Seized

 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Philippians 3:12...."We've settled for SURVIVE when God wants us to THRIVE." Dutch Sheets...."We're so cumbered with ourselves that we're never free to be occupied with Him." Vance Havner

In my prayer journals, I have written down in several places, "What is it for which Christ has taken hold of me, and of you?" Do I know? Do you? Your life, as you live it right now, do you think that on every conscious level, you're living out the purpose for which He died to give you? To give me? Someone asked, "Are we living lives that are worth His dying for?" Could there be a more piercing question? Could there be one that our flesh seeks more ardently to avoid answering?

We're masters at self-deception. We easily convince ourselves that the portion of ourselves that we give Him is a very generous one. We can be loyal attenders and givers, and even volunteer for a number of ministries. Yet, even if we are the most active people in our local fellowship, is that proof that we're living out the fullness of His purpose for us? With all that we do or give, are we at root, just surviving, or are we thriving? More, in the service we do offer, is it more about us than it ever has been for Him? Beyond this is the reality that we mostly miss; He didn't save us for a task. He saved us for Himself. Everything else flows out of that. His purpose for us was not in giving us a position in His corporate Kingdom. It was that we would know Him...deeply. That we would love Him....deeply. That we would abide in Him deeply. This is why He first laid hold of us, and it's to be the motivation behind our laying hold of Him. How much evidence is there in our lives that this mutual laying hold is actually taking place?

Dutch Sheets says that the original language for the phrase "take hold" means to "seize." This is a much stronger word picture than that of taking hold. To seize something is to take hold of it with strength, with an unbreakable grip. With the intention of not letting go. This is how the Lord takes hold of us. Is it the way in which we take hold of Him? He holds us tightly. We tend to hold Him loosely, and sometimes, we don't hold Him at all.

We talk a great deal of the abundant life, but how many of us really enter into it? How many of us really know what the abundant life is really all about? Too often we've relegated it to the earthly realm; a comfortable life materially, financially, and physically. It's all about our success and physical, emotional, and material well being. We have little idea of the true riches in Christ available to us but that are never laid hold of. Never seized. A.W. Tozer said that he feared discovering upon entering eternity all of the riches available to Him in Christ, but that he had lived his life out as a spiritual pauper. How many of us will discover the same?

Paul said that the passion of his heart and life was to know Christ. His deepest yearning was to enter into richest fellowship with His Lord that was possible for Him. Everything else in his life, ministry, witness, everything, flowed out of that passion. He'd been seized by Christ, and in turn had seized his Lord. What of us? What have we been laid hold of for? What passions have captured our hearts? If it is anything other than Him, we miss what He created us for, saved us for. Each of us has been seized by and for something. What is it, who is it that has seized you?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Lip Service

 These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me." Matthew 15:8....."We want to be rescued, not bothered. Comforted, not disrupted. Soothed, but not disturbed." Mark Buchanan

Someone said that the real desire of most believers, conscious or not, is that God would change all the unwanted circumstances around us while leaving us unchanged. That's what makes Matthew 15:8 so uncomfortably real to us. Many of us have hung around the church for so long that we've become masters at honoring Him with words but dishonoring Him with our lives. We've proved in too many instances the truth of Buchanan's statement. We want Him to deal with all our problems, but we don't ever want Him to tell us that we ourselves are the real problem.

A popular phrase is "lip service." The one who gives lip service to someone or something is the one who admits the truth about the person or matter, but doesn't allow that truth to impact their lives in any meaningful way. Where are we giving Him "lip service" in our "walk" with Him? Where are you? Where am I? On what subjects, in what relationships, in what desires, attitudes, levels of obedience, are we only giving Him lip service, but following our own interests? Our own agenda?

The other day, in response to my last writing about pressing on, a fellow pastor that I've known for four decades responded, asking if perhaps most believers are only interested in being in the proximity of Jesus. That they've allowed so many "thorns" to develop in their lives as to render them unfruitful, "and in danger of being cut off." He speaks truth, and warning. God will never accept lip service worship, half-hearted devotion, and pick and choose obedience. Yet too many who attend some form of worship service each week believe that they've fooled Him into accepting theirs. He never has, He never will, and He doesn't now.

Two terms that have been used over the last 50 plus years to describe the western church are "Cultural Christianity," and "Casual Christianity." Both describe basically the same person; one who gives mental assent to the claims of Christ, the truth of His Word, and all the spiritual realities associated with them, yet allows little or none of that to really influence their day to day living. God exists for them. He's exactly what Buchanan describes, a rescuer, comforter, and soother. He shows up when needed and the rest of the time leaves them alone. Can we be honest enough with ourselves and Him to have Him point where that's true of how we relate to Him? Where's the lip service lurking in our relationship with Him? Where are He and His ways a theory to us, not a reality?

