Three More

 In my last writing, I shared three statements I'd written down in my prayer journal. Though I'd written an earlier piece for today, I felt impressed to save it for another time. I was drawn back to all those journal statements. As I went over them, three "spoke" more loudly than the rest. I share them with you today.

The first is once again from Chris Tiegreen. He says, "Most of us, somewhere deep inside, have a "bottom line." That is, there is a certain depth, length, width, or height that we'll go with Him, but not beyond. We have, usually unspoken and rarely admitted to, a bottom line with Jesus......This is seen in John 6. In this chapter, Jesus is making a demand upon His followers that called for an unconditional commitment to Him. Where He led, anywhere He led, they would go. No questions, no reservations, no resistance. They were His. Totally His. His own 12 stated that He asked a hard thing. How could anyone declare such loyalty? To this place, many more than the 12 had been following Him, but John 6:66 reads, "At this point, many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him." It is key that these were not onlookers. They were disciples. Jesus had exposed their bottom line. When they left, He turned to the 12 and asked if they would leave Him as well? Peter spoke for all, "Lord to whom would we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life." The majority of His "disciples" had reached their bottom line. Peter and the rest, the minority, had none. The majority and the minority. 2000 years later it has not changed in His church. The minority have given their entire heart and life to Him. The majority have not. They've reached their bottom line. To which group do you belong? Do you have a bottom line?

The second statement comes from Oswald Chambers. He says, "Wherever He puts us, our one great aun must be to pour out a wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work." This challenges all those who see themselves as His servants in ministry, and all who take the name of Jesus are such. It is not a difficult thing to begin to undertake a task, a ministry, a calling for Him. We begin well, but too often, the initial excitement wanes in the midst of the realities of that call, and of that work. We want results, and this is human, but results are not first and foremost what He has called us to and for. He has called us to faithfulness, first and always. He has not promised us abundant and visible fruit in that place. He has promised us His presence. He has also asked that we trust His purposes for us there. His Word exhorts us to do all that we do for Him with all of our strength and for His glory. His, not ours. Chambers, who led a school for the training of missionaries, often said it was not for the worker to question where His Lord placed Him. It was the workers' part to be faithful and obedient there. Chambers called this success. Vance Havner said that " there are no trivial assignments in the work of the Lord." Wherever we are, wherever you are, the place is not a trivial one, and it pleases and blesses His heart to see you faithful there.

The last statement is from a man named S.D. Gordon, who said, "Faith is blind to impossibilities and deaf to doubt." Can any of us envision what would be the result if the people of God lived in such faith? The apostle Paul wrote, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." One thing every follower of Christ can attest to is that the enemy will ceaselessly confront us with the impossibilities that we face. He will whisper all the "reasons" why what He has called us to cannot be accomplished. He can be, and too often is, very persuasive. So many have turned back because of the hardness of the way, of the giants and mountains that are encountered upon the way. When the 12 Hebrew spies were sent out to explore the land given them by God, 10 returned with reports laced with fear and doubt. They saw nothing but danger and difficulty. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, exhorted the people to go in and take possession of their promise. They were blind to the impossibilities and deaf to the doubts. Of the 12, only they would live to take possession of the promise. Somewhere in your life, I believe there is a promise He has given you. Is that promise prevailing, or have you yielded it to the whispers of the enemy? What keeps you from taking possession of all He has promised? Why do you keep putting off entering into the "land" He has given you?

Those three statements speak to my heart. I hope they speak to yours. He calls us ever forward, ever onward, ever upward. Let us surrender our bottom lines. Let us believe that we can thrive in the place He has given us, even if that place is a wilderness. Let us trust in the One who makes us blind and deaf to all the enemy would have us see and hear, that we may see all He has for us, and speaks to us right now. Here, where we are, with Him.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Shared Thoughts

 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world.… John 17:16-18

Chris Tiegreen is a writer whose thoughts and insights have blessed me richly through the recent years. My prayer journal is filled with them. Today, I want to share three that speak to me with particular effect.

The first is, "Those who abandon themselves to God will find themselves completely embraced by Him." Can we stop and begin to take in something of what that means? Can we begin to realize what it means to live in His embrace? The thought of abandoning ourselves to an invisible God is terrifying to our flesh. We are stepping out onto "ground" that we can only believe is there. We are going into an unknown that He has not promised to tell us about in any detail, or even give indication of where it will lead us. He simply asks that we throw ourselves upon Him and believe that His promise to provide, protect, go with us, and keep us is true. We cannot do this in steps. We must fully abandon all of ourselves to all of Him, and then by His grace and our faith, empowered by His grace, trust that He will get us to the place He has purposed for us to be. The result is that we live in His embrace, and we experience His peace, joy, strength, and hope that is received in that embrace. He cannot fully do this without our abandonment to Him. We will always be trying to hold onto something or someone else, and we'll never know the deep security of a life lived out in the embrace of our God.

