Shining Faces

 "At this point everyone in the council stared at Stephen because his face had become as bright as an angel's." Acts 6:15....

"But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's right hand." Acts 7:55...."Those who have truly seen Christ in His glory have eyes for nothing else." A.W. Tozer

In telling of Moses' encounters with God, the Bible speaks of how he would emerge from these times with his face shining. In fact, so impacted was he with the glory of God that he had to cover his face, so brightly did it shine. When I remember that story, and the above account of Stephen's trial before the Jewish religious leaders for his testimony and faith in Christ, I'm impressed with several thoughts. First, I must ask of myself and His church, do our faces shine with the reflection of His glory? Glory that can only come as a result of spending intimate time in His Presence. Second, if we do not, why do we not?

I am not speaking so much of a literal shining, though certainly that can be so, such is His glory. I speak of a kind of shining that is not so much virtual as it is spiritual. One cannot deny the effect of being in the company of those who are intimate with Almighty God. They radiate that presence. They "shine" with His peace, joy, hope, and love. We are drawn to such people. Their words carry impact because those words are filled with His life. They shine so brightly that even unbelievers are drawn to them. They may not be able to identify why they are drawn, but they know there is something about this person that pulls upon their hearts and souls. Jesus, throughout His earthly ministry showed forth with this light because He was Himself Light. That same light is given unto and into all those who truly come to faith in Him. Why then, do so few of us shine with His light?

The reasons for this seem endless. Certainly we choke His light with the amount of darkness we permit into our lives. We live in a sin drenched world, and too often and too easily we compromise with it, diminishing the flame of His light within. We often allow ourselves to get caught up in the busyness, the pressures, the demands of living day to day in a fallen world. When these demands take the high place in our lives, His light begins to fade. If we give ourselves over entirely to them, His light can be snuffed out. We can give ourselves over to simply pursuing what it is we call "a good life." Having it, pursuing it wholeheartedly will slowly but surely quench the light. All of these and more will steal the shine from our lives, spirits, and witness. Where might this be taking place in us?

The followers of Christ ought to be known as "The People of the Shining Face." Perhaps not literally, but certainly it should be a primary identification of those who are His. Does it identify you and me? We cannot afford to miss the impact of such a witness. When the angry Jewish council members removed their outer coats in order to pick up stones to kill Stephen, they deposited those coats at the feet of Saul of Tarsus. Saul, who was heartily in agreement with what they were doing. This Saul was eventually confronted on the Damascus Road by the risen Christ, and there was converted and transformed. There can be no doubt that the seeds of his conversion were planted by what he saw that day on the shining face of Stephen. Saul the murderer, became Paul, the apostle of the heart. He too became a Shining Face for Christ.

Who needs to see our shining faces today, and who will see them? What is quenching His light in our lives today, and for how much longer will we allow it to be so? God is calling a lost world to Himself, and He will do it through the light He shines through His church, His people. Can His voice, light, and life be seen and heard through ours? Or will we fail, again today, to shine? Tozer says that if we have truly beheld His glory, we will have eyes for nothing else. What do you and I have eyes for? His face, His glory, His light.....or something else?

Blessings,

Pastor O

How Long?

 "I brought him to Your disciples, but they couldn't heal him. " Jesus replied, "You unbelieving and rebellious generation! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to Me." Matthew 17:16-17....."Jesus gave His disciples the power to cast out demons and to perform miracles....yet they became so self-centered that they lost the power to do the work of God." Henry Blackaby

I think most of us fail to grasp what Jesus is saying here, and what is actually going on: A father had brought his tormented son to Jesus' followers in order that he might be healed of his demonic affliction. As Scripture states, Jesus had already given His disciples the power to do so, yet they couldn't. In response, He issued a rebuke. Not to the father or any of the others who might be looking on, but to the disciples themselves. They were the ones that had been given the ability to minister in miraculous and powerful ways, but they were unable to do so. Blackaby states the reason for their powerlessness; they had been consumed with competing with one another as to who would be the greatest among them. Who would have the most effective ministry. Who would be the closest to Jesus himself. How like them are we, and how powerless have we become because of it?

