Come Back

 "Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel...Come back to Me and live....Come back to the Lord and live.' " Amos 5:4,6

This Scripture is much on my heart today. I believe it is the deep need of the church and His people, of this nation and all nations, as well as the heart cry of the Father. Do we hear it? Will we come? It really is a matter of life and death.

We are disintegrating on every level of culture both here and throughout the world. Society is breaking down. The myth of the human race evolving into a man made utopia is being proven as being just that, a myth. Sin has penetrated the heart of society, and in too many ways, the heart of the church. Has it penetrated the hearts of you and me?

Through Amos the prophet, God is calling back His people Israel to Himself. He has been doing so for a very long time. The people either ignore Him or cannot hear Him. They are careening to their own destruction. I believe this same thing is happening before our eyes, and not only in our nation and His church, but in our very lives, marriages, families, and ways as well. In each and all, He is calling to the deadness that has grown everywhere around us and in us. "Come back. Come back to Me....and live!"

The burning and pillaging of Los Angeles going on as I write, is a sight we've grown used to. It's a portrait of what I'm writing about today. Satan, our enemy, is burning and pillaging everywhere through these events. We are seeing individuals destroy themselves with addictions and habits, attitudes and anger. We are witnessing marriages being destroyed by infidelity, abuse, selfishness, and hatred. We are seeing families torn apart by these addictions, these pursuits of pleasure, this neglect of the very lives He has entrusted us to care for. Worst of all, there is both the ongoing slaughter of unborn children as well as the growing trafficking of children into virtual slavery as sex workers or forced labor.  We are dying by inches.

Scripture says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We seem to have no knowledge or understanding of what that means, but He does. He knows what He created us to be but He sees what sin and rebellion against Him have produced. We have ignored Him, rejected Him, drifted far from Him. We are destroying ourselves.....but there is hope. His heart continues to cry, "Come back to Me and live!" May we, the people of God, hear Him. May we pray that His church hears Him. May we pray that this sin darkened world hears Him. May our hearts burn as we hear Him cry, "Come back to Me and live....Come back to the Lord.....and live." Throughout the church and in a number of places right now, many are hearing that call. So many more have yet to. May husbands and fathers take up their calling as spiritual leaders. May husbands and wives come together in prayer and fight for the soul of their marriages and their children. May the church be the church, shining His light in the midst of the darkness. He has not left us. Where have we left Him?

Blessings,
Pastor O

What?

 We can get really frustrated trying to figure out what God wants from us. We tend to put it in terms of "keeping score," doing more good things to make up for whatever failures that have taken place. Or we make it about keeping rules. God is big on giving directions. Didn't He give us the Ten Commandments? For some it's about living a life of denying ourselves things we might want. This shows Him how dedicated we are. Or, we try to "buy God" by making lots of generous financial offerings. Give lots of money and He'll be pleased. They're all wrong, and they're wrong because they focus on the foolish belief that we can please God by our own efforts and works.

In Hosea 6:6, the Father says, "I don't want your sacrifices. I want your love. I don't want your offerings. I want you to know Me." He's not after our effort. He's after us. He's after you. He loves you passionately, and He longs for your love in return. This is a reality too few of us ever realize. He longs for us. He longs for intimacy with us. Yes, He wants us to live well and to live right. To do right, but not out of a sense of duty, but from a heart filled with love for Him. Not out of a desire to earn His approval, but from a heart of gratitude and joy over knowing and experiencing His love. That His love is flowing through us.

Jesus came and announced that, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light. No one comes to the Father except by Me." We can't reach Him by our good works and sacrificial efforts. We'll just keep bumping up against a closed door. Jesus came to be the Door, to be the Bridge between a fallen human race and a holy God. He's an open door to every heart that yields trying to have Him by our own merit and simply throws itself upon His. 

We tend to look at the Old Testament as being focused only on the laws of God, yet it's there that we see His answer as to just what it is He desires from us. Micah 6:8 reads, ".....the Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you, to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." We may be able to do what's right. We may even be able to show mercy, but we cannot walk humbly with Him apart from His grace, and it's His grace that enables us to both yield to Him and to truly love Him. It's not about rule keeping. It's not about trying our hardest. It's about wanting to be in His company, walking with Him, learning of Him, loving Him. His heart yearns for us, not our performance. He wants us. He wants you. 

Blessings,

Pastor O

Graveclothes

 Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." What a powerful promise. How much of a reality are these words for us?

It's been said, "If you don't know the truth, how will you ever recognize the lie?" Do we, in our day to day living, really know the difference between His truth and the enemy's lies? What is it that we really believe about the Father, the Son, His Holy Spirit.....and ourselves? Are we believing the truth....or a lie? Have we lost the ability to discern the difference between His truth and the devil's lies? Have we ever even had the ability to do so?

Jesus also made another potent promise: I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly." There is no promise He makes that He's not able to bring to pass for us. Has He been able to bring this promise to pass for you? The abundance He promises is far more than material or financial. We can have an abundance of these yet still live barren,empty lives. If we are His, we're promised an overflowing supply of His spiritual riches. Joy, peace, strength, hope, victory, and on and on. If we lack these, could it be that we have accepted the lies of the enemy over the truth of His Word and life? Jesus called Satan a thief, one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy, the father of lies. He ceaselessly seeks to steal, kill, and destroy the life Christ gives us. Life, hope, joy, dreams. Where has he robbed you? 

Freedom. Abundance. Two promises among hundreds, given and sealed by His blood. Why are they so absent from our faith lives? Why is the devil, the thief, so effective in getting us to believe his lies against the truth of Jesus Christ? Why do we exchange the truth for a lie?

I think a deep reason that we do is found in that while we know who He is, even what he's said, we don't know Him. We don't know His heart. The enemy has been very effective in slandering His name, not only to the lost, but even to those who say they follow Him. We don't really know Him so we never really enter into the fullness of His promises. We live on breadcrumbs instead of His Living Bread. We guzzle the stagnant water of the world instead of drinking freely of the Living Water of His Life. We just can't trust in the goodness of God. Satan practiced this deception in the Garden and it's been a very effective scheme ever since. How well has it been working on you?

