Freaks

 You're a control freak. Whoa! Don't get upset. All of us, to some degree, are control freaks. We're born that way. Anyone who's ever brought a newborn baby home knows that the battle to exert control starts immediately. We also know that it doesn't get better with age.

Martha, in Luke 10, is the poster girl for control freaks. In this passage, Jesus comes to her home, and while she is busy preparing the meal, her sister Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha was beside herself and confronted Jesus; Lord, don't You care that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Beth Moore once spoke on this passage and said that extremely busy people become detached from the reality of God's care. She said the Greek used in this passage of Scripture gives a translation that reads like this; Martha was so crowded with busy things that she had a crowd in her head. I know the feeling and experience of "the crowd." So do you. We care about a lot of things. And they build up....and up and up and up. They do become a "crowd" in our head, constantly bumping into each other. We are in desperate need of "crowd control," but we are unable to provide it. We need Jesus. 

When Martha went to Jesus, she asked Him if He cared. The care she speaks of is a tender care. She wants to know if any of this matters to Him? When have we asked the same? In reply Jesus says, Martha, you're so careful about so many things.....He recognizes her care, but that it is all anxiety driven care. This is the mark of all control freaks. To some degree, we're all anxiety driven, making us, to some degree, control freaks as well. We bring our bundle of problems to the Lord, but we insert ourselves into the problems as well. We want His help, but we want to control how and when He helps, and that it will make sense to us when He does. Hey, this is what control freaks do.

I Peter 5:7 calls us to cast all our anxiety driven cares upon Him, because He does have tender care for us. We can only do so in obedience, trust, and surrender. None of this is natural to the control freak. To do so means we have to acknowledge, as Moore says, that "He's on the throne and we're on the floor." Philippians 4 tells us to pray about everything, which means everything is affected by prayer. We pray, and may even pray about everything, but we fail to pray in humble surrender. A surrender that says, "You are God over this and I yield control of all of it to you." This moves us from the realm of the control freak into the realm of experiencing His peace and rest. A peace that is real and beyond our ability to really understand. 

What might you be accusing the Lord of not caring about recently? How active is the "crowd" in your head? Could it be that you've forgotten who is on the throne and who is to be on the floor.....at His feet? Let Him break the cycle of destruction that's the lot of the control freak. Be careful for nothing, because He cares for everything.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Witness

 "He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, 'Prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming. Make a straight road for Him! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills! Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places! And then the people will see the salvation sent from God."  Luke 3:4-6

Luke, the writer of the gospel that bears his name, used the above passage from Isaiah, which foretold of the coming of the one who would announce the coming of the Messiah. The prophecy was fulfilled through the life, witness, and ministry of John the Baptist. I've read it many times, but when I read it just a few days ago, it impacted my heart in a way it never had before. It was not just reading about the life and ministry of John the Baptist. I was also reading what my life and ministry must be. And if you are truly a follower of Christ, what yours must be as well.

There is so much packed into that passage and John did indeed live it out. By His grace, power, and Holy Spirit, we can as well. If we do, we can not do so passively. Our witness is to be active and alive, but sadly too much of our witness is that of a slumbering church and people. We "hire" our prophets to preach to us and do the work of ministry. To be His full time witnesses while we.....play. But what would happen if we did see the call of John to also be our call as well. A call to each who in Christ, is a member of His royal priesthood.

What would happen if we had lives and testimonies that were crying out, in the midst of this wilderness world that He has come? What if we lived in such a way that we were a pathway to Jesus Christ instead of an obstacle? What if our lives were of such a level of integrity that all the crooked aspects of our fallen characters are made straight by the power of His character working in and through us? What if we lived and ministered in such a way as to give people the living hope that the mountains in their lives really can be leveled or removed completely by His miraculous power and presence? What if we gave and lived out the good news that we can rise above the valleys that seek to hold us? Rise above them in Him. What if we, the church, lived and ministered in such a way that the rough ways of this fallen world are smoothed out by His life? A life that has overcome all the power of that fallen world. The answer to it all is that if we, the church, would truly live out such a witness, a lost and dying world then "see" the salvation sent from God. They would see Jesus....in and through us. If. If we would live out our calling. If we would rise up from our slumber. If.