We who are the church, the Body of Christ, have been given the same power and authority that was given the disciples. We are to minister healing and deliverance to a world held in captivity by sin and its effects. How effective have we been in that? Jesus had tasked His disciples with His "agenda," but they'd become consumed with their own. Where have we done, and continue to do the same? Blackaby writes, "God ought to be able to send hurting persons to any child of His and expect they will be helped." Can He send them to me, to you? Can they be sent to the fellowship you're a part of, that I'm a part of? Or have we become so entangled by our own ambitions, or distracted by our busyness and desires that we can't see them, and lack the power to help even when we do? Where have we earned, and continue to earn the rebuke of Christ?

Elsewhere in His Word, Jesus asked, "What good is salt if it has lost its saltiness?" We are to be healing, purifying salt in the midst of a terribly wounded and bleeding world. People are placed before us every day, but we too often see them as human interruptions instead of divine appointments. The church is to function as a healing center for the sick and dying, but how many truly see us as that? Do we even see ourselves as that? When we gather in our corporate settings, how many of us really expect to find His healing and transformation in these gatherings? Do we expect to be vessels of His healing, restoration, and transformation? Do we expect it ourselves? Can He expect us to be so? Do we earn His rebuke anew each day?

I think He's been asking us "How long?" for some time now. How long will we continue to be more powerless than powerful? How long will we be consumed with self-centered agendas and "ministries?" How long will we continue to be a pale imitation of what we were raised up to be? Everywhere about us are fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sisters, and brothers who, in desperation, seek to bring their broken loved ones to us in hopes of finding healing and life. All that they need for life and freedom has been given us in order to give to them. The father in the above Scripture found His disciples unable to help him. Who is finding us unable as well? How long will this continue to be so?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Will He?

 "But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on earth who have faith?" Luke 18:8...."Christ is not coming back for a defeated, whining, moaning, broken, and divided church, but a glorious and overcoming one." Samuel Rodriguez

What kind of faith do you think Jesus was speaking of in Luke 18:8? Do you think he meant the kind of weak-kneed, compromising, lukewarm type that we so much of in the contemporary church? Is such "faith" really faith at all? Have we deceived ourselves into thinking that it is?

There are a number of different strains of theological thought as to what conditions will be prevailing in and around the church when Christ does return, as the Bible clearly states that He will. All of their proponents believe they can find sufficient Scriptural evidence to support these views. It's not my purpose here to debate any of them, or even express my personal belief, other than to say that I am looking for His return, as His Word instructs, and that I believe that the faith He expects to see in His church bears no resemblance to that mentioned above. How could He? Why would He? No, I believe that when He returns, He will find His people living a strong, vibrant, overcoming faith. The question for each of us is, will He find it in us?

Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church. Too many of us have adopted a view that is opposite to that. The church is to be assaulting the strongholds of hell and the devil, and these are found everywhere in our culture. The foundation of all of them is built upon lies. Lies that originate with the Father of Lies, Satan. We are not to passively hole up in our church buildings and try to keep the enemy out. We're to engage him wherever he's found. We do it by speaking His truth in love. We deconstruct the foundation of lies. We do it by refusing to be silenced, though he is working mightily to do just that at this very moment. We don't attack the people through whom he works, and who have been deceived. We come against, in Holy Spirit power, the demonic strongholds he's established. The kind of milktoast faith described above will never be up to the battle. Will we be up to that battle?

Our culture has fallen to its present state mainly because the church has failed to be the church as commanded by Christ. We have not been one in Christ. We've been so wrapped up in bickering about our differences, telling each other that we're the ones who are closest to Him. I personally embrace a Wesleyan-Arminian theology and view of Scripture. This will cause some real difference in interpretation with my Calvinist brothers. Yet none of these differences will cause them to cease to be my brothers. Too many of us act as if it does. I also would differ from my Charismatic and Pentecostal brethren as to how they believe what the fullness of His Spirit entails, but again, none of the difference causes them to cease to be my brethren. We are one in Christ, but our petty arguments have tarnished our witness and weakened our presence in the culture. We need to repent of this, and come together as His triumphant people, and pull down the enemy's strongholds. The time for it is now. We've already wasted too much time. The enemy grew stronger, and bolder, while we grew weaker and more timid.