In His earthly ministry, Jesus would often ask the ones He reached out to, "Do you believe Me? Do you believe what I say? Do you believe I am able to do this?" He still asks. He is asking it right now with you and me. When Jesus called Lazarus out of his tomb, He had his grave clothes removed. He'd been bound and couldn't move. He needed to be free of his graveclothes. Too many of us, though called to Him, still wear the grave clothes of our old life. Let Him cut them away. Come forth and be free. Be whole. Be His. Fully His.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Traveling Light

 I once read a story of a man driving a wagon along a country road. He came upon a man walking on the road and struggling under the weight of the load he carried. He invited the man to climb up beside him upon the wagon seat. The traveler gladly did so, but the driver noticed that he continued to shoulder the load. He said, "Friend, please feel free to lay that load down upon the wagon bed," to which the traveler replied, "Oh no sir. You've been kind enough to offer me a ride. I don't want to add to the load that you're already carrying. I'll just bear it myself." This may seem absurd to you and I, but would you consider how often we do the very same with the Lord?

Scripture exhorts us to "Cast your burden upon the Lord for He cares for you." We may give a hearty "Amen" to this, but how often do we go along with Him, all the while continuing to bear the heavy weight of our cares and needs? Jesus invites us, commands us to give them to Him, whose "yoke is easy and whose burden is light," but we go on shouldering them all the same.

In my life I've found that I have little trouble giving Him the great and crushing impossibilities to Him. I know that they're beyond my ability to carry and solve. I know I can't manage them and that He can. My stumbling involves my insisting on carrying the weight of those things that I think I can handle and manage. Things that, bit by bit, end up crushing me under the weight of their load. They're not the BIG troubles, they're the small ones. The ones I'm sure I can handle and figure out. We may know that the old saying, "God helps those who help themselves" isn't in the Bible, but that doesn't keep us from living like it's one of His foremost commands. So we go along, picking up the "rocks and pebbles" of life's stresses and cares one by one and dropping them in our journey bag. Their small individual weight eventually grows to a heavy and crushing one. We keep looking at them as small things, not really important enough for Him, Things we run all over, wearing ourselves out trying to handle them all, while right there with us is the Lord, wanting to take them all from our hands. Hands that have a death grip on matters seemingly insignificant in themselves, but that will bring about our own death, if not physically, then certainly mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. They exhaust us.

There's a song whose lyrics really speak to me. It's titled "Traveling Light." It goes, I was doubling over, the load on my shoulders was a weight I carried with me every day. Crossing miles of frustrations and rivers a raging, picking up stones I found along the way. I staggered and I stumbled down the pathways of trouble, I was hauling those souvenirs of misery. And with each step taken, my back was breaking till I found the One who took it all from me."

There's another lyric, an old one that goes, "Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near." Come to One who has borne the weight of your sin and so is able to bear the weight of what concerns your life. We cannot bear our burdens, whether great or small, in our own strength. They'll destroy us. Come to One who calls you to Himself. Bring yourself, your cares....your stones and your pebbles,  and lay them at the foot of His cross. Burdens are lifted at Calvary.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Mixture

 In my prayer journal I have written down something I came across some years ago. I don't remember the source, but it is a sobering statement. A statement that confronts us as to our motives in ministry and in our lives for Him. It reads, "When we stand before Him, He won't ask, 'Were you accurately estimated? Were you appropriately recognized? Were you sufficiently applauded? Instead, He'll ask, 'Did you love Me? Did you love others toward Me? Did you obey Me? Did you submit yourself to My will and My word? Did you live for what I died for?" 

So much of our devotion to Him is a mixture. We sincerely want to have the right answers to the second set of questions, but at the same time, our flesh yearns for some part of the first to be realized as well. What determines which prevails in us? The answer is daunting, even terrifying. It's the cross. His cross. Without it, we'll always yield at some point to the allure of recognition and reward. It's who we are, and who we are will only be vanquished, crucified, at the cross of Christ. 

The first set of questions magnifies us. We're the focus. The second magnifies Him. He's the focus and center. The second set pierces us at the center of our being. We can't avoid or escape the truth they seek. Devoted love and obedience for and to Him, as well as to those He loves who at the same time can be exceedingly unlovely. Total surrender to His will and His way. It is the experience of what was written in Galatians by Paul; "For I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." That life is only lived out by way of the cross. 

The mixture I speak of happens when our kingdom collides with His. Scripture speaks of being double-minded and we see that clearly when our following and serving Him comes with a double motive; our being magnified along with Him. We're to live lives that give Him glory, not seek to share in it. We're born spotlight seekers. and we're not going to conquer that drive by our own strength. It will only be vanquished at the cross, and it will go there kicking and screaming. 

When John the Baptist saw that Christ's followers were increasing while his were diminishing, he said, "I must decrease so that He may increase." That will never happen by our own efforts. It happens when we surrender completely to Him and His glory and die to our desire for our own. That will never win the applause of men, but it will garner the praise of heaven. Which does our heart really yearn for?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Chained

 Meditation, Christian meditation, has become a lost discipline in the western church. The reasons are many. We're so busy as to be totally distracted. "I don't even have time to think," is a common expression. Then too, it is a discipline, and that's a word and skill we don't like. Whatever the reason, and despite the fact that Scripture commands us to meditate on the power of His Word and words. To dwell upon them, to seek His heart concerning them, to see them come alive in us. To dwell those means we are still, and few of us even know how to be still, especially how to be still before Him.

2 Timothy 2:9 speaks of Paul's being imprisoned for preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. He writes, "I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the Word of God cannot be chained."  Prison, even under modern circumstances, is a harsh place. In Paul's time, it was a torturous one. The bed was usually a pile of dirty, bug infested straw. There would have been little, if any furniture. The toilet facilities were a hole in the floor. Add to this that Paul was chained between two soldiers. He had no privacy and was fully at the mercy of his jailers. An easy place to lose sight of God and His promises, and to lose sight of these meant to lose sight of their power. Yet Paul did not. He would not. Even in the worst possible conditions, His eyes were fixed on Jesus, the object of His hope.

