Reach

 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Philippians 3:13....."We don't need to stop hurting before we move forward. The healing comes in the moving out......You can get past what you can't get over." Christine Caine

Philippians 3:13 may be the most used Scripture for the start of a new year. It also may be the least realized. There are multitudes of people who simply cannot seem to get past their past. They're held in the chains of regret, guilt, anger, bitterness, and pain. Wounds inflicted decades before still fester and are open sores. They are crippled emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. When it comes to so much of our past, we stand still, and never get beyond what has happened to us, or been caused or done by us.

We live in a fallen world, and the fruit of that world can have devastating effects upon us. The death of loved ones, the collapse of a marriage, the heartbreak of parenting wayward children. Add to that our personal failures, the betrayal of friends, and the various kinds of abuse that all of us suffer in one way or another, whether as children or adults. The pain is real. The loss is real. What we're feeling and thinking is real, and those thoughts and feelings can forge chains that hold us in ever tighter grips, crippling us in every area of our lives. Our enemy, the devil, uses all of it to enslave and torment us. Yet there is no chain that cannot be broken by the power available to us in Jesus Christ. We simply must believe that and receive that. Yet doing so seems impossible to so many. That's why our wills in this are of such deep importance. We must choose to be free, to move on, and then the power to do so is given us by His Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ knows the effect that tragedy has upon us. He knows that there are some things that will always bring pain when remembered. He has no expectation that they wouldn't, but He also has no expectation that we should be captive to the tragedies of life. That is why the exhortation from the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3 is so powerful. We can reach forward. We can move on. We can be free. We must be free.

Paul was a man who certainly had regrets and who was both the initiator and recipient of deep wounds. Before his conversion on the Damascus Road, he had savagely persecuted the early believers. So awful were his acts that he referred to himself as the chief sinner before Christ. He also knew the great pain of betrayal, of being unfairly treated and hated. He knew the pain of being the victimizer, and the victim. Yet he didn't live in the place of what he'd done or had been done to him. He was always reaching forward. He was determined to enter into the fullness of all that the Father had for him. Where he'd sinned and failed, he repented. Where he'd been wounded, he sought and received His healing. Where he'd been abused, he forgave. He never lost sight of His Lord, and the place He was leading him to. So must it be with us, but again, it comes down to our wills. Do we will for it to be so, for us to move forward and experience His healing, or, do we stay where we are.....and continue to bleed?

What chains hold you today? Will they still be holding you tomorrow? Has the power of Philippians 3:13 been realized in your life? Is it being realized now? On this side of eternity, the memories and the pain will always be real, but they don't have to be final. There is life and fulfillment beyond. It's there right now. Reach forward, and as you do, the healing will come. The chains will fall off, and you will be free.....if you truly want to be. Reach!

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Gift

 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

I was visiting a friend last week, and he was showing me around his home and the projects he'd been working on. Eventually we went out into his backyard, which overlooked a sloping hill leading to a freshwater creek. At the top he'd built a wooden swing. He told me that there were times when he would just sit in that swing and contemplate the goodness of God. He would think on all that the Lord had given him, all that He had done in his family, and all that He continued to do in all of his life. He said that what was most impressed upon him was that he wasn't worthy of any of it. He knew the life he'd once lived before he knew Christ. He knew too of the years he and his family had wandered in a spiritual wilderness, distant from their Lord. He knew he wasn't worthy of the goodness and love God had shown him. And in that, he was humbled. And grateful. He was overwhelmed by the goodness and greatness of his God.

I knew exactly what he spoke of, for I too have contemplated, many times, how good the Lord has been to me, and how totally unworthy of that goodness I have been. I too remember the life I led before I came to Him. I also remember the many times I failed Him on my journey with Him. Times when I had lagged behind Him. Times I had resisted His leading, or stubbornly sought to have my own way. Yes, He disciplined me as He shaped me with His hands of love, but always, He worked for my good. He always sought to give me His best, even when I was too blind to see that. I too am humbled, and thankful. I know that I have never deserved all that He has given me. I can never repay Him, and the beauty of it is, He has never expected me to.