Wherever we may be rendering Him lip service, there is but one response for us; repentance. Jesus never gave a place for a half-hearted disciple. I don't remember the source, but I have this hard truth written down in my journal. "When Jesus calls us to follow, someone has to leave. Either we leave everything, or Jesus will leave us." This collides with our view of the permissive, understanding Jesus, but it is the exact representation of the Christ of the Bible. He has no lip service followers. How does that truth affect the manner in which we follow Him today?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Pressing On

 "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

I recently heard writer and speaker Christine Caine tell of a boating incident with her husband. They had gone out to enjoy a day in the sun and water. Her husband had asked her to drop the sea anchor so that they wouldn't drift. She did so, and then set to work on her tan. After a bit, they were both disturbed by the sound of their boat bumping into another. Her husband then asked, "Did you make sure the anchor went into the seabed?" She hadn't, and because they weren't anchored to their place, they drifted. She used that as a great illustration of the cost of our not staying anchored in Jesus Christ. The result will always be spiritual drifting. I fear many of us are living in such a state right now. We've assumed we're anchored in Him, but we've grown careless about checking on it. We're drifting, and sadly, we don't even know we are.....until we "bump" into situations and challenges we're in no way prepared for. Somewhere along the way, we ceased "pressing on."

I've always liked the New American Standard's rendering of the above verse. "Pressing on in the upward call of God." The Father doesn't call His people in any other way. It is always upward, closer and nearer to Him, nearer to the Kingdom, to eternity, to the fullness of His life. Most who have been genuinely transformed by the Spirit begin to respond to that call in a fervent way....then, usually not intentionally, we allow other things to cloud our vision, our hearing, and our focus. Worse, we get comfortable in our relationship with Him. When any of these take place, we begin to drift. We drift because we've failed to check on our anchor in Him. We've taken for granted our walk, our security, our well being in Him. We've become less diligent in prayer, study of His Word, and above all, having hearts that are tender and receptive to His voice. The "waves" of this world seduce us into believing all is well....until it isn't. We stopped pressing on, lost our anchor in Him, and drifted into dangers that threaten us on every side. I think this is a good picture of a large part of the church, and since we are the church, it's a good picture of far too many of us. Is it a good picture of you? Of me?

What are we really "anchored" to? Our financial portfolio? Our comforts? Our relationships? Our profession? Our ministry? We may be thinking that our bond with Him is as strong as ever, but the truth is, our focus on other things has caused separation between Christ and ourselves. The earthward call was louder than His upward one. Somehow, we stopped pressing on.

Can we let Paul's words in Philippians 3:14 speak to us? Do they resonate? Did we once want nothing more than to answer His upward call, to lay hold of the priceless prize of knowing Christ? Really knowing Him? Where might it have ceased in our lives? When did it cease? Has it ever really been there at all? Whatever the answer, that upward call remains. However we may have ceased our pursuit, it isn't too late, and the demands of these days make that pursuit more needed than ever. Will we, anchored in Him, press on? Or, do we continue to drift, with each day taking us further away from Him? Let us press on!

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Wild

 "Then Joshua told the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Joshua 3:5 "Has the Church so domesticated ourselves that we doubt our power?" Francis Chan

I have never liked zoos. I have never enjoyed looking at caged animals. Animals that are being kept from their natural habitat in the wild. No matter how "real" modern zoos try to create that kind of environment for them, they fail, because it isn't real. In a sense, they've domesticated these animals to the point that they've become used to their environment, even comfortable in it. It reminds me of the movie "Madagascar," where shipwrecked zoo animals find themselves in the wild, and don't know how to act. I'm wondering how much like that we've become in the church?

I have in my journal this prayer, "God, set us free from our zoos. Make us the Church in the wild." I wonder if we can be this, because in many ways, we have been domesticated, as Chan says. Would we, like the shipwrecked animals, be at a total loss as to how to live and thrive outside of our organizational zoos that we've made into our homes?