I don't know if His return will be tomorrow or a thousand years from now. What I do sense and know is that He is calling His church to leave our comfortable "faith" and begin to live a radical one, which only seems radical to us because we've lived such a comfortable one. I want to live in such faith, always looking for His sure return, and always speaking and living His truth, even when the world seeks to silence me. Especially when it seeks to silence me. To silence us. This is the faith He expects to find. It is the only faith that will stand in the testing that is upon us and will likely grow more severe. Will He find such faith in you? In me? In us?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Broken

"God reminded His people, 'These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite (broken) in spirit, and who tremble at my word." Isaiah 66:2

Both the book and the movie titled "Unbroken" were massive hits with the public. They tell of the remarkable story of Louie Zamperini, the World War 2 flyer captured by the Japanese, and who, despite terrible tortures by his captors, remained unbroken in his resistance to their brutality. Yet the movie never really goes beyond the story of his resistance. It doesn't detail his life after he was freed from the prisoner camp he was held in. It doesn't tell of his terrible struggles with alcohol, depression, anger, and abuse towards his wife. It doesn't tell of the continual downward spiral of his life until one night, he attended a Billy Graham crusade and there had a life transforming encounter with His Savior, Jesus Christ.

The result of this encounter was that he was delivered of his addiction to alcohol, cigarettes, and even more, of his deep seated anger and violence towards his wife and loved ones, and especially, his hatred towards his former captors. Captors, especially the one who had been his chief tormentor, that he sought to seek out, forgive, and find reconciliation with. We tend to celebrate his unbroken will, but we miss, or just ignore, the cost to him and those who loved him, of that unbroken will. That unbroken will was destroying his life. It was not until that night at the crusade, where he was broken before Christ, that real victory and freedom came to Him. It took a number of years before he came to that place. How long will it take us?

Where are the places in our hearts where we are unbroken before Him? Are we unbroken as concerns the abuses and wounds of our past, filled with anger and bitterness over them? Are we unbroken in our attitudes towards authority in any form, even God's? Are we unbroken in our refusal to love those in our lives who to us are unlovable? Are we simply unbroken in our refusal to surrender our will to His? All of these and more can form hard and unbroken places and attitudes before Him and all those around us. They cripple us emotionally and spiritually, and at times, even physically. Where are we unbroken? Will we remain so?

Isaiah 66 says that His favor is upon the humble and broken, and even more, who tremble at His word. The unbroken do not tremble at His word. Nor do they fear Him. Such heart attitudes will never bring forth His favor upon us. Yes, His love is unchanging, but His favor is not. Do we have any concept of what we are missing when we walk through this life lacking the fullness of His favor? We cannot earn that favor, but neither can we receive it when we willingly walk against His light, and hold to those things that we know, no matter how we justify them, are sins against His love and life.

The camp that held Louie Zamperini was liberated in 1945, but he didn't find freedom until that night in 1952, when, broken before Christ, he found it in the forgiving, freeing grace of the Lord. He had left the prison camp physically, but his mind and spirit still dwelt in a cell he'd never be able to free himself from. At the cross, the unbroken was now broken.

Leonard Ravenhill said, "At all costs, Satan tried to divert Christ from the cross." Louie Zamperini resisted all of his wife's invitations to attend the crusade with her, but finally, against his wishes, gave in. There, at His cross, despite all the enemy's attempts to divert him from it, he was broken. Where is the devil succeeding in diverting you from that same cross? Where do you resist brokenness in Him? Christ's Body was broken for us. Where must we be broken for and in Him?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Alive!