Isaiah 9:6 is such a beautiful Scripture. It is a Messianic prophecy that pointed to the coming of Christ, which would not take place for another 700 years. It foretold the giving by the Father, of His Son, to a people who were not worthy of Him. That Son, Jesus, was a gift precious beyond our ability to describe. He was a gift who, for all who'd believe upon His name, that would remove the curse of sin, and break its power. He would be a gift beyond price, yet the Father would ask no payment except that we would receive Him. We are not worthy of this gift. We could never be worthy, which is why the Father gave Him. Because of our sin, we could never work our way to Him. We needed a door, and that door is Jesus Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The only way to the Father. Sadly, most of the world doesn't even notice or know Him. Too many of those who do, have no realization of how precious He is. We take Him, and the gift of His life for granted. Much of that is because we don't really think we're unworthy at all. We live with an attitude of entitlement. Do you live with such an attitude today?

This Christmas, we'll be focused on so many things; both good and sad. To what degree will we contemplate the giving of this greatest gift, this gift of Jesus Christ? I don't think any of us will, until we get a true sense of how unworthy of Him we are. We're proud creatures. Humility doesn't come naturally to us. Pride does, and pride will never see Him. Whatever your state, if you have Him, you have everything, even if you right now feel you have nothing. If you don't have Him, you have nothing, even if you feel you have everything. Contemplate that, and then contemplate Him. May the wonder of who He is, and what He has given overwhelm you. May this day that is supposed to be about Him, be one that really is. Gaze upon Him, and realize that though you are unworthy, the Father, in Christ, has made you worthy in Him.

Blessings,

Pastor O

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His 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 2:9-10

I was listening to the song "Love Has A Name," by Jesus Culture today, and was struck by a part of the lyrics. I'd heard the song many times now, but somehow, I never fully heard this part. It always amazes me how we can read the same Scripture times on end, and yet one day "see" and "hear" something we never did before. It's the same with songs, writings, and so on that are focusing on Him. It's been said that if the Father will use a donkey to speak, as He did with Balaam, the prophet hired by Israel's enemy to curse them, we had best learn to listen for His voice through any and all places and people. I certainly felt He was doing so today, and so I write.

The lyric that grabbed my heart went, "Love has a name.....Jesus. Joy has a name....Jesus....Victory has a name...Jesus....Hope has a name.....Jesus." I was moved because I was made aware in fresh, new ways, of the power to be found in the name of Jesus. As Philippians 2 says, at His name, every knee will bow. Every knee must bow. And we will see the fullness of that proof on that great day when all are called to account before Him. I rejoice however that even now, if we will believe, we will see the name of Jesus overcome all that comes against us.

The enemy has "names" that he uses to come against us. Hate, Mourning, Defeat, Despair. In our own strength, we cannot overcome them. But in and at the name of Jesus, all must bow. The love we so desperately need to be held in, is found in the name of Jesus. The sorrows we feel engulfing us are pushed back by the joy given us in the name of Jesus. The defeat we feel trapped in is crushed by the victory we have in the name of Jesus. And the despair and hopelessness that are like chains upon our soul, are broken by the hope we have in the name of Jesus. When we discover all these things that are found in His name, we fine one more; Life. Life has a name....Jesus.

There's another lyric that held me in its grip as I listened. "We will fix our eyes on the One who overcame....We will stand in awe of the One who breaks the chains." This is what must happen in our hearts in order to realize the fullness of the power of His name. We must fix our eyes upon Him. We must attune our hearts to the truth of who He is. When we do, we will overcome in His name, and we will see every "chain" in our lives broken by the power of His name. We will see all the power of the devil and his hell broken, bowed, by the name of Jesus. Yes, they will come back with a renewed attack, but when we stand firmly in and on the name of Jesus, they will be put to flight and to shame......every time.

Yes, love has a name....Jesus. And because of that, if we are His, we have a name in Him as well. And no other name can stand before His name. May the lyrics of that song, and words of Philippians 2 be burned into our hearts and minds. May we realize all we have and are....in the name of Jesus.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Liar?

