being on the opposite side politically and socially from where I stand. I know too that this anger can be stoked by a media committed to manipulating me, you, to carry out the purposes of the enemy who very much works through it. If I do not live with my heart and mind guarded by His Spirit, by the armor of God outlined in Ephesians 6, then I know that I too will walk in the same spirit as did James and John. The spirit that wants to destroy my "enemies," who are not my real enemies at all. As His Word says, we don't war against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces in high places who work through fallen flesh. God forgive me for where I've permitted them to work through my flesh. Like James and John, I've earned His rebuke. Have you? In fact, it's not a question of if you have, but where you have?

Jesus rebuked the brothers because they were not moving in the Spirit of the Kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of this world. As His Word says, the anger of men will not accomplish the righteousness of God. We cannot have victory by fighting with worldly weapons, but with heavenly ones. Our anger cannot be carnal, but must be righteous, and directed not at people, but at the demonic kingdom that seeks to control and destroy all humankind.

The Church can have only one response in this time. We must rise up in the power of His Holy Spirit, and in that power, the power of risen lives, lift up the name of Jesus Christ. He said that where He was lifted up, He would draw all men to Himself. Too much of the church has been living and acting in the flesh. We haven't been lifting up Christ at all. I am talking of living out a faith and life rooted in Him, His holiness and righteousness. A life so God filled the world can't deny it. A life that in every way points to Christ Himself. I want to live that life, and I repent of all that has kept me from living it. Do you? Will you?

Let's be done with the ways of the flesh, and walk in the way of the Spirit. Let's stop living lives that bring His rebuke, and live ones that bring His approval. Let's repent of wanting to call down destroying fire on those we believe are against us, and instead call for His Holy Fire to fall upon a church in desperate need of it. A fire that destroys all inner corruption and leaves us whole and holy. That fire brings no rebuke. That fire is needed now.

Blessings, Pastor O

Real Jesus

 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is. I John 3:2 ......."I want Jesus. The real Jesus." John Eldredge

I know the apostle John speaks of a future time in the above verse, but I believe that the promise of that verse can also be realized, as fully as possible, right now. We in the church, as well as those in the world, are in desperate need of seeing Jesus "as He really is." We need Jesus, the real Jesus. Not the hippie Jesus, the cool Jesus, the inoffensive Jesus, the tame Jesus. Though the world and a too large segment of the church seek to present Him as such, He is none of these. He is no domesticated Lion. He is Jesus, wild and free. As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, He is not safe, but He is good.

Our flesh likes to come up with a Jesus we can live with. A Jesus who doesn't intrude too much upon our personal lives, business, and conduct. He's always at our disposal, but we are not at His. This Jesus understands our weakness and makes great allowances for it. He doesn't speak much about sin, or holiness, or the need for repentance. He does talk a lot about having a positive self-image, and our having as much material and financial blessing as we can. He came to not only save us, but to give us good lives that contain as little suffering as possible. He makes few demands, and He knows His place. This Jesus also keeps silent about His cross. He bore His, but we are never expected to bear ours as well. Yes, this is a Jesus we can live with. The problem is that such a Jesus doesn't exist, and Jesus, the real Jesus will not, cannot live with us on such terms.

More, the real Jesus exhibits real, supernatural power. He does miracles, and He often does them through His people. The real Jesus has no limits on His power, the extent of His rule and of His victory. The real Jesus will not keep silent about injustice or corruption. The real Jesus doesn't fear the consequences of proclaiming truth. The real Jesus doesn't fear confrontation or the conflict that can arise from His confronting ingrown darkness with His brilliant light. The real Jesus is total Life conquering total death. The real Jesus can't be kept in the pages of a Bible, or a box, or a tomb. The real Jesus is always free to be fully real to you and to me

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Only when we see and receive this real Jesus will a lost world be able to see Him through us. He is both Gentle Shepherd and Mighty Warrior. He is the Loving Servant as well as Majestic King. He invites us to freely come to His Presence, but to do so with fear and trembling. He is Savior, but He is also Lord. He forgives, but He also judges. He is Christ the King, and our need of Him has never been greater.

My heart resonates with the longing of Eldredge's. I want Jesus, the real Jesus. Do you? Or, will you seek the one who is more user friendly to our flesh? One is real, the other doesn't exist. Which does your heart long for?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Resolved

 "This one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead." Philippians 3:13

Someone said that we make countless resolutions, but we never resolve anything. Most of us find this to be true every January. We make a resolution involving change, but little if anything in our lives changes. Big or small, major or minor, we mostly stay the same, plodding on in our spiritual and emotional mediocrity, or worse, regressing more and more into death and darkness. We make resolutions with good intentions, but lack the will to live them out because we lack the power to live them out. So we close the year in the same condition, or worse, that we entered into it.