I want to be one of the ones crying out, speaking out, living out this call. Do you? If so, may our desire become our reality. May we have such a witness and testimony. We just need to have voices that are heard above the noise of the wilderness. May it be so that we do.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Hold On!

 "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted with me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." Psalm 42:5

Katy Nichole is a young singer/songwriter with a powerful testimony that has led to a powerful song. Born with a twisted spine that grew progressively worse, she underwent corrective surgery at age 13 to try and straighten her spine. Rods and screws were inserted. The Doctors pronounced the surgery a success, but Nichole said that so intense was her pain that she felt like she was living under an "immense black cloud."

The Doctors didn't really listen and directed her to a "pain management" program. The use of opioids was central to the treatment. She was given a bottle of them, yet wouldn't take them due to her awareness of their danger. The pain continued and grew worse. One night, she felt she could take no more of it, picked up the bottle, and said that if these pills were the only way out, she'd take it, so desperate was she to escape it all. She walked into the bathroom, intending to consume the entire bottle. She tripped as she entered, though there was nothing on the floor. The open bottle flew out of her hand and the pills scattered across the floor. She was totally broken....and it was then she heard the whisper of His voice; "Hold on! I'm not finished yet."

Nichole, now 18 years old, told her Doctors to remove the rods and screws. They tried to discourage her, saying that the dangers were too great. She insisted, and she underwent a very dangerous surgery. When she came out of it, the pain was already disappearing. Eventually, her spine was fully healed, and she lives a normal physical life. Filled with gratitude for His grace and glory, she wrote a song titled, In Jesus Name, which became an internet and You Tube sensation. The song is a prayer and begins with the powerful words, I speak the Name of Jesus over you. Oh, if only we could come to believe, fully believe, in the power of that name. Of His name. If only we could, in the midst of our own "immense black cloud," hold on. Hold on and know that wherever we are right now, He's not finished. This is not the end. This is not where He will leave us.

The name of the album containing Nichole's song is, The God Of Possible. May that be part of our day by day heartsong. He is the God of all things are possible. Hold on! Hold on and trust! Hold on to the One who holds you. He's not finished and neither are you. Neither are we......Hold On!

Blessings,
Pastor O

Night Ministry

 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.  Matthew 11:27..."Thank you Father, for the ministry of the night."

I love the sunshine. I dislike cloudy, overcast skies, and rainstorms even more. Yet these are needed because without them, the beauty revealed in the sunlight would wither and die. It's the same in our spiritual lives.

I am thankful for His blessings in the sun, the deep warmth within that they have brought me. Yet, as wonderful as those times have been, I can't think of anything of deep import that He spoke to me there. I don't mean I was out of fellowship with Him, but I know that in my enjoyment of His blessing, I could become dulled to the voice of the One who gives the blessing. That's our human nature. We'd love to live on the sun-drenched mountaintop, but He knows that we will not experience Him there as He wants us to. So, He leads us into the dark valleys. The dark valleys where the blessings seem to dry up, even disappear. The dark valley where we, hopefully, are re-awakened to our desperate need of Him. The dark valley where we hear Him in ways we never could in the sun. The dark valley where mysteries are revealed.

This morning I heard a woman named Andrea Herzer talk about her journey through the night over the past 20 years. Her life has been one of going from one physical affliction to another. A plethora of nerve and muscle issues that bring pain that never leaves her. In addition, she has been battling cancer for the last decade. Very often, she cannot even get out of her bed, and she lies there, experiencing a maddening pain that He has allowed, and to date, has not taken away. Yes, she experiences all the frustration and times of anger that we all would. But she says that she has found in the pain and in the questions, a reality of Him that she never before knew. She said that in her pain, she would cry out words of praise to Him. As she did so, her spirit was so lifted up into His Presence that she was above the pain. Yes, the pain was still there, it was real. He was more real. And He spoke to her there. He gave her what the Word calls, "songs in the night." Out of those songs came a book titled, "Incurable Faith." and through it, she powerfully ministers to all those walking the valley of darkness. We may have what we see as "incurable" afflictions. For them we need an incurable faith.