 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Romans 8:32.....The key to living victoriously is to know that you can." Chris Tiegreen

I came across a piercing question in one of my devotionals the other day. I was confronted with the question, "Does my life, as I live it in Him, make God a liar?" Such a question can make us squirm because there is nowhere to hide from it, especially in light of the above Scripture and so many other Scriptures in His Word. We are promised an overcoming, victorious life. How can it be that so many professing followers of Christ are not living such a life at all? When we look at what He has said about victorious lives, abundant lives, overcoming lives, does the witness of our life make God a liar? Do we give evidence that God cannot keep His Word, that He cannot do what He says?

I'm not speaking of the path of our growing in Christ, of walking in faith, meeting the challenges, mountains, and giants that will stand in every follower's way. Of the real battles to be fought, but battles that in Him, are already won. We have the victory, and as Tiegreen says, our key to having and living in victory is to believe that you can. Do you, do we, believe that we can?

Every pastor and spiritual leader will tell you that the deepest pain they experience is in watching the people He has entrusted to them, live in continuous cycles of defeat. They fall again and again to the same enemies. Whatever progress they may make is negated by the constant defeats they experience. I believe that the greatest reason for their defeat is that the devil has convinced them that they can never overcome, never conquer, never have victory. They become convinced that this is just the way their life is going to be, and they make peace with that lie. They live as prisoners of war of an enemy who has already been defeated in Christ.

In the Old Testament, the prophets lamented that the people of Israel had become prisoners, slaves in their own land. The Promised Land, given to them by God, had been conquered by their enemies, and what was really theirs was taken over by a people who had no right to it. In the spiritual realm, that is what happens far too often to those who are His. God promised Israel that everywhere they put their feet, that land would be theirs. This is exactly how a follower of Jesus is to live as well. The ground we walk on, we walk upon in Christ. We are His feet, and where we put our feet, we also stamp as having placed His feet there as well. Wherever we stand is holy ground, because where we stand, He stands.

So, we come back to the question; is the witness of our life one that makes God a speaker of truth, or a liar.....at least to a watching world? Do we give evidence of being more than conquerors, overcomers, victors. Or, does the evidence point to us as being victims? Overwhelmed victims?

On the cross, as He died for our sin, Christ exclaimed, "It is finished!" All He had come to do was completed. The pathway to all the life He has promised was opened. Our part is to believe, fully believe, and enter in. As Vance Havner writes, "Whatever comes up, there is provision for it in Christ." It is finished. Do we believe that, or, do we make Him a liar?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Come Back

 "You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." Matthew 23:24....."Do you go through the rituals of a worship service without an attitude of worship? Do you sing the words of the hymns without ever thinking of their meaning? Do you consume the wafers and the wine without consuming the Spirit behind them? Do you miss the heart of God?"......Chris Tiegreen

Pharisees. These were people who knew all the laws of God without actually knowing God Himself. They were so often targets of Christ's during His earthly ministry. He chided them for knowing much about God while not knowing Him at all. As someone said, they didn't believe the God they said they believed in. They dedicated their lives to following rules while never having a relationship with the One the rules were supposed to honor. Pharisees. In the modern western church, being considered a Pharisee is a harsh label. Yet, might we consider that many of us have more in common with them than we would ever dare to admit or think upon?

The above quote from Tiegreen should confront those tendencies within us. What He asks us about is exactly what took place in the hearts of so many of the Pharisees. They were religious leaders and students of the Scriptures. They knew them inside out, but they knew so little of the God who gave them. And they were unable to recognize the Son He sent when He stood before them. Jesus ministered and spoke with the very heart of the Father because He and His Father were one, yet His ministry and words were never received by the Pharisees because they didn't know the heart of the God they said they followed. They missed Christ because they missed the very heart of God. It's in that where we must allow Tiegreen's questions to pierce our own hearts. Where are we, like they, missing the heart of God? Where do we, in our faith lives, strain out gnats while swallowing camels?

How many of us regularly attend what we call "worship services," and yet never really worship Him at all? We sing songs about Him. We listen to sermons about Him. We even participate regularly in the Lord's Supper, the receiving of communion, yet never commune with Him, with the One we're there to worship, honor, and glorify. The very act of worship is meant to transform us, yet countless numbers of professing believers leave that day's worship no different than when they came. The Scriptures, the message, the songs, we participate in them all, but we never actually partake of Him in our participation. That's how the Pharisees lived, and we form a common bond with them when we live that way ourselves. They missed the heart of God, and we do too. To have that happen should grieve us, but does it? The Pharisees response when Christ confronted them on this was raging anger. They would never admit that they, the religious leaders of the day, were missing His heart. Can we? Can we let Him expose the areas of our hearts and lives where we too are missing His heart?