Could it be that you, right now, may feel chained in harsh and comfortless situations and circumstances? Chained between what you feel you can't escape and the place where you long to be. What do you see? The stark darkness of the situation, or the glory and wonder of His promises and His presence? 

Paul knew that his oppressive circumstances did not lessen the power of what God had promised Him. His journey with Him had established His trust in Him. He knew the chains could hold Him, but they could not hold His Lord and Savior or the power of His word and presence. His body might be captive, but his heart, mind, and spirit were free. Chains could not hold Him, so they could not hold Paul. Neither, if we will believe Him, can they hold you and me.

History tells us that Paul was eventually released. Rome, and all her power, had no power against the will and power of God. The Father had more for Paul to do. The chains, the cell, and the soldiers could not stop that. Know today that neither can your chains, your cell, and your jailers. His words to you, His promises, His goodness, can never be chained or made powerless. Believe that. Hold to that. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. He will move and He will work, and He will break every chain. He will lead you out of the cell. He cannot be imprisoned, but He can be unseen. Be still, dwell upon He and His Word. Allow Him to open your eyes to see Him. Your cell, no matter how dark, will flame with His light. The cell door will swing open. No cell or chain can imprison the one who is truly His.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Thriving

 A trio of siblings currently very popular in Christian contemporary music recently spoke of some deep waters they'd gone through together and individually. I don't mean to denigrate what they said, but it left me with a hollow feeling. They said that in the midst of their "storm," they determined that they would "survive." I get that. Sometimes it seems like that's all we can hope for in the midst of the catastrophes that can strike at us in life. However, I don't believe that to survive is part of God's desire for us in our trials. I believe His purpose is for us to thrive in Him even as we walk through them. Survival is not God's last word for us. In fact, He has many. Victory. Abundance. Joy. Peace. Presence. Power. He means for these to be the fruit of our experience in the dark places of our lives. Yes, there will be pain, and loss, and suffering, but these are not to define us. His words of life coming to pass in and through us are. 

A promise that has sustained me and given both hope and life is found in 2 Chronicles 20:12. Judah and her king, Jehoshaphat, were faced with a vastly superior army, one they had no realistic hope of defeating. Jehoshaphat cried out to the Father. "We are powerless against this mighty army which is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You." Devastation can come upon us so suddenly, sweeping away all that we hold dear. We don't know what to do and we don't know where to turn....if our eyes remain upon what has happened. His call to us is to place our focus upon Him. What has happened is not His last word. He is in the midst of it. He hasn't left us alone. He will make a way. Listen to this. He will not fail you. The mighty army arrayed against Judah did not prevail. They were put to flight. Judah and her king did not just survive. They thrived. 

Whatever is arrayed against you today, would you dare to look not first for a way out, or even for an answer on what to do? Would you dare to simply put your eyes upon Him? To, as Scripture says, "Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith." What has befallen is real, but He is more real. What has crushed you can never crush Him. Look to Him. Believe Him. Trust Him. Cling to Him. He doesn't call you to simply survive, but to come alive....in Him. 

Blessings,
Pastor O

Nowhere Else

 I heard Joni Eareckson Tada relate an experience she had with Christ in the early days after the accident that made her a quadriplegic. She'd been going through all the stages of questions, anger, despair, and hopelessness, yet in the midst of it all, continued to seek Him. She came across one of the Psalms where she was called to "trust the Lord at all times." She said that in the midst of all the emotions and questions, she knew one thing, the same thing Peter knew when most of Christ's followers turned away from Him and He asked His disciples, "Will you leave also?" Peter replied, "Lord, where will we go? You alone have the words of life." Tada said she told Him, "Jesus, You're the One who has the words of life. Show me how to live." She then said, "For the past 56 years He's been showing me how to live and how to trust Him." 

Someone said that if God is only one hour of your weekend, He's a hobby, not your Lord." To be a disciple of Christ requires more, far more than a few hours of a weekend. It requires your heart. All of your heart. It requires surrender. Complete surrender. Hobbyists can never be disciples. They don't have the heart for it.

I am no Joni Eareckson Tada. My experience with Him is as nothing compared to hers, but I do share a similar story in my journey of faith. I've shared some of my past story and my deep involvement in the drug culture of the 60's and 70's. Jesus Christ invaded my life in a glorious way and brought me out of my darkness and captivity. For the next 10 years we journeyed together. Then, it all collapsed upon me with the loss of my marriage, family, and ministry. I was in a place much like Tada was. Everything was gone, I didn't know what was going to happen to me. I had questions, pain, anger, and fear. What would I do? Would I return to what had been before Him? I didn't know a great many things, but I did know this. I could never go back. I could only go to Him. I knew I could never trust myself, so I would take the only option I could. I would trust Him. That was 36 years ago, and like Tada, He's been showing me how to live ever since. I have failed Him, but He has never failed me. He never will, and He will never fail you. Dare to trust Him.

I don't know where you are today, but I ask, if you can't trust Him, who will you trust? If you can't put yourself completely into His hands, into whose hands will you put yourself. Where will you go? He has the words of life. Trust Him. He won't fail you. He'll show you how to live....and how to live in victory.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Trophies

 I'll never forget the feeling I had as a 10 year old upon being selected for my Little League all-star team. It wasn't expected. I wasn't a very good player then, almost all from a lack of self-confidence. Both of my older brothers were good players, I heard that a lot. They had trophies. I didn't have any. I knew they were good. I saw myself as anything but. Their trophies meant they "mattered." My lack meant, to me, that I didn't. Now I would. Though it ended up being just a small, cheap trinket, I kept it in my room for years. That's what we tend to do with trophies. We've been recognized, told that we matter, that we have value. The world is big on trophies and we're pressed heavily to pursue them, and not just in the secular realm, but in the realm of the Kingdom of God as well. And God is not the reason why. 