If you're walking through the valley of darkness, in the depths of the night, may you receive His ministry there. Don't run from it. Run to Him. He has rich words to speak and mysteries to reveal. By His grace, may you walk in your own incurable faith. In the valley, He will lift you up.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Expectations

 Pastor and writer Erwin McManus has said, "God calls us to believe things we cannot see, become someone we're not, and accomplish feats clearly beyond our ability, and then holds us accountable for all of it." In other words, He not only calls us to believe that which is impossible, but to live impossible lives as well. In truth, He doesn't just call us to that life, He commands that we live it. It's His expectation that we will. Are the lives you and I are living today meeting His expectations?

Ephesians 3:20 is, I believe, heavily quoted but little realized in His people's lives. It reads, "Now glory be to God, by His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we could ever dare to ask or hope." We say we believe those words, but are the realties of them happening in our lives? If not, why not?

If not, maybe the answer is found in that we place great reliance on the words, "He is able to accomplish." We focus on His role while feeling ours is to passively allow Him to "take care of business," whether it's the business of the Kingdom or the business of our day to day lives. We look to Him to do great and mighty things while we snuggle down on our lounge chairs and sofas to cheer Him on. We pray fervently for the Lord to move while we are unmoving. We don't want to leave our various comfort zones. We want Him to do the impossible but to not disturb our carefully built, and peaceful lifestyles. We want a God, a faith, that produces great and wonderful things, but at little or no risk to ourselves. We want to enter into promised land without ever having to cross the Jordan or deal with the opposition we'll find if we do. 

The deep truth of Ephesians 3:20 is that He WILL do wonders in and around our lives, but it will be in accordance with "the power that is at work within us." This power will never be realized from our comfort zone. It comes as it did upon the 120, gathered in the upper room. Upon hearts and lives seeking Him, desperate for His life, grace, and overwhelming power. This power knows nothing of a passive, risk free lifestyle. It will come from and with our walking in the footsteps of Jesus, through our own personal wilderness, through ever growing challenges and opposition, and through danger filled places. It begins at the foot of the cross in our surrender. In our dying to our will and being made alive in and to His. It's a life that will believe what can't be seen, that will become what it never believed it could, and accomplish what we knew was far beyond our natural abilities. It's a life that will behold Him doing "exceedingly abundantly beyond all we could ask or think. A life of power and purpose. The life we're called to. Are we living this life? Or are we found on the sideline, in our comfort zone, waiting for Him to do the wonders we've heard about but never really seen or experienced? We know what His expectations are, but will they ever be realized in our lives?

Blessings,
Pastor O

The Last Word

 Words have power. Power to hurt or heal, tear down or build up. Sadly, too many of the words spoken into our lives have hurt and torn down more than they healed or built up. Too many of us still carry the wounds as a result of these words. If one could see our souls, they might well see a soul bearing a multitude of slash wounds, and all of them still bleeding.

Though the words may have come through a human voice, there is no mistaking their true source, that being the enemy of our souls, Satan. Scripture says that He comes to "steal, kill, and destroy" and his success in this is seen everywhere as he has succeeded in stealing hope, killing our dreams, and destroying our lives. He seeks to do this through the words, aiming that we would believe that the words that cut so deeply are true, that we really are useless, stupid, ugly, hopeless, and wanted and desired by no one. He, the father of lies, wants us to believe every lie he speaks through these words. He wants us to believe that what he has spoken is the last word. He does not. As Eugene Peterson writes, "You (Jesus), have the last word, and the last word is life, not death." In all things, and especially in all things concerning our lives, past, present, and future, Jesus Christ has the last word, and that word is always, LIFE!

One of the Bible's names for Satan is The Destroyer. Where has he and is he living up to that name in your life? Where has he, through cutting, hateful words, been destroying your relationships, your homes, your families? He wants to destroy our future, our destiny in Jesus Christ, the very reason for which we were created. If we believe the lies of what he speaks, that those words of hate and accusation are true, that his words are the last words, he will. He will not and cannot if we will believe what the Lord said about Himself in John 10; "I am the Door of the sheep....I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly."

In most Bibles,  the words of Jesus are printed in red, meaning His words are written in His blood. That's not merely symbolic. His words to us are written in His blood. Their power is sealed in and by His blood. All the lies of hell, about us, others, and Him are powerless in His Presence and Words. They must fall before Him. The truth of His Word is guaranteed by the blood He shed for us, for you and me, on the cross. 