After His resurrection, Jesus encountered two of His followers on the Emmaus Road. They didn't recognize Him as He engaged them in conversation. Finally, after inviting Him to join them in a meal, their eyes were opened to who He was. They exclaimed, "Didn't our hearts burn within us as He spoke?" When was the last time our hearts burned at the hearing of His words and voice? When was the last time we really encountered Him in our worship? Where have we drifted from His presence? Where have we left our first love?

In Scripture, the Lord calls with the words, "Come back to Me and live." Wherever we're missing His heart, that must be our response; come back to Him.....and live. If not, we'll go on missing His heart, His life, and His glory.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Locusts

 The LORD says, “I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. Joel 2:25....."Living in past failure invites the locusts to eat up our present and future." Chris Tiegreen

Locusts invade our life from so many different directions. In Joel, the locusts had come upon the nation of Israel because of their sin and disobedience. Yet, when the people repented, God promised to restore to them all that the locusts had destroyed. All and more. "Locusts" can ravage us because of our sinful lifestyles. We will reap what we sow. Yet the locust can also come about from the normal events of life. His Word says that it rains on the just and the unjust. We live in a fallen world with the presence of a real and evil enemy, the devil. No one fully escapes the effects of living in that world. We also suffer locusts as a result of poor, even sinful choices. From our personal failures, as well as the actions and choices of others. The result can be devastation, a life stripped bare by "the locusts." The result of that can be so destructive that the barren lifescape around us crushes us, steals all joy and hope. All we can see is what the locusts have done, and we can't hear His promise of what He will do.

God has promised that all those who believe upon His Son shall enter into a "living hope." Tiegreen says that "A life of hope is a life based on truth. Hope knows who God is." Reality for the believer is not found in our circumstances. It's found in what He says. The Rock of His Word is our true reality. Sadly, too many are more convinced by what they see and feel than what He has said and is saying. They are trapped in the results of what has happened, whether by their actions or another's. Because of that, the locusts never leave. They assault the present and assail the future. We need to be rid of the locusts or they'll continue to devour our present and future just as they did our past.

Today, are you living as a prisoner of the locusts? Do they continue to strip and savage your life? If they are, and regardless of where their source has come from, if you will turn to Him, and turn away from them, He will, as He has promised, do away with the swarms, and as you trust and obey Him, restore all that they have eaten up. His Word says that He has, in Christ, given us a future and a hope. Receive Him and His Life into your present, give Him your past, and fully trust Him for your future, and then behold the work of restoration He will do. I know this, because I have lived it. I am still living it. Four decades ago I left the small Virginia town I had been pastoring in with all I owned in the backseat and trunk of a compact car. As a result of events, most of them beyond my control, the locusts had overrun my life. In the midst of the swarms, I chose to put my foundering faith and hope in Him. I chose to believe the promise of Joel 2:25. It didn't happen overnight, and much healing and restoration was yet to come, but He did redeem the past, the present, and my future. The locusts were long ago cast out, and His work of restoration goes on in my life even today. I'm not any more special than you. I simply chose to believe His promise about the locusts. He makes the same promise to you. Will you believe it as well?

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Cup

 "Abba, Father," He said. "everything is possible for You. Please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will, not mine." Mark 14:36.....Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" John 18:11......"What's the cup we've been given to drink? Will we drink it? Can we cry "Abba, Father," as we do? Unknown

Christ knew the reason for His Father sending Him into this world. He would be the sacrifice, the atonement for the sin of the human race. On the cross He would take upon Himself the judgement that our sin deserves. All of God's wrath against sin would fall upon Him. He knew as well the suffering He would undergo as He carried out His Father's will. The physical pain and suffering of the crucifixion was only a part of that, and a small part of it. The greatest part would be the separation from His Father that He would undergo as He took the sin of the world upon Himself. In that moment, His Father could not look upon Him, and He would suffer separation from His Father, a separation He had never experienced before. This was His deepest suffering, separation from a Father with whom He'd had nothing but oneness with forever. Chris Tiegreen says, "The cross tells us what the Father thinks about our sin." Such is His hate for it that He was willing, in His love, to undergo, along with Jesus, the ultimate suffering, separation from His "only Son." As Tiegreen writes, "He was forsaken so we wouldn't be."