Marva Dawn, in her book, A Sense Of The Call, speaks to those who believe He has called them to labor in His Kingdom. She writes about this matter of "trophies." She quoted author and pastor Eugene Peterson and his writing on I Samuel 15, where King Saul has defeated the Amalekites. Saul had been directed to destroy every trace of this evil nation. Instead, he brought their king and the best of their livestock back to the Israelite camp. Peterson calls this, "a bold exhibition of trophies." Saul was God's anointed and chosen king, but he didn't feel this was enough. He needed more. He needed trophies. He needed the recognition of men. Dawn writes, "How easily we cuddle our accomplishments as a security blanket to remind us that we matter, instead of trusting God's assurance that we are His beloved." 

I'm no longer 10 years old, but I have far too often still coveted "trophies," even in my ministry. Not to impress the world directly, but to impress the world within the church....and within me. How thin is the line between our yearning for and our lusting for? The trophies we seek can take so many shapes. Bigger homes, fancier cars, more "things." Picturebook marriages, children that excel, win awards, get scholarships. The "next rung up" in the company....or in the ministry. And the biggest trophy of all is the applause of all those who are watching. We can become addicted to that, to the trophies. Really, there is only one "trophy" we are to seek; the cross of Christ. Most often, the only One who sees that is the Lord Himself.

I'm not speaking against giving our all to the work of the Kingdom or wanting to see fruit from it, but the burning desire to add more "Agag's and his livestock" to our collection will cut us off from experiencing what it is to know the joy of being His beloved. When we have this, all the cheap tinsel that men can offer won't matter because we're secure in the knowledge that we are His and we're His beloved. The trophies we offer Him are invisible to this world, but precious to Him. Love, faithfulness, obedience, humility, surrender. May we yield all our cheap trinkets for the surpassing joy of knowing and living for Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Convenient Fires

 "And Peter followed Him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest; and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire." Mark 14:54...."The enemy always has a convenient fire for saints who are about to slip." Vance Havner

You likely know the story of Peter's betrayal of Christ in the courtyard of the high priest. He had followed Jesus here to His trial. He was drawn to the fire burning in the yard and warmed himself there. His companions were servants of that high priest. They wished for what their master wished for; the removal, one way or another, of Jesus.

While he stood at the fire, he was recognized as one of Jesus' followers, but he denied it three times, the third time with a curse. Scripture says that after doing so, he saw Jesus being led by guards, and Christ looked directly into his eyes (and his heart). Jesus knew, and Peter knew that He knew. I don't believe Christ's look was one of anger, or even disappointment. I believe it was one of deep sadness. Sadness for the man He loved so deeply.

If you know Scripture, you know Peter was the disciple who proclaimed he would follow Jesus even to His and his own death. Now, here he was denying Him. How? It began with fear. None of the disciples, even Peter, ever clearly understood what Christ had been telling them, that He must suffer and die. His arrest threw them into fear and confusion. It began there. It deepened when Peter "followed Him from afar off." He'd told Jesus he'd be right with Him, but he now kept his distance. Nothing good will ever come from trying to play it safe with Christ. Following Him at a distance isn't really following Him at all. 

Peter's actions had weakened him emotionally, physically, mentally, and especially, spiritually. He lacked the strength, the faith, to resist the fire of the enemy. As Havner says, the enemy specializes in kindling fires to seduce wavering followers of the King. Has He kindled any for us? What fires of the enemy have we found ourselves at in our own profession of faith in Him? What convenient fires might we be found at right now?

Peter's faith was compromised by his circumstances and his fears. Compromise will always cripple our faith. Where is there compromise in our lives right now? To what fire of the enemy has it brought you to?

Will it bring you, me, to the same place it brought Peter, to a denial of Christ Himself?

Scripture says, "Let him who thinks he stands beware, lest he should fall." Peter didn't think it could happen, but it did. We don't either, but it can. We can be sure our enemy has prepared a fire for us to go to in the slippiest places of our faith walk. The question for each of us is, will we end up there?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Listen

 "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God." Isaiah 41:10...."Listen to what you know, not to what you fear." Todd Mullen

The message of God in the Old Testament through His prophets, through His Son Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit in the New, was for those who followed Him to not live in fear. There are countless Scriptures that exhort us to "fear not." Jesus was constantly telling His disciples to not be afraid. Yet they often were. We often are. Fear grips us, paralyzes us, and renders us powerless. Why? How?

The answers to those questions are not really that hard to know. We know His words, but we don't really know Him. We believe His words in our head, but their power so often doesn't find its way into our hearts and lives. We can recite His promises but their reality never fully finds its way into our life experience. Knowing what He's said is not the same as knowing Him. You can own every sort of Bible promises book ever printed, but they're just words on a page if you lack any real and intimate knowledge of Him. 

Todd Mullen's above quote is true, but we are more prone to listen to our fears than to listen to Him because what we fear is more real to us than He is. We can't trust someone we don't know. The things we fear press in on us, crushing us, because our experience of Him is so shallow. Satan knows this and intimidates us because of it. He knows exactly where to aim his fiery darts, right at the heart of our fears. Unless we are rooted and grounded in Him, His promises are weak in comparison with all the scenarios of disaster that the enemy is only too happy to paint for us. What the preacher proclaimed in the sanctuary on Sunday just isn't working out in the hardness of the world we must live in.

Jesus confronted His disciples in their struggles to trust with the question, "How long have I been with you and you still don't know Me?" In the midst of your fears today, does He speak this to you? Fear, anxiety, stress, these things cannot survive in His presence. Paul said that the consuming passion of His life was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. His desire to be known by us is deeper than any desire we could ever have to know Him. Let Him kindle that desire in you. Let Him fan it into a burning passion for Him. Know not only the truth of His words, know Him who is Truth itself. Be free of the fear because you have listened to the One who is Truth.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Precious Grace

 I know Facebook can be a real quagmire, but at the same time, there can be some very worthwhile posts as well. I saw one of them just today. A street preacher was interviewing young people at a very popular and somewhat notorious nightspot. Among them were a pair of young ladies. He probed them as to their spiritual state and who it was they believed and trusted in. Both affirmed that it was Jesus. More, both knew the message of the gospel, the cross, and the salvation Christ invited us to. Both also affirmed that they considered themselves His followers and were committed to Him. He then asked them why they were out and taking part in what was going on in the club they were about to enter. Their answer was along the lines of, "We're young, we want to have fun and enjoy ourselves." He didn't hit them with judgement, just truth, emphasizing the need for believers to come apart, to live holiness lifestyles, to be in the world, but not of it. Both young ladies became very quiet. They had no response. The video ended.