"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." I Corinthians 15:22

Pastor and evangelist Samuel Rodriguez tells the story of an experience involving his daughter. All of his family had contracted Covid-19, and all but his daughter, who had just had a baby, came through with little problem. His daughter had to be hospitalized, and her condition deteriorated to the point of her needing a ventilator to keep her breathing. Rodriguez said that all he could do in his feelings of helplessness was cry out to God, saying "Lord, I don't know what to do, but I am looking to you." He continued in that prayer until one day his daughter texted him, "Dad, heaven has invaded my room." Rodriguez felt deep, freeing power as a result, and it wasn't long after this that his daughter left the hospital and was picked up by her family. Instead of going directly to her home, she asked them to drive to a nearby lake. Though puzzled, they complied. When they got there, she got out of the car, walked to the lakeshore, and placed a tentative foot in the water. Then, to their complete amazement, she dove in, and then rose up crying, "I'm alive!" It was a celebration in which the entire family joined. Rodriguez saw it as an example as to how the redeemed, those transferred from the power of death and darkness into His Light and Life, should live.

Apart from Christ, we may have physical life, but we are spiritually dead. With Adam's sin and rebellion, sin and death entered into the human race, a race powerless to deliver itself. Christ came that we might be free, have life, and "have it abundantly." Abundant life is what we are given in Jesus Christ, but it is a tragedy that so many who profess to have received this life continue to live as if they are still in captivity to death. Rodriguez's daughter knew how close to death she had been. It gave her an overwhelming desire to live, and above all, to fully live in Him. Thus her exclamation of joy; "I'm alive!" This ought to be the exclamation, the statement, the witness and testimony of every truly converted believer. We are alive! The power and sting of death has been broken, and it has been broken over and in me, in us! It is for the people of God to show a lost and dying world what life really looks like. Are we, you and I, showing that world what life, His life, truly is?

It ought to be, must be, our witness in every day that we are alive. We are filled with His life. Whether we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, or dwell on the mountaintop of victory, our testimony must be that we are alive. We cannot make this testimony based on feelings and emotions, which come and go, but upon the reality of what it is that He has done in us. When the disciples saw the empty tomb, and beheld the risen Christ, they told all they encountered that, "The Lord is risen! He's alive." That resurrection life is given to everyone who believes in Him. Our lives are to be a testimony and witness to the reality that He lives, that He is risen. He is risen indeed!

It is said that Martin Luther, the great reformer, was once under so heavy a burden that it sent him into deep emotional and spiritual depression. One morning his wife appeared before him dressed in mourning clothes. He asked her why she was clothed so? She replied that it was obvious he believed that the risen Christ no longer lived, and that he gave witness to death, not life. Chastened, Luther repented of his despair, and once more not only looked to His risen Lord, but manifested His risen life in his own. We can do no less. Let us proclaim this day, and every day, to a world that desperately needs to hear it, "I'm alive!' And because we are alive in Him, they can be as well.

Blessings,

Pastor O

 

He Gave...

 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

I recently heard Sheila Walsh exhort her listeners, professing believers, to actually "live like believers." Can we contemplate what she's saying and examine whether we really do?

I'm thinking that our concepts of what it is to be a "believer," and what it is that constitutes true faith in Christ have become greatly muddled in our day. Believing is not simply agreement with facts about the Father, Jesus Christ, the Bible, and so on. Believing something in our mind does not make it real in our heart and spirit. True belief comes from a result of our actually experiencing the facts, the truth, that is spoken of by Him in and through His Word. Faith is not the result of a determination to believe those facts, but the outflowing of our experiencing that truth through a living relationship with Him. A true believer lives out in their daily lives what it is they profess to believe in. It was said of the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders of Christ's day who rejected Him, that "they didn't believe the God they said they believed in." How many of us fall into that same description?

John 3:16 may well be the most quoted and known Scripture in His Word, but do we really know just what is being said in these words? These words in particular carry infinite power, "He gave His one and only Son." Can we be still enough to dwell upon what is being said here? Can we meditate upon the infinite riches given us in His Son, Jesus Christ? Have we even begun to understand the depths of what we have been given in Him? There is no end to the spiritual riches that are ours in Christ. We can never exhaust them, and in Him, they are ours. Someone said to the effect, "In view of all that we have been given in Jesus Christ, it must be a great scandal in heaven that we live as we do." To what degree have you and I contributed to that scandal?