Yet, it isn't about the cross and His suffering that I write today. It's about the cup. Christ's cup. As He tells Peter, it was given to Him by His Father. He took it knowing the terrible consequences of doing so. He took it willingly, and in love, for He knew what all who would believe upon Him and yield to Him would be saved from, eternal darkness and death, and what they would gain in their believing upon Him; eternal Light and Life. So He willingly took the cup.

So many modern preachers like to talk about all that we gain in coming to Christ. The focus is upon all the blessing to be had. When I came to Christ more than 4 decades ago, a regular part of the invitation was that we would come to know "the wonderful plan He had for our lives." We're offered abundant life, and the emphasis is on the abundance. Few mention the cup. We never really believe that the cup He offered the Lord Jesus would be the cup He would also offer us. Even when in Scripture, in response to James and John's request to be seated beside Him in the Kingdom, He asked if they could drink the cup that He Himself would be given. They said they could, and He said they would indeed drink it. They did, and all the suffering that went with it. Somehow, we never believe that such a cup would be given to us in this life. Why? Why do we always think that we, His followers, are above what our Lord Himself walked through? Why do we always think the cross was for Him, but never for us?

The reality for the true disciple of Jesus is the carrying of His cross. To truly follow Him means to walk as He walked where He walked, and that will always lead to our own Calvary. It will mean our taking the cup, in whatever form He gives it to us. It will mean that we will know pain and suffering in the following. It will not be because He desires it for us, but because He will use it to make us more like Christ, and bring us more deeply into Him as we drink that cup. As Sarah Adams wrote in her beautiful hymn, "Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee. Even though it be a cross that raises me." Everything He does with us and in us in this life is always with eternity in view. The cup(s) that He gives us are used of Him to shape us towards that purpose. To refine us, and bring us forth as gold. We come to Him a dross filled people, full of impurities. The cup is used of Him to purify us, but also to accomplish His purposes for and through us in this life, and into eternity beyond. He asks us, as He did James and John, "Will you drink the cup that I have been given?" Will we? Will you, and will I?

I am not seeking to paint a picture of a life that knows nothing but pain, but for the follower of Christ, pain will be a real companion in the following. Following Him will require giving all of ourselves, and that alone will be painful, because to give ourselves to Him means to let go of all that is not Him. We find that out in the drinking of the cup.

If we will follow HIm, we too will be offered a cup. Only He knows what it will be. Jesus knew His before He was given it. He had already yielded Himself up to it's drinking. We must do the same. Have we decided to drink His cup even before He gives it? Or, do we linger in the choosing? If we do, very likely, we'll never drink it. If Christ had not accepted His, what would have been lost? What will be lost if we refuse ours?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Cracked

For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. John 17:8

In my prayer journal, I've written in regard to the above verse, "Jesus, may You be able to pass on to me all the words that the Father has given You." I truly want that to be so, but it raises an uncomfortable question for me, and for you; He has sought to pass on all the words that the Father has given Him to us. Why do we retain so few of them?

Someone said that in our desire to be free, whole, and filled with His life, we too often fall short of entering into the realization of that desire. They said that the "cracks" in our lives allowed what He was pouring in to leak out. Cracks in our lives, our hearts, and our spirits. We all have them, though we don't much care to admit it, or address them.