Tiegreen's second statement is, "His Lordship will always lead us in humble, cross-centered ways." Now this flies in the face of the common belief that "He has a wonderful plan for our lives" He does, but our definition differs greatly from His. Ours leads to an increasingly better situation and always increasing well-being (read comfort and prosperity) for us and for those we love. We often have greatness in mind; ours. He has His glory in mind, and His glory will always lead to the steady decrease of "us" and the ever-growing increase of Christ's life in us. We believe He will lead us into personal renown. He leads us into places where His name is magnified, and ours either unnoticed, or forgotten. He calls us into a life of true servanthood, the washing of feet. The only way we can live such a life is by way of the cross, where our lust for self exaltation is crucified, and we live for Him, and Him alone. We seek His glory, not our own.

The last statement is, "Whatever was broken in the fall can be healed at the cross." Let me say that I, along with a multitude of others, can testify to the truth of this. I came to Him broken and He healed me. I was further broken in the steps of my journey, and every time those steps led me to the cross, and at the cross, I found His healing and wholeness. I have found that life in Him, as one person said, is a journey of being "broken and re-broken, surrendered and re-surrendered." And it all happens at the cross. Everything was broken in the human race with the sin of Adam and Eve. At the cross of Christ, all that was broken is made whole for those who come to that cross and give themselves to Him there.

Abandonment. Surrender. Brokenness. This is the call of Christ to each of us. In the call there is no room for our glory, but unending room for His glory. In the call is life over death, light over darkness, wholeness over brokenness, and abundance over emptiness. Are these things ideals to us, or realities? Which are they to you?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Champion

 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:2..."Be assured, if you walk with Him, look to Him, and expect help from Him, He will never fail you." George Muller

Sometimes, the Holy Spirit so fills a Scripture and quote that one of these devotionals almost writes itself. I think this may be such a time.

I think many, when they see the end of Muller's quote, that "He will never fail you," immediately think, "but He's failed me, and more than once." First off, His not giving us things that either would push Him further from His, or bring harm to us, is not His failing us. He has a purpose and will for us, and often our desires get in the way of that, even good ones. We are too willing to settle for our good rather than His best. Secondly, everything is not about us, though we often live as if it is. God is at work in this world and as He works in our lives, He is also working in others. He is weaving a tapestry that brings countless lives into a pattern together. Some of how He works may bring temporary pain, but He is working for our eternal good. Beyond that however is the fact that the greatest reason we may feel He's failed us is that we have not to any degree sought to live in the way described by both Hebrews 12:2 and Muller. We are not living our lives with our spiritual eyes fixed on Him. It is more that they are fixed on everything but Him. We don't understand His sacrifice, His authority, and His Lordship. He has never promised to give us all of our desires while we give Him little or nothing of ourselves. So, we live frustrated, often angry lives. It needn't be so. Shouldn't be so. We can live in the manner of both the Scripture and Muller's words.

First, as we focus and keep our eyes on Him, we walk with Him...in fellowship. This means communion with Him. We get to grow more deeply in our understanding and knowledge of Him. We hear His heartbeat and we know His mind in ever increasing ways. We can become so close that we know His desire for us before we even ask. He is always speaking and we come to a place of always listening for His voice. For those whose focus is off of Him, this seems a pipedream, but it's not.

Secondly, we live in an attitude of looking to Him at all times. This means that we have developed the spiritual habit of taking every need, every challenge, every giant, mountain, and danger to Him. We don't first think of how we can handle things, but look to Him to give direction, and power in the midst of it all. Our minds and spirits are disciplined and tuned to Him. We have learned the futility of depending on ourselves and the wisdom of depending upon Him. We know that He's the answer, solution, and help in all things. He will make a way....when, as the old chorus goes, there seems to be no way.

Last, we need to live expecting help from Him. Someone said that the way to live victoriously was to expect to live victoriously. Chris Tiegreen writes, "The key to seeing God work is to expect Him to work." And our expectations are not centered on what we hope He will do. Our expectations are in Him. We know and trust that He will do and give His best. We can expect Him to be Almighty God on our behalf. His Word says that our hope in Him "will not disappoint." We will never will if our hope is firmly set upon Him.

Who would not wish to walk with and trust in such a champion? Yet many who call themselves His do so every day, and continue to reap the consequences of that....every day. Who will you fix your eyes upon this day, and every day? The Champion of your faith, or the futile hope found outside of Him? When our focus is not upon Him, all is out of focus. When our sight is fixed upon Him, all things become clear. Who is in your line of sight today?

Blessings,

Pastor O

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What?

 "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believe in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?' " John 11: 25-26

In one of my recent readings, I came across a truly confrontational question concerning all that the Father has spoken through His Word, as well as the words of His Son, Jesus Christ. The question is simple but so direct; "What will I believe today?" In relation to all of His promises, all of what He has told us, commanded us, called us to, given us, and poured upon us, what, in total, will we believe about it today? How long must we think before we answer? How much of His Truth, that we have always said is His Truth, will we believe today? Seeing it become an active part of our lives? Stand upon and trust in? What is it concerning all of His claims and claims upon us, that we will believe? What will you believe.....today?