Every day, Satan will come to us speaking his words of death, and he will come through a host of different messengers. Jesus promises that those who are His are able to live in the power of His resurrected life. Every word of the enemy is rooted in death, and he seeks to kill us by inches. One cutting wound after another. He wants his word and words to you to be the last ones. Reject the lie. Embrace the truth. The last word for you and about you will always belong to Christ. His last word is Life. It is also His first. Every word He speaks is rooted in His Life. May we receive them all.

Who has been having the last word in your life? Who will have it today? Speaking to Joshua and the people after the death of Moses, God said He placed before them the choice between life and death. They chose life....in Him. That choice is before us each day. May we, may you, choose life!

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Tribe

 Deep desires that are never realized. We all have them. They're painful, frustrating, and cause us to often question the goodness of a God who promised to give us "the desires of our heart." We all have them, but the question is, how do we live with them? In the midst of them, what becomes our focus? The pain? The frustration? The anger? Do we just dream about a life we wished we had while hating the life we do have? John Eldredge in his book, Walking With God, writes, "You can't go through your day continually pining for the life you do not have. You have to live the life you do have." How many of us will do that? How many of us sleepwalk through our lives wishing we were living another?

In response to what Eldredge wrote, I put down in my prayer journal, "There's a great difference between desiring the life we wish we had, and seeking the life we were created for." Hebrews 11 speaks of the heroes of faith, and said of them, "....they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on earth. And obviously people like that are looking for a country they can call their own." They were looking for the country they were created to seek and they knew that country would never be found here. Verse 16 says, "They were looking for a better place. We all have that yearning for a better place. Our problem is that we think we can find that place here. We think "home" is here. The better country, the home we were made for, is only found in one place. In the heart of the Father.

Few of us are willing to be "nomads," following wherever He leads. Those who do enjoy His blessing and bounty in the journey, but the blessing and bounty don't hold us. They don't hold our hearts. He does. I've a wise friend who says He desires to live out his life as Christ did, in the bosom of the Father. For Jesus, that was home, and no earthly place could compare to it or bring the satisfaction that it did. Jesus was a nomad, calling to Himself a tribe of nomads. Have you and I ever really become a part of that tribe? 

Does this mean that we're to deny our longings and desires? Are we to resign ourselves to His never meeting them at all? No. He's calling us to live in Him, fully in Him in the midst of even our deepest and purest desires. Only as we remain in Him can we guard against a desire becoming a "need," a "must have" in order for us to be content. When that happens, the result will always be the destruction of our peace, joy, and satisfaction in Him. We'll always feel we're missing something, being deprived of something. Something we feel we have a right to, that we're entitled to. That's where resentment creeps in. We suspect He is holding back, holding out on us. We question His goodness and His love. The object of unrealized desire becomes our own "better country," our idol, and we no longer live in and for Him, but in pursuit of the desire that has become our heart's treasure.

I have spent too many years looking for the better country here, thinking it can be found in relationships, ministry success, and a host of other "good things." Along the way He met so many of my desires, but it was in the unmet ones that I lost my peace, joy, and fulfillment in Him. I allowed them to go from being desires to being things I had to have.....or else. Aware of it or not, I slipped into believing that if I didn't have them, I didn't really have life. I was wasting the life I had in my yearning for a life I didn't have. Where might you be doing the same?

Victory for me came when I surrendered the desires and longings, the life I wanted to have, to Him. In this I found peace.....and joy, fulfillment, and purpose in the life I did have in Him. My eyes and heart were opened to treasures and wonder I'd been blind to. I not only "saw" the beauty in my life as it was, I began to see the life He had created me for and was always before me, calling me onward, calling me home. Home to the better country of His heart and Kingdom.....That same call is before you right now. Can you hear it? Can you begin to see the borderlands of that country? Press on, and.....welcome to the tribe!

Blessings,
Pastor O

The Cup

Mark Batterson, in his book, Wild Goose Chase, says, "When we come to a Bible verse we want to read real fast, we probably need to read it REAL slow....We pick and choose the truth we want to accept." I can think of so many that qualify, but here's one in particular.