There could be nothing more precious to the heart of the Father than His Son, Jesus Christ. Yet for us, who have never deserved such love, He was yielded up so that if we would receive Him and believe in Him, we would receive the endless riches of eternal life. Life that begins upon our receiving Him. Jesus Christ, fully God came into our realm and became fully man as well, and made a pathway, the only pathway, to the Father and life. By faith, we spiritual beggars, were made sons and daughters of the Father through a living faith. The reality of this should boggle our minds, but I fear too many of us haven't begun to grasp the wonder of it all. So we go on living like beggars when all the bounty of eternity is offered....but we can't see it and don't know it.

We live like orphans when He has called us His sons and daughters. We subsist on crumbs when He has provided His bounty. His Word says that He's placed eternity in our hearts, but we fail to live in His eternal life right now. The apostle Paul said that the God who gave us His only Son would also through His Son, give us all things. All things needful for life. Physical life, but even more, for spiritual and emotional life as well. Are we living in the wonder of His "all things."

He gave, and He gives. Do we live in this reality today? Are we living what we believe? If not, do we really believe at all?

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Lie

 "The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can't help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, 'Is this idol that I'm holding in my hand a lie?' " Isaiah 44:20

The above Scripture is part of a rebuke that the Father spoke to His people Israel in response to their having given their hearts and loyalty to idols made of wood and stone. They, like their forefathers in the desert, who'd constructed a calf of gold to worship, had "exchanged their glorious God for a grass eating ox." He calls those who do likewise, "deluded fools." They hold fast to man made idols, seeking from them what only God Himself can do. They could not bring themselves to admit the lie that they have believed. Can we dare to ask as to just how much we in the American church have been like them?

John Calvin said something to the effect that "from birth, we are master craftsmen of idols." We, the church, have certainly crafted a seeming galaxy of them, and hold just as tightly to them. Whatever they are, financial security, relationships, children, careers, political figures, parties, and philosophies, and yes, ministry, we are being brought to the place of seeing the futility of all of them to do for us what only He can do. He is exposing every place where we have been "deluded fools." Where has He been doing so in you? Where is He seeking to break the death grip on whatever idol it is that you've been putting your trust in, that you've been worshipping?

Here's a question for each of us to ponder; from where and from whom do we find our meaning, our reason for being?

If you've been a part of His Body for any length of time, you'll likely come up with the quick answer, "from God!" Yet is that so? Does our life activity give proof to the statement? Would those who know us best agree with the testimony we give?

I can speak on this from sad experience. It has always been my statement that my life is centered on Him, and I fully believed it was. Yet, when I lost my ministry for a time during the course of my separation and divorce, I was devastated. I had allowed my identity and meaning to be found in that which I did and was. Without them, I no longer felt myself to have value or meaning. It was in that time that He began to expose the lie I'd been gripping in my hand. He was exposing that He wasn't really the center of my life and being. Being a pastor was. I had allowed something, something good, to take the place of the One who is not only the best, but all. It is painful to admit it, but it was fully true. I was a deluded fool, and it took the fall of my idol(s) to show me that I was. It was there that I found my real identity could only be found in Him.

We have entered into days where our idols, your idols, are going to be exposed. The lies we've clung to as our salvation are going to be shown to be powerless to help us. Our many delusions, as well as our foolishness are going to come to light, and we'll be faced with the choice of confessing, repenting, and releasing our hold upon them, or maintaining a literal death grip. Have you made the choice beforehand, or do you still waver?

All of our idols are becoming ash in our hands. May we turn to the One, the only one worthy of worship. Let's renounce the lies we've believed in and embrace the One who is Truth. Let's be fools no more.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Pickaxe

 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ Hosea 10:12

As I look back upon my childhood, I realize how frustrated my father must have been with my brothers and me and so many of our ways. One of the things he loved having was a beautiful yard. He and my mother planted many trees and bushes, and sought to have a well maintained lawn. For the most part it was.....except for one bank leading up to the front of our house. Though there were steps right beside the bank, my brothers and I ceaselessly ran up that bank when we came home. The result was a well worn path. Time and again my father would put up stakes and string, spread seed, and seek to grow grass. He would get the grass, and then threaten us with death if we once again made the path. In a short time, we beat a new path, and though there was grass all around it, there was none on the path. The ground was much too hard. Nothing would grow on it, not even crab grass. Somehow, my brothers and I survived, even though the grass never did.