Before Joshua's exhortation to the people to prepare to see God's wonders among them, they were also told that the journey they were to undertake would involve them traveling a path they'd never traveled before. It would be filled with the unknown, the dangerous, and the deadly. They would need all the might of the Father to make it through. They were told to consecrate themselves, surrender themselves, fully to Him. They devoted themselves to their God. Someone said that we in the modern church want to experience awe and wonder, but to experience it apart from devotion to Him. Small wonder then that there is so little of it in our gatherings. So few of us really live lives of devotion to Him. So we witness too few wonders, and have little idea of the power available to us in Jesus Christ. Worst of all, we're not much aware of it, we're so used to our cages, our zoos, that have tamed us. We don't know what it is to be the Church in the wild, and we've little interest in finding out what that is. Zoo animals look forward to feeding time. So do we as we go to our weekly Bible studies, prayer groups, and corporate worship. All held within the confines of whatever local zoo we're a part of. The result is that we doubt our power in Christ because we've not really had to depend upon it. We've done quite well depending upon ourselves and our various "feeders" that we've set up in our lives. We've been domesticated.

We need to be set free into the wild. Like the animals of Madagascar, this will be most terrifying at first, but if we are, we will discover an all powerful God who pours out His power upon His church. We will see, perhaps for the first time, the doing of His wonders in our midst. He will take us places we've never been, especially in the spiritual realm. Yes, there will be dangers, enemies, and challenges, but in Him, we already have victory over them all. It's the life we were made for, the life that the Church, the people of God were created to live.

Chan says that our gatherings are meant to look "otherworldly," especially to those who have never been a part. Can we honestly say that our usual Sunday gatherings look that way? As a teen, I loved Jack London's "The Call Of The Wild," about a once domesticated dog that, exposed to the wild, heard its call. May we, the Church, be exposed to His wild. May we hear His call into it. May we walk away from the shackles that have tamed us and into His great wild. The way of the wild.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Call

 35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?" "Come and see" He said." John 1:35-39....."Christianity calls people to ways of living that are uncool, politically incorrect, and just plain weird." Brett McCracken...."The mark of the Gospel is not health and wealth, but nails and blood." Adam McHugh

The two disciples had no idea as to what Jesus was inviting them to. Maybe they wouldn't have come if they did, for He was inviting them to follow the path He walked, and that path led to the cross. It led to a life that cannot be lived out apart from the manifest grace of God. It was the life He called them to, and if we claim to be His, it's the life He calls us to as well. We want to know where He is, and where He is leading. He will tell us no more than He did them. He will simply say, "Come and see." Will we take Him at those words?

McCracken makes a statement that ought to be part of every real invitation given in our inviting people to faith in Christ. It's an invitation into a life that will be counter to the world system in which it exists. It's a call to a life that will not fit into the ideals of popular culture. It's a life that if lived out, will invite ridicule and disdain. Jesus said that His Kingdom was not of this world. If we come to Him, we must take up citizenship in that Kingdom, and that Kingdom will always be in conflict with the kingdoms of this world. There will be a clash of kingdoms, and as history has proven many times over, the clash will oftentimes be violent.

The church has been spending a large part of the last 100 years or so seeking to ingratiate itself with the worldly culture surrounding it. In seeking to bring people to Christ, we have wanted them to accept us on their terms. Instead of being a set apart people for Him, we've wanted to be a people who are a part. Instead of being a counterculture, we're part of it. The result is that the average professing believer doesn't look much different than his unbelieving neighbor. Chris Tiegreen says that we're to see ourselves as "Kingdom outposts in hostile territory." Jesus said, "If they have hated Me, they will hate you." To be fully in love with Him, to follow Him with all our hearts, is to run the risk of being hated because of it. In fact, it's more than a risk. It will be a reality.

It's true that there are too many professing believers who have earned disdain because of their approach to the culture, bringing the same kind of hostility, anger, and even hatred that exists in it. That is never to be our witness. We are to be witnesses of the transforming love and power of Christ. We are also to be bearers of His Gospel message, which in its fullness will always clash with the world we bring it to. That message calls us to die to ourselves, put others before ourselves, live in the knowledge that this world is passing away and that His eternal Kingdom is more real than this world we find ourselves in. It is also a message that proclaims that salvation is found in Christ alone, that we cannot work our way to Him, that we're hopelessly lost apart from the saving grace of God, and that the human race's problem is the human race itself. We're fallen and held in the grip of sin. Only Christ can free us, and then, we're called to live pure and holy lives. This will, as McCracken says, make us very uncool, politically incorrect, and weird in the eyes of the world. Such a calling, such a life, is not attractive to those more at home in the world than in His Kingdom.

Many have spoken of the culture wars currently going on in our society. They're real, but even more real is the spiritual war taking place, and which is at the root of that conflict. It is His Light against the enemy's darkness. There is no neutral zone for the people of God. There is no place to be a "conscientious objector."