In Matthew 26, Jesus is in Gethsemane, facing the ordeal of the cross. In prayer He cries out to the Father, "Abba, Father, if this cup cannot be taken away until I drink it, Your will be done." Commenting on this James Bryan Smith in, The Good And Beautiful God, wrote, "What is the cup we have been given to drink, and have we been willing to drink it?....When we pray, are we able to say, 'Abba, Father?' " 

It can be very hard to reconcile the good and beautiful God Smith writes about with the God who very often asks us to drink from a very bitter cup. Life....hurts. We can end up in places, especially those places we come to as a result of following Him, that are frightening, painful, draining, and devastating. It's easy to "drink a toast" to Him, so to speak, in the midst of blessing, well-being, and safety. It's another thing entirely when all visible means of help are gone. When the danger and need are pressing in on us on every side. When we're in a place we don't want to be, surrounded by circumstances we don't want to be in. That's human, and it was the humanity of Christ that led Him to the Gethsemane prayer. But it was the divine life that was His that allowed Him to not only drink the cup, but also see His Father as, "Abba, Daddy," as He did so. In the midst of drinking the horrible cup of crucifixion, He was able to rest and trust in the perfect love of His Father.

If you are a wholehearted follower of Jesus Christ, at some point in your walk, the Father will ask you to drink of the same cup that Jesus drank from. It may not involve a literal death, but we can be sure that it will involve a death. In His leading of you and me, He may bring us to the place where we need to die to our need for control, to our trust in our own abilities and strengths. He may lead us to places where long buried issues in our lives have suddenly sprung up and are causing us great pain and heartache. They can't remain buried. They must be faced. He may allow what has been a tranquil and serene life to suddenly become one of chaos and disorder. He may lead us to all these and more and in all of them, He desires that we, as did our Lord, say to Him, "Not my will, but Yours be done O Lord." 

He calls us to drink the cup, but how will we drink it? In sullen resignation, or, despite the pain that may come with it, in trust? Trust that knows our heavenly Father really is our "good and beautiful God?" Trust that knows that somehow, He will turn that bitter cup into glory for Him and good for us. He is the Good and Beautiful God and He cannot be anything or anyone else. If He has placed the cup before you, when He places it before you, will you drink it? Only the heart that trusts that He really is good and beautiful can. Can yours?

Blessings,

Pastor O 

Who Is This?

 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God." Isaiah 41:10...."Fear is faith in the power of Satan and the ways of the world." Chris Tiegreen

The testimony of His Word, His Spirit, and His Son is that we are to fear nothing and no one but God. It's been said that if we fear Him we will never need to fear anything else. Kingdom people, followers of Christ, are to be fearless in our encounters with life. I need to clarify that when speaking of fear, I mean living in its grip. Living in fear of what might happen. Living in fear of what the Doctor's report could be. It's living with the paralyzing sense that we are at the mercy of life and how our enemy, the devil, comes against us in this life. Both the Father, in the Old Testament, and Christ in the New, would almost always preface their appearance, actions, or the surrounding circumstances with these two simple, but mighty words; FEAR NOT! The reasons we are not to fear are found in the above Scripture; First, He is with us, and second, He is our God. God over all.

I think if we were to describe the overall emotion of our culture, of all cultures, it is fear. We live encased in it. We fear everything. We feel safe and secure in almost nothing. We employ every means possible to try and protect ourselves, but in our hearts, we know we cannot control the vast majority of events around us. We feel we are at their mercy.....and we are.....if we are without Him. That is a great tragedy. An even greater one though is that countless souls who say they have trusted Him for their salvation are living in just as much fear as those who never have. How can this be? We see the answer in Tiegreen's words above. We have more faith in the enemy's power and the world system he works through than in the One whom the Bible says "holds all things together." We "trust" that the enemy will prevail more than we do in the promise that Christ has already prevailed. When that happens, fear is what we live in.

If you're a churchgoer, you're likely familiar with the bible passage concerning Christ and His disciples crossing the lake when a terrible storm arises. Jesus is sleeping on a pillow at the end of the boat and His disciples are frantic, sure that they will be overwhelmed and perish. They wake Him, screaming, "Don't you care if we perish?" With a word, He calms the sea. Then He rebukes them. In one translation He asks, "How can you be so cowardly? Have you no faith?" In astonishment they ask, "Who is this that even the winds and waves obey Him?"

Cowardly? A very negative word, but what else are we when we tremble before what Christ has already told us to not fear? And why do we fear in the first place? I think the answer is found in knowing the answer to what the disciples exclaimed after the storm; "Who is this?" Until we are rock solid certain of who He is, what He promises, and what He's done, our faith will not be in Him, but in our believing that which seeks to undermine any faith in Him. Which is prevailing in your life and mine right now?