Jesus' question to Mary follows His proclamation that He is the resurrection and the life. Literally, that He is resurrection life itself. He then asks Mary if she believes this. Her reply is that yes, she does. But then we see that what she believes is not really the answer to the question He was asking. She believed that His resurrection life was something she, and all who believed upon Him, would enter into when they physically died and stepped into eternity. That was only part of what Jesus was promising. He was proclaiming and promising that He was giving the fullness of His resurrection life right now to all who believe upon Him. This was a mind boggling promise then. It still is now. Jesus is saying that He gives life that has the power to overcome all the fallenness of this broken world, and that He gives it now. This is what He promised when He physically walked this world, and the promise was built upon by Paul, Peter, and John, when His Holy Spirit inspired and spoke and wrote through them. The result is that we have a book that is not just a book. It is a record of His Living Word at work through both the Old Testament and the New. Throughout this "account" which is really an account of God's working and relationship with His creation and the ones that He created....you and me. In this account He tells us who He is, who we are, and particularly who we are without Him. He tells us of how the sin of our ancestors, Adam and Eve, separated the human race from Him, and how He made a bridge back to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. He promises to forgive, restore, heal, make whole, and bring abundant life. He makes promises that seem too wonderful to be true, except that they are. Then, in the midst of it all, He asks if we believe Him. He asks us now.

That's why that daily question, "What will I believe today?" is so central to entering into His abundant life each day. What will we believe? This will require us to go much deeper than we normally are willing to do. This means we have to be willing to be questioned as to the reality of our faith. This means that our faith will be tried, and where it is lacking, will be exposed. That's a crucible many will seek to avoid at all costs. Where do we avoid it right now?

So His Holy Spirit asks anew that question: What will we, you and I, believe today? Will we believe that He has conquered death in all of its forms, as well the author of death, Satan? Will we believe that He, the Author of Life, freely offers that life, abundant life, to all who will believe upon and receive from Him that life? Will we believe who we are without Him, and what we are in Him? Will we believe His Truth, or the enemy's lies? What will we believe today? What will you believe today?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Cheap Grace

 For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Romans 15:5....."Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without repentance, baptism without church discipline, and communion without confession......The word of cheap grace has ruined more Christians than any command about works." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Bible, which is full of beautiful words, may contain none more beautiful than the word "grace." We can define it by theological terms like, "God's unmerited (undeserved) favor given to a sinful human race," but no definition, let alone any of our words used to describe or define can come close to the beauty of what His grace is. What we can know for sure is that His grace, freely given to all who will receive and believe upon His Son, Jesus Christ, will transform and bring us from the captivity of the kingdom of darkness and death, and into His Kingdom of Light and Life. By His grace we are made new, made whole, and taken into the fullness of His Holy Spirit. By His grace we are kept, sustained, and empowered all along the journey through this world and into eternity. All of that and more. As I said, no word can really describe the wonder of His grace. Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of all is that His grace is given to those who did not seek it, at one time did not want it, and made available by the sacrificial death and shed blood of His only Son, Jesus Christ. As Bonhoeffer, who was the first to use the term "cheap grace" has said, His grace is free, but it is not cheap. Yet a growing element in the professing church has been proclaiming it as if it is.

What has been an increasing element of "preaching" is what is referred to as "hyper grace." Grace so enhanced by men as to not only make it free, but costless. Costless not just to us, but Him as well. As Bonhoeffer said, "Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, without the cross, and without Christ." Cheap grace diminishes the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross. It diminishes the problem of sin, the death sentence the human race is under without the atoning death of Christ, the preciousness of His shed blood, and the cost, beyond any possible measure, to the heart of the Father in giving His Son, and the suffering of His Son Jesus in carrying out His Father's will. Cheap grace diminishes the reality of sin's power over fallen humans, as well as the call of God for us to live holy lives. It emphasizes our freedom, but thinks nothing of our responsibility, our calling, to live our lives for Him. It emphasizes the truth that we are not saved by works, but then denies that good works will be, must be, part of the witness we give of having been saved by the power of His blood and grace. It loves to present Jesus as the Gentle Shepherd who understands us so well, but not as the Warrior King who will one day return for a holy church and people. In short, it presents Christ as a Savior who really hasn't saved us from all that terrible of a fate, but does give us all we could desire in the here and now, and heaven to boot. He gives us everything, and requires little or nothing from us. Cheap grace, as Bonhoeffer points out, requires no confession, no repentance, and no real evidence of a consecrated and sanctified life. Best of all, the cross was what Jesus went to. It is not what we're called to as well. Cheap grace does not call us to be crucified with Christ, to die to our self-centered lives.

Pulpits in the west are filled with "preachers" who in some degree are proclaiming some part or whole of the message of cheap grace. It's a message that calls no one to "take up their cross and follow Him." It's a message that makes room for compromise with the world spirit, and even outright disobedience to His commands. It tells us that in the end, regardless of how we live, we are "saved by grace" and all will be well with us because of that. And all the while, we are blind to what a total insult that is to His holiness, His sacrifice, His love, and His grace. We don't just cheapen His grace, we cheapen Him.