It's been more than a half century since those days, but I still remember how rock hard that path became. Many a time my father broke it up and replanted it, but eventually, he gave up. No grass grew there until my brothers and I had grown up, and we no longer beat a path to our house. Finally, the grass grew. There' a lesson in this, and we see it in Hosea 10:12. Too many of us have allowed too many other things to beat a path upon the face of our hearts. Anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, unhealed wounds, self-centeredness, and just plain apathy, have all worked to bring a rock hard surface to our hearts. Nothing really grows there. Nothing can grow there. We may read our Bibles, listen to sermons, and quote Scripture, but nothing penetrates our hardened hearts. The saddest part of this is that we often are the last ones to realize just how hardened our hearts have become. We've become so used to having such a heart that His Spirit is no longer registering upon it. Often I have seen a rain shower come down upon such hardened ground, but the water never really penetrated the ground, but runs off and does no good to the soil beneath. How much of the rain of His Spirit has done so upon our hearts?

The rain of His righteousness is always falling, but until we, you and I, take a pickaxe to the hardened soil of our hearts, through confession and repentance, and break up the hard, unfruitful ground, it will simply run off and away from us. The rain of righteousness that He means to penetrate through the hard soil covering our relationship with Him, with others, in our marriages and homes, and yes, over whole congregations, will simply run off of us. And the ground simply gets harder.

It is past time for us, as individuals, as husbands and wives, parents, young people, and professing members of the Body of Christ, to break up our hardened heart ground. It is time to turn the hardened clods upwards, that they may not only receive the rain of His righteousness, but also the sun of His love and presence. What we will discover is that upon ground that previously produced nothing, now comes the fruit of His Spirit; love, joy, peace, and more. God will not forcibly break up our hard ground. Only we can do that, but He can and will provide all the grace and power we need to do so. It will begin on our knees, at the cross. The ground we thought beyond fruitfulness will give way to a rich soil where the things of the Spirit may flourish.

Where does the hardness in your heart exist? Will it grow harder, more barren, more dead than alive? Or will it produce a crop of righteousness? Before us is a cross and a pickaxe. The first will give us the desire and grace to lay hold of the pickaxe. And then the ground of our hearts, which one translation calls fallow, will begin to produce the fruit of His righteousness in response to His showers of blessing upon it. Break up the hard ground. Have that hardened heart become one of tender flesh again.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Lack

 "All these I have kept," the young man said, "what do I still lack?" Matthew 19:20...."The rich young ruler had morals, manners, and money. He would be welcomed readily into many churches today, with no questions asked. He would make a good 'joiner,' but he would be a poor disciple........Salvation is free but discipleship costs everything." Vance Havner

The Lord Jesus had a tendency to ask penetrating questions and make seemingly absurd demands. I think with the above Scripture and quote from Havner, He does both. I think His question is, are we "joiners" or are we disciples? We will usually find a good number of the first, but very few of the second. I remember years ago getting a phone call from a woman who desired to be married. She'd obviously been calling around to churches seeking a minister to officiate the wedding. The one thing she said that I still remember was that if she and her prospective spouse were required to join our church in order for me to do so, they'd be happy to comply. Joining was no problem to her, as I'm sure she had little if any intention of ever being inside our church again. She placed no value upon joining our fellowship, and I think there are many like her sitting in our pews today. As one person has said, "Our churches are filled with 'rich young rulers."

The rich young ruler had come to Jesus wishing to be a follower, to join the crowd already surrounding Him. He was, as Havner says, a man of good character, good morals, and very affluent. Surely he would have supported Jesus' earthly ministry with generosity. In reply to Jesus' question as to whether he'd been keeping Jewish law, he quickly answered in the affirmative. He thought that should qualify him, but two perceptions remain, his, and the Lord's. Somehow, he knew his answers did not fully satisfy Jesus, so he asked Him what was missing. Jesus knew the answer. What Jesus knew was missing, his lack, was himself and his treasures. Christ required that if he were to come after Him, he must sell or give away all he had, and follow him. This the young man couldn't do. He would willingly join Jesus, he would not willingly surrender all he was and had to do so. How like him are you and I?