Who is this Jesus? How we answer that determines everything.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Ravenhill

 Leonard Ravenhill was one of the greatest revivalists of the 20th century. His words resonated in his lifetime and I think, resonate even more strongly in the decades since his passing. I want to share three things he said with you today.

"If we really know God, we'd set the world on fire." Daniel 11:32 reads, "The people who know their God will be strong and do great exploits." As we look around the current state of the church today in America, are either Ravenhill's or Daniel's words a reality for us? From the time of Pentecost, when the church was born, till now, God has used ordinary people to do extraordinary things. How? Because these ordinary people had come to know, really know, their extraordinary, supernatural, Almighty God. They knew Him through the resurrected Christ. They knew Him through the power of His Holy Spirit. They knew Him because they sought His heart in response to His seeking theirs. They became those that the book of Acts spoke of, men and women who turned their world upside down with the truth of who He is, who His Son is, and what His Kingdom is about. Daniel said we'd do exploits if we know Him in such a way.. Ravenhill said we'd set the world on fire. How close are we to doing either? Perhaps we don't know Him nearly so well as we ought, or that He desires.

"Because there's not enough joy in the house of God, we need entertainment." Do we in the western church actually love to worship Him, or do we love entertaining shows about Him? This is not a new question. A.W. Tozer was speaking to the problem of our being an entertainment loving people 75 years ago. What are we now? We live in a culture that is entertaining itself to death. As the culture of ancient Rome decayed, those in power realized they needed to keep the people entertained. This led to Roman emperors sponsoring "games" that went on nearly every day. They never saw their destruction coming. Now, the culture of entertainment has become a major part of what we're calling worship. Many come for a show, and if they don't like what's "playing," they look for a better one. We seek to touch their senses but far too often, never touch their heart. Oh, what would happen in our churches if we came together whenever we come together, overflowing with the joy of the Lord? The walls could not contain it, and people starving for real joy would abandon their counterfeit entertainments to know and have what we do. May it be that the joy of the Lord really is our strength....and our life.

"The Church of Jesus Christ needs a revelation of the majesty of God." These are the most important of Ravenhill's words, because if we do have such a revelation, every barrier to realizing what he spoke of above is removed. I think in too many ways, the modern church has crafted a "comfortable God." A "comfortable Christ." So much so that we have lost our awe of Him, along with our fear. Jesus invites us to Himself, but though we may come freely, we need to come in reverence, in wonder. Even as I write this, words fail to come to me in order to express even the surface of His infinite majesty. But I know, like Ravenhill. that the witness of the church today is that we are desperate for a fresh vision and understanding of His majesty. Lord, may we have it.

May we take this statements of Ravenhill's to Him in prayer. May they become a reality in our lives. May they be found in our hearts and in the heart of His church. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!

Blessings,
Pastor O

The Flame

 2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:2-4

We are approaching once more what the evangelical church, be they Reformed, Wesleyan, or Charismatic, recognize as Pentecost Sunday. It comes about every year 40 days or so after Easter. When it comes to us once more this year, what will be the result? How will it "leave" us? Will anything about us or how we "do church" be any different? Is this day just another day we traditionally recognize, even venerate, and then put back in the closet till next year? What's the evidence that more often than not, that's exactly what we do? 

I love to read the writings of A.W. Tozer. Not long ago in one of his works, he wrote that we are all to be "sons and daughters of the flame." The flame that fell upon the church on the Day of Pentecost 2000 plus years ago. The flame that is still upon the church today but is more often than not, ignored or barely known. Francis Chan wrote a book a few years back on the Holy Spirit and titled it, "The Forgotten God," and the evidence is strong that the Holy Spirit, who is part of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is mostly unknown in His church. 

Someone asked the question that if the Holy Spirit completely withdrew from His church, how much of what we're doing would change? This leads to an even bigger question; if He did withdraw, would we even notice? Would you? Someone said that the church has learned to make the sound of rain, the sound of thunder, and the sound of wind, but they're only sounds. They are not the actual rain, thunder, wind, and yes, the flame of His Holy Spirit. No one is transformed by our sounds. No one is made new. No culture is impacted. God help us that we've come to depend upon our props and not His Presence.