So I close with just where might you, we, be living in some form of cheap grace? We have just spent several days remembering the agony of His death on a cross, the sorrow of His death and burial, and the glorious joy of His resurrection. All of which yielded the showers of His blessed grace upon all who will believe on Him. Priceless grace, freely given, but at a cost we will never understand. Where have we cheapened it? Will we go on cheapening it? Or, do we treat it as the treasure that no one can count? How we live will be our answer.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heart Dwellers

 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15: 4-5

In our church's Good Friday services, when we read the Scripture where the crowd screamed, "Crucify Him," after Pilate asked what should he do with Jesus, our pastor mentioned how each of us present that night, had at one or another betrayed Him, or in some way, lived in such a way where our hearts also cried, "Away with Him!" I agree. I know such was true concerning my own heart. It also got me thinking as to just "who" might be lurking in our hearts, even with our belief in Christ? I thought of three types of "heart dwellers," and I share them with you today.

The first of course would be Judas, the betrayer. Some years back, I heard a woman named Alicia Brit Chole speak on just where Judas might be found in our heart? Where have we made room for Judas the Betrayer? If we're honest, we know that we have. It may be painful, indeed will be painful to confess it, but we have all betrayed Him to some degree in our faith lives. We've betrayed Him in our compromises with the spirit of the world. We've betrayed Him in our disobedience. We've betrayed Him when we've lived in self-indulgence. We've betrayed Him in every instance where "we knew to do right, but did not do it." That this is so can't be denied, but what does the knowledge of this do in us? Are we broken in our admission, or, have we found ways to rationalize, even deny that it is so? Where is Judas lurking in our hearts? Where does he dwell even now?

Secondly, I think of Jacob. One commentator called him, "The Trickster." Jacob was always maneuvering and manipulating to bring about the fulfillment of his desires. Even those desires that were in accordance with God's will. Rather than abide in Him, trusting Him to work in his life to bring about the fulfillment of His promises, Jacob would actively seek to work, most often through deceit, to get what he wanted. He was, in every way, a trickster.

Where does Jacob the Trickster abide in our heart? Where do we, like him, maneuver and manipulate to make life work the way we want it to? Where do we manipulate not only circumstances but people so that where we want to get to is reached.? Where does Jacob lurk in our hearts? Where does he dwell....even now?

Last, there is Peter. Peter the one who boldly declared that he would never cease to follow Jesus, that he would never deny Him. Peter, the man who denied Him three times on that black night when Jesus was first taken. I see him as Peter The Doubleminded. He had a mind and heart to follow Christ wherever He led, but also a mind and heart to turn back in fear when that path led to danger and death....and a cross. When the sacrifice required was seen as to much, too great? Where are we like Peter? Where does Peter lurk in our hearts? Where does he dwell....even now?

The deeply convicting truth is that all three of them can be there, and be there at the same time. And they will continue to be there, heart dwellers, until we evict them by the power of His Holy Spirit. Such power was present in the lives of Jacob and Peter. Each of them had their crisis moment where Jacob the Trickster and Peter the Doubleminded were put to death. Jacob on that night when he wrestled with God, and Peter, when the Holy Spirit came upon Him and the rest of the 120 at Pentecost. The Trickster spirit and the Doubleminded spirit were ousted for good in those encounters with God. Have they been ousted in you, and in me? Or, do they continue to dwell in our hearts, occupying space meant for Christ alone? If so, how much longer can we go on like that? What will be our cost?

Last, there is Judas.....the Betrayer. Judas never had such an encounter with the Holy Spirit. His betrayal was such that he was driven to suicide over it and hung himself on a tree. He died with the spirit of betrayal still dwelling in his heart. Father, grant us that this spirit will no longer dwell in ours. May the only Dweller in our hearts be Christ's Holy Spirit. May it be that there is room for no one and nothing else. Jesus first, Jesus last, Jesus always. Jesus....the Dweller in our heart. May we live in the wonder of the Jesus Heart.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Finished/Risen

"When Jesus had tasted it, He said, 'It is finished!' Then He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." John 19:30....

"When they arrived, they were greeted with the report, 'The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter!." Luke 24:33-34

Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, is upon us. The most magnificent news ever brought to the human race will be celebrated this Sunday. Many of you will be in a church fellowship or sunrise service somewhere on this day, partaking of the celebration. That's wonderful, but here's a question for each of us; What is the witness of our celebration on the other 364 days of the year?

The two words I chose for the title of this writing need to be, must be, branded upon the heart of all who have believed upon Jesus Christ. "Finished, and Risen." They need to be accompanied by the greatest of exclamation points possible, because the truth contained within them cannot truly be contained at all. All that He came to accomplish, that He came to give to us, that He came to save and deliver us from, was done, finished upon the cross. His death opened the pathway for us to have His life. Every aspect of the dominion of darkness, death, and hell was broken upon that cross. Conquered, and conquered for all time. What seemed to be His defeat upon the cross was actually His victory over the spiritual wickedness that was His reason for going to it. The slavery of the human race to the sin brought upon it by its fall in Eden, was broken completely. The chains have lost their power. By His shed blood, the manacles that have held us have been soaked from our limbs. Glorious news! If you have believed that news, have you also received it? Are you, are we, living in a manner that testifies that what He came to do for us has been finished, accomplished? Or, do we still live held by those chains? Chains that have no legal right to be upon us by token of the cross, His death, and His cleansing, freeing blood. All that blocked our way to the Father, that kept us from the abundant life He came to give, was canceled once and for all on the cross. Finished! So, has it been finished for and in you?