This is not what it is to be for a believer, yet too often, it is. Why?

A great part of the answer is that we are blind to what the real root issues are. They are not really physical or even mental, but spiritual. We are spiritual beings held captive by a spiritual darkness that works through the physical and mental. This captivity will not be broken by our own will. Yes, the human will can be strong and even throw off certain behaviors and addictions, but even those who have done so continue to see themselves as only a step, bad choice, or failure away from returning to that captivity. The captive continues to see themselves as captives. Neither their mind or their spirit ever really becomes free.

Most of us though do not possess a will that can at least on the surface, break free. We try, and even make it a ways before falling. Often we expect to fail. We don't really believe we can be free. Sometimes, we don't really want to be free. We've made the resolution, but we've not resolved the actual issue. We've not come to that place where we do the "one thing." The one thing above all things. The one thing that can only happen in Christ.

Someone said "give me the one thing I do, rather than the thousand things I dabble in." Our fallen natures have made us dabblers. In Christ we are given abundant life and full freedom, but we must resolve to live in it. We can't dabble in that life, but must enter into it with all our hearts. Nothing can be more desired than that life. It comes with the fullness of His Spirit, and as another said, "If there is anything in your life that you desire more than being filled with His Holy Spirit, you will never be filled with His Holy Spirit." Those who live in the fullness of His Spirit have resolved that they would allow nothing to keep them from that fullness. In the resolving, they received the fullness. Victory, freedom, healing, cleansing, transformation, all of these will take place in us when we resolve that we shall have them. When we resolve to do so, we surrender all that would keep us from them. We become empty of all the obstacles to His fullness so that we might be filled with all that is Him. We're no longer dabblers, but partakers.

Issues. We all have them. It's part of living in a fallen world. What we do with these issues is key. Do we make resolutions about them, or resolve them in Christ? Each of us have "issues" that have caused us pain and harm. Very likely, our resolutions to overcome them hasn't worked. We dabbled in overcoming them, but eventually, succumbed to them once more. Let us cease the dabbling. Let us bring the issues to Him, and in Him, resolve them once and for all. His Word promises that He makes all things new. It is time, past time, for Him to do so in us. Let Him write, by His Spirit, "resolved" over them. May this new year be truly new for all of us.

Blessings,

Kiss The Wave

 "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33...."We must kiss the wave that throws us against the Rock of Ages." Charles Spurgeon

I think one of the most violent sights in the natural world is that of mighty ocean waves crashing against the rocks of the shore. It is beautiful and terrible. Certainly, anything that is thrown against those rocks will suffer wreckage. Throughout history, ships have been torn to pieces on the rocks that the waves threw them upon. For you and me, we must be aware that the waves and the rocks of life are real, and that at some point, maybe many points, we will be thrown upon these rocks by the waves of life. God's own will not be immune. However, if we are His, we will find that the rocks we crash upon are composed of the One who is the Rock of Ages. Of all ages.

It is our natural inclination to fear the waves of life. When we are caught up in them, all our sense of control is lost. We are at their mercy. We can see the looming rocks of the shore as they carry us towards them. We are sure that the rocks will tear us apart just as they would a mighty ship. They will, but here is the glory in it. When the rocks we crash upon are the Lord Himself, we can be sure that He will take what we think is wreckage and rebuild it all into something beautiful, something better. When we know this, we really can "kiss the wave" for it has brought us into a deeper knowledge, a deeper relationship with Him. We are not the same. We are more.

This past year contained waves that were bent upon our destruction. Certainly our great enemy satan meant them for such. But just as Scripture says, what the enemy meant for our harm, God means for our good. If we break upon the rocks, it is our self-reliance, our self-absorption, our self-life in general that He means to be broken. He means to use the breaking to replace all that with His life, Christ life. We find that the Rock only destroyed that which was harming us, replacing it with that which makes for real life. In the waves, in the crashing, we learn of how powerless we really are, and how Almighty He really is. He takes our broken pieces and makes us into something, someone, who is truly whole. When we realize this, we really can "kiss the wave" that sent us crashing against the Rock that is our Saviour.

The waves of 2021 will be inevitable. So too will be the rocks. What happens when we break upon them will be our choice. We can suffer spiritual shipwreck, or be spiritually remade. He who is the Rock also controls the waves. If we will trust Him as we also yield to the waves, He will use those waves to carry us above and beyond what we thought possible in life. Upon those rocks, we will discover a Christ we never knew. A life we never knew. When that happens, we will "kiss the waves," because they brought us into a deeper fullness in Him.

Blessings,

Pastor O

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