I am not attacking the church. I love His church. I am lamenting, grieving that we, myself included, have learned to do so much in our own strength and have forgotten what His strength actually does. We craft worship services designed to make an impact and plan them so closely, remembering every aspect except.....Him. His Spirit. His Work. His Will and what He wishes to do and how He wishes to move. 

I'm part of what almost anyone would say is a very good church. Perhaps you are as well, but even so, I have been crying out to Him to make us, make me, make us all in His professing church, "Sons and daughters of the flame." When we become such, worship is not about us, what we desire and demand, but about Him and what He wills to do in our midst and through us. When we become children of the flame than every aspect of our lives, whether we're in the walls of the fellowship or outside of it, we are the church, His church. We are being transformed, continually, and in turn, He is transforming lives and situations all around us. Scripture says that the tongues "spread out like fire." Fire spreads. May it spread to us. May it spread through.....May we be, truly be, sons and daughters of the flame.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heroes

 Heroes. Regardless of our cultural background, we are all drawn to them. Pop culture abounds with movie and TV programs about them. Literature has always dealt heavily with them. Everyone loves a hero, and all of us, to some degree, want to be one, and the fame and notoriety that can go with that. 

Heroes are even found in the Bible. Hebrews 11 details many of them. Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. These are familiar names to those acquainted with His Word. They were all of them heroes of the faith. Yet Hebrews doesn't just speak of them, the ones we know. It speaks also of those we don't. Ones known only as "the others." No names are given. We're just old that these others were faithful to Him, trusted Him, believed Him....even to their deaths. Deaths that were often extremely violent. Verse 36 says, "They placed their hope in the resurrection to a better life.." Verses 14-16 say they were "looking forward to a country they can call their own....a better place. A heavenly homeland."

Yes, we're drawn to heroes and place them on pedestals, but I don't think the greatest heroes have a pedestal. They're found in the ranks of "the others" the Bible speaks of. These others lived out their lives unnoticed by most, but never to their God. They too were, are, "heroes of the faith." They're the pastors serving in posts where few see them and even fewer know of them....but they're faithful in that place. They're the husbands and wives in difficult marriages, perhaps advised by "friends" to leave and seek something new, but instead, press on, praying, believing, sacrificing, and trusting that their God is at work. They stay true to the promises made on their wedding day. They're the fathers, mothers, and single parents that in the midst of an ever darkening world, sacrifice themselves in order to raise up children who become adults of character and integrity. They're the ones that no matter the darkness of the way they may be walking, or the difficulties, even impossibilities they encounter, keep on believing Him, trusting Him, obeying Him, and all the while being His Light in that place. All of them know the better life, the best life won't be found here. They have hope in Him for now, but they know their ultimate hope lies in the country they look for. The country that is truly home. 

These ones are rarely noticed or applauded. Verse 38 says that the "world was not worthy of them." Jesus Christ calls them His. He calls them heroes. I hope, one day, that I will be able to stand among them. Do you? No doubt you're either now, or soon will be walking through a place, a relationship, a ministry, where you desperately need and are crying out for a breakthrough. A place where you may feel like giving up. Don't cease praying and trusting. Don't stop in your journey of faith. Breakthrough will come, but the breakthrough is not the final destination. His better country is. A country of heroes. A place filled with the "unknowns" of this lesser place, but whose names are known and celebrated by the population of heaven. They're the heroes of the faith. May we, you and I, be found among them.

Blessings,
Pastor O 

Rescue Story 2

 "Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers and sisters or mother or father pr children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much - homes, brothers, sisters, children, fields, all with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life." Mark 10:28-31

I last wrote on the beginning of my "rescue story," based on the impact of the song by Zach Williams. Today, I want to go deeper into the story.

I have always tried to be transparent and open about my life, experiences, failures, and victories. And the losses and the gains. I have shared a great deal about the former, but hopefully, I didn't come across to anyone as dwelling upon them. They were real. He was more real in the midst of them. He made the above Scripture from Mark 10 come alive and live in and around me.