The portrait of Christ as the loving Shepherd who loves us too much to ever discipline us or confront us in our sin, and who offers a comfortable, rewarding, and cost free life, is a false one. Such a Christ doesn't exist. Brother Yun, a much tortured Chinese Christian said, "The cross of Christ is soaked in His blood. If we choose to follow Him, it will be soaked in ours as well." Such days are upon the church. Are we prepared for them? Are you and I prepared for them? I think we will soon be finding out the answer to those questions.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Finished?

 "My food, said Jesus, "is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work." John 4:34....."I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful." 2 Timothy 4:7

I don't remember the source of the question, but I have written down in my prayer journal, "What is the chance that we will complete the work that He's given us to do?" That's a piercing question. Do most of us even know what it is we've been called to? Somehow, in American Chrisitianity, we've reduced the life of faith to that of going to church, giving some money, and trying to live good,moral lives. We hire "professionals" to do "ministry" and behave mainly as consumers. We're interested in what the church can provide us. We look for where we feel we'll be most comfortable and satisfied. If we are willing to serve in some capacity, too often its with the attitude that we want it to be in place that feeds our ego and self-esteem. I've known many musicians, singers, teachers, and yes, preachers, who sought an audience to perform for rather than a people to serve. They want a large platform that features them far more than it does Him.

The bulk of us however are very content to sit in our cushioned pews and watch the show. We watch the worship team worship and the preacher preach. We want a satisfying church experience that pleases. We're not too concerned with whether it was transforming. The result is that in many ways, the church has fallen into the trap of trying to provide what the people want. We want them to enjoy what they come to and we want them to keep coming back. We're so targeted on whether they feel welcome that we lose sight on whether what we're doing is welcoming to the Holy Spirit. What we end up with is a group of people who profess to follow Christ but have lost all sight of where He is, on what He's doing, and where He's going. The thought that He has specific desires and commands for us as to how we live and follow Him can be lost on us.

Author Brent McCracken says that what we think we want from a church is never what we need. We were created for a purpose, not a pew. We are created to be part of His Kingdom, not for a pathway into the American Dream of a comfortable life, with good health, good kids, and an abundance of contentment. As McCracken writes, "Following Christ is not an invitation into the American Dream, but to die, to pick up a cross." We are here to display a Living Christ to a dying world. To do so will put us into some decidedly uncomfortable, even dangerous places. That's the life we're invited into and commanded to live. From start to finish, it's all about Christ, and not about us. When anyone expressed an interest in following Him, Jesus admonished them to consider the cost of doing so, and to know that He would lead them into places they wouldn't dare enter apart from Him. He called them to both extreme adventure and extreme danger. He still does. Is there anything about our faith lives that looks like that? Or, do we follow an image of a safe God who gives us a safe life? There is no such God.

I've no idea of His purpose and calling for you. The tragedy is that you may have none either. Can you, can I, say with the Lord, "My food is to do His will, to finish His work?" Can we stand with Paul at the end of life and proclaim that we have finished our course, been faithful to His call, and done what we were created for? Or, will our only recommendation be that we showed up on Sunday, put a few dollars in the plate, and tried our best to enjoy life along the way

I close with a very short exchange I had with a brother this past Sunday. He's a guitarist on our worship team, and after the service I told him how his playing had blessed me, as did the ministry of the entire team. He said he was honored and blessed to serve Him whenever he had opportunity, because he never knew when his last chance to do so would be. So should we all live. So should we all serve. To the finish!

Blessings,

Pastor O

Trashpiles

 "What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ." Philippians 3:8

Anne Graham Lotz tells of an illustration she remembers in John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress." In the picture, a man is sorting through trash, looking for bits of tinsel to salvage. As he does so, an angel of the Lord stands behind him, holding and offering him a golden crown. He has no notice of the angel, so intent is he upon his pile of garbage. Of this Lotz says, "We cling so tight to what we want that we lose what He wants us to have." In the end, there may be no greater tragedy to account for when we stand before Him. Throughout our lives, He held out to us the greatest, most priceless treasure to be had, Jesus Christ, but we were too enamored of our trashpile to notice or desire Him.

Such an end will be tragic for all those who finally reject Him, but what of we who say we've not done that at all? We who rest so comfortably in our "decision" to receive Him as Savior? Where in our lives are we sorting through garbage dumps, seeking what we think is treasure, and all the while missing He who is our true treasure? Where in our lives, professions, ministries and relationships are we seeking to make the "right connections" for our own supposed well being, and completely missing our connection with Him? Where are we oblivious to Him and His gifts because we have been so focused on our worthless tinsel? Where are we clinging so tightly to our own desires, dreams, goals, and hopes, that we have no knowledge of or desire for what we are losing, indeed have already lost, what He desires for us?