Secondly, there is His resurrection. He is risen! He is risen indeed! His death on the cross was not final, for death could not hold Him. In His resurrection, He conquered death, once and for all. All who believe and receive Him are made conquerors as well. By faith we are born into a living hope. A living hope that death in all of its forms cannot touch....if we will just believe and receive that truth. Have you? Jesus proclaimed, "I am the resurrection and the life." Is He so to you? Do you, do we, live that life today? Do we live and abide in His resurrection life? Life that overcomes the world, and the death and darkness that go with it in all of its forms.

This is what we will be celebrating this coming Sunday. What a travesty it will be if that is the only day and time we will celebrate it. May my life, and yours, be one that gives constant witness to the truth that what He came to do and give has been finished in us. May that be the lesson and message that is heard through our lives. May we also give witness to His resurrection. May we, like the disciples, proclaim every day through our life witness, that the Lord is really risen! That we have "seen" Him with the eyes of faith and that others may see His risen life in us. It is finished, and He is risen! Let our celebration have no end.

Blessings,

Pastor O 

Invasion

 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." Ephesians 3:19....."The Holy Spirit cannot be located as a guest in a house. He invades everything....Jesus came to give us endless supplies of life." Oswald Chambers

I think many in the church would like Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, to be Someone who "knows their place." By that I mean someone who respects the boundaries that we set up before Him. Those places that we don't want Him intruding upon. Places we don't want Him to interfere in, change, or remove. Places that we want to remain in control of. We do, consciously or not, very often desire Him to behave as a guest. An honored one for sure, but a guest nonetheless. We may give Him the "best room in the house," but we want Him to stay in that room, or at least not go into certain other rooms. This is what good houseguests do. The Holy Spirit will never be such a guest. He has never been so, and He never will be.

Chambers says that the Holy Spirit invades everything in our lives, and He does. We can deny Him entry, but we cannot keep Him from seeking entry into those places we wish Him to stay out of. He will seek entry in endless ways. He will so work that our conviction over our resistance to Him, our rebellion against Him, becomes an ever greater issue. He will be relentless. Try as we may to ignore Him, He will not be ignored. When Christ comes into our lives, it is not to visit, but to abide. He will never be content to occupy a part of our heart and life. He insists upon having all of them. That's why I like the word "invade" that Chambers uses. He would rather be fully welcomed, but He's prepared to come against all our defenses, most especially the spiritual strongholds that we've allowed the enemy to construct in our lives. Strongholds are lies that we have believed to be true. At the center of these are the lies we've believed about Him. Against these lies He will wage a relentless war. Just as the Father intended that every part of the land He promised to the Israelites be occupied by them, He intends that in every part of our hearts and lives, Christ reigns and lives.

The only thing that could stop the Israelites from having that land was their own rebellion and disobedience, which is what they were in, and what God intended for them never was fully realized. In the same way, only our rebellion and disobedience will keep Him from occupying us as He desires. He will seek full entry, but He will not violate our ability to choose. We can block His entry, and we do. The question for each of us is, where are we doing so today? What are the "rooms" and places you don't want Him to enter, to transform, to yield control of? Have you any idea of what the cost of doing this is and will be to you if you continue?

How blind we are in responding to Him in such a way. We think He wants to take away our freedom. He means to free us from the captivity of those things that we think we "own" but instead, actually own us. We think these places are sources of life that we must have in order to live. He knows that they are in fact sources that work not life, but death in us. They're killing us spiritually, and we don't know it. We think He invades us to exert tyranny over us, but He seeks to lay hold of us that He might bring healing, wholeness, and what He knows to be true Life. Abundant Life. He is the Liberator, come to break all the chains of the Enslaver, but in our blindness, in our believing of the lies of the enemy, we, like those under the boot of the fascist nations of WW 2, have believed the enemies propaganda, and fear Him rather than love Him.

Where is He in His invasion of your life today? Have you ever seen the photos and videos of the invasion fleet of the allies for D-Day in WW2. They were right off the beaches, but not yet on the beaches. Is it like that with you? He's before you, but you have not let Him enter your heart. Or, has He established a beachhead in your heart, but your resistance to Him having any more of your heart than that is stiff. The beachhead is where you wish Him to remain. Or, has He freely advanced in your heart and life, with every stronghold formed against Him falling in consistent fashion? One thing is certain; He has come to invade you. All of you. It's an invasion that brings life out of death, wholeness to crippled lives. light out of darkness. Love out of hate. Joy out of sorrow. Peace out of turmoil. Freedom out of captivity. Who would not desire such a wonderful invasion? Yet, there are those who don't. Are you among them? Why live under the boot when you can live above all things in Him? Why indeed?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Jesus

While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” Matthew 27:19....."At this point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him. John 6:66...."Pilate's wife advised him to have nothing to do with Jesus. It's impossible to have nothing to do with Him. We have to take sides......Jesus never neutralized His listeners. They didn't just go away." Vance Havner

What have you done with Jesus Christ? What are you doing with Him now? Your answers to these have eternal consequences because eternity, and where we will be in eternity hinges on what we will do with and about Jesus? As Havner says, there is no room for neutrality. You either receive Him or you reject Him. In which camp are you in, and why are you there?