What would those cracks be? Some are obvious, disobedience, attention to our "idols," things we've placed above Him, and often just lack of spiritual discipline and laziness. These might be the easiest to address because they're the most visible. I think it's the subtle cracks that do the most damage. They can be things like ministry activity. Doing "work" for Him can become so consuming for us that we lose our connection to Him. We're on auto-pilot and not really in any kind of communion with Him. Whatever words He has for us quickly "leak" out. There's also the distractions that we allow. Some of them are good, but none of them are the best. They too draw our attention from Him. There's also compromise. We fall into the trap of thinking that the ends justify the means, and we make common ground, intentionally or not, with the enemy. The most damaging of all may be our busyness. We overcommit, and overextend, to the point of exhaustion. In the end, we're too weary to hear and respond to Him. All of these are cracks, and all of them allow His life, healing, and wholeness to leak out. Which ones fit your life, and which fit mine?

There is only one Who can seal these cracks, and His name is Jesus. When we bring our lives, and all the cracks we've allowed in them to Him, He closes those cracks with the glue of His Holy Spirit. They will stay sealed, but we have to be diligent, or else new cracks will form where there were none before.

Cisterns were and are common in the arid Middle East. Their purpose is hold water, a precious resource in that part of the world. Jesus spoke of cracked cisterns, that were useless because they were unable to retain the lifegiving water. How much of our life resembles a cracked cistern? How much of what He pours in is retained by us? What are the cracks that need to be sealed in you and me? I once heard a person referred to as a "leaky bucket," a person who could not be counted upon. What will we be? Cracked cisterns? Leaky buckets? Or, holders and givers of His Living Water? The answer depends on how we address our cracks.

Blessings,

Pastor O 

Never Christmas

 1The wilderness and the land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. 2It will bloom profusely and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.…Isaiah 35:1-2

In my prayer journal, I have an old prayer that I have asked the Lord to bring to fullness in both the fellowship I serve, and in His church as a whole. It simply reads, "Lord, may Your church be a place that offers spring to all those lives trapped in winter." There are many whose lives seem to be trapped in a perpetual winter. The promise of spring never seems to come or be realized. All around them, and even within them, seems to be held in the grip of winter, where nothing seems to live. C.S. Lewis describes it as a state where it is "always winter, but never Christmas." For many, that is their life. Might it be for you at this time, even for some time?

That's why the promise of Isaiah 35:1-2 speaks so deeply into my heart. I know something of a life trapped in winter. It brings me back to memories of my time during the first months in the awful ordeal of the collapse of my marriage. For a time, I lived on a church campground, just as fall was heading into winter. The only other souls on the grounds were the camp caretaker and his wife, who I rarely saw. To me, it was a real place of desolation. Yet, even in the desolation, He was with me, and time and again, at my loneliest, He would appear with His comfort, assurance, and hope. He'd whisper into my heart the promise that one day, my personal desert would blossom with flowers. My life would bloom again with joy and singing. In the darkness, He brought His Light. In the hope of His promise, I could press on.

That brings me to my prayer. During that time, He never ceased to wash over me, refreshing me, ministering to me. Sadly, I didn't often find that to be the case with His church. I don't speak that with any kind of anger or judgement. I was a pastor going through a divorce, and in those times, I don't think many in the church knew how they could minister to me. Nevertheless, I know it is His will that in any situation, His church should and must. Thankfully, we have grown much in such areas, but we need to grow so much more.

I remember a period in my life, held in the grip of depression and hopelessness, walking by a church in the city neighborhood I lived in. I tried the door, not really knowing what it was I sought, just knowing that I sought something, anything. The door was locked. Now, I know the need for doing so in days that even then, were filled with lawless people, but in my need, I thought a church would always be open. Physically locking doors may be a need, but too many churches have locked their spiritual, emotional, and personal doors against those, who like me that day, are wounded and need healing. We've grown out of touch with the world He raised us up to minister to. All those lives trapped in winter. Lives that we, who have access to the One who offers Spring to each and every one of those lives. The church is to live out each day, the words of Isaiah 35:1-2. Is your church doing so for you? Are you doing so in your church?

So many are living a life that is always winter and never Christmas. May we, the people of God, the Body of Christ, the Church, in the power of His risen life, offer Christmas, Spring, to all those trapped in winter. May He, through us, make lives that know only the barrenness of the wilderness, bloom with life, singing, and joy. It's why He's placed us here. May people, through His ministry through His people, sing again, laugh again, live again.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Isaac

 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Romans 4:18......Faith, in the Bible, is faith in God against everything that contradicts Him." Oswald Chambers....