I would not begin to suggest that I suffered anywhere near the amount that so many others have for the cause of Christ....but I have suffered and I have lost. My marriage, my child, and too many who I had believed to be my friends. I'm not trying to paint myself as a hero. I'm not. But I do hope that I've been faithful to His call, to not compromise His truth, and to follow what I believed was His leading and will, even when key people didn't agree or actively resisted. There was a cost in that, but for me, I didn't have to choose. I could not see how I could ever go back on the way He placed before me and led me to. I feared the consequences of that more than I feared the consequences of what I might lose. The pain of the loss was real, but I'm not focusing on that. I want to speak of the glory of what I gained through His making the promise of Mark 10 real in my life.

There is a sadness in my heart over the losses I've experienced, but the sadness dims in comparison with the rich joy I have experienced in how the Lord has given me so much more in return. In 40 years of walking with Him, ministering for Him, the riches He has brought to me are beyond description. He has not only given me people that love me, but people that I may love in return, and of every age. Friendships and relationships that have enriched me beyond words in this life, but that I know will extend on into eternity. Like Joseph, what the enemy meant for harm, God meant and used for good. His good and my own. He accomplished a "rescue" through these losses time and time again. He still does. I have been in the place of losing everything materially and, at least in appearance, relationally. Yet He has worked a richness into my life that I could never have perceived. Best of all, He gave me Himself. 

There's an old hymn that goes, "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus." It will be, but for me, and countless others, it already is. I have "seen" Him in ways I never knew I would. It has caused a hunger for more of Him that only grows by each day. I know the "rescue story" will never end.

Maybe you're in much the same place I was. Your choice to follow Him without reservation has come with a heavy price. He has not left you and He hasn't forgotten you. The temptation to give in, to compromise, to distance yourself from Him may be great, as is the cost. Trust Him. The pain of the loss cannot compare with the glory of the gain. Press on. Believe. Obey. Cling. It really will be worth it all. He has so much more for you than this.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Rescue Story 1

 I just finished watching an interview with singer-songwriter Zach Williams, who wrote and sang the powerful songs, Chainbreaker and Rescue Story, about how he came to Christ. My heart resonated with what he said.

Williams was raised by Christian parents but rejected their faith and set out on the life he believed he wanted. First it was to be a professional basketball player, but his drug use and injuries ended that. Then he discovered an interest in music that he never recognized before. He realized he had a talent for playing guitar and singing, and he embarked on a career in rock music and a wholehearted pursuit of fame. His choices had a devastating effect on his life and marriage as both were completely falling apart. He began to talk to the God he'd for so long rejected. He asked that this God, if He was real, would show him that He was real. He said that his band was on tour in Europe, and while on a bus in Spain, staring blankly out a window, the driver, searching for music, came upon a song titled, "Redeemed." As Williams listened to the song, He sensed both the presence and love of the Father. He and his band soon returned to the U.S., and not long after, he came to Christ on the floor of the closet in his home.

In the interview, Williams was asked why he cried out to Christ. He said, "I didn't want to be who I am anymore." Though much of his story did resonate with my heart, it was these words more than any others that laid hold of me. That was exactly how I was thinking 45 years ago in July of 1979. My life was falling apart, parties, getting high, pursuing women, and always the wrong ones. It all came to a head on the floor of an apartment of some friends. I was sitting in the middle of a room full of partiers, and someone took a polaroid picture and showed it to me. In the midst of that crowd, I looked totally lost, totally hopeless, totally miserable. I knew in my heart that if something in my life didn't change, the ultimate end, and not very far off, would be death. Like Williams, I didn't want to be me anymore. I didn't want to be who I was anymore.....That's when the rescue story began to come together.

A year before that photo, I'd been at my High School reunion. An old drug buddy was also there, but he'd become a vibrant believer. He wouldn't stop telling me about Jesus and I couldn't get away from him as he did. Finally, I broke free, but not without his giving me a handful of tracts about the Lord. For some reason, I didn't throw them away but dumped them in a drawer when I got home. One year later, my life was in turmoil. I opened the drawer, read the tracts, and I remembered thinking that it would surely be good to see the guy who'd given them to me again. A few days later, he walked into the store I managed. He didn't know I worked there but said he'd felt led to come in. We talked. He invited me to his church. I went. A few weeks later, in the dining room of the home I grew up in, I cried out to Jesus. He came.....and I was no longer who I was anymore. I was a new creation in Him. He promised to make all things new in me, and He did. He still does, and I'll detail more of that in my next writing. The Rescue Story - Pt 2

Blessings,

Pastor O