Why does the tinsel of this world continue to captivate us so, even after we claim to have given ourselves to Him? Can we dare to admit it's because there is much of our lives that we haven't given to Him at all, and in those places, we desire other things far more than we desire Him? We're so blinded in our desires that we don't recognize what the apostle Paul called "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ." We feel that we do love Jesus, but we don't want to admit that there are so many other things that we love more. Paul had a passion and hunger for Christ. A passion to know Him, live in Him, be immersed in Him. What's our passion? Is it really Christ? We cling to that which is only trash in comparison. We're captivated by our tinsel.

As a boy, a post Christmas happening that all of us looked forward to was all those in the surrounding neighborhoods bringing their now dried out and mostly bare Christmas trees to a kind of all purpose "dump." There they were gathered into a huge pile, where the local volunteer fire department stood ready to set them afire. It was a huge bonfire, exciting to watch. One of the things I most remember about it was all the trees that still had tinsel clinging to them. Only a short while before they'd been beautiful centerpieces in our living rooms, with treasures piled at the foot of them. They, along with their tinsel, were burnt up. What we felt so beautiful was now just ashes. So it is with all those things we treasure so much more than Him. They are tinsel, bound to be burnt up, despite their present beauty. Not so Jesus Christ. Our Christmas tinsel couldn't last, nor could the bright fire that consumed it, but He who is the Light of the world can never fade or be extinguished.

So we have a choice; we can continue to worship at our trashpiles, or, we can give our hearts and adoration to the only One who is truly worthy of it; Jesus Christ. In the end, who holds our heart? A pile of trash, or the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life?

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Flesh

 "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." Romans 8:5....."Dealing with the flesh in the church today is probably the most difficult thing we will ever do" A.W. Tozer

Carnality is not a word much heard in the church today, to our harm. To be carnal, is to be led of our flesh, and not of His Spirit. It means that for the most part, if not completely, we are carrying out our fleshly desires rather than His desires for us. As one definition puts it, we feed our flesh while starving our souls. The result is that though we may profess to be members of the Kingdom of God, we think and act far more as a part of the world kingdom than His. The things and ways of the Spirit make little sense to those led of their flesh. The havoc that results has caused so much harm in His church and can always be traced to the collision of those living in the flesh with those living in the Spirit. And the Pastor, leaders, and members of the Body of Christ who confront it had best be prepared for a great battle. A battle that has always raged, but rages more strongly than ever in the western church.

The examples of this are almost too numerous to count. Foremost right now would be the conflict between those who believe in the full authority of Scripture, and those who will accept only a portion of it....usually the portion that appeals to them. The result is the springing up of theologies and doctrines that fly in the face of orthodox Christianity. They range from the parceling of Scripture, elevating some parts of the Bible, usually the Gospels and the words of Jesus, over all of the OT, and the letters of Paul, Peter, John, and others. Then there is "hyper grace," which elevates His grace to the degree that we believe we are free to live as we please, with none of the boundaries placed before us by Christ Himself. Such a teaching has little understanding of true grace since it has no understanding of the cost of sin and the price paid for it by Christ on the cross. Some years back, one of the leaders of what has come to be called "Progressive Christianity," wrote a book titled, "Everything Must Change." Everything includes the God of Scripture, Christ and His Cross, and the meaning of sin and grace. This type of teaching has saturated the church, but too many professing believers are too biblically illiterate to recognize it.

The terms, doctrine and theology, tend to either scare people or bore them, so little attention is paid to them. Yet the activity of the flesh in the church can be seen in so many other ways beyond our these. The flesh can be seen in the church's eager adoption of business practices in its approach to ministry. We look to corporate leaders to advise us rather than The Holy Spirit speaking through Spirit filled people. We come into our "business meetings" with a few sentences of prayer, followed by discussion by leaders who too often haven't sought His counsel on any level. We see it in our worship, relying on emotion, performance, and skill to stimulate results, rather than the power of His Holy Spirit. Tozer once said that, "Those who are happy in their worship have probably never been in the presence of God." He meant that those who are satisfied with slick presentation, with the emphasis on the messengers, not the message, don't recognize His presence, and don't miss Him as a result.