There is no figure more polarizing in the history of the world than Jesus Christ. No other religious figure brings about the kind of response that His name does. Other figures are at worst tolerated, and more often than not, pointed to as inspirational figures. Not so Jesus. The world has gone to great lengths to try and prevent His name being spoken in public settings. From High School graduations to opening prayers in local, state, and national gatherings. The reasons given are that organizers have no wish to "offend" those who reject Him and His claims. Claims by the way that are true. At the same time, His name is, and has always been one that is on the lips of countless millions as a curse. How many times have you heard His name uttered in that way just in the course of a normal day? Isn't it amazing that the same ones who fear and hate His name being used in any kind of reverence, often are the ones who freely use His name to curse and use in anger?

The reasons for all of this are at root, spiritual. It's not just that Christ proclaims Himself as the only path to the Father. Islam does that as well and so do various cults. It is also because in Christ, God has clearly identified the problem in the human race. Sin. Sin and our total inability to save ourselves from its consequences. Other religions tell us that we can, by a multitude of different ways, work our way to God, and receive His approval and acceptance. Christ tells us that all of our own righteousness is "as filthy rags" and totally unable to either save us or get us to Him. Our only hope is a Savior who would take the penalty of our sin upon Himself on the cross, and through His death and resurrection, break once and for all the power of sin over the human race. He brought freedom to all who are under the curse of sin and who will believe and receive Him in faith, obedient and yielded to His Lordship.

All of this flies in the face of human pride that insists it can prove itself acceptable to God, and by its own goodness, gain approval and salvation. It was these claims that brought Christ before Pilate, and placed Him on trial. He was guilty of none of the trumped up charges against Him, yet the crowd, spurred on by the religious leaders of the day who were offended by His claims, screamed for His crucifixion. That world spirit, fueled by the enemy Satan, still screams for His death, and it has deployed every means possible to secure it.....and every one of them has failed. He lives! They could not kill Him then, and they cannot kill Him now.

As we approach Easter once more, there will be the usual round of programs and documentaries produced for the express purpose of debunking Christ. They'll all have titles that say they will show us "the real Jesus," who, they will say, was just a good man, or that He never existed at all. As I see the ads for them, I always wonder, "Does anybody ever ask themselves why these people go to such lengths to deny Him?" They don't do so with Mohammed, or Buddha, or any of the cult leaders. They don't because the powers of darkness aren't threatened in the least by them. Scripture says that at the name of Jesus, "every knee will bow." Hell trembles at His name, and so, tries to extinguish His name. They have failed and will always fail. His is the Name above all names.

So, I ask again, what are you doing with Jesus? Maybe some or all of what I've written has offended you. I offer no apology. Jesus offended and never apologized for it. His people cannot as well. He knew the souls of men and women were at stake. As one man said, the cross is not something that happened to Him. It was what He came for. He came that we might have life, and have it abundantly. Do you have that life today? You can. It will all depend upon what you do with Jesus.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Called Out

 "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;" (1 Peter 2:9).

The word "church" in the Bible comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which means "called out ones." To be a member of a church body means that you have been called out of the wilderness of the world into the literal and spiritual Body of Christ. I don't think many will argue that or even have a problem with it, even though there are many professing believers within it whose lifestyle doesn't demonstrate that they have truly come out of that wilderness. They seek to keep one foot in the wilderness of the world while maintaining some kind of foothold and presence in the church. This is impossible, but that is a subject for another day. Today, I want to focus on a quote I found in a book titled, "Whatever Happened To Commitment?" by Edward Dayton.

In that book, Dayton shares a quote from a man named John Perkins, who said, "Each one of us should be convinced that God has called us to a special congregation, in a special place, at a particular time." Again, few are going to argue with that. I think most people, whether this is really the reality or not, feel that where they attend and worship is where they are meant to be. However, both Perkins and Dayton take the matter far beyond that, and what they believe will collide with the beliefs and actions of your average church member in the west.

Dayton writes that not only should a person feel it is God's full purpose and will for them to be a part of a particular local body of believers, but that they are to be fully committed to that body, and will not leave it until they hear clearly from Him that they should. More, that if they do feel they are hearing from Him concerning moving out, they are to enlist the church itself in determining where His leading in this may be. Here is where I think the majority will balk. Most of us put our confidence in what the individual feels they are hearing from Him. We feel it is our decision alone. We don't see the need to get the church involved at all. This is especially so if something or someone within the church has offended us. Most times, the church and its leadership don't know a person or family is leaving until they do. This is business as usual in the western church, and I believe it offends our sense of individual freedom to suggest it shouldn't be, and that is where we err badly. The church is not about the individual. It's about the Body, the community of believers. That's a foreign concept to our western mindset. We feel the choice to leave is always an option and it's one reserved for us alone to make. In this we miss the mark.....badly. True body life is rarely found in the American church. We are more a group of individuals, loosely bound together, and the bond is easily broken.