..."The Lord is willing to do the impossible when His people dare to believe that He's a faithful God and means exactly what He says." A.W. Tozer

Throughout His Word, we are exhorted to "have faith in God." The Father said this to His people through His prophets in the Old Testament. Jesus proclaimed it in the New Testament to His disciples, and through them to us. Everywhere, we are told to have faith. We are also told that our faith will be challenged, oftentimes severely. There will be, as Chambers says, contradictions to His promises. There will be times when every circumstance in our life will literally scream at us to give up, turn back, to stop pressing on....in faith. Leonard Ravenhill said that "we're willing to trust to the point of inconvenience." When we enter the furnace of the desert, that's when we'll discover the depth of our faith.

Tozer speaks of the fruit of our "daring" to believe Him. In a sense, this is exactly what God does. He dares us to believe. In so many places, Jesus would ask someone after He had told them what He would/could do, "Do you believe this?" He is totally clear on what it is that He promises, and humanly, what He promised is always beyond belief as far as our rational minds can grasp. That's the crux of faith; in the midst of all the contradictions to His promises and words, will we believe Him? Will we trust Him? Not just beyond the point of convenience, but when to do so makes us appear to be the world's biggest fools?

Larry Crabb made a heartbreaking statement that I believe is chillingly true. He said, "Churches are filled with 'worshippers' who have reached the conclusion that there is no real hope in God. He's left them on their own." Somewhere along the line, they lost hope in the God of the impossible. Circumstances, the opinions of people, the whispering lies of the enemy, all seemed louder and more real than His voice. They gave Him what they believed was sufficient time to "come through" and when He didn't, they gave up. It wasn't so much that they ceased to believe in Him. They just ceased to believe in what He'd promised. Instead of everything depending on Him, they now believe that everything depends on them, and on how they handle all the challenges and impossibilities of life. Somehow, they never heard Christ's call to launch out into the deep waters of faith. They never get out of the shallows. Crabb writes, "We're more prone to maneuvering our way through life than abandoning ourselves to Him." Far too often, our "faith lives" prove Him right.

Abraham was called "the father of the faithful." Promised a son and heir, though he and his wife were already too old for children, he refused to fall prey to the contradictions of his circumstances and trusted His God. The result was his son, Isaac. For all who would be children of Abraham, He also has His "Isaac" for us. He will not tell us when the fulfillment will come, or how. He will not remove all the obstacles that exist that would prevent His promise coming to pass. He won't openly refute the whispering lies of the devil. He will merely ask, "Do you believe this?" Whatever your Isaac may be, or mine, He asks us, "Will you believe?" Will we? Will you?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Conviction

 Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” Acts 24:25......"We get convicted and want to change, but not more than we want to stay the same." Patrick Morley

I once had a man in my congregation come up to me after a sermon and rebuke me, not gently, about what I'd just preached. I knew that the message would be convicting for the people, and for me as well, but even so, I wasn't quite prepared for what he said. I don't remember much of it, except for his ending words. He told me, "I come to church to feel good." In effect, he was telling me, "don't preach anything that makes me feel bad, especially about myself."

I think our churches are filled these days with people who have some shade of that same feeling. We don't want to feel bad, convicted, or guilty. We want a Jesus that takes us as we are, and doesn't fuss at us about what we're not. He tells us how much He loves us, all He has for us, all the while looking the other way concerning our indiscretions. Read that, "our sins." We want to know and focus on His grace, but we don't want to dwell upon His discipline. We want the constantly affirming Jesus. We don't want to be around the Jesus who rebukes, even when He does so in love.

There's a lot of talk about the "cancel culture" these days. Such has been going on in the church for quite a while now. Examine Paul's words to the Roman governor, Felix. Righteousness, self-control, the judgement to come. How many in our fellowships would respond any differently than Felix did if these became common elements in the preaching from our pulpits in these days? Felix was under heavy conviction from the Holy Spirit. His response was to run from God. Paul didn't change his message in order to keep him. I'm afraid that too often, for fear of losing people, we do. We have.