I recognize that there's a long history of legalism and self-righteous judgement in a segment of the church. It's wrong, and I won't adhere to it, but there is also a long history of the abuse of His grace, often referred to as "hyper grace." I don't adhere to that either. Both are deeply damaging.

Chris Tiegreen writes, "SIn is disastrous and grace is precious. Neither should ever be taken casually." Shouldn't be, but so often are. We can be so casual about both. Churches are filled with those who are. The result will always be disastrous.

A.W. Tozer, speaking of the infinitely great cost to the Father in the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ, said that how we live in response to that cost must be a "very great scandal in heaven." Our hearts have been dulled both to the seriousness and terrible consequences of sin as well as to the immeasurably great gift of His saving grace. Tiegreen also writes, "Grace was given to free us from sin, not to free us up for more of it." A truly grace filled lifestyle knows this and lives accordingly. Not a legal, rule keeping lifestyle, but a holy one.

Jesus was the friend of sinners. He went to where they were, but he didn't "go clubbing" with them. He didn't partake of their lifestyle. He invited them into His. The two young ladies weren't where they were to extend that invitation. They were responding to the invitation of that place to enter into what was happening there. To what degree are we doing the same?

In my particular segment of the church, we have an old, but powerful hymn titled "Called Unto Holiness." All who call themselves His are called unto that holiness. His holiness. Not rigid rule keeping with the focus on the external, but a desperate love of Him, his holiness, and the hatred of sin and its awful effects upon the human race He so loves and gave Himself up for. Indeed, sin is disastrous, and grace is precious. May we cease to take either casually ever again. He shed His precious blood that He might offer His precious grace.

Blessings,
Pastor O

The Beginning

 British preacher and writer T. Austin-Sparks said, "For Christ, the cross was an end. For us, it's the beginning." John Bevere says, "We've preached resurrection promises without preaching the impact and decision of the cross. There is no discipleship without the cross." All this is true, yet you can attend a very great number of fellowships in the west and never hear anything of substance concerning the cross of Christ and the believers call to it. How can that be?

The cross and the subsequent resurrection of Christ was the focal point of Christ's coming. Everything about the Christian faith is centered on these events. Yet, what Bevere says is frighteningly true. We proclaim to eager listeners all the blessings of the resurrection life while at the same time omitting the cross that is the only route to experiencing them. We know the cross was necessary for Christ to complete His ministry. Necessary for Him.....not for us.

This is the greatest reason why so much of the witness and ministry of the church lacks real Holy Spirit power. Preachers are calling people to a faith that includes no cross. Simply believe on Jesus and all will be well. He paid the price, we reap the benefits. We call them to an abundant life in Christ, but we leave out the cross that leads us into it. The apostle Paul said, "I preach Christ, and Him crucified," and "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." In the modern Gospel of the west, there is no cross, no death to self and self-interest. Just an invitation to add Him to your life and enjoy all the improvements He'll bring. We come as we are, and we remain as we are. Yet, Jesus doesn't bid us to come so He can make some improvements in our lives. He calls us, as someone said, "to come and die." He is not about making our lives better. He is all about totally transforming us. There is only one place where that can happen; at the cross.

Sparks says that for us, the cross is the beginning. That puts me in mind of the old hymns lyric. "At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my sin rolled away." That was the beginning of an endless life of wonder and abundance. It begins and remains at the cross. Has it begun, really begun, for you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Do You?

 In my prayer journal, I have a quote from writer Chris Tiegreen. He says, "We're to believe what the Word of God and the Spirit tell us, regardless of the witness of the clouds." 

Casual faith and a casual relationship with Christ will not get you very far into a life with Him. Scripture says that whom He loves, He disciplines. We see discipline as a negative, His response to something we've done wrong. He sees it as love, using the realities of life to deepen and strengthen our relationship with Him. He allows hard things but means to use them to grow and shape us in Christlikeness. He tests our faith and our trust in Him.

In Matthew 9:28, two blind men came to Jesus, asking for sight. Their blindness was real, and in that day final, yet they came to Him for healing. He asked them a simple question; "Do you believe I can do this?"
They answered that they did, and He gave them sight. Being blind at any time would be an oppressive state, but so much more so in Christ's day. Yet, they dared to believe He could heal them, despite "the witness of the clouds." There are things, oppressive things, that He will allow in our lives. Do we dare to believe Him, even in the midst of the darkest and most threatening clouds?

My world came crashing down in August of 1989. My wife left me. I had to leave my ministry. A total unknown lie before me. Yet, I believed that somehow, He would restore my life and my ministry. I didn't find a great deal of support for that. Not very much in the church and not very much even among family. My belief was tested, and though it weakened more than once, I never let it go, and He did bring into my life those who did believe with me and encouraged me. The road was hard but He walked with me and lived within me every step of the journey. He did restore my life and my ministry, and my witness today is of His faithfulness and His glory. The thickness of the clouds that surrounded me could never stop His Light from piercing them and breaking through to me.

I am not saying that everything you want will take place if you just believe. I am saying that what He has spoken to your heart will come to pass if you refuse to give up and keep pressing on in Him. Clouds, thick and dark clouds, will be a reality in our lives. He will be a greater reality. Trust Him. Hold to Him. Believe Him. He is faithful. He is Light and Life greater than any cloud and any storm.

Blessings,
Pastor O

How Near?

 In Scripture we're given the promise, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." The question that comes to my mind is, "Just how near to Him do we want to be?" 

I once borrowed a book from a friend, and in the margin, where this promise had appeared he wrote in response, "Draw near to Him, He draws near to us. Good news/Bad news." He's on target, for it surely is both good and bad news. Good, because when we come near we have the opportunity to see, hear, and know Him in ways we never believed possible. It's bad news though to our inward desire to center upon ourselves, to be our own gods. That fleshly self-life cannot stand in His Presence. His character and Person are far too intense. That's bad news for our flesh.