To live in true community is risky. It means we entrust ourselves not only to Him, but to each other. We make choices based upon how it will affect others, not just ourselves. This can be terrifying to the individual, because it means we not only trust Him, but we trust His people as well. We know God speaks to and through individuals, but He does so through His church as well. We are to be yielded to not only Him, but to the church as well. A church composed of imperfect and flawed people, but a church inhabited by His Holy Spirit. Certainly there are spiritually unhealthy churches, but even in that, a person should not leave without going to those charged with their spiritual oversight and sharing their concerns and seeing if a godly means can be found to bring health to what has been unhealthy. This is a process most don't want to bother with, so they leave the body, a body they were never fully a part of, and both they, and that body, suffer for it.

Any pastor will tell you of the pain involved in losing people. Even when it is in the leading of the Lord, it hurts, but it is doubly so when it is because of something that could have been resolved and brought Him glory in the resolving. Every pastor can tell you how the fellowship they pastored was crippled by a key person or family leaving for reasons either wrong, or simply the result of a potentially better job situation, or something like that in their personal lives. The thought of how it would affect the body doesn't enter in. Often, the crippling is permanent. The church never fully recovers. I think all of us will give an account for such decisions made only for these reasons and for what the consequences were for HIS church.

There is so much more to write and say on all of this. I would encourage you to take what I am writing before Him. Dig deeper into what His Word says about His church. Examine what it really means to be a part of His "called out ones." And where you know, where we know, that we have taken such actions as mentioned above, confess it, repent of it, and determine that the pattern is forever broken. His church is not an institution, though many see it as only that. It is a living organism, alive as He is alive. Let us each be alive in the place He has called us to, and may our commitment to that living body be complete.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Way

 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6 "What does it matter if we travel uncharted country if we're with the Way?" Vance Havner

Vance Havner tells the story of an African explorer who, in the midst of his journey, lost his maps and compass. He exclaimed to his native guide that they had lost their way, to which the guide replied, "I am the way,." For we who say we follow the risen Christ, we must have this truth embedded into our hearts and minds. Through every aspect of life, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and materially, we must know that He is the Way. In all the unknown, and most of our lives will involve a great deal of that, He is and will remain our Way. We may feel lost, but He is not lost. We may not have the sense of His Presence, but He is with us. The murkiness of the way may obscure all our vision, but He will still go before us. His Light may seem to be nothing more than a flicker at times, but the darkness, no matter how intense and deep, will not be able to extinguish it, and He will lead us on through it. Like the explorer, we may have lost every outward means of guidance, but we have no need of panic if we will listen to His voice whispering to us, "I Am the Way."

The darkest time of my life was in the early days of losing both my marriage and ministry. All my outward means of guidance had been lost. I literally didn't know what was going to happen to me. What would I do for a living? Where and how would I live? Would my life ever have meaning and purpose again, and.....where was my Lord in all of it? Had He left me to make my way alone? I was terrified, and in my terror, I could actually hear the laughter of hell. "Where is your Jesus now?" the enemy seemed to mockingly ask. I would learn in the coming days, and in all the days leading to this day, that He was right there with me. He'd never left my side. He would never leave my side. In that time, I would remember the simple exhortation that my first pastor would so often proclaim, "Trust God." As frightening as that seemed and was, I resolved to do so. I still resolve to do so.

I would also come to know the deep truth of the lyric of that chorus, "God will make a way where there seems to be no way."

He would make a way because He was and is the Way. In the depths of that African jungle, the explorer likely could see nothing but the great unknown all about him. His reassurance was that it was not unknown to his guide. Neither is it unknown to the Guide, the Captain of our souls, Jesus Christ. I journey through that unknown with Him, and He has led me into many more unknowns in the following years. In all of them, I would hear the whisper of His grace; "I Am the Way. Trust Me." Now, as I face the remaining years of my life, I know completely that He remains the Way. The Way into the eternity He has been preparing me for all of my life in Him. He has been my way not only through the uncharted country of this world, but into the vast realm of eternity that I was created for to begin with. His way has always led me to the Father, and if we trust Him, if you trust Him, it will lead you to Him as well.

I have heard many speak of what comes after death. Mostly they say that they don't know. Without one bit of arrogance I tell you that I do know. I know because I know the One who is the Way. I know the One who promised that "eye has not seen and ear has not heard all that the Father has prepared for them that love Him." I don't know all that the wonder of eternity and heaven will hold, but I know the One who holds eternity. That is enough for me. Is it enough for you? Do you know the One who is the Way? May it be that you do, for until you do, you have lost your way.

Blessings,

Pastor O

 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. Matthew 16:18

R.T. Kendall has been a writer that I have admired and gleaned so much wisdom from. I have recently been compiling many parts of the books I have read over the years into my prayer journal. I have a half-dozen by Kendall, and just the other day I was going through them, adding quotes from him into the journal in order to bring them before the Lord in prayer. In doing so, I came across three things that he wrote that have really "stuck" to me and address a lot of what is happening in the church both corporately and individually. I want to share them with you in this writing.