The church has done very well producing joiners. We are failing badly in producing disciples, and we must take responsibility for it. We need to confess that, repent of it, and begin anew to do so. In our zeal to get people into the church and Kingdom, we have, intentionally or not, put the very real cross centered requirements to do so on the very most "rear burner." We have good intentions. We believe that over time we will disciple them, but my experience is that we rarely do. The great lack of Scriptural knowledge and experience in the people making up our congregations is the proof. They're willing to join, but they are not willing to die. Not for Him, but even more, not to themselves. There is a lack in them. To what degree is the lack in us?

In His call Jesus made demands that Havner says, "demanded absolute obedience and unquestioned loyalty." He was not afraid to do this, but we are. I think we are past the time where we can continue to do so. Joiners will not be able to stand in the great shakings that are coming upon, and are upon the church. Only His disciples, armed with His Word and empowered by His Holy Spirit will. Will we, along with our marriages, families, and fellowships be standing with them?

Are you and I brave enough to ask our Lord what it is we still lack? What it is that keeps us from truly following after Him with all of our being? More, are we brave enough to hear His answer?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Reckless

 "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God." Romans 1:1....."Paul is unconscious of himself, he is recklessly abandoned, separated by God....." Oswald Chambers

Reckless is not a word that has good connotations for most. It brings up pictures of people living with no thought of their safety. Of people who don't dwell on the consequences of their actions. Reckless people may be admired for their bravery, but rarely, if ever, for their wisdom. Few have as their desire the living out of a reckless life. Therefore, it surely comes as a surprise to most of us that a reckless spiritual life is exactly what we're called to, but few of us even hear the call, and fewer still answer it if they do.

Why do we think it is only the "Paul's" of the church who are to be "recklessly abandoned" to Him? Why are these same Paul's expected to exhibit reckless faith, reckless trust, and reckless courage? Why is timidity, caution, and an obsession with safety seen as disobedience in them, but acceptable in us?

As I ponder this, I'm reminded of the workplace term, "Business casual." There was a time suits and ties were the norm in the workplace, but a more relaxed atmosphere has replaced that. That may be fine in the business world, but not in the Kingdom. I think we've adopted our own kind of "Kingdom casual" outlook. We've become very casual about the kind of life we're called to, the kind of witness we're to exhibit, and the kind of ministry we're to perform. Fervency in our faith has been replaced by a more laid back approach. Those who wish to respond to His call to reckless abandonment to Him are viewed as being extreme in their faith, and not a little bit strange. Francis Chan was once admonished by a member of his church over his call for people to wholeheartedly give themselves away to Him. They told him that he needed to realize there was "middle road" in the faith life. Not too shallow, but not too intense either. What they don't know is that middle road is called lukewarmness, and it only leads one way.....to death.

We are entering into days that none of us have ever witnessed before. Casual, middle of the road faith lives will not bring us through. We are going to be challenged on every level of life. All of our comfort zones are going to be invaded. We are going to have to step out on pathways that we won't see until we take the step. It will not be safe, and to do so will be seen as reckless. But the pathway will lead to victory, to overcoming, to wholeness.....to life.....Recklessly abandoned. That's His call to us. By His grace, I intend to answer. I think there is no other choice for me. Is there another choice for you?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Yielded

"For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." Matthew 13:15......."The only thing that Jesus can't heal is that which we won't yield to Him." Kim Meeder

Isn't it a tragedy that what should be the center of healing and wholeness in a lost culture, the church, too often isn't? There are many reasons for this and not all of them are due to the failure of the church. Certainly there are parts of His Church that suffer from spiritual weakness brought about by compromise, cowardice, or the presence of unrepentant lives and leadership. Yet even in healthy churches, the pews can be filled with lives and souls in desperate need of healing that can only come through Jesus Christ. Yet though they come to church, they don't actually come to Him, and so they leave the same as they came in. Worse really, as they likely resisted yet another appeal from His heart to "come and be healed."