What we end up with is a church that has become quite comfortable living in the flesh, and that will react in very negative ways to having this truth exposed in them. The Israelites stoned and killed the prophets God sent to them to expose their sin. Today's modern Israelites have done, and will do the same. That's why the task of shining the light of His Holy Spirit upon this reality is so daunting. There will be a cost. Too many in the church fear to pay it. What we must know is that no matter how we seek to avoid the cost, we will pay it. God will send His Truth to His church through whatever means He must. When He does, there will be a collision. Truth vs. the lie. Light vs. the darkness. The Spirit vs. the flesh.

This is an issue too great to begin to really cover here, but where we must start is in the reality that too many in the church are living double lives, in a double-minded spirit. Sensitivity to the Spirit is present, but is outweighed by desires of the flesh. There is a desire to center on Him, but the desire to center on self is stronger. Much stronger. The only remedy is found at the cross, where we come, individually, corporately, and sincerely, surrender our self-life, die to it, that we might live in the fullness of His life. We crucify our flesh and magnify Him through our lives. We become a spiritual people rather than a fleshly one. We yield all that we are to become all that He created us to be. The flesh will fear and fight this to the death, and its death is what we desire. Is it what you desire? For you, for your household, marriage, life? For your church? If so, come to the cross and die.....that you might really live.

Blessings,

Pastor O

1 Share

Like

Comment

Share

Trust

 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6......"Trust and obey, for there's no other way." John H. Sammis

Back in the 1960's, there was a popular daytime game show called, "Who Do You Trust?" I don't remember much about the parameters of the show, but I do know that winning on the program came down to a matter of trusting your partner in the process. Many a contestant stumbled because....they just couldn't bring themselves to trust the other person.

Trust is one of the biggest issues in life, and the question asked in that game show is one that can be asked of each of us; Who do you trust? We stumble at that. We've been conditioned by living in a fallen world amongst our fellow fallen people. Too often our trust in someone has brought great disappointment, grief, and pain. Therefore, we develop a cynical, suspicious attitude, and view life through a very jaundiced filter. We have a difficult time trusting others, so we end up trusting in ourselves. The problem is, we're just as untrustworthy as all of those around us. The long list of disastrous choices each of us has made is proof of that. The result is that most end up resigning themselves to some level of hopelessness, feeling themselves more victims of circumstances beyond their control, yet desperately trying to control their lives, and the lives of others around them. These paths slowly eat away at us from the inside out. Someone said that most men and women live lives of "quiet desperation." This is true, and is even true in the lives of those who profess faith in Christ. Where is that quiet desperation showing up in your life?

The greatest obstacle to any life of faith is the issue of trust. Will we trust the God we say we believe in? It was said of the Pharisee's, the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus' day who denied that He was the promised Messiah, that they didn't believe the God they said they believed in. Despite all the evidence presented to them, all the prophetic promises fulfilled in Him, they rejected Him. The reasons for this were many, from His not coming as they thought the Messiah should come, to their desire to retain control of the system they led. They did not believe and they did not trust the Messiah they said they were believing for and trusting to come.

What is your level of trust in Him today? How far will you go with Him until your trust in Him starts to become suspect? Someone said there are depths within our hearts that we will not allow His Lordship to reach. We cannot bring ourselves to trust Him there. What level is it for you, and for me? Peter told Jesus that he would follow Him wherever He went. The rest of the disciples said the same. They were sincere....until they found that He was going to His death on a cross. It was at the cross that their trust failed, where they failed. They discovered that their faith, their trust, when powered by their own strength, would not be sustained. The cross exposes us. It always has. It always will. Where does it expose us now?

Crucifixion was and is a horrible death. The one being crucified has lost all control and power. All they can do is yield themselves up to an awful death. Christ did this, as His Word tells us, "for the joy set before Him." The joy of knowing that His death, and sure resurrection, would break forever the power of sin and death over all who would believe upon and live for Him. For all who will come to their own cross, and at that place, have what Oswald Chambers called their "white funeral," the death of their will that they might live in the power of His. It's the way of trust. It's the way of obedience. It's the way of those who truly believe. Is it your way, and is it mine?