"God is not looking for Public Relations people, but for prophets." I think we need to really examine what passes for preaching in the church today. Those who fill a pulpit, whether literally or figuratively, are to be "forthtellers" for God. They are to proclaim the heart, mind, and will of God to His church. More and more, with pastors feeling they must present themselves as "hip, cool, and relevant," the church is acting more as a PR voice for Jesus, than as one sent to prophesy in His name. We present a church and Jesus who is foremost concerned with meeting your needs, not transforming your life. We're presenting Him as One who will always be there for us, while never making any costly demands upon us. We present a Gospel that's all about us, not all about Him, and our root need, salvation is only vaguely touched upon. People may be told they need Jesus, but little of the real reasons why, that He and He alone is the only way to the Father, and that all who are without Him, who have never been made new in Christ will be hopelessly and forever lost. More, they are rarely told of the holiness of God, and His call upon their lives to partake and live in that holiness. This is not universal, but I think there is far more "preaching" from the PR voices than the prophetic ones..

Secondly, Kendall gives the example of The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Some years back, the caretakers of the tower discovered there was a problem in the foundation, and they feared that the Tower would eventually fall. They called in engineering experts to fix the problem, but they told them to fix it without correcting the tilt. Such is the state of many in the church. We are all for what is offered in Christ. We want the abundant life. We want His love, mercy, joy, and peace. We want the riches, all of them, to be found in Him. But we don't want Him to correct and transform the "tilt" in our life. We don't want Him to make straight that which is crooked. We want Him to take care of everything around us while leaving what's within us alone. We love the tilt in our lives, even when the tilt is leading to our eventual destruction. PR spokespeople can make peace with this. The Prophet can never do so.

Last, Kendall wrote of how the modern church seeks every way possible to reach people, to grow, and to see the tide of evil turned back. The results in the west have been pretty abysmal. It's not the lack of sincerity. Kendall suggests that it may well be the lack of tears. Tears. Deep, heart wrenching tears of pain from a church burdened and broken over the condition of the surrounding culture, and the sin that holds millions in dark captivity. We may not lack for energy in reaching out, but we certainly do lack the tears. When was the last time you and I wept for our nation, the nations, our neighbors, even our own family? Kendall writes, "Nothing moves the heart of God like tears." Tears that come from broken hearts. Tears like those that Jesus wept as He stood looking down upon the city of Jerusalem. Tears that I believe the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit continue to weep over a lost and broken world. Tears that He weeps over you and me as He beholds our tearless, prayerless lives. May we, individually and as the church, have weeping hearts for a world trapped in darkness.

Well, those are the points that spoke to me this week. Hopefully they'll speak to you as well. I hear the call of the Spirit through them. Whatever He would have you hear, may you hear it well.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Breathe

 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” Ezekiel 37:9 "We are trying to blow inspiration into the church. We are trying to draw out what is not in them.....We cannot exhale what we've not inhaled." Vance Havner

I think any pastor will tell you that what is the most exhausting and frustrating aspects of ministry is trying to get church members to actually, you know, behave like members of the Body of Christ. Nowhere can this be seen more than in the constant pleadings for people to be involved in some part of the ministry of the church. There are never enough volunteers, which in itself is a testimony against us, and we have to resort to a multitude of different means to try and convince, exhort, and even push people into actually joining in the work of the Kingdom. Something that ought to be pure joy, is too often seen as at the mildest, an inconvenience, onto being a total invasion of their lives. I spent years of my ministry trying to do just what I write about here. I experienced first hand all the frustrations I speak of. I was doing exactly what Havner speaks of; I was trying "blow" with my own breath, the inspiration and desire for the people to step up and into the needed ministries. The results were sad indeed. There were always those who had a heart and spirit to help, to minister, but they were never many. Those that I did "succeed" in getting to take on needed roles, did so out of guilt, or were resigned to seeing it as a duty. Their hearts were never in it, and soon, I was back to trying to get people involved in the business of God. The day finally came when I ceased "blowing" and began to realize the futility that I, and almost all other pastors have been engaged in. I began to see the only solution being that I had to stop trying to breathe life into His church, and seek instead that He would do so.

In the above chapter from Ezekiel, God asked him if he believed that dry bones, dead bones, could live. Ezekiel was smart enough to answer that only God Himself could answer that. If only it didn't take so long for His pastors and leaders to realize the same. Only God can do the work that so much of the church has been trying to do for Him. Not just the raising up of laborers, but the very raising up of a sleeping, oftentimes dying church. Evangelist James Robison has said that so many pastors are standing in their personal "sailboats" blowing with all their might in trying to get their boat to move. Only the wind of God can do that, but we seem so impervious to realizing it. We say we look to God, but then enter into countless and lengthy strategy sessions that are preceded by a few minutes of shallow prayer. We're trying to exhale His breath when we've never inhaled it in the first place. If we haven't, how can we expect His people to have done so?

Havner, who was a homespun country preacher, said that a bucket can only bring up what's in the well. We've had empty buckets for far too long. I believe the Spirit of God is hovering over all the dry bones of His church here in the west. I believe He is asking pastors the very question He asked of Ezekiel, "Can these dry bones live?" We must know that only He can answer that, and He will, if we will renounce all our man-made efforts, all our empty blowing, and from our knees, cry out for the breath of God to come fill His Church. To come and fill us. Have we had enough of breathing in the decay of the valley of dry bones? Let us breathe the air of the Kingdom. The air of heaven. Let us breathe it. Let us breathe deeply.

Blessings,

Pastor O