We sing songs and make declarations that we want to have more of Him, to have all of Him that we can. Are we really prepared for what that means? If we're to venture into the deep of God we had better be prepared, if indeed we even can be, for an intense encounter. There is nothing shallow about Him, though there certainly can be much that is shallow about us. As Scripture says, it's a fearsome thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. He is, as His Word says, a consuming fire. A fire that will consume every part of us that lifts up our self-life at the expense of His life.

I'm saying all this not to deter us from coming to Him. That's exactly what He desires. He craves intimacy with us. He yearns for our company, but we need to understand this is not some casual thing. He is a holy God, His Son, Jesus Christ, is a holy King. When Peter got his first glimpse of who Jesus was, he cried out, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." His holiness reveals how unholy we are, but this is not something to flee from because His desire is to cleanse, heal, and deliver us from all that pollutes our heart and spirit.

As a young believer, I remember listening to my pastor preach on Jesus' exhortation to the disciples to "launch out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." He spoke on venturing out into the deep of God. I still remember how my heart burned at that. I wanted to launch out. I wanted to partake of the deep things of God. It has been both wonderful and terrible. He has grown me, stretched me, and purified me in His fire. He is still doing so. It's been very hard on my flesh, but a blessing beyond description for my spirit. He continues to invite me to draw near, and you as well. It is a fearful thing and a wonderful thing. Will you dare to find out just how much? All you need do is draw near....if you dare.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Altars

 Altar..... : a usually raised structure or place on which sacrifices are offered or incense is burned in worship 

—often used figuratively to describe a thing given great or undue precedence or value especially at the cost of something else......"And Abram built an altar there to commemorate the Lord's visit." Genesis 12:7b

I think in the modern, western church, altars are something we associate as being related to the Old Testament, the Law, and the offering of sacrifices by the Levitical priests. This is very sad because the altar and its significance was never meant to lose its place in the church. It's not meant as a verdict against the 21st century western church, but in many of the newer sanctuaries, altars, once a regular feature, have disappeared. Again, not a verdict. Altars are spiritual before they are physical and one can build one in their heart and offer the sacrifice of worship upon it. Still, I have to ask if their absence literally has allowed people to allow their absence spiritually?

Chris Tiegreen wrote, "Everyone has an altar." This is the total truth. If you ask online "what is an altar," you will receive not only the meaning, but an abundance of different kinds of altars used for worship by a multitude of religious beliefs. They are a place where worship, sacrifice, and offerings are made to the object or "god" that we have chosen to give ourselves to. That is seen in Webster's definition above. Don't miss these keywords; "a thing given undue precedence or value at the cost of something else." For the one who calls themself a follower of Christ, that "something else" will always be Almighty God.

As Tiegreen says, everyone has an altar. So, what is yours? Where is yours? You can attend thousands of "worship services" and never worship Him. Yet everyday we do worship something or someone upon the altars we build at His expense. The ancient Israelites never did away with His holy altar or Temple, but they raised seemingly infinite altars to the various "gods" that they gave their hearts to. Those gods had names like Chemosh, Dagon, and Baal. Today they have names like Pleasure, Money, Success (even in ministry), Family, Children, and an abundance of others. In themselves none of these are evil, but when pursuit of them pushes Him from His throne within our hearts, when we now worship having them above having Him, we have sinned against Him, at terrible cost to ourselves.

Has His altar disappeared from your life and heart? It can happen so easily. I believe He is calling us back to His altar. That altar can be made anywhere, and right where you are. The old hymn asks, "Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?" Is your all, all of who you are and wish to be, offered up to Him on His altar? Has everything that has sought to remove Him from His throne in your life been removed so that only He remains?  As Tiegreen says, we all have an altar. Is yours and mine found in Him, or in something or someone else?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Chain Gangs

 There was a time when prison movies were a Hollywood staple. Classic actors like Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson were usually the stars. One of the greatest of these was a movie entitled Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman.

The central character of this movie was named Luke, who was a member of a prison chain gang. He and the other prisoners were routinely taken from their prison camp and put to work maintaining and clearing roads. They did this while having their legs in shackles, chained together, literally living in chains. 

I heard an evangelist once say that too many believers live and look like they're a member of a chain gang. He was referring to their countenance, the looks upon their faces, but our faces only reflect what is happening in our heart and spirit. The great tragedy in the church today is that the very ones Christ came to bring life and victory to are continuing to live like members of a chain gang, going about their day to day lives shackled by burdens, cares, addictions, and wounds of the past that have rendered them living their life in chains that seem unbreakable. Are you one of them?

Let's return to Luke, the central character of the above movie. The desire of the warden and guards was to break the will and spirit of the prisoners they controlled, never letting them forget that they were prisoners. Prisoners in chains. Luke possessed a spirit that was stronger than the chains, and soon that spirit captured the other men. Try as they might, the warden and guards could not break his desire to be free. They could not make him live like a prisoner in chains. 

Luke was a Hollywood character, but the apostle Paul was a living, breathing person who wrote 2 Timothy 8-9 from a prison cell. He wrote, "Never forget that Jesus Christ was....raised from the dead. This is the Good News I preach. And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and chained like a criminal. But the Word of God cannot be chained." Paul was in prison and in chains, but he was not a prisoner. His heart and His spirit were free. He wouldn't and couldn't forget that the Lord he served was risen, alive. Death could not hold Him, and so, neither could it hold Paul. If death could not keep Him in its chains, then no literal prison cell and its chains could hold Paul. Not Paul, and because He is risen, not you or I either. 