The thing is, if we understood how the Spirit works through His bringing conviction to our hearts, we would rejoice in what He means to do through it. Someone said that "in His presence, we see ourselves as we are." We can see all the inner corruption present within. Yet, at the same time, it was said, "but in His face and heart, we see ourselves as we can be." This is what He means to do through His bringing conviction to us concerning our lack, our need, and yes, our sin. Like Peter, when he first began to realize who Christ truly was, we want Him to depart from us because we realize in His holy presence how unholy we are. Yet Peter remained before Him because he had to have also seen in the face and heart of Christ, all that he could be in Him. This was shown when Jesus told him that his name would no longer be Simon, but Peter, "the rock." He was anything but a rock then, but in time, through His grace, he would be.

So, as concerns us, you and me, how do we respond to His convicting grace? Do we, like Felix, send the voice He is speaking through away, telling them we'll deal with it "at a more convenient time?" A time that almost never comes. Or, do we, as He intends, melt before Him, confess our sin and need, turn from it, and receive His cleansing Spirit, and work of inner transformation. If we'll do so, we'll realize that the message that didn't make us "feel good," yielded through our yielding, a greater good than we could have ever believed. Where has He been bringing conviction to you in your life? How do you respond? Like Felix......or Peter?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Baggage

 "Go!" said the Lord. "This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name." Acts 9:15-16....."Few tell us how we need to live, where we need to live, and the cross we must carry to get there." Unknown

Saul of Taursus had just been converted on the Damascus Road. He had been traveling there for the purpose of persecuting the followers of Christ, when He encountered the risen Christ on the road. The encounter not only brought about his transformation into a believer himself, but left him temporarily blinded. He'd been brought to a place in the city, and the Lord spoke to a man named Ananias, telling him to go and baptize Saul, who was now named Paul by the Lord. Paul had been chosen by the Lord to be His apostle to the gentiles, the non-Jews. In the sending, Ananias was given a message; he would be shown how much he, Paul, would suffer in the carrying out of His purposes.

In the modern church today, can you imagine how such a message would be received if it were included in our "invitations" to come to Jesus Christ? Oswald Chambers said that the church focuses on the effects, the benefits of the cross, rather than on the cross itself. We want to promote His healing, His provision, His love, mercy, forgiveness, and the abundant life He has promised us. The actual carrying of His cross, and the pain and suffering that will surely go with it, is, as Chambers says, not much spoken of. If we told the people we sought to reach of what comes with belief upon His name, well, would we even have the courage to do so? A Chinese Christian, known as "the Heavenly Man," and who has suffered terribly for his faith, wrote, "The cross of Christ is soaked in blood. If you choose to follow Him, the cross you carry will be soaked in yours as well."

I remember hearing a famed televangelist, questioned on his methods for drawing people to his ministry, say, "To catch the people, you need to use good bait." We should rightfully be repelled by that, but can we honestly deny that in some ways, in our approach to winning souls, we're doing something of the same sort? Are we, as Chambers says, offering the effects and benefits of His cross, but not His cross itself?

We need only look to the ministry of Jesus while He was on earth. He didn't promise an easy path to follow Him. He required that they count the cost of doing so, for the cost would be great. He required that they divest themselves of all the "baggage" that would hold them back from Him, and weigh them down in the following. We talk a lot in relationships of how each other's emotional baggage can hinder, even destroy the relationship. The one who comes to Christ may be forgiven and cleansed, but they still have their baggage. If we are to come after Him, that baggage must be left behind. Doing so will be painful. A great part of the suffering of carrying His cross is the leaving behind of baggage that we have grown very attached to, and have even grown to love. Jesus hid nothing in His invitations to come and follow Him. Can we say the same of ours?

I don't mean to infer that following Him brings nothing but pain. On the contrary, in Him and with Him, I have experienced joy beyond belief. Words fail to describe all the abundance I have come to know. Yet there has been suffering. Much suffering. All of it He has worked for good, and all of it was used by Him to peel away from my life "baggage" that had been slowly destroying me. Whatever effectiveness I have had in His Kingdom would have been crippled had that baggage remained with me. The Lord showed me, just as He had shown Paul. He will also show you....if you truly wish to follow Him. In doing so, you'll have nothing to lose but the baggage. So, will you come to Him, cross and all, and follow?

Blessings,

Pastor O