I want to look at two reasons for this, though I know there are more. The first is detailed by Jesus Himself as He looked upon the very lives of those He came to save. They would not come because to come meant that they would have to yield, surrender to His Lordship and way. We see this worked out daily in people's lives. They carry around with them deep emotional wounds. Wounds that manifest themselves in a myriad of ways; anger, bitterness, unforgiveness. These emotions can then show themselves in their inflicting emotional and physical abuse on others. Families come into our fellowships every week that look fine on the surface, but underneath lay all manner of brokenness. They are in the presence of the Healer, but they remain in their wounded state. It is often said that though Jesus healed many, there were so many more that were never healed. I've often wondered if at least part of the reason for that is that they wouldn't come to Him in the first place?

The second reason is found in something else Meeder said, and that is we must cease focusing on all that hurts in our lives, and begin to focus on the One who heals. This may be the even greater reason so many remain in their brokenness. All they can see is the events and people who caused their woundedness, as well as the resulting pain. They never see Jesus. They may fully believe that He is a Healer, but they cannot believe that He can and will heal them. Their pain blocks out His face and His hand.

Too many of us are as the cripple at the pool of Bethsaida, in his state for decades. He wanted healing, but could never focus on the healing waters of the pool. All he could see were all the obstacles to getting into that pool. Then, finally, he saw Jesus, and was made whole. Where are we like him? Where do we go on with the brokenness in our lives, our homes, our relationships, all because we don't see His face, or receive the touch of His hand? The only thing He cannot heal is that which we won't yield to Him. Let us, in all things, yield to Him....and be made whole.

Blessings,

Pastor O 

Commanded

 "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give." Matthew 10:8

The above Scripture is on my heart today. These are the words with which Jesus sent out the twelve to minister to the lost sheep of Israel. He prefaced these words with, "Tell them that the Kingdom of heaven is near." As I contemplate these words of the Lord, so many questions come to my mind. Foremost among them is this; is the Church, the part which you and I inhabit as well as the whole, in any condition to live out, carry out this command? I fear the answer is more "no" than "yes," and we should tremble at the consequences of that.

Meditate on what this verse commands us to do and live out. We live in a culture filled with those who are sick. Sick physically, emotionally, and spiritually. How willing are we to go to them? We're also surrounded by those who are spiritually dead. Many are found each week in our "worship services," as well as our homes and neighborhoods. Leprosy was a serious affliction in the disciples time, they would have encountered people held in its awful grip wherever they went. Actual leprosy may be rare in our culture, but the spiritual leprosy of sin is not. It eats steadily away at lives, marriages, families, communities, and the church itself. And whether we care to admit to their presence and activity or not, demons are real. They do oppress and possess, and their work is seen everywhere. We are, in the power of His Name and Life, to drive them out. Jesus didn't give us an option in this. He's told us that He has freely given the power and resources to carry out this ministry and calling. So what keeps us. What keeps you.....and me?

There's another aspect in this that we easily overlook. When Jesus gave His disciples this command, Pentecost, the outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon His Church, had yet to happen. Yet the power to carry out His command was obviously given His disciples. Without getting into some theological discussion, it would seem to me that even greater power to live this out has been given to us than was given to the disciples. We don't need to beg Him for His power and presence. He's already given them to us. Our great problem is that we have failed to receive Him in all of His fullness. The result of this is painfully evident, if we'll be willing to see. We are called to prevail against the power of the darkness with the infinitely greater power of His Light and Life. Can we really say we are. We can bemoan the state of our culture, but can we confess and repent of the truth that the culture is as it is because the church has not been what it must be? Especially when we've been given all the resources of the Kingdom to be so.

When the imprisoned John the Baptist sent the question of whether Christ was truly the expected Messiah, Jesus answered him, "The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor." In this answer Jesus gave testimony to the proof and power of who He was and who He remains. I think this also must be the proof that His church in this day and all days must give to a lost but watching world. It is not our gatherings, meetings, songs, buildings, and media skills that will do this. It is a church, you, me, us, living out what Jesus answer entails. We are commanded to do so. When John sent his question, he closed it with, "Or should we look for someone else?" Will we, the Church, live out His command, or should the world look for someone and something else?

Blessings,

Pastor O