What chain gang might you be held in today? What shackles and chains has the devil managed to fit you with, formed as a result of your past, your fears, your wounds, and your sins? He seeks to be your warden, and these things are what he uses as your "guards." The Good News for all of us is that Satan's strongest chains cannot shackle the power of His Word, nor the power of His risen life. Christ, the Living Word is alive and He is risen. This is the reality that Charles Wesley wrote of in his great hymn, And Can It Be. "My dungeon flamed with light....my chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed Thee." It's true. It's real. Can you believe it? Will you believe it? Leave the chain gang. Let your chains fall off at His Word. In Christ, we are free. Let us live free.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Finding Him

 "When you walk through the waters, I will be with you." Isaiah 43:2...."There's nothing more heavenly than finding Christ in your hell." Joni Eareckson Tada

Whenever I read her writings or listen to her speak, I am always humbled by the faith and witness of Joni Eareckson Tada. Those who are merely casual listeners tend to think she's a superhuman woman of God who has overcome all the mountains and giants in her life. Yet we so easily forget that what she has already walked through, she still walks through. Pain and extreme difficulty are daily companions in her life. Giving up is a temptation she deals with by the day. It is not herself that sees her through all of that. It's her Jesus. Her Lord and her Savior.

I think that we who are true followers of Jesus Christ, people created for an eternity in His Kingdom, find, in the midst of their suffering, some understanding of the awfulness of hell. Suffering comes upon both the unbeliever and believer alike. For the unbeliever the only outcome is despair, but for the one who belongs to Him, we can discover a great part of the beauty of heaven in the midst of it. How? Because He enters into it with us. He is within us, and at the same time beside us, above us, and beneath us. It is in those times when we feel that we are "going through hell" that His companionship is most rich, and also the place where He reveals ever deepening truths about Himself....and about ourselves as well.

Tada says that "Everyday, God is ready to reveal more about His Son Jesus Christ." Most often this happens in the darkness. In the fires and floods and losses of life. The pain is real, but if we will be looking for Him, He will be more real. 

The other day I watched an old video of a dear elderly and saintly woman. She said that she had been praying and worshiping Him but feeling so inadequate in the effort. She told Him, "Lord, in eternity we will worship you forever for who You are, yet here, I am out of things to praise and worship you for in 5 minutes." She said He then whispered into her spirit that heaven for her, for all who believe, would involve His revealing to her an infinite amount of knowledge as to who He was. An eternity of knowing Him more deeply. A never ending and glorious hope. Our valleys and floods are but a taste of that. May we not miss that taste. 

Thank you Father, that for the one who trusts and follows you, there is no end to the wonder of knowing you. In our present fires and floods, may we discover ever deeper precious truths about You. May Your heaven never cease to enter our journey here, even when the journey leads through hell.

Blessings,
Pastor O

The God Who...

 We have just celebrated another Resurrection Sunday, and in our fellowship, as I'm sure it was in yours, it was a beautiful time of giving glory to the Father for His Risen Son. It puts me in mind of seeing Him as the Lord who came, the Lord who lives, the Lord who died for us, and the Lord who rose and lives forever. It also puts me in mind of the Father, who gave us His Son. Jesus said that "He who has seen Me, has seen the Father." 

The wonderful writer Chris Tiegreen, in one of his devotionals, dealing with the Prodigal Son, gives a picture of Father God as, "the God who waits, the God who runs, and the God who celebrates." I want to explore a bit as to just how He is all of those, and more.

Briefly, the story of the Prodigal Son is that of a rebellious son who demands his inheritance from his father, wastes all of it in riotous living in a distant country, ends up living in a pigsty and eating pig food.

He comes to the end of himself and decides to return home, believing he could no longer be a son, but could be a servant, even rehearsing what he would say to his father. In the actual reaction of his father, we see the heart of God the Father.

He's the God who waits. I, we, cannot begin to understand the patient waiting of God upon we who are rebels by birth. We reject Him, we waste His blessings, and we seek to live as far from Him as we can. Yet all the while, He waits, searching the horizon for the ones His heart longs to see come home to Him. I, a rebel by birth, experienced this first hand. He reached out to me so many times as I wasted my life running from Him. All the while He waited, continuing to reach out for me. He should have given up on me, and on you as well. He never did. He kept waiting and watching, till His grace laid hold of my heart, calling me home.

The God who runs. When the prodigal appeared in the distance, his father ran to meet him. I remember so clearly the Sunday evening in the home I grew up in, living in the midst of the sty I had made for myself, living on a diet of earthly pig food, turning to Him in desperation. His response was immediate. He who had been waiting came running. He met me and swept me into His embrace even before I finished the prayer. He met me, one who smelled of the pigsty, dressed in the filthy rags of my sin. He came running and took me into His love and care.

The God who celebrates. I didn't truly sense it all then, but I have grown to since. He didn't just celebrate my coming home to Him then. Indeed, Scripture says all of heaven rejoices when a lost sinner comes home, but I've learned that the celebration only begins at that moment. It goes on for the rest of our life here and then forever into eternity. A celebration for one who had been His enemy. One who had mocked, blasphemed, even hated. It continues on right now. I rejoice in the celebration today, and look forward eagerly to when I will enter into the celebration in eternity. I am so grateful for the God who waits, who runs, and who celebrates. I've never deserved it and neither have you. May we rejoice in this not just once a year, but in every day of our lives. The God who, in His Son, Jesus Christ, welcomes us home.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Questions

 Luke 2 gives the account of Jesus and His parents going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. At its conclusion, His parents, Mary and Joseph, join the crowd of fellow celebrants on the road home. At least a full day goes by before the realize Jesus is missing. This brings me to a question for each of us; how much of a day, how many days can go by before we realize He's missing? Individually and corporately. In the midst of the carrying out of our everyday lives (and ministries), how much time can pass before we realize His absence?

When Mary and Joseph did notice, they quickly returned to Jerusalem. After 3 days of searching, they found Him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers. He was astounding them with His wisdom and understanding. They rebuke Him. "Why have You treated us this way?" they ask. This brings another question. Have you ever noticed how, when we're in a place where He seems absent, we also ask, "Why are You doing this to me?" In fact, many of our questions to Him in that place aren't really questions at all. They're accusations. Why have you done this? Why haven't You done that? Where were You? Where are You? Why aren't You where I want You to be, doing what I want You to do? Don't You care?" These questions were also asked by His disciples. He answered His parents, just as He answers us. 

Most translations render His reply as, "Why is it you were looking for Me? Didn't you know I had to be in My Father's House?" We've often used this verse to get people into church on a regular basis, but the original language says something much deeper. In effect He says, "Didn't you know that I am all about My Father?"