Days are upon the western church that most of our brethren in other regions have long been experiencing. Days when our very survival may, indeed will depend upon whether we will trust the One we've been saying we trust. Whether we will believe the Lord we've been professing to believe in. Days when the simple yet powerful words of Proverbs 3:5-6 will need to be literally lived out, and all along the way, we will hear His whispered question, "Do you trust Me? Will you trust Me?" Will we trust Him with our lives, our livelihoods, our families, our present, and our future? Will we trust Him in the midst of all the unknown, all the obstacles, threats, and "dangers, toils, and trials," that great hymn speaks of. Will we simply, as that other hymn states, "trust and obey, for there's no other way." The heart that can't trust always thinks there is.....their way. Our way. The heart that trusts knows there is only one way...His way. Which way will be ours?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Walking Wounded

 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up all their wounds." Psalm 147:3....."Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near." John M. Moore

Last night, in one of the ministries I'm involved in with our church, I had the opportunity to pray with two people who are walking through dark and painful times. I prayed what I felt He was leading me to pray, and at their conclusion, both persons were weeping. His Holy Spirit was much upon those times, but not because of me. It was because He was coming to the rescue of two brokenhearted people. He was seeking to bind up their wounds, and to bring healing to their lives. It's what He does and who He is. He only seeks that we who are His would be His vessels in the ministering of that healing and comfort. I was thankful and humbled that I could be. I don't remember anything that I prayed, and I know there was nothing profound in any of it. It was simply the case of Christ reaching through my insufficient words to minister life to two people whose lives have been overwhelmed with darkness and death.

I don't consider myself a man of many talents, but some have said that I do have a gift for effective prayer. I hope that's true, and I do seek to be used by Him in that ministry. In recent times, I am seeing more and more that there is no lack of opportunities for God's people to touch and minister to a vast, broken world that's suffering heartbreak and loss in ways beyond measure. People God loves are walking through suffering that in many ways is beyond comprehension. I see greater evidence of this all the time. Another ministry I'm involved with at our church is in our Compassionate Ministries. We distribute food to people in our community who need it, yet food is really the secondary thing we offer them. Primarily, we offer His love and connection to Him through praying individually with those we minister to. On many occasions, I have prayed with people who for the most part are overlooked and forgotten by the majority of our society. So often, after simply embracing them, praying with them, I have finished and beheld their tear filled eyes. His Spirit had ministered to them. In some small way, He had brought them a binding of their wounds, and a healing of their pain. It's what He does. It's who He is.

We want to do great things for Him. Build great ministries, see great results. This is especially true of those who pastor and lead. We can get so caught up in our "visions" that we never see the people He's placed before us. Wounded, hurting, suffering people. I know. I've been caught up in those visions. I didn't see those people....until I found myself among them. Then, He brought healing and the binding of my wounds through those He sent to me, who ministered to me. Since then, I have tried to be available as a vessel of His healing. I haven't always succeeded in that, but I want to. The Father knows that the need for me, and all those who are His to be aware is immense. We need to see them. I need to see them. You need to see them. But that can only happen once we stop seeing only ourselves.

Too many of us in His church have little trouble ministering compassion on a limited basis....so long as it doesn't infringe upon our real priorities. Being available to Him to do so at any time is another matter altogether. It's not a ministry that will bring acclaim or even much notice....except in heaven, but few needs in this world are greater right now. The walking wounded are everywhere before us. We either see them....or we don't. They're there right now, before you and before me.

Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. I love the words to that hymn. Are we willing, in Him, by Him, to help with those burdens? Will we, with love, offer a cup of cold water to those dying of thirst? It will likely go unnoticed by most around us, but it will not be so to those who drink from that cup, or from the One who fills it.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Neutral Ground?

 "Jesus.....asked His disciples, 'Who do men say I am?' 'Well,' they replied, 'some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.' Then He asked them, 'Who do you say I am?' Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.' " Matthew 16:13-16...."What are you doing with Jesus right now? There is no neutral ground." Vance Havner

In the history of the world, there is no more controversial figure than Jesus Christ. Millions have recognized and received Him as Lord and Savior. Millions more have rejected Him, blasphemed Him, despised Him, hated Him. Examine the names of Buddha, Mohammed, or the myriad of Hindu gods. None of their names brings the response that His name does. When men curse, whose name do they overwhelmingly use? Isn't it the name of Jesus Christ? Those other names can be rejected, ignored, or accepted, but they do not, and have never brought the white hot response that the name of Jesus Christ does. White hot with love.....or white hot with hate. As Havner says, there can be no neutral ground with Jesus Christ. When He confronts us with His claim that there is "no way to to the Father but through Me," it is impossible to be neutral. That claim, through the centuries, has either been embraced in love, or rejected, very often violently rejected. Humankind does not like being told there is no other way to the living God but through His only Son, Jesus Christ. A Son who is Himself, fully God, and fully man. We like to think that we can make our own way. We have never responded well to being told that we can't. The proof of that is seen in the cross. Sin put Him there, Our sin, yours and mine.