His life wasn't all about being in church, reading His Bible, or tithing. These are excellent things, but they were not His focus. He was totally centered on joined to His Father. Where the Father was, He was. Where the Father was, He was. What the Father did, He did. He was surprised that His parents didn't realize that. How surprised must He be that so many of us don't realize that either.

We're in a time when those who call themselves His followers are very willing to be involved with Him, but being in-volved with Him is not the same as being IN Him. Being involved keeps everything under our control. Being in Him surrenders all control to Him. We are not our own. We are His. It's here that we come to understand what Paul meant when he said, "It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Paul lived in two worlds, the temporal and the eternal. His physical life was here, and he was aware of that, but his mind, heart, and spirit abide in the Kingdom, and he was fully aware of that as well. No aspect of his life was unaware of it. He could say, as did His Lord, "I am all about my Father." In Him. Fully in Him. 

One day, when all of this world has passed away, we who profess to follow Him will give account for how we have lived for Him. Many may have words and thoughts as to how we have lived for Him and with them. I hope that their testimony for me will be a good one, but really, only the words of the Father will matter. How will I have lived for Him? Where did my life most often find me? In Him, or merely around Him, at times most convenient for me? What will my life have been all about? What will He say about yours?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Messengers

We are in the midst of the Easter season. For professing Christians, this is a time celebration, of the telling again and anew the story of Christ's death on a cross and His resurrection from a tomb. Churches and pastors everywhere are preparing for Easter Sunday, expecting perhaps the year's biggest crowd. Surely there are so many expectations. What are yours and what are mine?

I'm moved to write on this because of quotes I came across from Leonard Ravenhill, one of the great revivalists of the 20th century. He said, "Once people went to church to meet God. Now they go to hear a sermon about Him....It takes living men (and women) to deliver the Living Word." For all those that we have such great hopes and expectations of seeing in our services on that great day, what are our expectations for them? Do we expect them to hear another message about the factual events of those three days during Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. A message they heard in some form the last Easter they attended? Or, do we expect them to encounter a living, risen Christ? Do we expect them to exclaim, as did Mary upon seeing Jesus in the Garden, "I have seen the Lord"? Do we expect them, and not only them, but all of the people present to excitedly tell anyone who will listen, as did the disciples, "The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed!"

I write this because I well know how easily we can get caught up in providing a great Easter Sunday experience for all who are present, one that will encourage them to return, and totally lose sight of ushering in the opportunity to experience, encounter, meet with the risen, living Jesus. To be preachers and people so immersed in His presence that His Spirit seems to overwhelm all who come together that day.

Am I being unreasonable, even foolish to ask these questions? Or is it even more unreasonable and foolish to think that these could never be? What is the key or keys for this to be our reality and experience? I think the greatest part is found in Ravenhill's latter point. It takes living messengers to proclaim His Living Word. Messengers alive with His Presence and Life. From the pulpit to the platform, to the sanctuary floor and out into the foyer and the very grounds of the fellowship, may His Holy Spirit come upon all who enter. May we be, in all of our fellowships, living messengers of the Living Word. 

Is this too much to expect? Too much to hope for? Yes, if we only hope to tell stories about something that happened 2000 years ago. Here's the truth. The glory of what happened then, His resurrection from the dead, is still unfolding 2000 years later. He's as real and alive and glorious as He ever was. May we be immersed in and behold His glory for ourselves. Then may we display His glory to each other and all who join us. And not just on Easter Sunday, but on every day of our lives. Living men and women sharing His Living Word wherever we are and wherever we go.

Blessings,

Pastor O 

Rearview Mirrors

 I once heard a pastor speak on a book he'd written entitled, The Windshield Is Bigger Than The Rearview Mirror. He details his moral failure in both his marriage and ministry. He doesn't minimize or excuse his sin, but his emphasis is not on his failure, but on restoration. The restoration of both his marriage and ministry. Failure was not final. His life wasn't held by what appeared in his "rearview mirror," but rather in the view the Father had for him in the "windshield" He placed before Him. He seeks to do the same for us.

How many right now are moving through their life with their eyes fixed upon the rearview mirror of their past? Rearview mirrors are essential in keeping us aware of what's behind us, but if our focus is there, we will surely invite disaster by our being ill-prepared for what lies ahead. In the same way, if we're held by always looking at what has been, at what we've been and done, we'll never enter into what He has for us and invited us to.

It's not that our pasts have never happened. The fact is too many try to deal with the past by trying to bury it. Somehow though, it always finds a way to crawl out of the grave we've dug for it, and usually in destructive ways. We need to face our past at the cross. At the cross, He dealt with our past, our sin, our wounds, and our failures. Colossians 2:12 says that God nailed all of that to Christ's cross. ALL of it. On the cross, Christ canceled our sin and all the failures and wounds that come with it. Their power is broken, canceled. The work has been done at the cross.....but has it been done in you?

The quality of our lives comes down to what we believe, think, and the attitudes we have. Many may believe upon His name, but never really come to believe in and upon His Word. Someone said that we act out of what we believe to be true. What do you believe to be true about you, about Him, about your life and its possibilities in Jesus Christ? Ephesians 4:23 says, "There must be a renewal of your thoughts and attitudes." This is a work that can only be done through His Holy Spirit and knowing that His Word is a healing Word. A Living Word bringing true life. A Word that sets us free from the captivity of the rearview mirror. A Word that brings us to the wide open vistas of the abundant life of Christ.

How are you living out your journey today? Are your eyes locked on that tiny rearview mirror, holding all the past with all its wounds, failures, sins, and lies? The lie that what lies ahead will only be a repeat of what has gone before. Or, have you received His Living Word and its truth, found only in the Kingdom windshield He's placed before you? It's true that Christ redeems all that lies behind us, but what has been is not where He dwells. He dwells and lives in the hearts of His people. He is with us right now and yet is already there at what lies ahead, leading us into His new day. The windshield really is bigger than the rearview mirror, isn't it?

Blessings,
Pastor O