Only Christ and His Kingdom strike terror into the heart of hell, into the heart of the enemy. Satan doesn't care one bit what and who it is we believe in.....as long as it is not in Jesus Christ. Scripture says that "There is no other Name under heaven by which we must be saved." His name, the name of Jesus, shakes the very foundation of hell. The Word says that in the end, "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." As Havner says, there can be no neutral ground with Jesus Christ. So.....what are you and I doing with Him right now? Are you trying to maintain neutrality? You can't.

The first matter surely aims at His claims to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, that there is salvation in no other. As He stands before you, what do you do with that? You can reject Him, mock Him, laugh at Him, run from Him, but the day will come when you will be called to account on those claims. Be assured, there will be no neutral ground then, just as there is none now. The difference is that on this side of eternity, there is still time for us. On that side, all time for us will have run out.

Yet accepting and believing on His name does not dismiss us from the responsibility of having to choose what we do with Jesus each and every day. What are we doing with Him in our marriages, our parenting, our relationships, our serving of Him? What are we doing with Him in His call to our living holy lives, lives set apart for Him? What are we doing with Jesus in the matter of our character, our integrity, and the secret desires of our hearts? Jesus' claims aren't limited to that of being Savior, but also of being Lord. Our only Lord. His claim of Lordship covers every aspect of our lives. We may not have a problem with receiving Him as our Savior, but we can strongly resist, even resent His claims of Lordship over our lives. He doesn't give us the option of receiving Him on our terms. He tells us who He is and what He commands. We can accept, or reject. Which are we doing right now?

The world and the enemy who works through it have been trying to deny the claims and reality of Christ from the very beginning. The empty tomb, His resurrection, the reality of His life and ministry have all been attacked and denied. We still see countless TV series and documentaries seeking to disprove His claims, denying that He wasn't, isn't, who He says He is. So we come to the question He had for His disciples. We may know who others say He is, but His piercing question for us is, who do we say He is? Who do you say He is? What are you doing with Him today, right now? There is no neutral ground.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Small God?

 "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" Jeremiah 32:27...."When our God is too small, our hearts are too small, so our lives are too small, and our world is too small." Mark Buchanan

Someone has said that we tend to reduce God to the size of our biggest problem. That means that generally we think our problems are daunting in His eyes, and that He'll be challenged in His ability to meet and overcome them. This plays exactly into what Buchanan says in the above quote. Regardless of all that the Father has told us about Himself in Scripture, and of all that Jesus said about Himself, we have consistently downsized our God and our Lord. We seem to think that He's barely adequate to meet the needs of our day, let alone work miracles on our behalf. Our small God does yield small hearts within us, small lives being lived out, and a small world where both we, and our God are very limited. Small wonder we see so few miracles. Our hearts and lives are too small to accommodate the awesome wonder and reality of our God.

Richard Blackaby asks, "When was the last time we learned something from God that was great and mighty?" How can we believe on an infinitely great and mighty God when we have learned so little of His greatness and might? How it must grieve His heart to see us stumble so through our daily lives, with all His power available to us, but so little use of that power by us. It may be that we see no greater evidence of this than what takes place in our personal prayer lives. What is it we pray for? Sicknesses to be healed, but with as much expectation and faith in our Doctor as there is in our God. Perhaps more. What great things do we ask of Him? Too often we limit our asking to things that don't require a miraculous move on His part.Safety on a trip. That our car will start one more time. If we're honest, the reason we don't seek the truly impossible is because we have a strong suspicion that He won't answer. Vance Havner said, "We must believe our beliefs and doubt our doubts. Instead, we doubt our beliefs and believe our doubts." The result is a very limited God, and a very limited life for Him to work through.

We desperately need a fresh revelation of His glory, majesty, and power. We need to experience His reality, in all of His might, in our lives. We need to hear the whisper of His voice in our heart saying, "Is anything too difficult for Me? All things are possible to the one who believes." There is a song titled "Rattle" that has the lyric, "When did the impossible ever stop You?" When has it? It cannot, but our unbelief can. We need a faith that expects His might and power to be exercised on our behalf, but at the same time, is yielded to how He will choose to show forth that power. Such a faith life will always overcome the world and all its power. Such faith cannot and will not be defeated. Such faith is what makes those who walk in it, "more than conquerors."

The times we're living in demand a great faith in a great God. Small hearts and lives looking to a small God will not prevail in the days we're now facing. You may feel your faith is small right now, but bring it to the God who is greater than all things, and experience what He will do with it. In Him, we can do all things, and through us, He will do all things.

Blessings,

Pastor O